Helen stepped into the kitchen with her face pale from shock and slammed the front door shut behind her while Amy followed closely with trembling hands "What the hell did you just do Robert? You just threw Alex out of the house!" Helen screamed while marching straight up to her husband.

Robert picked up his half-made sandwich and didn’t even look at her "I didn’t throw anybody out, that ungrateful little shit decided to walk away on his own two feet" said Robert while taking a bite.

"Dad you were screaming at him and calling him a parasite since we heard everything from the porch!" Amy shouted with tears welling up in her eyes "How could you say those horrible things to him when he has nowhere else to go?"

Robert slammed his fist onto the counter making the iced tea glass rattle "Don’t you start raising your voice at me in my own house Amy, I don’t have to give either of you an explanation for what I do or don’t do under my own roof!" Robert roared while pointing a greasy finger at his daughter "I am the one who pays the bills here and I am the one who has been feeding that useless leech for years so if I want him gone he goes!"

"He is my nephew Robert and his mother was my sister so this is his home too!" Helen exploded with a voice cracking from pure fury as she stepped right into his space "You have always hated him because he wanted to study theater instead of working with you since you’ve been looking for an excuse to kick him out from the start!"

"Oh give me a break Helen, his mother was a complete disaster who left him with nothing but debts and trouble!" Robert sneered while spit flew from his mouth "He contributes absolutely nothing to this family and he treats this place like a hotel since he disappears for days without answering his phone so I am sick of it!"

"He was trapped and hurting because you never gave him a single word of support!" Helen yelled while tears finally spilled down her cheeks "You broke him Robert and if anything happens to that boy out there in the dark tonight it will be completely your fault!"

"I don’t give a damn what you think Helen, I am done being careful around that sensitive little bastard!" Robert shouted back with his face turning a dark dangerous purple "He shoved me right here in my own kitchen so he crossed the line and I am glad he’s gone!"

Amy grabbed her mother’s arm while her body shook from the intensity of the fight "Mom we have to go find him, he left without a jacket or his things since he was bleeding from his hands!" Amy cried out while pulling Helen toward the hallway.

"Yes we are going right now, he couldn’t have gone far" said Helen while wiping her face and grabbing her car keys from the counter.

Robert stepped out of the kitchen and walked into the hallway to block their path with a cold furious stare "If you walk out that door to go look for that piece of shit don’t you dare come back tonight!" Robert screamed while his voice echoed off the walls "I mean it Helen, if you choose him over me you can stay out there in the street with him!"

Helen didn’t even blink and pushed past his shoulder with pure disgust "Step aside Robert, I don’t care about your threats anymore" said Helen. She yanked the front door open and rushed out onto the porch with Amy running right behind her into the cold night air.

"Don’t come back! I swear to God if you leave this house you are both dead to me!" Robert yelled from the threshold before slamming the heavy wooden door so hard the glass panes rattled.

Helen and Amy ran down the driveway into the quiet street while scanning the dark sidewalks under the dim streetlamps "Alex! Alex, where are you!" Helen called out into the empty neighborhood with a desperate scream.

"Alex please answer us!" Amy shouted while her voice cracked in the wind as they walked fast toward the main avenue.

They walked for blocks checking the dark corners and the nearby park benches but the street was completely empty, Alexander had already vanished into the shadows of the city. Helen stopped under a flickering streetlight and buried her face in her hands while letting out a broken sob because she knew they had lost him and the family was completely shattered.

Amy stopped walking and looked at her mother with wide, panicked eyes "Mom should we go to the police station right now, they could help us look for him?" said Amy while clutching her jacket tight.

Helen shook her head and wiped a fresh tear from her cheek "We have to wait 72 hours, they won’t do anything for a missing adult before that time since he walked out on his own" said Helen while her voice trembled in the dark.

They stood under the dim streetlight while the cold wind blew past them "What do we do now? We can’t go back to the house after what my dad said" said Amy while looking back toward their street with absolute hatred "For me my dad is dead because he turned into a complete asshole ever since his business went bankrupt and he lost everything."

"Amy stop it right now, you cannot talk about him that way since no matter what he does he is still your father!" Helen snapped with a sharp voice while looking at her daughter with a tired, broken expression.

Amy looked down at the pavement and sighed deeply "I’m sorry mom, I don’t want to start another fight since we already have enough problems" said Amy while shaking her head "But what do we do then, we are literally locked out in the street?"

Helen wrapped her arm around Amy’s shoulder and began walking back toward where they left the car "There is only one place left for us to go tonight, we can’t stay here" said Helen while her eyes filled with exhaustion "We are going to your grandmother’s house..."