Sleeping that night... That's the night I'll never forget for the rest of my life. It was 10:00 pm. She usually comes back around 8:00 pm from college. Not today. It was 11:30 now. Still not home. I left my house on an Activa along with my father, on a search for her. Mamma was home alone crying, bawling her brains out. We live in India, we don't tell people such problems and ask them for their help, cus "honor". Searched every place I could, asked people if they saw this girl anywhere, showing them her beautiful smile on dad's phone. No luck! Came back home at 1:30 without her. I couldn't see my mom cry anymore. I tried to shut my ears, couldn't. At 3:00, a friend of her texted saying she must have been at this resort 50 kms from home. Dad and I took the car, reached that place, but turns out you need a boat to get to the resort. And the boat service starts only at 5:00 in the morning. If you need to go there NOW, you have to take a detour and travel another 50 kms to get to the other side.Another 90 minutes, we reached that resort. It's a very remote place. The guard didn't let us in. They don't take guests after 9:00 pm, he said. No luck. Came back home, mommy was quiet. Mommy always scolded her daughter about things. But she always bought the costliest shit for her. I told them we need to inform the cops, mamma strictly said "NO!". That's the end of that discussion. Dad said, let's just go to sleep and fell on the bed. Mom was sitting on the edge. All of a sudden as I put the lights out, mamma started crying so loudly dad had to calm her down. She cried ALL night. It was 5:30 in the morning when we came home. Now it was 6:00. My mom was weeping slowly with her eyes against my dad's chest, while she laid her head on his shoulder. I could hear it ALL. That night I preferred to sleep right next to them. I had a lump in throat. I couldn't even recall the last time I had a lump this big. I realised that no matter how much we fight over stupid shit, I loved her WAY more than I thought I hated her. You'll never know what it feels like when you have no whereabouts of your sister. You'll never know how heavy your heart feels like until you know there's supposed to be another person in this house at this time of the day, but isn't. I tried to sleep with the lump still there. I don't know what happened next. I tried to think of every good thing in my life, but nothing popped up, nevertheless, between my mom's sobs and my dad's comforting words to her, I somehow managed to drift into sleep. At 7:00 dad's phone rang, I was in fact sleeping, but somewhere deep in my mind, something hit me like a hammer and compelled me to wake up and pick the damn phone!!! "Hello" "Hello!, Am I speaking to Mr..." "Yes! What is it?" "We have a patient here, she was unconscious, we couldn't find any contact until now, thankfully we got this number just a few minutes back. Do you know Sneha?" "YES!," "WHAT HAPPENED?" "Nothing. She happened to pass out near.... She's alright now, asleep." "WHICH HOSPITAL IS IT?" "....XYZ" Me and my dad hustled out of my house, while I grabbed the keys to the Activa. Got in the elevator, I cursed it for taking so long to reach down 23 floors. Dad rode it while I sat back. We were on our way to meet my sister. Only I know what thoughts were in my mind all that night. Every least possible thing seemed too probable to happen. And I mean EVERY possible thing. There was a moment when I wished to just want her back. Just Back ALIVE seemed satisfying. Am not good with emotions. My dad did shed a tear or a couple that night. Not me. But now when we were on our way to the hospital, feeling the cold wind passing through my hair lines, imagining what'd happen if we didn't hear anything from anybody about her even today, I broke down. I broke down but only before I made sure nobody was looking. Of course nobody was looking, it was 7:20, my dad was driving, I was behind him. I broke the lump in my throat and let a single tear roll down my left cheek. That's when I realised family is what keeps me ALIVE. :'( fin!