The first thing everyone noticed was the silence.
Emily Hayes was always quiet the kind of girl who moved through the world softly, her laughter like a secret only a few people were lucky enough to hear. But she was never absent. Not from morning classes, not from her café shift, not from the late-night study sessions that stretched until the library lights dimmed.
So when she didn't show up on Wednesday morning, people noticed.
At first, it was just a few puzzled looks. Jenna, her roommate, waited by their dorm door with two cups of coffee one for herself, one for Emily watching the hall with an uneasy feeling she couldn't explain.
She probably overslept, Jenna told herself. Midterms. Stress.
But by noon, the cup was cold, untouched.
That evening, the messages started:
You seen Emily today?
She missed bio class. Weird.
Did she say she was going somewhere?
Jenna tried calling. Once. Twice. Then ten times. No answer.
By 10 p.m., she was pacing the small dorm room, phone pressed to her ear, the sound of voicemail becoming unbearable. "Hey, Em, it's me again. I'm… starting to get worried, okay? Just call me."
The next morning, she woke to the sound of voices in the hall. Someone said police. Another said missing report.
Her stomach dropped.
Across campus, Liam Carter walked toward the athletic center, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, his baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. The early October air was sharp, and the morning sun made the campus look almost too bright like the world was mocking him with its normalcy.
He had always loved mornings on campus. The sound of cleats on concrete, the chatter of his teammates, the way people called his name like he was someone that mattered.
Today, the sound felt too loud. Every word around him seemed like a whisper meant for him fragments of gossip, fear, and rumor curling in the air.
"Did you hear?"
"She's been missing for two days."
"They're talking to people on her floor."
Liam's heart pounded as he walked faster. He didn't need to ask who she was. He already knew.
He turned the corner near the café and froze. Jenna stood outside, her hair tied back, her face pale with exhaustion. When she saw him, she didn't smile.
"Liam."
He forced a smile anyway. "Hey. You okay?"
"Have you seen Emily?"
The way she said her name made his stomach twist. He tried to look surprised, tried to summon confusion instead of fear. "No. Not since earlier this week. Why?"
"She's missing. No one's seen her since Tuesday night." Jenna's voice trembled as she spoke. "Her parents called me this morning. They can't reach her either."
He blinked, pretending to process it. "That's… wow. Maybe she went home? You know how she sometimes"
"She didn't." Jenna cut him off. "Her phone's off. Her stuff's still in the dorm. She was supposed to meet me after class, Liam. She never misses anything like that."
He could feel the sweat forming at the back of his neck despite the cold. "You called the cops?"
"Campus security's looking into it. They said it might be too early to file a report." Jenna looked at him closely. "You were close to her lately. Did she say anything to you? About going somewhere? About anyone bothering her?"
Liam's throat went dry. He could feel her watching him, searching for something truth, guilt, anything.
"No," he said finally. "Nothing. She's probably fine. Maybe she just needed space. You know how intense things get before finals."
Jenna didn't look convinced. She just nodded once, then turned away. "If you hear anything, tell me."
"Yeah. Of course."
As she walked off, Liam's forced calm cracked. He ducked behind the student center and leaned against the wall, breathing hard.
Space. That was what he'd said. But Emily wasn't coming back. And every second that passed made that fact heavier, louder, harder to hide.
That night, a soft rain fell over campus. The kind that soaked through jackets and made every sound dull. Liam sat in his car near the baseball field, headlights off, engine quiet.
The field stretched before him the diamond gleaming faintly under the mist. To everyone else, it was just a place for games, cheers, and wins. But to Liam, it was a reminder of everything he'd lost and everything he'd done to keep his secret buried.
His phone buzzed on the dashboard. A text from Coach:
"Keep calm. They're asking questions, but don't panic. We'll handle this."
He stared at the message. We'll handle this.
That word again. We.
It wasn't just his secret anymore.
He looked out at the field again. It used to feel like home the scent of dirt and grass, the sound of bats cracking under stadium lights. Now it felt like a graveyard of his own making.
He closed his eyes, remembering that night in flashes Emily's voice trembling, her eyes wide but
" I can't pretend I didn't see this."
He'd begged her not to. He'd tried to reason with her, to explain that it wasn't what she thought. But she didn't believe him. She'd promised to go to the dean in the morning.
Now, the morning had come and gone and she was gone too.
Liam ran a hand over his face. He told himself it had been an accident. He hadn't meant for it to happen. He'd just wanted to stop her from ruining everything the team, the sponsorships, the dream.
The dream that wasn't really his anymore.
The rain grew heavier. He turned the key in the ignition, but he didn't drive. He just sat there, the sound of rain against the windshield blurring his thoughts.
His phone buzzed again — this time, a message from an unknown number:
"They're asking questions about Tuesday night. Be smart."
His chest tightened. He didn't know who it was, but the warning made something clear someone else knew.
And that meant his secret wasn't buried as deep as he thought.
By Thursday morning, flyers were taped to every hallway wall:
MISSING STUDENT – EMILY HAYES
The picture showed her smiling, sunlight in her hair, eyes bright. Underneath, the words last seen near the athletic dorms, Tuesday, 9:30 PM.
Liam stood by the board, pretending to read it with the same worry as everyone else. But inside, his mind was spinning.
Every question from campus security. Every glance from classmates. Every whisper felt like a countdown.
The field was quiet that afternoon no practice, no laughter, no team huddles. Just the empty stands and the echo of what used to be.
And standing there, staring at the field, Liam realized something:
No matter how many games he won, no matter how much he smiled, the silence around that field would never leave.