The Pianist and the Author

Just where could she have gone off to?

I woke up after barely any sleep, for I could not seem to fall into slumber, and turned around to face Samantha's empty bed. The sheets were perfectly folded, not a single crease or wrinkle was to be found in them. It looked as if the cleaning lady had just passed by. The utter perfection stunned me, and I realized there was something missing.

Samantha.

Where did Samantha go to? A warm summer breeze blew into the window, lightly lifting up the white bed covers. It felt relaxing and soothing, but the absence of Samantha was alarming.

Something was wrong.

I look at the clock and it reads 5:56. There's no way the landlady came, that's for sure. I grab my phone, slip on my sandals and walk towards the window.

It's wide open. The sun is almost out. We are on the first floor, so I can clumsily jump down without hurting myself. I touched the cool and wet sand, and figured it must have rained a bit last night, but then stopped in the early morning. Once on the sand, I made out distinct footprints. Putting my foot next to the prints, I can tell that it's a size 7-8, similar to my size. There are vague patterns of seashells on the bottom.

I freeze. Samantha's a size 7.5, and she has flip-flops that have seashell patterns of the bottom. I can now confirm that Samantha jumped out of the window and left.

Luckily, I can make out a trail of footprints leading to the ocean. But they stop as soon as they reach the waves. They are washed out, and no matter how much I look around, there was no other footprint to be seen.

Where could she have disappeared to? The sand was still pretty wet, so if she ran back on land I would have seen footprints.

I began to think that she might have just continued walking along the shore line, in the waves. It was possible. When did I fall asleep? I remember it was around midnight that I came back to the hotel room. I saw Samantha when I was lying on bed, and she appeared to be asleep. I kept checking my phone until around 1:30 AM, and she was still there, so the earliest she could have gone away was at two in the morning. Since it's six o'clock now, that means she's been away for four hours. If the average walking speed is at five kilometers an hour, that means she's probably at a distance of some twenty kilometers away from here. And if she walks in the water, it would probably slow her down.

I jump up and run back to the hotel. I needed help. I needed to go look for her and find her back.

I tell the receptionist lady that my friend has gone missing. She gives me a sceptical look as I tried to explain to her the whole thing. Brushing me off and telling me to go call the police, I leave and I do go call the police.

The police didn't want to get involved in this affair but agreed to take me on a helicopter ride.

As I was still very wary of this, I called the only other person I had somewhat trust in.

"Blake?" I whispered into my phone.

"Hi, Is this uh... Beatrice?" the voice on the other side of the line inquired.

"Ya, um... I need help,"

"Yes, what help?"

"My girlfriend Samantha has gone missing. She's probably taken a stroll of something stupid, but I'm still worried so..."

"You want me to come look for her?"

"Ya. Do you mind? I can pay you if you want-"

"Oh! No need for money, I'd love to come! Can I bring my boyfriend along?" His voice resonated excitement.

Did he just say... Boyfriend? What?

I forget it for now and put a mental note to ask him about it later. Right now, I need Samantha.

"Sure, sure, thank you so much!"

I tell him to meet me at the hotel entrance and when the helicopter came we - Blake, his boyfriend (whose name I soon found out was Matthew) and I - hopped on with the police.

At first there was an uncomfortable silence, but then I remembered our mission.

"Could you please just go 13 miles that way bordering the waves," I asked, pointing outside to the right of the window, "And then again 13 miles that way?"

The police officer agreed and we started gazing out of the window.

After a good half an hour, I reluctantly admitted that there was nothing. Not a single footprint on either sides.

Did she just disappear into the ocean?