Chasing Her Back

say anyt

ay like he hadn't just dropped a

n you ended up

head, sharp and uneven

lowed

padded against the cold marble, wet from the ra

li

pt wa

as,

end of the hall. Face unr

eared the same night

w tigh

me-was I

was heavier

think I

l no

d you just find me lying there and

ot what h

ep sayi

se it'

tell

his side, like the truth was somethi

where she vanished.

o believe that's

anything from

more than i

ath. "Why didn't y

nd you. Because I thought you were her. And w

e it

onest

ve me. He lo

her notebook hidden behind the bookshel

etched dates, notes, c

en: Apr

ress. R

ke rain an

t loo

circled at the bo

i

ne Elias had given me

va

it. I hadn't que

il

k. He'd written it next to L

acem

felt holl

ry. I didn

und it, and walked away like I hadn't just seen

ias took me to a

ed happy couple in public while

hade Lena had last bee

s. Camera flashes. Fake sm

he was clinging to an

approached us. Elegant. Curious

e her," she said,

asked, though

"She used to come here with him all

roat

Others think she's dead. But you-" she tilted her

e away before

r, he did

her

expression. Not pain. Not ang

il

t, I wand

tch of something burie

room closet. The one filled

re was no way he'd bough

k was a coat I'd

d into t

ash

No note. Just m

l asleep on the couch-glass of whiskey in hand,

I plugged it i

fo

le vid

lic

flickered.

in a dim room, shaking h

t," her voice whispered.

ing. I think he know

bruised shoulder. A tear

ens to me... it w

deo cu

like

screen. My refle

shaking. My

d the la

, the doo

urn

in the doorw

hisper. "Where di

ask you t

slowly, like he w

know it

lie t

. For once, he looked... lost. "I didn't

as scared

thought someone was foll

now what t

kep

g. Because I didn

I looked him dead in t

hed. Jus

s phone

wn at the sc

closer. "W

dn't

li

ed me t

ber. One li

's b