“But I can promise you,” I continue, “that I do care, and I am looking, and I won’t leave till your sister comes home.”
“She’s not your family.”
“I choose her anyway. According to you, she’s worth it. That’s good enough for me.”
He glances up, his eyes damp with tears. “She did not run away.”
“I believe you.”
“She did not leave us for some boy.”
“Okay.”
“But something has changed.”
“Clearly.”
“No, I mean recently. The past few weeks. Before, when she first disappeared, I monitored the internet for signs of activity all the time. But... It’s been a while.”
I nod.
“I’d stopped paying attention. But then you came, and you asked questions and last night...”
“What happened last night, Emmanuel?”
“I logged into one of her classes,” Emmanuel murmurs. “I just wanted to picture her leaning over the computer, tapping away. I wanted to feel close to her again. But I couldn’t.”
“You couldn’t log in, or you couldn’t... feel any hint of your sister?”
“The course was closed.”
“Like you said, it’s been eleven months.”
“No, not suspended or canceled. Closed. As in the work completed, so the class is no more. Sometime in the past month, my sister logged in. She submitted the homework. She passed the test.”
Emmanuel stares at me. “Last week, my missing sister... I don’t understand... I can’t explain... but of all things, LiLi completed her online class. She’s out there, somewhere, still doing her schoolwork. But not coming home to us. Why? Of all things... Why?”