Man Travels across the US to Meet His Love, Learns She Disappeared without a Trace – Story of the Day

Jamie was shattered when his long-distance girlfriend abruptly broke up with him over the phone. He travels thousands of miles to meet her, only to discover she'd disappeared without a trace to another continent where a heartbreaking secret awaits him.

Jamie sat by the window, his gaze anxiously fixed on his phone. He'd been waiting all day for his long-distance girlfriend Isabella's call. Suddenly, his phone rang loudly, and Jamie's heart leaped in excitement. But he hadn't expected the call to go very differently that night.

"Jamie, I don't think this is going to work out anymore," Isabella said, her voice trembling. "We need to break up once and for all."

Jamie felt like he'd been punched hard, really hard, in the stomach. "Wha—What? Bella, what do you mean? Are you dumping me? We've been together for a year."

"I'm sorry, Jamie," Isabella sobbed. "I...I can't do this anymore. I just can't."

Jamie had no idea what had gone wrong all of a sudden when everything had been so perfect in their long-distance relationship.

They'd even toasted on their first love anniversary, blowing virtual kisses on a video call just a few weeks ago.

Now, it felt like everything had been ripped away from Jamie. Everything.

"But what about our dreams, Bella? Our marriage plans? And...and traveling around the world? Remember how happy we were dreaming of touring France and Italy? Kissin' under the Eiffel Tower...and building a little house by the sea?"

"Please, stop it, Jamie," Isabella interrupted, her voice tinged with anger Jamie had never witnessed before.

"It's over...I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry. It's not working out."

Jamie's heart started to race wildly. "Is...is there someone else, Bella?" he asked, fearing the answer as a cold sweat broke on his forehead.

After a momentous pause, Isabella hesitantly replied, "Yes...Yes, I'm seeing someone. Don't ever call me again, alright? Please, move on. We're not meant to be together. I'm sorry, Jamie. And please don't look for me."

Jamie felt like he'd been hit by a freight train. The pain was excruciating and seemed to take his breath away.

"Bella, Don't do this to me…Please…Hello? Bella? You there...Hello?"

Jamie could hear a strange sound playing in the background as Isabella sighed deeply before hanging up on him. The line went blank. Everything around Jamie turned dark. His fingers trembled as he called her again, but his number was blocked.

"Please, don't do this to me," tears rolled down Jamie's bloodshot eyes as he whispered desperately into the phone.

He sent Isabella countless text messages and emails, pouring his heart out, begging for her to come back. But there was no response.

Jamie sank into his bed in shock, trying to process what had just happened. He was left alone with a broken heart and didn't know how he would go on without Isabella.

A sense of unease crept over Jamie as he scrolled through their old texts and Isabella's pictures.

"Something's not right...This isn't Bella. This just isn't her…There must be something else going on...But what?"

Two months passed, and as Jamie waited for Isabella's response, every minute felt like an eternity. He tried to keep himself occupied with college, hobbies, friends, and music.

But his pain and betrayal made it difficult to focus on anything else. No matter how hard Jamie tried, his thoughts kept drifting back to his girlfriend, consuming his mind and heart.

He awakened every morning, scrolling through his phone, hoping for a message or a missed call alert from Isabella. But there was nothing other than the wallpaper with her picture staring back at him.

She had even stopped posting on social media. Her last post was of her picture when she was little, holding a little brown teddy bear. 'Love you, Mom & Dad,' she'd captioned.

That was two months ago, on the fateful night she'd last called Jamie and broken up with him before disappearing from his life.

There were no posts after that, and certainly, no hints of Isabella's life to help Jamie figure out what had gone wrong and why she just left him.

Despite the heavy burden of the student loan debt, Jamie spent all his money on a plane ticket and boarded a flight to Virginia, thousands of miles from his hometown in Oregon, to see Isabella.

The plane soared into the sky, and Jamie's heart started thumping with each fleeting minute as he stared at the bustling world beneath him.

He arrived in Virginia, where the Blue Ridge Mountains kiss the sky, and the mighty Atlantic waves caress the shore. The picturesque landscapes made him smile, thinking this was where Isabella had grown up all her life.

Jamie nervously stood outside the address Isabella had sent him, his heart pounding as he rang the doorbell again and again, waiting for someone to answer. Finally, the door creaked open, and Isabella's parents greeted him, their faces filled with shock and surprise.

