Page 54 of Sensing Selma
Baker. Bradley Baker.
FIFTEEN
Susan
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ISAT IN MY BED, LOOKINGout into my darkened room. I felt oddly numb despite the heavy beating of my heart.
The day had started out as usual; breakfast with my mother, a pleasant stroll with her, then a few hours in my office to work.
Lunch had come and gone without incident. It was only an hour after dinner that Ayra came to ask me where Holly was.
“I don’t know. I assume she’s working.”
She shook her head. “No one has seen her today. We were supposed to meet to discuss her progress with the music. I figured she was working this morning and didn’t want to bother her. It’s rare that I see her at lunch, so I didn’t think anything of it, but then...well as the day wore on, I... I haven’t heard from her all day.”
I pulled out my phone and tried to call her.
“I’ve tried three times,” Ayra said. “No answer.”
I let it ring and ring and ring, then set my phone down.
“Okay,” I said, unwilling to let myself become alarmed too prematurely. “Have you spoken to Keely?”
She nodded.
“To Abbie.”
She nodded.
Then I thought of our last conversation. “Have you tried Damen?”
“Damen?”
It was my turn to nod.
