cardigan, a. butler

twenty-six

twenty-six, radio silence

silence. that was what jackie and austin had received from elsie and it worried them. they hadn't been able to get a hold of elsie and it drove them absolutely crazy, not knowing where the girl had went.

she hadn't answered any of their texts or phone calls and her location was disabled. what made things worse was that elsie hadn't even been active on any of her socials.

there was no sign of life from the girl and it killed the two. it had been almost two days since they had heard from her and it didn't help that austin was across the world from his girlfriend.

not being able to help find her broke him and what made it worse was he had to pretend everything was okay when all he wanted to do was book the first flight to america and find his girlfriend.

of course, he had seen the article and the hateful messages his girlfriend was receiving from social media and it angered him. how could anyone be so cruel to someone like elsie?

"have you heard anything?" austin asked as his leg bounced up and down. "no." jackie sighed as she laid in her bed.

"i don't understand, why would she disappear and not say anything?" austin asked with frustration.

"i think the hate got to her this time, austin. before, she was able to ignore it and live her life normally but with the death threats coming for our family and every news article calling her a slut, it all became too much." jackie explained as she felt her eyes begin to water.

"i just wish she called so i knew she was okay." jackie cried, finally letting her emotions get the best of her.

"have you called the guys? maybe she's with one of them?" austin suggested, trying to think of all the possible places she could have gone.

"yeah, they all have spoken to her recently." jackie informed him as she glanced out of her window.

"what about timothee? and zendaya?" he asked, his brain thinking of anyone elsie had spoken about or mentioned during their time together.

"timothee tried calling her, she hasn't called. zendaya said elsie had left her messages on read."

"at least we know she still has her phone." he remarked before he heard a knock coming from his trailer door.

"austin, they need you on set in five minutes!" his manager called out from outside of the trailer.

"okay, i'll be there in a minute." he yelled back before sighing.

"i hate to do this but i have to go, jackie." he apologized as he began to get up from his couch.

"it's okay, austin. you should finish your scenes and i'll let you know if i hear from her." jackie reassured him.

"okay, bye jackie." he told the girl before the two hung up. austin took one last glance at his phone screen to see a picture of elsie smiling as he kissed her cheek.

he felt tears prick his eyes before he threw his phone on the couch and stormed out of his trailer, wanting more than anything to get the day over with so he could go back to worrying about elsie.

-

the moment that notification popped up on elsie's phone, she felt her whole world crash around her.

she tried her best to not cry in the middle of the airport as she waited for her bags in baggage claim.

her face was hidden in her hoodie and sunglasses covered her eyes, hoping and praying that no one would recognize her.