The Inbox Nobody Read

You get 63 notifications a day.

But when was the last time someone really… noticed you?

Chapter 1: The Disappearance Nobody Noticed

Nikhil Sharma didn’t vanish dramatically.

No missing posters. No late-night panic.

He just… slipped away.

It was a Tuesday.

His room? Tidy.

Door? Locked.

Last seen on WhatsApp? “Online 2 days ago.”

No one thought much of it.

Not on Wednesday.

Not on Thursday.

By Friday, he’d been gone 72 hours.

No calls.

No check-ins.

No "Hey, where are you?"

Just quiet assumptions:

“Oh, he’s probably busy.”

Busy.

The most polite way we let people disappear.

Chapter 2: The Emails

Riya — the kind of colleague you chat with during coffee breaks but never really know — was the first to find it.

An email.

Subject line:

“If I disappear...”

Sent to nine people.

Unread. Every single one.

Sent at 2:47 a.m.

That lonely hour when insomnia whispers things you don't say out loud.

The email itself?

“This isn’t a suicide note.

This isn’t a cry for help either.

It’s just… the truth.

If I disappear, it’s not because I want to die.

It’s because I forgot how to live.

I begged the world to hear me.

But all I got were double ticks — never replies.”

“I hope someone reads this. Before it’s too late.”

— Nikhil

Riya stared at the screen.

Something cold settled in her chest.

Chapter 3: The Puzzle Begins

They used to call him “the ghost employee.”

Always quiet. Always on time. Never really there.

He wasn’t social.

He smiled politely.

Replied late.

But his work was flawless.

So when Riya forwarded the email, she expected people to take it seriously.

They didn’t.

“He’s probably messing around.”

“Maybe he needed a break.”

“We all feel low sometimes.”

But Riya couldn’t shake it.

Something about it wasn’t performative — it was personal. Too personal.

So she went deeper.

Into a place no one else had thought to look:

His drafts folder.

Chapter 4: 103 Drafts

Each one read like a diary entry written to no one.

Unsent. Unshared.

Just... stored away in silence.

“They asked how I’m doing. I said ‘Good!’

I hadn’t spoken to anyone in two days.”

“I think I could vanish from my own life and no one would notice the space I left behind.”

“I texted seven friends today.

Five left me on read.

Two said, ‘bro just vibe.’”

“Even the bots I talk to reply faster than humans now.”

Then came the line that stopped her cold:

“Depression doesn’t always cry.

Sometimes, it just fades into silence.”

She had to sit down.

Chapter 5: The Phone Call

She called his mother.

Small talk. Nervous laughter.

“No, he hasn’t called,” his mom said.

“But he’s probably busy with work.”

Riya hesitated.

“Has he ever said anything… strange?”

A pause.

Then a soft sigh.

“Sometimes he’d say things like, ‘I don’t think I belong here.’

But I thought he was joking…”

He wasn’t.

Chapter 6: The Last Entry

One final draft.

Dated the night he vanished.

“Tomorrow, I’ll be gone.

But not in a sad way.

In a peaceful one.

I’ll go where the Wi-Fi ends.

Where no one checks if I’m online.

Where I can finally log out — for real.”

That line.

Where the Wi-Fi ends.

It wasn’t just poetic.

It was a breadcrumb.

A map.

Chapter 7: The Forest Beyond Signal

There’s a hill just outside Pune.

Known for its silence.

No signal.

No updates.

Just air and trees and the kind of quiet that presses against your ribs.

Riya went.

Three miles in, under a tree, she found:

A flask.

A sketchbook.

And a dead phone.

Inside the sketchbook, a note:

“Thank you, stranger.

For reading what no one else did.”

“Maybe all I needed was to be heard — not liked.

Not followed.

Just… heard.”

At the bottom, in tiny handwriting:

“P.S. I’m still here.

Not lost.

Just… finally found.”

Chapter 8: The Return

She found him.

Unshaven.

Thin.

Eyes swollen from too many nights alone.

He blinked at her.

“You… actually came?”

She nodded.

Didn’t speak.

Just stood there, letting the silence say everything.

And then he whispered:

“I sent a hundred messages into the void.

You’re the only one who actually listened.”

Chapter 9: The Truth Most People Avoid

There are Nikhils all around us.

The friend who always cancels.

The coworker who stops replying.

The guy who sends voice notes at midnight that you never open.

The girl who posts sad captions and deletes them before anyone sees.

This isn’t about raising awareness.

We’ve done that.

This is about paying attention.

Not to “mental health” as a trend or checklist.

But to the quiet.

Because the loudest cries don’t always come with sirens.

Sometimes, they sound like nothing at all.

And some people don’t disappear from life…

They disappear from being seen.

Epilogue: Check Your Inbox

Check your texts.

Scroll back.

Open the messages you ignored because “you’d reply later.”

That one person who always reaches out — check on them.

You might save a life.

Or rediscover your own.