The Midnight Stranger

It all started with a ' hey'. She was going through an agonizing few months after the love of her life  left town for higher studies. The usual complications in long distant relationships. She did expect changes, but to the extend they happened was quite a blow to her. For someone like her , who believed in fairy tales and Disney stories , love was something that happens once and for all. And when her prince started acting different, in a way that she didn't anticipate,  she dint know whether she should still have hope or move on with her life. Getting over someone, whom you decided to spend your whole life with , is not an easy thing to do. She went back to her cocoon , resenting every moment of her living.

And then the 'hey' happened.  That night, when she had nothing better to do than to surf over the net, and stalk the person who broke her heart on a popular social networking website, she was notified about a new message in her inbox. A stranger, handsome if you go by his profile picture. The ground rule set by her brother when he finally let her have her own space on that website was never to add strangers or talk to them. She never broke that promise but  at that particular moment, she just dint want to be that good girl she always had been. What harm can a simple 'hi' do more than that's already been done to her . Well, when your heart is broken , your mind quite loses its ability to process the good and bad.

And thus began the conversation. A conversation that made her forget her woes and led her to another of those lands were anything and everything seemed magical. She now had a new friend, who dint know anything about her to judge her , and vice versa. They chatted all night long,  and those nights repeated. Then , when the urge to hear each other's voice reached its zenith , they exchanged numbers. She found her asylum in him. Yes, they met. That brief meeting was more than enough for her to decide the course of  the rest of her life. She build castles made of hopes and dreams . He paved the firmest foundation for it. With each gift they exchanged, she gave away a piece of her heart. And then she let him know what she thought of him. It took her every ounce of courage to tell him that she liked him. That to her , he was more than just a friend. She dint, for once, doubt that his feelings would be any different.  As it turned out, he saw her as ' just a friend'. Did this stop her emotions from reaching new bounds? No. She believed that someday he will reciprocate her feelings. She was there for him always, listening to all his stories , even the ones about a random girl he met at a party who was absolutely stunning, and the one where he was bewitched by a new appointee at his office. She watched  him fall for every other girl he meets but herself. But she did not lose hope.

But for him , she was his best friend. A friend so good that  he wanted her to be the first one to know  about his new found love. Her heart dint break , as there was hardly anything left there. She wanted to run so far that nothing even remotely close to humanness could reach her. She had to choose between sanity and him.

So she fled. Away from inboxes and calls and everything that connected her with him. Fled so far that she was completely lost for years to come.  She was still lost when she was married to someone her parents found for her.  

And when her children were finally hooked up by the charm of social networking, she had one rule for them ; never befriend a stranger online.