Day Ten Of Being Ghosted

Kira bombarded Luca with phone calls until the police captain had to block her number. He sent her a text message before that. ‘Austyn’s fine. Don’t worry.’ Kira gave up trying to look for him after that. It seemed that everyone knew where Austyn was. Everyone except her. Day Five of Austyn’s disappearance, she was mad, hysterical, out of her mind. Day Six, she cried herself to sleep. Day Seven, she reported for class. The new semester had begun. Day Eight, she went back to the villa, packed up her stuff and, despite Elsie’s entreaties, moved out of the villa. Day Nine, she settled into the school dormitory and spent the whole day in class. Day Ten, she no longer called Jesse, Luca, Liam, or Kai. It was pointless. Giana wasn’t in the room when she returned to the dorm, but the other two roommates were. One was on the phone with her boyfriend. Ditto for the other girl. Kira blocked out the ‘honey’ and ‘sweetie’ and ‘boo’ and ‘you’re the cutest.’ She flung her bag onto her bed and texted