I don’t know what happened to my cousin, and I don’t think I’m supposed to ask.

i was really close to my cousin priya growing up. she was seven years older than me, but we clicked. she used to tie my rakhi, bring me little candies when she came over, taught me how to make cha behind my mom’s back. I loved her. lot of memories together…

she was smart, the kind of girl everyone thought would do something big. she once told me she got placed in deloitte and would be doing some training in bangalore. said she might even get sent to london. I was like 15 and I thought she was the coolest person alive.

she left the next week. we hugged goodbye. she told me to never get stuck. that’s the last time I saw her.

for a while, they kept saying she was busy. that she got transferred. got engaged. moved. and then they stopped mentioning her completely.

when I asked my mom about her a year or two later, she told me not to ask again. she was cold about it. my dad was the only one who looked angry, not at me at her. I heard him say something like, she was just another family member you knew

years later, I found an old USB drive at my amma’s house. old photos, random stuff. a picture of priya. looked like a school pic.

her name isn’t on any social media. I tried everything. no linkedIn. not even old college stuff. It’s like she was wiped. I searched her name everywhere facebook, instagram, even HR lists from Deloitte. It’s like she never existed.

I asked my older cousin once if he knew anything. he said, no idea she maybe moved to san jose last time we talked she mentioned

I think about her a lot. especially lately. nobody talks about her. her old room is still locked. that silver pendant she always wore is in the temple drawer.

I don’t know what happened. I don’t think I ever will. but I hope she’s out there in san jose somewhere. I hope she made it.