Minutes crawl by at a torturously slow pace as Sharin Bugeja awaits news of her husband and son who were with three other men on a fishing boat reported missing four days ago.
"Every minute feels like a day... He never took so long to come home without letting me know he would be late. He would always try to call me," she told The Times when contacted.
On Monday week, Mrs Bugeja's husband, Simon, set out on a fishing trip on his boat, the Simshar, together with his 11-year-old son Teo, his father Karmenu, Noel Carabott and an Eritrean fisherman.
The crew, who went fishing for swordfish, were due to return on Friday but when they did not show up by Saturday evening concerned relatives raised the alarm.
Over a week has passed since Mrs Bugeja last saw her son and husband. Speaking in a subdued tone, she explains how her son likes going out fishing with his father.
"You know? Children, especially boys, seek their father's company... especially now that he's on holidays," she said.
Mrs Bugeja last heard from her husband on today week in the afternoon when he sent her a message from the boat's satellite phone asking her to send him the weather forecast.
During the brief conversation, he did not say he was going to be late, so she expected him and their son home by Friday, as planned.
When they did not return, she thought they might have decided to stay longer at sea, perhaps because the catch was poor.
"But by Saturday evening they were not back. They should have returned by then... I was very worried. It was too much for me," she said in a broken voice.
She cannot wait to see her husband and son on safe ground and is battling to stay positive because even watching the news about the incident makes her sad, she admits.
Mrs Bugeja hopes the authorities will not give up and keep searching. She stresses that she knows and is thankful that the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) are doing all they can.
Ever since the Simshar was reported missing, the AFM have been searching relentlessly. The AFM said yesterday that the search entered its third day, by which time over 15 flight hours were undertaken but no sightings were reported.
Air assets from the AFM's Air Wing, the Italian Military Mission in Malta as well as the Italian Navy and US Navy based at Sigonella were again deployed yesterday to the search areas. Searches will continue today.
Other fishermen are pitching in a bid to locate their colleagues and several boats have set out in search of the Simshar, Fisheries Cooperative chairman Raymond Bugeja said.
The Tunisian and Libyan authorities have been informed and asked to provide any information they may have regarding the fishing vessel.