"Jamie? Wha—What are you doing here?" Isabella's mother, Mrs. Mason, asked, her eyes wide with confusion as she looked behind Jamie.

"Where's Bella? Did she not come with you?"

Jamie was stunned. "What? Mrs. Mason, I...I came here to see Bella...I thought she was here."

Isabella's parents exchanged a worried glance before inviting him inside.

"Bella's not with you?" Mr. Mason asked. "But we thought she was with you, Jamie."

Jamie felt a knot form in his stomach as he tried to make sense of what he was hearing.

"No...Bella's not with me...She called me two months ago and broke up with me. I don't understand why she would do it. I've been trying to reach out to her ever since...But she's blocked me on everything. That's why I came here...to see her and find out what went wrong."

"We had this big fight with her two months ago...on the day you said she broke up with you," Mr. Mason added.

"She blew up for no reason. We were just having dinner…discussing random things. She just threw the plate, saying she wasn't happy living here anymore. She stormed out of the house, saying she was going to see you. We haven't heard from her since. We thought she was with you…in Oregon."

"That's strange. Why would Bella break up with me if she wanted to see me? I...I don't understand. How could she just disappear like that? Did she say anything else?"

Mr. and Mrs. Mason nodded. "She told us not to look for her or call you to find out how she was doing. Said she was going to be fine wherever she was."

"And you didn't look for her at all?" Jamie fumed.

"We don't know what happened to our daughter, Jamie. We're so shocked now," Mr. Mason put a hand on Jamie's shoulder. "But if you find her, please let us know. Please. We'll file a report here."

Jamie aimlessly wandered across the streets, wondering what had happened to his girlfriend.

He showed photos of Isabella, asking people in her usual hangout spots at cafés and stores she frequented if they'd seen her around. But it turned out Isabella had stopped visiting over two months ago.

"Where did you go, Bella? Please come back," Jamie sat on the pier by the beach when the stillness around was shattered by the sudden roar of a ship's whistle.

"I know that sound!" he exclaimed, springing to his feet, "...that's it... It's the same sound I heard before Isabella hung up on me that day!"

Jamie sprinted towards the sound and froze in disbelief when he saw a cruise ship, its sails being hoisted for departure to France. Jamie's jaw dropped, and his heart skipped a beat when he compared the ship's schedule from two months ago.

"Oh my God...That means Bella was on this ship when she last called me..." he gasped aloud.

Overwhelmed and desperate to find her, Jamie made a spur-of-the-moment decision and bolted to the ticket counter to purchase a one-way ticket to France.

"Excuse me, sir...How much is the ticket?" he asked the ticket seller.

"$3,000."

Jamie's face hung in despair as he withdrew his hand from the counter.

"I don't have that kind of money," he whispered, tucking his hand into his pant pocket as he desperately pulled out wads of nothing more than $100 from his wallet.

"How long until the ship leaves?" Jamie asked.

"We're scheduled to leave in about an hour, sir."

Jamie's heart started to race as he returned to the pier, contemplating his next move. He pulled out his phone and began ringing his friends.

"Hey, it's me, pal. Could you lend me some money?" he asked, his voice laced with urgency. "I need to go somewhere really important...I don't have enough bucks on me right now. It's urgent, man. I promise to return as soon as I get back. Can you help me out?"

Despite Jamie's best efforts, his requests were met with limited success. After making several such calls and reaching out to numerous friends, he was only able to collect a meager sum of $400.

As he counted the bills in his hand, he was frustrated.

"This ain't enough," he muttered, sighing a deep breath. "There's no way I can get to France with only this much. God, what am I gonna do?"

Jamie sat on the pier, lost in deep thought. Time was running out. The ship's whistle echoed through the harbor like a melancholic melody, waiting to bid farewell to the shore, and he knew he had to act fast.

That's when Jamie saw his opportunity. He rose to his feet and quickly made his way to the cargo hold, trying to remain unseen as he stealthily tiptoed his way into the ship with the crowd.

As the ship slowly pulled away from the harbor, Jamie hid behind a large container, his gaze fixed on the receding shoreline.

The sound of people shouting 'Bon Voyage!' grew fainter and fainter until it was drowned out entirely by the engine's loud roar and the waves lapping against the hull.

"Whew! That was close!" Jamie exhaled deeply as he glanced around the cargo hold. He knew he had to be cautious not to get caught.

But the excitement of the adventure got the best of him when he noticed he was all alone.

