my online lover

rescue

I try to call her again but then something comes up in my mind. I can reach Antonio and ask if she is there. The only problem is that I don't have his phone number, so I need to find another way to reach him. And the only solution is to find him on Instagram.

I sit on the stairs at the entrance of the house. There are so many options about where she could be and what it could've happened. It can be the only thing that now is scratching my mind.

I take my phone and open the Instagram app, thinking the way she could call herself on it but then I realise that her name is a very unusual and rare one. There must be no other people called the same way, so I just type her name and the first resource that pops out is her. I tap on the account and try to force myself not to stop and look at each of her photos and go directly to see if there is one with Antonio.

I find one not too long ago. It appears to be a week ago. They are in a car, with Enede in the middle of the back sits. Antonio is the one making the photo and the driver is smiling while keeping an eye on the street. That should be Antonio's boyfriend but I don't think about that much. I just click on her best friend's face and hope the tag shows and it does. I don't hesitate to dab on the name that brings me to his open account. I reach for the message button and call him without even thinking about it.

He doesn't respond on the first attempt and not even on the second one. On the third one, I lost hope but then he finally give me an answer, and it seems to be even frustrated. «Ma chi è?*,» he asks me in his fully Italian accent and voice.

«Antonio, it's Kevin here,» I speak up and feel those words so unrealistic.

«Who?» He asks but after some seconds he realises. «Kevin? What do you want?»

I take a deep breath and then hold it. «Is Enede there?» Then my heart starts to race while waiting for an answer and hoping is a positive one because I can't handle hearing otherwise.

They don't have her. They can't have her.

«What's going on?»

His answer gives me the response to all my doubts. «She is not there?»

«No, Kevin, she is not here. We went out yesterday night and then we dropped her at the end of her street, as usual. She walked away and that was the last time I saw her,» he explains to me then inhale deeply. «Can you tell me what's going on?»

We went out yesterday night. She didn't tell me. They went out and she didn't keep me on track with that. I didn't know she was out, I didn't know she was alone, I didn't know they were here waiting for her. This all start to make sense, even if I didn't want it to be.

«Kevin,» Antonio yells in my heart, remembering his presence.

I try to find a way to speak again. «Everything is fine, I'll talk to you later.»

I hear him complaining about it before I hang up and start to look around myself, checking on something I don't even know. She is not at Antonio, the house is empty and she left the dog alone. Could she be so careless? No, that's not something Enede would do.

I need to think. I stand up from the stairs and start to walk up and down, passing my hand into my hair and pulling the end of it. I need to think clearly. I have to calm down and try to consider everything.

I put away my phone and try to not let the rage fill my mind. I am still looking around, trying to find something that can tell me if they've been here and if she is somewhere near. I start to walk along the street. It can't be possible that they could've taken her. It can't be so possible.

I am almost at the end of the street when my foot steps on something that cracks. I look down: a phone. I quickly lay down to pick it up and as soon the cracked screen lights up, I know it's hers because my texts and calls appear on the lock screen.