𝙏𝙃𝘼𝙏 𝙉𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏 [𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑵 𝑾𝑰𝑵𝑪𝑯𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑭𝑨𝑵 𝑭𝑰𝑪]

𝟒

The email began like any other, she introduced herself and mentioned she too experienced something strange awhile back and like me she has been reluctant to talk about it. She mentioned being in an institution for a spell because she did come out with the truth of her experience to her parents and naturally they assumed their daughter was sick and had her locked up for her own safety. Her email went on referring to what happened as "the experience" and not getting into too much detail describing her assailant and by the end of it I found it sort of paranoid.

 She went through a tough ordeal and I can relate to it in a huge way so I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and reply back, after all who else could I possibly talk to about this. Aura ended her message with her contact info and like me she was happy to finally have someone to talk to who wasn't ready to put her in a straightjacket.

Weeks went by, Aura and I continued to correspond and by then I considered her a friend. As thankful as I was to have someone I could share my story with I was beginning to find some of her emails a bit off, but again I went against what I felt and convinced myself that I was imagining the crazy. I mean of course she seems a bit out of it sometimes who wouldn't be and in all fairness she was so much younger than I was when it happened to her. 

We didn't exchange phone numbers or addresses just our emails which was totally fine with me. It was a regular part of my day, I wake up and I know I have a message waiting from Aura. It wasn't until a few weeks later that I decided to mention my savior, I left out the falling madly in love with Dean part and his eyes and voice.

 Her response came quick and all it said was "sorry my parents are kicking me off the computer because its late and I have an early appointment, talk to you tomorrow". Strange yes but who am I to judge, we are both survivors and we are coping the best way that we can. I replied back "ok goodnight I'm looking forward to chatting tomorrow see ya" I waited for one minute then two went by then three. 

Nothing. Wow she must have jumped off pretty quick, oh well its late I should turn in also. I closed my laptop and went right to sleep. No nightmares that night. I overslept and woke up just in time to get ready for work, sort of. Ran a brush through my tangly brown hair, never go to sleep with wet hair is popping into my mind, put it into a half decent ponytail then add some mascara and lip gloss. Ready.

 I take one last look in the mirror, the girl looking back at me has long brown hair and brown eyes, tired eyes with long eyelashes and pale skin. No wonder he never gave you a second look, you look just like everyone else. I shook my head with dismay as if it would bring me back to reality, no more mirrors. I check my emails and to my surprise there are no messages from Aura. It wasn't until later that evening that I finally had a response from Aura, she started the message by apologizing saying that she had an extremely busy morning and wound up being late for her "interview" and some other stuff preoccupied her after that but she picked up the conversation from the night before like no time had passed and she had an odd interest in Dean. 

I brushed it off as a typical girl reaction to the description of such a fine specimen, I must have described him so well that he not only had my interest but obviously hers now as well and that annoyed me a bit. I gave a short but polite reply said I was at work and we were swamped but as I looked around the half empty bar I felt a bit guilty for the lie but I hit the send button anyway. I mean yes I was kind of annoyed about her sudden interest in him but she has also been there for me in ways that no one else has been these last few weeks. 

We were similar in ways, both suffering in silence for too long and now we had each other. It wasn't like he was some sort of property just because he saved my life it doesn't mean there is some sort of claim on him. I decided to go with it and for the rest of the night I didn't hear from Aura.

The next day over a cup of coffee I sat in front of my laptop doing my usual search and I came across an article about three missing women. I read and discovered the place was only two hours from where I lived, goosebumps spread across my neck then back and I had a flashback about that night. It was the first one I had in almost two weeks, I really felt like I was making progress and I owed it all to Aura. 

Talking about it was really helping me and there came the remorse over my recent erratic behavior, I had to send her a message. I opened up my emails and I was about to start typing when I heard that familiar "ping" I have a new message. It was her. 

I was delighted to open it up and it was like she had been reading my mind, she apologized for crossing the line if she had been too nosy. I immediately replied and I apologized for making her feel that way and no line had been crossed. I didn't want to tell her that I was jealous over some sort of imaginary feelings, instead I deflected it back to her and her life. We chatted for awhile; when she casually asked if it would be rude for her to ask about him? She insisted it was just for "girl talk" since it seemed like I liked him. 

I told her about how it felt like I knew him and how he made me feel so safe, it was weird that a complete stranger had that kind of effect on me. She was very interested by then and encouraged my insanity by telling me I should call him, I admitted that I was intrigued by the thought but what could I possibly say? "hey Dean remember me from the alley?". I laughed afterward and I imagined her laughing along with me like we were two normal girlfriends talking about guys.

I had two days off and thought I would spend it lounging on my couch binging some tv. I was half watching some documentary on the effects of fast food in todays society when I got a message. Aura was asking if we could at least exchange numbers, I was uneasy about her request and at the same time curious and excited. 

We are friends and it would be great to have someone to text or talk to on the phone, so I agreed. Not long after I gave her my number my cell phone rang and I knew it was her. "Hello?" I said. "Hi, Emma? Its so good to hear your voice its me Aura". She sounded much younger in person and polite. "Its so good to hear yours also, how are you?" I said. "Don't get me wrong I enjoy our chats but I was really hoping to meet you soon" she said with a laugh "it feels like we could just hang out now, I mean if your okay with it". "I was thinking that same thing" I said. 

"I live in Potten, where are you?" she asked. That's only about two hours from here I thought, how did I know that, I've heard that name somewhere recently. Without giving it much thought I said "I'm in Vista, you're not very far". Aura seemed delighted at this, so was I. We spent an hour talking on the phone, mostly about our lives and it turned out we had much more in common after all. She had to go, some sort of family business, I didn't pry. Truth is I was still thinking about where I heard that name from, "Potten".

Aura and I talked on the phone almost every day that week, the emailing became almost nonexistent, which was okay I mean I was having fun actually speaking with my friend on the phone. I even toned down my creepy online searches for gruesome deaths. 

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks "Potten".Yes I remember now. It was in the news recently. The missing women were from Potten and surrounding areas. I never mentioned my crazy obsession, searching for suspicious deaths. It wasn't exactly a conversation starter.

I never did binge watch anything that week like I planned to, in between my work outs, talking to Aura, working extra hours for extra cash and the secret life of a closet detective I just did not have the time for much of anything else. I was okay with that, I was used to living the life of a loner anyhow. I even started walking home every other night from work again. It was spring and because of the weather more people were out at all hours of the night so I wasn't alone like that "night".