Mystified

 

I have a friend who seems to have disappeared from the face of the Earth. I really do not know why.  The only explanations I can think of is that either something bad happened to her or that she decided to ghost me. Both options are very disturbing, if for different reasons. Let's rewind. This person is a friend from school whom I've kept in touch with over the years. She returned to Carinthia years ago and pre-Covid we always had the tradition to meet between Christmas and New Year's when I was back "home". Sometimes, we would also meet in summer as we did last August a few weeks before my wedding, which she also attended. We didn't meet last Christmas as I was in town only for a few days and since then the only signs of life were her birthday wishes to me in January and her reactions to me congratulating her on hers in April. Previously, we would message occasionally and sometimes talk on the phone. This happened rarely as our schedules were so different. I work office hours, she has a similar schedule to farmers. She often said she envied me because of my career and private life (even when I was single for years) because she felt she was stuck in a low-paid and hard labour self-employment situation and a not exactly happy marriage. Truth be told, I often felt like the therapist in this friendship and always tried to a) cheer her up, b) provide her with options of what she could actually do if she wanted to change her life and c) try and convince her that my life was not "perfect" either. She probably contacted me more often than vice versa and when I first noticed that I hadn't heard from her and that I had not seen her online on Instagram (where she had this more or less "passive" account but would often like post of mine or watch my Stories) for months I immediately found it very out of character. There were several times when was about to pick up my phone to call her when I looked at the time and thought I'd probably disturb her, so I ended up not calling. When I  finally did, the phone just rang and then went to voicemail, but I did not leave one. I called again the next day, somewhat puzzled that she had neither called back, nor written a message to explain what she was doing that kept her from answering the phone. A few days later I texted her on WhatsApp to ask if she was alright. No response. I dug out her e-mail address and wrote to her. No response. I found her on LinkedIn and sent her a dm, which went unanswered. I went on her Instagram profile and noticed that she had deleted all picures bar one. I dm-ed her there and did not receive a reply, either, nor get an indication that she had been online or received my message. Something was off and I was getting very worried. The WhatsApp message showed that it had been delivered, but the "seen" time stamp was left blank, just as with people who have deactivated the blue ticks option. If I were blocked I would not even get the delivery info. I googled her husband and found his mobile number. I sent him a message saying that I had not heard from her for a long time and was worried because there was no response from her on any channel. His friendly reply came within minutes telling me that everything was fine, they had just been on vacation for a few days. He thanked me for my concern and told me he would let her know. I replied that I was relieved, expecting to hear from her within hours. This was a few days ago and I still have not heard from her. I also called from my work phone to check if it was just my number she didn't respond to. She doesn't know my work number and did not pick up either. Again, it went to voicemail after a few rings. Earlier today I sent her a screenshot of the short exchange with her husband, adding that I hoped he had told her I asked for her and could she please get in touch. Needless to say, no response. Just the information that my message was delivered. I have not ever seen her "online" at any time. It remains a mystery and I don't know if she has been kidnapped by aliens, joined a cult, or I did or said something to her (inadvertently) that she is pissed off about. If ever she does get in touch or I find out what happened, I shall let you know.