Missing Person's Notice

Name: Ella

Last seen:

24 hours before motherhood / Sitting at a café, wearing makeup and ironed clothes / holding a mug with both hands / not worrying it would spill.

Description:

Adult female / Eyes still able to lingering on nothing in particular / Back unstrained in the art of readiness / Voice smooth, having not yet endured the lullabies / negotiations / the careful math of needs.

Distinguishing features:

A body that exists as a body / A brain that can finish a sentence. Sleep taken in long stretches / both eyes closed in the dark.

Known habits:

Leaving the house with only keys and curiosity / Believing in the stretchiness of time / Daring to assume that exhaustion is something temporary.

Crime:

Thinking love does not require vigilance.

Last seen wearing:

Ideas without plans / Desires without apology / The ability to enjoy pleasure / A future written out in paragraphs / instead of bullet points

or not at all.

Circumstances of disappearance:

Gradual/

Voluntary/

Widely celebrated/

(Excepting the people who never gave up their seat

On the train / Excepting the younger women / Who glared at her inflated body

Like it was a personal accusation).

Witnesses claim she didn't resist.

Some people say she stepped forward / Others say she was absorbed / molecule by molecule /

into a bigger body.

If found:

She may not respond to her name. / Approach gently. / She may appear startled at an adult voice / She may ask questions that cannot be answered

without lying.

Please note:

This individual may be legally dead while remaining biologically active / Any sightings should be reported discreetly, quietly, in the safety of the kitchen at night /

when no one is asking for anything.

No reward offered.

Recovery is considered unlikely.

Memory is the only known lead.