beeeep
“hey Doll, it's me. just checking in. again. “... “so i was down by the sea today, and saw some whales far off in the distance. it reminded me of when you... when we... do you still do it? photography, i mean. you were good at it! it'd be a shame if... y'know...”
deep breath
“listen, Doll, it's... i'm sorry, it's your Witch she's... no one's heard from her in weeks. she said she was coming to find you? then she texted me something about her reflection being 'off', whatever that means, and then nothing. it's weird though she doesn't seem to have taken anything? all her bags are here, her clothes... she left food on the table, and her phone on the charger.
“wait a sec, she left it unlocked??? that's weird, why doesn't she have screen timeout turned on? like you have to actively disable that. let's see... hundreds of messages, dozens of missed calls... ugh who did she last reply to? huh. the contact is just named 'Her', but there's no number saved? no email either. actually it looks like none of the details are saved. but there's texts from 'Her' here... they all seem pretty normal up until a year ago when they seem to have stopped until... wait. hold on Doll...
“[muffled] yeah i'm in here!
“[crystal clear again] sorry about that... right before she disappeared, she got a message from 'Her' saying 'it arrived just now, but it doesn't remember.'
“look Doll, i've gotta run. just... call me. you've both been gone too long. you promised you wouldn't do this anymore.
“call me. be safe, be gentle with yourself. i love you.”
click