What If

...

Avid_Rdr's account went inactive. 

There was never another post from her. 

Newer readers began leaving messages and comments, asking for another update. 

The story "couldn't just end there," they'd say. 

They kept leaving comments on her other books, but never getting a reply. 

Her follower count began to dwindle. 

Oh sure, some followers had just written her off.

It wasn't their problem. 

Why should they care?

So what if she didn't update. 

That just makes her a bad author. 

A quitter. 

But the faithful few, the "inner circle" one might say, couldn't accept this ending they'd been given.

They would message each other and try to reason out what could have happened. 

"Where did she go?"

"What happened to her?"

"Do you think she's okay?"

"Do you think-"

"Don't say that." 

"I can't help but think it."

"No, I won't accept that.  She'll be back."

"I dunno..."

"Isn't there some way to find her?  Did you ever get her number?"

"Why would I?  We were continents away."

"Were?  No, we ARE continents away.  No past tense please."

"May as well accept it.  Something happened." 

"Yeah, maybe, but did she ever tell you anything about herself?"

"No..."

"Did she have an email?"

"I don't know it."

"Me either." 

"So what do we do?"

"I dunno..."

It would go one like this for a while, till finally no one even visited her profile any longer. 

There were no more wishes to new followers of, "Happy reading!"

No more replies.

No more celebrations of book milestones.

To her friends, her profile was eerily silent.

Sure, her books still got some reads. 

A small handful of readers would revisit her first book just for the nostalgia of it all.

However, no one ever really found out what happened to their favorite author.

She simply...

Disappeared.