The Daughter They Abandoned Is The Doctor They Can’t Reach Chapter 08
I was reading papers in the library when a shadow fell over my table.
Eli was standing across from me. He checked the time, then closed my book.
“Come on. We’re getting food. You need to break the habit of skipping lunch.”
I blinked. “How did you know?”
“I noticed during the summer program. When you get focused, you lose track of time.”
He said it as naturally as breathing.
At the dining hall, he didn’t lecture me. He just swiped his meal card first.
“You can get me next time.”
Over lunch, he asked, “What’s Pittsburgh like?”
“Industrial city. Pretty far.”
“You’re not going home before classes start?”
“No. I’ve got things to do here.”
Eli paused for a second but didn’t push, switching instead to complaining about his mother.
“She wants to video call every day. Keeps asking if I’m eating enough, sleeping enough. It’s driving me crazy.”
I took a bite of my sandwich and suddenly had trouble swallowing.
A week after I left, I had used a public computer to anonymously check the Facebook group for our neighborhood.
On the fourth day after I left, my mother had posted: *Has anyone seen Nora lately? She doesn’t seem to be at home, and we can’t reach her by phone.*
There was no photo. No *please help*. No panic.
Just a simple check of a fact.
I could even guess why they had finally noticed.
Maybe Tessa wanted me to edit her orientation vlog. Maybe no one had cleaned up the materials she’d left scattered everywhere.
Some people were annoyed because they were cared for too much.
Other people disappeared for four days before anyone in their family even remembered they were gone.