She Was Never There: A Short Story

 Last night I was struck with a pretty bad case of insomnia, so I wrote a little story. It's inspired by the recent "controversy" regarding Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o. If you haven't heard, basically Te'o claimed his girlfriend died, either in a car accident or from leukemia. But it turns out that girlfriend was never real, and Te'o is claiming to have been the victim of an internet hoax.

I have no idea what's really going on there, although a new internet fad is to take a picture with your arm around your invisible girlfriend (it's called Te'oing and I love the interent). But I wrote a tale similar to this, giving my own explanation for how something like this could have happened. It's purely fiction, meant to entertain. Enjoy it.

"She Was Never There"

by Isaac Crow

They met in the summer at a party. Eve was a friend of a friend of Manuel’s cousin Skylar. It was a fun party, but Manuel had promised Skylar he’d drive home. Hating being around drunk people unless he too was obliterated, Manuel had reserved himself to standing along the back wall, watching people dance. That was when Eve had approached him.

She was quite the vision. She had long blonde hair, a beautiful face, and was the only girl at the party who didn’t have a fake tan. Manuel was instantly smitten as the two struck up a conversation. He learned she went to school far away; she was just in town visiting a friend. He told her about football and, unlike most girls who obviously weren’t listening, her face lit up a bit as they talked about it. She said she was sure he was going to have a good year in the fall, despite how nervous he felt.

They talked for hours, until one of Skylar’s friends vomited on a girl’s shoes. At that point Manuel decided it was time to call it a night. Before he left the party Manuel made sure they were Facebook friends. She shot him a sly, sad smile as he left the party, rounding up Skylar and his baboon friends into his car.

Eve had gone home shortly after that. A few days after the party Manuel struck up a Facebook chat with her. Eventually it became a nightly ritual, them chatting online or texting each other. Manuel was really falling for this girl, which felt crazy because he’d only met her once. But it also felt right; he was never able to open up to anybody like he could with her.

Before school started back up in the fall, he called Eve and asked her to be his girlfriend. She said “yes” but requested they not make it Facebook official. “It’s just so tacky,” she said dismissively over the phone. Manuel smiled even though she couldn’t see him. “Yeah,” he agreed, “it’s so dumb.”

And that was that: Manuel had a great girlfriend, albeit a long-distance one. His grades were good and the team was doing great, no small thanks to him. Girls at school would hit on him all the time. He enjoyed the attention he was getting, but he’d brush them aside gently. And every night, either after classes or practice, he’d text Eve. Sometimes they’d just make small talk, but it always made Manuel feel better and was his favorite way to end the night.

Manuel made plans to travel up to Eve’s college the weekend before Thanksgiving break. She happily agreed and sent him directions to her apartment. “My roommate will be outta here ;-)” she texted him. His interest peaked, Manuel started the upcoming countdown to his weekend away.

The day before he was going to leave to see her his cousin questioned him. “I don’t understand…who is this girl?” Skylar asked.

“I told you she was at that party. The one you were too shitfaced to see straight at?”

“Yeah, I remember that. But I don’t remember seeing any girl there talking to you.”

“Well yeah, but you were drunk. Remember in the car you told us all how badly you were gonna miss Whitney Houston?”

Skylar flushed a little. “I meant that.” He admitted. “But like I don’t know how you can have a girlfriend after this one party. I mean I haven’t even seen a picture of her on Facebook.”

“She’s a very private person. I like that about her.” It was true, Manuel liked that Eve wasn’t one of those girls who posted their lives on the internet for the world to see.

“Well whatever, just be careful okay? I mean what do you know about her?”

Manuel felt his face get hot with anger. “I know a lot about her, asshole. We talk all the time. She’s really great. Get over it.”

He stormed away from his cousin, no longer wanting to talk about it.

The drive up to Eve’s college took a while, but eventually Manuel made it there. It was a beautiful campus, very large with big buildings and trees everywhere. Eve’s apartment complex looked a lot nicer than his own shabby residence back home. He took it as another good sign that this weekend would be great.

He got to Eve’s apartment following the directions she’d texted him. He knocked on the door and she opened it. She was just as gorgeous as he’d remembered. It was if time had frozen for her after that party; her hair was even the same length.

“You look great,” he said. He leaned in to kiss her. It was awkward; not because it was their first kiss, but her lips were so cold it made him gasp. But he kept kissing her, making a silent vow to warm her lips up. She smiled appreciatively as he pulled his face away.

