"Hey, have you seen Hanne?"
Words slipped from Erik's lips as he sighed in stress in the driver's seat of his car. He was worried, anxious since he couldn't find his beloved anywhere.
And this was nowhere near the situation last time. He seriously could not find Hanne.
It started out with him waiting in the lobby for her, but after about half an hour with unreturned calls and texts message, he went to look for her himself. But he only found her chair, empty, and the desk clean of any work.
So he asked Marta. That's the most logical thing to do, right? He simply thought that Hanne was probably out making a quick trip to the printer, or maybe out to fetch her co-workers some coffee.
The thing is that—she never did come into work today.
There was never a record of her coming into the building, with her camera, bags, and herself to begin her day's work. Nothing.
What made Erik worry like hell was the fact that she texted him this morning that she would be taking the bus to work and that he didn't have to give her a ride today. He doesn't know if she even took the bus, or if she did and got abducted along the way.
Before that could get the best of him, Marta also told him that Hanne had requested today and a few days following off from work. She never specified why only because Hanne didn't give a reason for the request. Only asking to not work on those days.
So he decided not to burst out in panic, went back to his car and drove to her apartment building, where he called Marco, who he hoped had information on where Hanne is.
"Wha—Why are you asking me?" his friend exclaimed from the other end of the call. "You're her boyfriend!"
"I know it's just that..." Jesus, how was he supposed to explain this without sounding stupid? Yeah, I can't find my girlfriend anywhere, I think I lost her? "Look, this morning she told me would be taking the bus to work, and I checked in with her boss to see where she is, and her boss tells me that she never came into work. Apparently, she took today and a bunch of days off, and now I can't find her."
Marco sighed, probably pinching the bridge of his nose as he stops in front of a stoplight (hopefully with a driver's license). "Do you need help?"
"Bitte."
"Well, have you tried looking through her flat?" Oh God, no. The idea of going through Hanne's stuff without her permission made him feel guilty, but in a situation like this, he supposed it would be okay. "Maybe she had plans written out somewhere that you didn't know about. Going somewhere without telling you?"
"No, Hanne would never do that. She never liked to be alone and—"
"Do you want to find your girlfriend or not?"
Erik nodded without hesitation despite the fact that he was talking on the phone. "I'm at her apartment building. It's the—"
"The one with the Dutch flag on one of the windows? I know, I pass by the building all the time when I drive home. See you." And then Marco hung up.
Everything didn't make sense to Erik.
He knew that she was hurting pretty badly, and even though she tried to hide it majority of the time, he wanted give her all of him. Every single little thing if it meant that she would only make small changes.
How could she just disappear on him like this?
-
"How can you just lose your girlfriend?" Marco asked and they walked down the hallway of Hanne's building, soon stopping in front of her door. Apt. 5081. "It's not like one minute, she's right next to you and the next, she's gone off to her home country of Hungary."
