Absence

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

July 7, 2001.

“What did you mean by I broke your sister’s heart” he walked up to where Nancy was talking to her sister and asked angrily. “I’m sorry but could you explain what happened the day you met my sister”?

“Well, yes. It was funny and kind of annoying actually” he said as he faced Sarah. “She looked really beautiful that day at this same bar and I thought I would regret it if I didn’t talk to her. We talked and she said she needed to use the restroom. I waited for a while but she didn’t come right out, besides I got a very important call so I had to leave. I had not even collected her phone number. I thought I would run into her gain here but I never did”.

Sarah’s face clouded with confusion and her sister’s face mirrored the same thing.
No, that’s not true. I came back out and you had ordered a second drink. We talked for a really long time and we exchanged numbers. We talked a lot all the time on the phone and eventually, we met again at a café two streets away from my house in New York. We started dating a week after until you broke up with me over the phone and stopped seeing me. She rapped out and burst into tears.

Nancy glanced at him and saw the look of genuine confusion on his face. Her sister’s doctor was right. “What the hell are you talking about? We never saw each other after that day we met here and I did not even move to New York. I still live here in Minnesota” Nancy stared at the two of them before bursting into tears. Her sister’s doctor was right. Her sister had finally lost it like their mother had but she didn’t even realize it. “Sarah, I think you made up the whole relationship in your head. It never really happened dear. Why didn’t you tell me you were diagnosed with schizophrenia? Is that why you cut everyone including David off? I didn’t even know you were going through this much of a hard time” she said in between tears as she hugged her sister who just looked dazed and utterly confused. “I’m so sorry I was not there for you Sarah, I’m really sorry. “But he sent me letters sometimes. What about those then?” Sarah asked confusedly. “who still sends letters in this age Sarah? I think you sent those to yourself". Nancy said with hot tears spilling down her quivering cheeks.

He just stood there staring at the two women in utter shock. He had heard of the psychological disorder called schizophrenia where the patient’s boundaries between imagination and reality becomes disrupted. He knew they had altered perception of reality but he didn’t know it could go all this way. It was even worse that it had to happen to someone he felt truly connected to even if they had met only once. How had she created a whole relationship in her head when it could have been created in real life. His heart panged with pain and he wished he had made some sort of effort to find her after he had left the bar on that day. But now that he had found her, there was no way he was letting her go.