"Dearest Amelia,
You know I love you, don't you? You know that I think about you all the time? You know that your existence consumes my very being. So why, Amelia, are you doing this? Why are you not replying to me, Amelia? Do you think that I am joking? Do you think that I am just a toy to be played with and then chucked on the heap with the rest? Amelia, I need you. I need you, Amelia. In person. I need to feel you, Amelia, I need to feel your soft lips against mine. I need to feel your pale skin against mine. I need to be one with you, Amelia, and I don't think that you realise quite how desperate my lust for you really is! 4 days and 3 hours since your last message, I'm starting to think that something bad has happened to you. Or that you want me to think that something bad has happened to you. Is that what this is, Amelia? A cry for help? Well forget it! I understand you know, you don't actually love me. Not the way that I love you anyway. You can't love me, you won't even tell me your address! But don't worry, my dear Amelia, I will find you, and then we will be together. Forever. Just you and me, Amelia. And there's nothing that you can do to stop me.
Yours forever,
Michael xxx"
"Do you want me to read that for you again Michael?" Her voice cut through the silence of the room. The eerie wonderment of what Michael had been accused of shocked us all. This Michael that we had all known for so long had turned out to be someone entirely different. He sat in his chair, staring off into space. The world had been his, he was invincible, that is until it all came crashing down at his feet. In the anonymity of the internet, Michael had forgotten himself, he had become someone new. Or maybe he had been this person the whole time and had just taken the opportunity to be his real self. Whatever it was, it scared me. There are times when it is entirely obvious when something bad is going to happen, when someone's world is about to implode, but this was not one of those cases.
Not a single person in that room had even heard of Amelia until the charge was announced to the court, and even then the connection between Michael and herself were unclear. She remained this mystery figure in my head for many years until Michael finally became brave enough to tell me the truth. He knew that he had to eventually, he had gotten himself into this mess and even though I could do nothing to help him, he had to tell me. That was when I learned how little even Michael himself knew about what happened on that fateful day.
We were in our late twenties when I went to visit him. He had changed drastically since I had last seen him. He had become more haggard and draw out, as if he had aged fifty years rather than just ten. He told me that he never regretted a moment of his life, not a single one, and considering his story that is quite an impressive feat. Michael is long gone now, but I know that he would want his story told, he would want the whole world to learn from his mistakes. He would want the whole world to know the story of Michael and Amelia.
