At five in the morning, Addison was woken by a text from Ezra. She squinted in the blue light.
I don't know where she is.
Addison's stomach dropped. Her hands began to shake as she tried to type a reply. Adrenaline surged in her veins even though it was unnecessary. Addison was tucked up in bed at her dad's house; it was Kya that needed the adrenaline, since she was out somewhere, getting herself in trouble.
Kya? Addison already knew the answer.
She left after we had an argument and she's not back.
Addison was frozen in her covers for a moment. She didn't want to get out of bed and deal with this; in fact, she really wished that Ezra had someone else to turn to, but clearly she didn't. If Addison didn't try to support her, who would?
The carpet was rough on her feet as she quickly crossed the room to find a jumper and some shoes. She texted Ezra to let her know she was coming over. Maybe she should have written a note before she left the house, but that wasn't on her mind at the moment; she just needed to get to Ezra. The cold swept around her face. All she could think about whether Kya could feel it too. She had a strange sinking feeling in her stomach that wasn't telling her anything good.
She didn't bother knocking on the door when she got there. It was unlocked anyway. Ezra was at the kitchen table, hunched in on herself, staring out of the window as if Kya was meant to be waiting outside for her. Now would be a great time for her to burst in and say it was all a joke.
"Do you know where she might be?" Addison asked, taking a seat opposite Ezra.
She shook her head.
The light wasn't on, and Addison didn't feel like staring at Ezra's tear-stained face in the bright yellow anyway. Plus, Kya might come home if she thought no one was going to be there to confront her. Addison wasn't going to confront her. She was here to be with Ezra and to make sure that Kya made it home okay.
Did Kya's parents need to know about this? They were both out at work like they used to all the time. She turned to Ezra. "Should we call your parents?"
Ezra's mouth dropped open and she shook her head again.
"But what if she's in trouble somewhere? We can't just sit and wait here," Addison argued. She didn't know why she was arguing; it didn't help.
Ezra just stared at her.
"We'll wait another half hour, okay? But then we really have to get someone else in on this. This isn't like before, I can feel it." Judging by the look on Ezra's face, she could feel it too.
Addison didn't really know what she meant when she said she could feel it. It wasn't specific; she couldn't tell where Kya was or if Kya was in trouble or anything like that. It was just different to before, not the disappointment she felt when she realised Kya had gone out again. This was dread: dark, sinking and void. She was sure that if she kept thinking about it she might sink down too, but there wasn't much else to think about. Was this what Kya felt like all the time?
The half an hour passed slowly and silently. Addison pondered on what she meant by her feeling it, and Ezra stared at the window blindly. By the time thirty minutes had gone by, both of them were almost relieved.
"Do you want me to call or do you want to?" Addison asked. Ezra just looked at her and turned back to the window. Apparently nothing was going to be normal tonight. The chair scraped on the floor as Addison stood up. The sound split the silence in half and suddenly all Addison could hear was her own heartbeat. She searched for a while, trying to find Kya's parents' work numbers. Their mobiles were sitting on the counter next to her. She tried to unlock them, but she ran out of password tries.