Jamie rose from his hideout behind the container and marched to the deck to enjoy the sunshine, only to be startled by a gruff voice calling out to him from behind.

"Are you looking for somethin', pal? What are you doin' here?"

Jamie turned around with a start and saw an old mechanic in front of him. He quickly tried to come up with a fabricated excuse, his mind racing to say just about anything to escape the man's wicked stare.

"Ahh, yes, I...work here...in another compartment…I just wanted to take a break...Yeah..."

"Hmmm," the old mechanic stroked his mustache suspiciously. "What's your name?"

"Jamie."

"What are you doin' here, Jamie? In my 25 years of service, I've seen every nut and bolt on this ship...but I haven't seen you around. Are you stowin' away or somethin'? Coz if you are, then I gotta report this to the captain, young man. Come on. Tell me the truth. What you doin' here?"

Jamie took a deep breath and knew there was no point in lying anymore. He explained about his missing girlfriend, his lack of money to buy the ticket, and his urgency to go to France to find her.

"Sir, I really need your help. My girlfriend, Bella, is in France," he pleaded.

"...And I have to find her. I'll do anything. Please don't turn me in. Here, I have $500. It's not much...but it's all I have. Please, I beg you! Take this money and help me get to France. I'll remember your kindness for as long as I'm alive."

The mechanic burst into a giddy laugh and shook his head, patting Jamie's shoulder with a hard grip.

"Who wants your money, pal?! And if you're already on the ship, why would I take the trouble of ratting you out? I don't want to deal with the cops or the captain. Not when I'm having a busy day! And when it comes to love, we men gotta stick together, right?! I'll let you stay on, and you're gonna go find your lady, no matter what it takes. Deal?"

A wave of relief washed over Jamie as he hugged the kind mechanic and gazed at the horizon. "I'm coming for you, Bella," he whispered.

Two weeks later, after what felt like an eternity on the rough seas and bouts of seasickness, Jamie finally arrived at the port in France.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he disembarked onto the unfamiliar shores. As he made his way through the bustling port, he was eager to begin his search for Isabella and hopefully find her in Paris, as it was her favorite city, and she'd always dreamed of visiting it one day.

Jamie hitchhiked his way to the city of love, and as he made his way down the winding roads, he couldn't help but feel awestruck at the sight of the majestic Eiffel Tower looming in the distance.

He reminisced about Isabella's dream of watching the sunset from the tower with him, hand-in-hand. So with a heart full of hope, Jamie went around Champ de Mars, showing Isabella's photo to strangers, asking them, "Excuse me, have you seen her around?"

"No!" was all he heard from them. Each rejection felt like a mighty blow, but Jamie refused to give up and kept looking for the love of his life.

As the night closed in, Jamie decided to rent a cheap motel but quickly changed his mind.

"No...I can't...I need this money until I can find Bella," he thought and bought himself a sandwich for dinner.

With nowhere else to go, Jamie spent the night at the nearby metro station, huddled under the stars as he waited out the cold night.

He rose early the next morning and set out to wander the unfamiliar stretch of streets around Champ de Mars, Isabella's photo in his hand and the same monotonous question on his lips.

"Hey, there…have you seen her around?" Jamie approached a group of men, their faces mantled and menacing.

The dim-lit, graffiti-covered walls of the dark alleyway unsettled Jamie, and he quickly realized he'd invited trouble for himself.

"Watcha doin' here, buster?" asked a man with a dragon tattoo crawling up his neck, his dry mouth curled around a cigarette as he puffed smoke on Jamie's face, making his eyes water.

Before Jamie could even utter anything, the gang pounced on him, beating him and tearing away his belongings.

"Let me go...Please...I was just looking for someone..."

But the robbers weren't interested in Jamie's excuses.

The thugs delivered blow after blow until Jamie was left exhausted and lying on the ground, bruised and battered. They scavenged through his pockets, taking everything they could find.

Just as they were about to leave with the loot, one of them noticed something in Jamie's wallet.

"Well, well…well! What do we have here?" he sneered, plucking out Isabella's photo from the wallet.

"Damn hot…The chick's damn hot!" another chuckled, puckering his lips as the other thugs shared a hearty giggle, hissing a dirty joke.

"Hey…That's...that's my girlfriend," Jamie muttered weakly. "Watch your words."

The robber scoffed and tossed the photo onto the ground. "She's all yours, loser!" he flipped the bird at Jamie, kicking him in the face.

As the thugs fled into the daylight, laughing at their luck, Jamie picked himself up and winced in pain.

