Chapter 1
I met Cara in college thirteen years ago.
It was a rainy Tuesday in September.
I was running late to my first class of sophomore year.
I crashed into her outside the library.
Books went flying everywhere.
I started apologizing.
Stammering like an idiot.
And then she laughed.
It was the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard.
Warm.
Bright.
Alive.
She had dark curly hair that framed her face like a halo.
And eyes that looked like they held every star in the universe.
"I'm Cara," she said, holding out her hand.
"Ethan," I managed to say.
From that moment, everything changed.
For three years, we were inseparable.
We studied together in the library.
We ate terrible cafeteria food and pretended it was gourmet.
We stayed up until 3 AM talking about our future.
She wanted to be an astronomer.
I wanted to be an architect.
We planned a house with a big backyard and a telescope on the roof.
We planned children.
We planned growing old together.
The night before she disappeared, we fought.
It was stupid.
Really stupid.
I'd gotten an internship offer in another city.
I was excited.
I thought she'd be happy for me.
But she got quiet.
Then she got angry.
"You're just going to leave me behind?" she'd said.
"That's not what I'm saying at all," I'd replied. "You can come with me. We can go together."
"It's not that simple, Ethan," she'd said. And there was something in her eyes.
Fear.
I didn't understand it then.
I got angry too.
We said things we didn't mean.
I slept on the couch.
When I woke up the next morning, she was gone.
Her side of the bed was made.
Her clothes were gone from the closet.
Her toothbrush was gone from the bathroom.
All that was left was a single note on the kitchen table.
*I'm sorry. Don't look for me.*
That was it.
No explanation.
No goodbye.
Just seven words.
I called her.
The number was disconnected.
I checked her social media.
Everything was deleted.
I went to her classes.
She'd dropped them all.
I talked to her friends.
Nobody knew anything.
Or at least, nobody would tell me anything.
For ten years, I searched.
I hired private investigators.
I checked hospital records.
I drove to her hometown.
Her parents had moved.
Nobody knew where they'd gone.
I moved on with my life as best I could.
I became an architect.
I bought a house.
I even dated other people.
But nobody ever compared.
Nobody had that laugh.
Nobody had those eyes.
Nobody was Cara.
I kept her side of the closet empty.
Just in case.
I told myself I was being ridiculous.
But I couldn't help it.
Some part of me always believed she'd come back.
And then one evening, ten years to the day she'd left, someone rang my doorbell.
I opened the door.
And there she was.
But she looked nothing like the vibrant woman I remembered.
She was painfully thin.
Her skin was pale as paper.
Dark circles under those beautiful eyes.
But she smiled.
That same smile.
May you like
"Hi, Ethan," she said.
And my world shattered all over again.
