Chapter 2 Desperate Search
“Miaomiao? Miaomiao, did you come out? Don’t play hide-and-seek with Big Brother!”
Panic hit, but I forced myself to calm down and started calling through the Carriage.
Miaomiao could be naughty. She’d probably slipped out without telling me.
I was already a little mad.
She’d promised so sweetly that she’d stay close and not run off, nodding like a little chick pecking rice.
But we’d barely boarded and she was already ignoring everything Mom, Dad, and I had told her.
I walked the Carriage with a stern face.
She was definitely getting her palm smacked this time.
“Miaomiao, if you don’t come out, I’m sending you straight home!”
I searched three connecting Carriages back and forth, sweating buckets, but still no sign of her.
Something felt wrong.
A Train Police officer entered the Carriage for a routine patrol.
I rushed over without hesitation.
“Excuse me, my little sister’s gone missing. I can’t find her anywhere. Can you help?”
I pulled up a photo of her on my phone.
“She’s this small? How long has she been missing?”
Seeing she was a child, the officer’s face turned serious.
“She’s five! Her name’s Miaomiao! She went to the bathroom and just… vanished!”
The train sped faster. My heart pounded.
“Stay calm. The next stop is still far. She’s definitely still on board.”
He reassured me, then went to the bathroom where she’d disappeared.
“Open up! Routine check!”
“Who is it? I just got in here. What’s the rush?”
The dark-faced man’s grumpy voice answered. When he opened the door and saw the Train Police, his attitude changed instantly.
“It was just him! No one else went in after my sister!”
I pushed past the man and squeezed inside.
The bathroom was barely one square meter. No windows.
Nothing connected it to anywhere else except the toilet drain.
But Miaomiao was gone.
I stood in that cramped space, finding it harder to breathe.
I’d been standing right outside.
How could she just disappear??