Chasing Shadows: A Friend's Disappearance

My best friend disappeared two years ago on a Wednesday afternoon, the kind of day that should've been

so ordinary it would fade into memory. But instead, it became the day my life split into

before and after. Her name, or the name I knew her by, was Ava Sinclair.

She'd just turned 26. She loved lemon tea, hated rainy days,

and always kept emergency glitter packets in her purse in case life needs sparkle,

as she always joked. We'd been inseparable since sophomore year of college, bonded instantly

over our mutual hatred for networking events and our shared delusion that we were funnier than

we actually were. Ava wasn't the type of person who vanished. She wasn't chaotic or impulsive.