17/10/2026
Well, Delores (aka my anxiety) was at it again on our recent trip to Indonesia. ๐คฆโโ๏ธ
My niece and I were in Lombok visiting one of our travel companions who had landed in the hospital. After doing our visiting duties, it was time to head back to our accommodation, so I booked a Grab (the Southeast Asian version of Uber). We were standing right outside waiting as the car pulled up. I stepped forward, opened the door, and turned to let my niece climb in first.
She was gone.
Literally vanished into thin air in the span of three seconds. ๐ณ
Now, a rational, emotionally regulated adult would think, โOh, she probably dashed to the loo,โ or โMaybe she stepped around the corner.โ Not Delores. Delores immediately grabbed a megaphone inside my skull and announced: โSHE HAS BEEN ABDUCTED.โ ๐จ๐จ๐จ
Rationality left the country. I instantly turned into an absolute lunatic, sprinting back and forth across the driveway, screaming her name at the top of my lungs. Every vehicle trying to leave that hospital had to face me. I threw myself near moving cars, cupping my hands against tinted back windows like an unhinged detective, refusing to let anyone pass without a thorough visual inspection.
Then Delores dialed it up a notch: What if she is in a boot?! Naturally, looking into back seats was no longer enough. I started sidling up to vehicle trunks, tilting my ear directly against the metal, listening intently for desperate muffled thumps or Morse code tapping from inside. ๐ต๏ธโโ๏ธ๐๐
Local onlookers were staring. The poor Grab driver was watching me from behind the wheel with utter bewilderment and sheer terror, clearly wondering what kind of manic roadside thriller he had just accepted a fare for. Right in the middle of it, a hand gently tapped my shoulder. I spun around, braced to fight off a kidnapper.
It was my niece. Holding a cold beverage. ๐ฅค Sheโd just popped over to grab a drink. Obviously. Because that is what normal human beings do on a warm afternoon. Who on earth leaps straight to an international hostage crisis in three seconds flat?
Definitely not me. Must have been Delores. ๐๐คฆโโ๏ธ