The house was cold and empty, which saddened him, but the thing that broke his heart was the salty stains on the bed. He ran his fingers across them softly, a deep tear gouging in his heart with every sparkling droplet. After he added a few of his own, he found the closet and the cupboards in the kitchen ravaged and torn, with clothes and food missing.

Lauri, where are you? he thought desperately, holding one of her favorite shirts that had been on the floor. It smelled like her, a mixture of mango lotion and minty gum and floral perfume. All through the house, there were little things of her, little things he hadn’t even noticed before: her hair on her brush, her swimming suit thrown haphazardly over a chair in the kitchen, her toothbrush in the cupboard, even her imported Belgian chocolate on the counter. The tear in his heart deepened with each one.

“Lauri, where did you go?” he wept softly, staring at her photo on the refrigerator.

Then, he jumped as the phone rang.