"Why me?" he groaned as a gush of strong breeze blew Isabella's photo under an old poster on the wall.

Jamie picked it up, and he froze as he wiped the blood off his mouth.

In front of him on the poster was the Arc de Triomphe—the landmark his sweetheart dreamed of visiting if she ever happened to be in Paris.

Jamie set off on foot towards the Arc de Triomphe, clutching Isabella's photo in his hand. As he limped across the historical monument, he stopped by a street vendor.

"Excuse me, sir. Have you...have you seen her?"

The vendor gazed at the photo and replied, "Oh, yes! I have seen her several times around. But she...she looked a little different."

Jamie's heart throbbed like a thousand horses galloping in his chest. "Different? What do you mean?" he asked, trying to contain his rising anxiety.

"Well…Uhm…she was bald."

"Bald?" Jamie was taken aback and couldn't understand anything. "Are you sure it was her? Look again..."

"Oh, there she is!" exclaimed the vendor, pointing to a silhouette of a young woman approaching in the distance. Jamie froze on the spot, and with all his might, he turned around.

"BELLA?" he gasped.

Everything around seemed to turn dark. The world started to spin around Jamie, and it felt like he'd been struck by a bolt of lightning.

"Bella?? Oh my God...What happened to you?"

"JAMIE?? "Wha—What are you doing here?" Isabella's eyes popped out in disbelief at Jamie's bloodied appearance as he ran to her, asking the same question.

They hugged against the backdrop of the Arc de Triomphe, as they'd always dreamed of, although under entirely different circumstances.

"Bella...Oh God...what happened to you? What's all this?" Jamie cried as he cupped Isabella's face in his bloody hands and took off her hat.

"I missed you so much...I was going crazy...Why did you...Why did you leave me, Bella? I almost died without you."

Isabella lowered her eyes sadly. "I'm dying slowly myself, Jamie. I don't know if I'll get to see another sunrise. Or another sunset. Each second of my life...it...it's numbered…I have cancer," she whispered, the revelation hitting Jamie like a ton of bricks.

"That's...Oh my God...I'm sorry. I can't even imagine what you must be going through...But why did you just disappear? Why leave me?" Jamie cried, his voice shaking with emotion. "I wouldn't leave you. I would've never abandoned you like that."

"I didn't want to hurt you or my parents, Jamie. I couldn't bear the thought of y'all watching me suffer...So I decided to run and disappear...And die alone. I didn't want to give my loved ones the pain of watching me die."

Jamie hugged Isabella with all his might, tears streaming down his face. "Bella, I'll do everything I can to save your life...I'm here for you, okay? You're not leaving us…I won't let that happen. Nothing can separate us. Not this cancer. Not your death. Not that God…Nothing."

Isabella looked up at Jamie, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I love you, Jamie...I love you."

"I love you too," whispered Jamie, kissing her forehead as they prepared to return to the States.

"What happened after that, Daddy?" a sweet, melodious voice shattered the silence of the cemetery, snapping Jamie to his senses. He looked down at the bouquet of Isabella's favorite white roses in his hand as he stood in front of her grave.

"...And that's how I first met your mother eleven years ago!" he said with a soft smile. "Even without hair, she was an extraterrestrial beauty. I've never met a woman as beautiful...as pure...and as loving as her."

His little daughters, Rose and Ollie, looked up at him with big, curious eyes. "What happened after Mommy and you returned, Daddy?"

"It was a long flight back home. And I wished it could've been longer and never-ending! While Mommy was fighting cancer, Daddy was fighting with God to give us a little more time...just a little more."

During that little time, Jamie left his dreams behind. He left everything that was about him behind. But he never left the woman he loved…until her last breath.

What can we learn from this story?

• Never abandon the ones you love when they need you the most. Despite Isabella breaking up with him, Jamie went looking for her across thousands of miles. He followed his heart and ultimately found her, becoming her primal support until she lost her battle with cancer.
• True love is not limited to physical boundaries. It transcends any obstacle, and distance is nothing. Jamie flew across Oregon to Virginia just to meet his girlfriend. When he learned she could be in France, he embarked on a risky voyage with nothing more than $500 across the seas to find her.

Tell us what you think about this story, and share it with your friends. It might inspire them and brighten their day.

When Harry constantly mocks his wife for being unemployed, little does he know he would find a note one day informing him she was taken away by an ambulance. Click here to read the full story.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.