Desperation pushed her to send more messages, questions, reassurances, anything she thought might prompt a reply. They stacked into a narrow column on the right side of her screen, each one more frantic than the last, each one met with the same unbroken silence. She watched the chat screen for so long that her eyes began to sting, but the screen remained still.
No typing indicator. No sign of activity. No evidence that he was out there reading her words. It became painfully, quietly clear that he wasn’t going to answer. The realization settled over her slowly, like a weight pressing down on her shoulders. For the first time since he’d disappeared, she understood the depth of what had happened. He wasn’t just avoiding school.