My cousin showed up several days later; she says she just needed to drive, so she drove to Wyoming alone--to Laramie, Wyoming of all places. And stayed in Motel 8. Alone.

I'm not implying anything specific, but I don't think she's telling us everything. And, MAN OH MAN! Could she NOT have told someone where she was going? I KNOW she had phone service in Wyoming. She has Sprint; she thinks I don't know the areas covered because I have Verizon. But I used to have Sprint, and I know that she would have had service in the areas she said she'd gone to.

So now what? I guess it's her business where she is. But honestly! I have NEVER been that worried about someone in my entire life! What am I supposed to think when she just disappears for a few days? WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE IN EVIDENCE OF HER WHEREABOUTS BETWEEN THIS SITUATION AND ONE WHERE SHE'D GONE OFF THE ROAD SOMEWHERE AND WAS HANGING OFF A CLIFF FOR SEVERAL DAYS?! Of course I was worried!!!

Grr.

My 19 year old cousin is missing. No one has known where the hell she is since Thursday night. Which, I might add is very unnerving.

Number one reason. She is leaving on February 2nd to go to Alabama and train to become an MP. (Military Police.) Because of that, she had to withdraw from school for this semester, so she has nothing to do.She has no military training this weekend.She had plans with my mom and sister, and didn't show up. Nicole never stands people up. Ever.She had plans with them Saturday also, but stood those up as well. Another highly unlikely event.

She hasn't been answering her phone. Her phone is always on. ALWAYS. Her husband is in Iraq, and she never knows when he'll call because even he doesn't know. So she has it on, so she'll never miss a call from him.And her phone is off. It is either off, dead, or not functioning, because it won't ring; it just goes straight to the answering machine.

She hangs out with friends every once in a while, but in very formal settings. She isn't really close to anyone besides my family and myself, at least out here, so there is no way that she's spent three nights at someone else's house. Unless she did so unwillingly.I left a note on her apartment door over twenty four hours ago that we were sick with worry about her and that she needed to call us or come over. Nicole is very responsible, and not to mention private. Had she seen the note, there is no doubt she would have come to see us, and if she couldn't have, she would have removed the note from her door so her neighbors wouldn't see it. She is very paranoid about her privacy.

Now what? Where the hell is my cousin? I don't know. We called the police, but they said they can't report her missing for privacy reasons. I understand, I guess. She's an adult. She lives alone. We're her family, but in the end, it's none of our business where she is. If she wanted to pick up and run away, that would be her business. If we were an anal side of the family trying to control her, the government wouldn't in any way want to support that.

But here's my question. What if she's NOT okay? A lot of people live alone in America when they're in that age group. They don't have ANYONE who lives directly there to notice if anything happened. So if my cousin was driving on some highway and rolled off and is stuck in a river or something, and someone doesn't see her, that's it. No one's gonna go looking for her. We would, but do we really have the means to find her like the Denver Police would? I don't think so.So who's gonna protect my cousin? Something is wrong! And there isn't a freaking thing I can do about it. I've done what I could. Now, I just have to sit here and have it eating away at me that she might be dead, or worse--still alive but barely thus. And I'm here, without a clue as to how to help or what!