Sorry it's a bit short, but hopefully I can upload another chapter soon!
Tom's Point Of View
The days continued to pass. Each second went by with an agonizingly slow tick of the clock, and every hour seemed to last forever. I was constantly waiting for the phone to ring, desperately hoping for good news but dreading the opposite. Not knowing where Nicki was and not being able to help her was the worst feeling in the world. I would give anything for her to be safe and well, anything at all.
Being without Nicki left a huge empty space in my life. In the mornings, I would look around the staffroom for her, only to find her mug unused, her chair empty. When I thought of something funny or interesting to say to her, she wasn't there for me to tell. When I waited in the queue for lunch, she wasn't there to wait with me. After school, I couldn't chat with her or invite her over for dinner. The lonely evenings were the worst- they seemed to stretch on forever. Even Josh seemed subdued in her absence, and he was often seeking company from his friends, leaving me more alone than ever. I wasn't afraid to admit to myself that I missed having Nicki around. And more than that, I missed her. Her perfect smile, her enticing scent, her musical laugh, her wicked sense of humour, her can-do attitude. I couldn't even imagine what was happening to her right now. I wondered if she was okay. I wondered if I'd ever see her again.
Everyone around me seemed to emanate sympathy and concern, yet they could never understand how I felt. Sure, they missed her, and they hoped she was okay, but they didn't feel it like I did. When I met Nicki, my world had been put into a colourful high definition, but now, without her, it had plunged into a fuzzy black and white. I couldn't be fully absorbed in anything, and smiling was a rare occurrence. Things that used to interest me suddenly paled into insignificance. I had fallen into a deep, dark hole, and only one thing could get me out.