Chapter 172
Ellie's POV
"Hey, hey—breathe," I said, channeling every ounce of calm I'd learned from managing my own panic attacks. "Lily, look at me. Deep breath. Whatever it is, we'll handle it together, okay? But I need you to tell me what's wrong."
She tried. Her mouth opened, closed. Another sob choked out instead of words. I guided her to sit on her bed—she collapsed more than sat, legs giving out—and dropped down beside her, one arm around her shoulders.
"Take your time," I murmured, rubbing slow circles on her back the way my mom used to when I was little and upset. "I'm right here. Not going anywhere."
Lily grabbed a tissue from her nightstand with shaking hands, pressing it against her eyes. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper:
"It's Ryan."
My heart dropped. Ryan—Jackson's quiet roommate, the pre-med student who blushed whenever Lily smiled at him. The guy who'd spent the last three months absolutely smitten with my best friend, doing sweet gestures like leaving notes in her textbooks and bringing her favorite coffee before early morning classes.
"What about Ryan?" I asked carefully. "Did you two have a fight, or—"
"He's missing." The word came out strangled. "He's been missing since yesterday afternoon and I… Ellie, I can't find him anywhere."
The room felt suddenly colder. Missing. The word hung in the air between us, heavy with implications.
"Tell me everything," I said, keeping my voice level despite the worry starting to coil in my chest. "When did you last see him? What happened?"
Lily took a shuddering breath and pulled out her phone, hands still trembling as she swiped to their text thread.
"Yesterday afternoon, we were supposed to have dinner together. To celebrate your project finishing, actually." A watery laugh. "He texted me at five-oh-three saying Jackson needed him for something and he'd be a little late. I said fine, no problem, I'd wait."
She scrolled up, showing me the messages:
Ryan (5:03 PM): Jackson needs me for something - might be late. Don't wait if you're hungry!
Lily (5:04 PM): No worries! I'll grab snacks and wait for you~
"That was the last thing he sent," Lily whispered. "I waited until eight. He never showed up. His phone went straight to voicemail. I texted Jackson asking where Ryan was, and Jackson said…" She pulled up another conversation. "Jackson said Ryan left their room around five and he assumed Ryan was coming to meet me."
A chill ran through me. So Ryan had told Jackson one thing, told Lily another, and then… vanished?
"I've sent him twenty-six messages," Lily continued, voice breaking again. "Called thirteen times. Nothing. This morning I went to his dorm—Jackson said his bed wasn't slept in. I checked the library, the gym, his favorite coffee shop, the places he studies… No one's seen him since yesterday afternoon."
She turned to face me fully, tears streaming freely now, and the raw fear in her eyes made my chest ache.
"I even asked our mutual friends. Tyler said he saw Ryan heading toward Blue Water Lake around 5:15 yesterday, but after that…" Lily's breathing hitched. "I went to Campus Security this morning. They said they can't file an official missing person report until forty-eight hours. They told me college students 'disappear' all the time for personal reasons and I shouldn't worry."
"That's bullshit," I said flatly. "Ryan's not the type to just vanish."
"Exactly!" Lily's fingers dug into my arm, hard enough to hurt. "He texts me good morning every single day. He never ignores calls. And he'd tell me if something came up—even if it was embarrassing or weird, he'd tell me. But now…"
Her voice dissolved into sobs. I pulled her against my shoulder, feeling her whole body shake with the force of her crying.
Twenty-five hours. No contact. Phone off. This isn't like Ryan at all.
"Listen to me," I said, pulling back to meet her eyes. "Ryan's smart and capable. Whatever's going on, we will find him. But losing your mind with panic isn't going to help him, okay?"
"I can't help it," Lily choked out. "What if he's hurt? What if someone—" She couldn't finish the sentence, just pressed both hands over her mouth to muffle a fresh wave of sobs.
I grabbed her hands, holding them firmly. "Look at me. Look at me, Lily. Here's what we're going to do: You're going to show me everything—your messages, Ryan's schedule, the last known sighting locations. We'll make a systematic list. Then I'm going to talk to Jackson, because if Ryan said Jackson needed him, Jackson might know more than he told you."
That seemed to break through the panic. Lily blinked, focused on my face. "You'll… you'll help me look for him?"
"Of course I will," I said, pulling her into a tight hug. "You're my best friend, and Ryan's important to you. That makes him important to me. We're going to find him."
She nodded against my shoulder, grip still desperate but breathing a fraction calmer. "Thank you. God, Ellie, thank you. I've been alone all day and Megan's at some student government thing until late and I just… I kept thinking the worst things…"
"I know. But you're not alone anymore." I rubbed her back one more time, then pulled out my phone. "Let me text Jackson. He might have more context about what Ryan was supposedly helping with."
I drafted the message carefully:
Me: Emergency. Ryan's been missing since 5pm yesterday when he left your room. Lily's losing it. Do you know where he actually went or what he was doing? Need to talk ASAP.