In the morning, Mom gets me ready.
“Looks like Sarah’s sleeping in,” she tells me. “Must have been a late one. I didn’t even hear her come in.”
I realize I didn’t hear her either, though I have a blurry memory of hearing a car outside.
At about ten thirty, Olivia comes running down. “Sarah’s not here! She’s not in her room!”
“You shouldn’t have gone in,” Dad scolds her. He goes up to look and comes back confirming Olivia is right.
“Told you.” Olivia pouts.
“She must be staying with one of the friends she went with to the concert,” says Mom.
“She could have let us know.” Dad sounds irritated. “I’ll text her, just to make sure she’s okay.”
He does, but an hour later, he’s had no reply. “Probably still asleep,” he says.
I’m trying not to panic, but I don’t believe Sarah has gone back to Richard’s. She sounded really certain when she said she doesn’t want to be with him anymore, so why would she?
Could Dan have found out about Richard, found out that Sarah was going to the concert with him? I feel like my worst fears are coming true.
Hours go by. I keep wishing Sarah would walk through the door, bubbly, pretending not to be hungover, full of what a great concert it was.
She doesn’t.
Mom tries phoning Sarah but says her phone seems to be switched off. “She probably turned it off for the concert and forgot to put it on again,” says Mom. “Or left her charger at home.”
By 4:00 p.m. Mom and Dad are both looking anxious. “I don’t even know who she was going with,” Mom comments. “Was it Dan? Do you think we should try to call him? Or her friends…that Rihanna? Who’s the other one—Emma, isn’t it? But how would we get hold of them? All their numbers will be in Sarah’s phone.”
“Should we call the police?” says Dad.
“Let’s give it a few more hours,” says Mom. “She’s probably still hungover at Dan’s or a friend’s house, something like that.”
Mom doesn’t sound sure that she believes what she’s saying, even as she says it. I am even less sure.
A few more hours go by. Mom says she’ll try looking at Sarah’s laptop—see if she can find a number for Dan or one of her friends—but she comes down saying she can’t get into anything without Sarah’s password. She finds the phone number for Sarah’s sister, Kate, which Sarah gave her for emergencies. Dad phones Kate after dinner, but there’s no answer. Then he phones the police.
“They took the details, but they didn’t sound that interested,” he tells Mom. “She’s an adult. It’s not like when we lost Finn.”
“It isn’t like her to go off and say nothing, though,” says Mom.
“I did tell them that,” says Dad. “I’ll keep trying Kate. Sarah doesn’t have any other family, does she?”
“No, her mom died years ago,” says Mom. “I don’t think there was anyone else.”
I’m facing toward the doorway, and I can picture Sarah coming through, smiling and laughing. Then I see her at the concert, like she was in my dream. But as I try to fix the image of her in my mind, it fades. What happened, Sarah? Where are you? Did you get to the concert? Did Dan find out? Just come home, Sarah. Please.