Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 75193 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75193 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Aerie used to say those exact words to me.
I quickly deleted the message and silently prayed that I’d never get another.
I couldn’t go through that again.
Losing Aerie broke me. The thought of losing her all over again sent chills down my spine.
Too many people needed me, and I didn’t need any of the stuff that probably went with that text message.
Deleting it was the best choice.
Maybe it was just a wrong number, anyway.
Tuesday December 8th
Unknown (12:02 AM): I really fucking miss you.
Wednesday December 9th
Unknown (12:32 AM): I can’t sleep. I keep looking at your picture and forget to breathe.
Unknown (1:02 AM): I found a letter you wrote me in 5th grade when cleaning out your locker at work today. I can’t believe you kept that. You’re so silly.
Unknown (9:20 AM): You left me alone, and I don’t know if I can survive Christmas without you.
Unknown (12:00 PM): Do you want to build a snowman?
Unknown (6:09 PM): A few of your co-workers dropped off a medal of yours that you received while in the line of duty. Something heroic they said you did. They said they never got a chance to tell you that you’d be receiving it, so I put it on your grave on the way home.
The more I read the texts, the more it felt like I knew the person on the other end.
I’d decided that I would reply to the text as soon as I got settled into my new temporary home, but things never work out the way they’re planned.
Little did I know that I would have to fight for my life the very day I slipped into my new role, and I would have to continuously watch my back the entire time.
The only alone time that I was safe from being jumped was when I was in my cell, and even then it was hit or miss, since I was constantly watched.
The next day, though, I knew I had to say something. If I didn’t, something could go wrong, and the person on the other end of the line would be lost to me.
Thursday December 10th
Unknown (1:53 AM): Goodnight best friend. Today you would have been thirty-one.
Unknown (8:44 AM): I brought you balloons today. I wish you were still here. I need to talk to someone about my day. It’s really hard to keep working there, and I know I promised you that I’d leave, but with you not here anymore, to give me courage, I can’t make myself do it.
Unknown (6:02 PM): My superior just tripped me. I swear, she did. She turned, but the orderly that was standing directly behind me, the one that actually likes me, saw it and nodded that she had. So I didn’t imagine it.
Unknown (10:13 PM): I can’t do this. I just can’t, and you can’t expect me to. I’ll see you soon.
I hid under the blankets like a ten-year-old would that’s trying to hide what they’re doing from their parents, only I was hiding it from the prisoners across the way from me.
Me (10:13 PM): You’re not alone. I’m here. Don’t do anything hasty.
It took so long for whomever was on the other end of the line to reply that I started to get worried that I was too late.
Just when my finger hovered over the ‘9’ to dial 9-1-1, a message popped up on my screen.
Unknown (10:22 PM): Who is this?
Relief poured through me at the response, and before I knew it, I was telling them who it was.
Me (10:23 PM): Ridley. Who are you?
I stared at the screen waiting for a reply, and when it did, suspicion poured through me.
Unknown (10:24 PM): Freya. You’re kidding me, right? You have my brother’s phone? How long have you been getting my messages?
Unknown (10:24 PM): I asked about you today, by the way. They said you were at some undercover assignment. Is that why you have my brother’s phone?
Out of all the phone numbers I could have gotten, this one was the one chosen? My mind sped at the speed of light as I thought about all the chances of this, and how rare it would be.
But I had to admit, I’d been worried about Freya.
It was weird, yes, that I’d gotten her brother’s phone number. However, I never said that fate didn’t work in mysterious ways.
I’d met my wife much the same way.
I’d met Aerie while in high school. Then I’d gone off to Iraq about two months after graduating, and while there, I’d picked up a pen pal.
My wife.
We’d conversed for three years by email and letter alone, and the day I discharged from the Army, I went to find her in my hometown of Uncertain, Texas, and we’d been together for four blissful years before she was taken from me so harshly.
As my fingers fumbled over the keys, I had to stop and delete twice before I was finally able to type out the words I’d wanted to say.