Lost & Found

The tale of a dazed girl

The look in his eyes almost mirrored her own – astonishment. Emma was almost certain he never planned to see her again in this lifetime. Although she was young when she left Long Island, she stayed gone – a fact she could be sure was something Aiden would never forget. She went off to boarding school in Boston for the final two years of high school and stayed out there to go to college. That was when she met and fell in love with Patrick. But it didn't mean she ever forgot her first love. No, there would be no chance she could ever forget Aiden Hawthorne – the boy that she let slip away.

"Hi, I'm Chris," Emma heard a man say.

It took her a few moments to realize he was talking to her. Her vision cut away momentarily from Aiden's to look at the short, balding man standing to the side of her. When she looked back over to where Aiden was, he already turned away and started walking toward the exit. Emma's heart constricted in her chest. She didn't want him to go, but she knew there wasn't anything she could say to him to make him stay. She watched him disappear out of the doorway and she could feel as her heart shriveled back down to size when he left.

"Uh... Emma," she said, shaking the man's hand.

"Hello, Emma. I was glad to see you show up tonight," he told her, smiling cheerfully at her.

"Huh?" She asked, confused. How did he know anything about her?

"Don't worry. I just meant by you showing up, that all who signed up for the sessions showed up. That rarely ever happens," he chuckled to himself.

"Oh. Yeah. My sister and mother made me come," she said, her voice monotone.

"I'm sure glad they did," he continued, his smile never leaving his face. He was much too cheerful for a grief group – that was for sure.

"Yeah," she breathed.

"I hope to see you again next week, Emma," he told her.

"Yeah," she nodded, still feeling the after-effects of what seeing Aiden did to her.

Every nerve in her body seemed like it was on high alert and she was dangerously close to running after him, just to see his face again – just to look into those bright green eyes once more.

...

As Emma waited for Piper to pick her up, she sat on the bench in the lobby of the church. Visions of Aiden's face pillaged through her mind as memory after memory played like movies in her head. It was like an atonement for all the years she tried to forget about him, to make the ache in her chest for him end. The memories were all back with a vengeance.

"You know I'll always love you, Emmy," Aiden's voice resonated through the memories in her mind.

Emmy.

No one ever called her Emmy before or after Aiden. She almost forgot about the nickname... until now.

"How was it?" She heard Piper's voice. Emma looked up to find her standing in front of her in the lobby. She didn't even hear her come in, her thoughts were so loud.

"Fine," she said quietly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Piper asked.

"No," she sighed. She wasn't ready to tell her about seeing Aiden yet.

The car ride was quiet. Piper didn't pry, in which Emma was entirely grateful for.

"Do you think... do you think maybe you'll go back next week?" Piper asked before Emma got out of the car at their childhood home.

"Yeah... I think... maybe," Emma told her with a shrug.

"Good," she said with a smile and watched as Emma exited the car.