11

The next morning, I woke up on top of my bed covers. I realized I'd slept off without getting under the covers. My face felt extremely tight and I was sure it contained dried tears because I had cried myself to sleep. Sitting up, I searched for my phone because it was the first thing I checked in the mornings. It wasn’t amongst the millions of things piled up on the bed. I scanned the bedside table and it was nowhere to be seen. Climbing off the bed, I bent down and looked under the bed flashing a small orange torch. It was dark in there and I could see one of my small combs and two bobby pins, one broken into two but no phone.

Getting up, I went to check the window which was tightly sealed. There had been no robbery or break in as far as I could tell. Maybe aunt Caro had picked it up to call someone? Noah, perhaps? But she didn’t know my pattern, or did she? I stood up, took a few steps and opened the door and went to the kitchen from where I could hear her singing