Chapter One-October

It's been one month since he disappeared. One month ago, we were supposed to be wed. I'll never forget what it felt like to start to walk down the aisle, look up, and not see him. I still have nightmares.

There hasn't been any information about his disappearance; he just disappeared off the face of the earth. I sometimes ask myself what I did to make him run. Did he get cold feet, and then run because he didn't want to face me? At other times, I flatter myself with thinking that he was taken. That he didn't want to go. That he loved me.

I should just stop torturing myself with these questions that don't have any answers. But in reality, I won't stop.

Just like I won't give up hope that he'll come back.

I am still waiting for him. My family and friends tell me that I should move on with my life, but I can't. They just don't understand. He wouldn't just leave me for anything on a whim. It must have been important.

I hope.

I walked out of the cold, empty apartment that I shared with him. I live in the small town of Mercer, Wisconsin, on the fourth floor of a huge apartment building. There wasn't many people I knew in my building, just my immediate neighbors; my best friend since I was a girl, Felicia Juarez, and the old married couple, Mr. And Mrs. Lindbauer. The Lindbauers had been living in the building before I got there, and Felicia was pure chance. We had kept in touch a bit, but it was hard when she was down south in Dallas, and I was up in Chicago. She had moved down to Texas with her husband, Ricardo Juarez. They divorced only three months after going to Texas.

She never gave me any details on why they had divorced. She was still sensitive about it.

The walk from my apartment to the company that I work in is a very short distance, only a few blocks. I work as a secretary at Myrone & Company for the CEO of the company, Mr. Myrone. He was, amazingly, a kind, compassionate man. He had been really sympathetic to me when Jason disappeared.

He had reason to be, his wife disappeared too. I think that the experience of that; changed him. I hear the other employees whispering about how nice he "suddenly" became, so he wasn't always the nicest person in the world.

She disappeared about 10 years ago, out of the clear blue. Her name was Rosalie. She was only 32 years old. The police had investigated for quite some time for her, but no evidence was ever recovered. The only lead they had was her gold and topaz necklace found in the forest, which was part of the park that she was last seen in.

I heard that the only other lead about her disappearance was the Myrones' trip to the Amazon. The police had suspected that their trip had some connection to Rosalie Myrone's vanishing. But, all that it came to was a wild goose chase down in South America. Nothing was found down there. The Amazon forest was just too big to search thoroughly. And thus, the investigation had ended. It was rumored around the office that Mr. Myrone had killed her, and dumped her somewhere in the Amazon. I didn't believe that at all, Mr. Myrone was just too nice and kind, and I think that he loved his wife. The rumors were just some "around-the-water-jug" gossiping.

"Adriana?" I looked up. Mr. Myrone was standing at my desk, looking down at me with an expression that expressed worry.

"Yes, sir?"

"I just forwarded you an email that I received from an anonymous sender. I think you should read it." A crease formed in between his eyes.

I checked my computer. The little window was up, alerting me that I have mail. From Mr. Myrone's expression, I could tell that this was not good news. Perhaps not bad news, but this wouldn't make me feel much better.

I opened it.

I was right.