What should I text if someone is not replying?

Look at what you sent before she went quiet. If your message ended on a statement, like a joke with no question or a comment about a photo, there was nothing for her to answer, and a gap is normal. If it ended on a plan or a question she had to think about, she may be sitting on it. Also look at how she usually writes. Some people reply in bursts across a day and then disappear for two. Others always answer within an hour. A slow reply from someone who usually answers fast means something different from a slow reply from someone who is never quick.

You are not trying to decode her feelings from one missing text. You are trying to work out whether the conversation had a live hook. If it did, a light nudge will likely work. If it did not, a nudge will just repeat the same dead end. Read the thread as a whole, not the last line alone.

The kind of follow-up that tends to work is one that reopens the topic from a new angle, makes it easy to answer in one line, and carries no edge. A callback to something she said earlier, a small useful detail you noticed, or a fresh question about her actual life all do this. The draft should be short enough that replying takes no effort and clear enough that she knows what you are asking.

A second kind is the low-stakes release. This acknowledges that the conversation can end without it meaning anything, which often makes people more willing to answer. It works best when there is already some warmth in the thread. The thing to leave out is any reference to the fact that she has not replied. Name neither the gap nor the length of it. Mentioning it turns a casual message into an accusation, even when you do not mean it that way.

A follow-up usually belongs after a day or two of quiet, not after a few hours. Some people reply late in the evening or after a weekend, so a Thursday evening message will often get a Friday answer. Send one follow-up. If that gets nothing, a second, very light message a few days later can work if the first one had a real hook, but a second message should be shorter and should not reuse the same question. Two unanswered messages is generally the limit before silence means she is not interested.

When there is no reply to the second message, stop. Do not send a farewell paragraph or a passive-aggressive last line. Leave the thread alone. If she writes back weeks later, you can respond normally, but you do not need to keep the conversation alive by yourself. Sending more than that tends to make the other person feel pursued rather than missed.