“It’s so good to see you again” she said in a quiet voice. “I’ve missed you.”

Manuel laughed. “We talk all the time.”

“I know that,” she said, pulling her blonde hair back. “It’s just so good to see you again.”

This time she pulled him into a kiss; her lips were much warmer now, Manuel noted. His whole body ached as they stood their kissing. After months of talking, she was finally right here in his arms. Life was good.

The rest of the weekend went by way too fast. They went out dancing at the clubs full of college kids who hadn’t left for break yet. They’d dance til late in the morning, then go back to Eve’s apartment. The first night there, the two of them had sex. Manuel was sure it was the best he’d ever had and, judging from the noises, Eve seemed to enjoy it too.

For the rest of his visit the two of them mostly stayed in. They ordered food (Eve didn’t want to buy new groceries right before the break), watched movies on the couch, went out dancing again, then returned home for another round of lovemaking. The last thing Manuel wanted to do was leave that Sunday morning.

She kissed him goodbye in the doorway of her apartment.

“Bye,” she whispered lovingly.

“I love you.” Manuel said it without really thinking. But he found he meant it.

Eve’s face looked sadder. Oh shit, Manuel thought, I scared her. What kind of douchebag drops the love bomb this early?

            A smile eventually formed on her sad face. “I love you too.” She said. They kissed goodbye again, and he left. He felt corny just thinking it, but Manuel was confident he’d never been this happy before.

           Manuel’s life was wrecked two weeks before Christmas. He received an email from someone at Eve’s college. Apparently Eve had been hit by a car one night and was killed on impact. Manuel couldn’t believe it; how could this have happened? How could the one thing that brought him so much joy now be taken from him?

         Manuel called his family and told them what had happened. He said they had to get a hold of someone, get information about the viewing and the funeral. He wanted to talk to Eve’s parents, tell them who he was and how much he’d loved her. His parents had nodded along, agreeing to do anything they could to help their heartbroken son.

        However, when he went home to see them he was greeted with a surprise. His parents brought him in and they all sat down on the couch. With them in the living room were his cousin Skylar and a woman dressed in nice black dress clothes with a police badge on her shirt.

       “Manuel,” the woman said, “I’m Detective Collins. I’d like to talk to you about Eve.”

       “Are you in charge of finding the bastard that ran her over?” Manuel asked angrily.

         His parents share a nervous glance with each other as Detective Collins continued. 

        “Eve wasn’t hit by a car” the woman said.

        A small light of hope swelled in Manuel’s chest. “She’s alive.”

        Collins shook her head. “Well, no.”

       “So…how did she die?”

       Collins bit her lip before answering. “She didn’t die, Manuel. She was never alive in the first place.”

        That really threw Manuel. “What? I-I don’t understand.”

        His mother reached over and patted his leg affectionately.

        “We ran a check on this Eve when your parents called. There are no records of her in any morgues or hospitals, nor is she even enlisted at the college.”

       “What? They sent me an email-“

       “Could I see it?”

       Manuel got out his phone and looked through his emails. He searched for that horrible email that wrecked his world, but couldn’t find it. He looked over all his files; it was nowhere to be found.

       “I must have deleted it.” He said unsurely.

       “No traces of her were found on Facebook or anything like that.” Detective Collins informed him. “Nobody with her last name lived in that town. Your cousin here got a hold of the people that went to that party; nobody said they knew an Eve.”

      “But-“

      “There’s more,” the policewoman kept going. “The police were called out to the Nichols Apartment at “Eve’s” college the week after you went up there to visit. Did you stay in room 231?”   

      Manuel nodded.

     “The girl who lives in that room said she came home after break and found her bed had been messed up, like it had been slept in and-excuse me-fucked in. The pictures she kept out on her desk and nightstand had been stuffed into a box in her closet.”

     “Wait, what are you saying?” Manuel was about to lose it.

      His mother was crying now, rubbing her son’s leg sadly.

      His father spoke up. “Son, we think you made Eve up.”

     “What!? That’s crazy!”

     “No kidding,” Skylar muttered.

     “Eve was real! I saw her there, I kissed her, we went out!”

      Collins spoke up again. “Security cameras on campus captured you walking around by yourself that weekend. You were looking at someone who wasn’t there and you kept talking to it.”

      Manuel was breathing hard now, tears welling up in his eyes. “But she was real, she-“

     “Did Eve cook anything for you?” Collins inquired.

     “No, we ordered out.”

    “Did she pay the deliverymen?”

    “No, I did, what difference-“

    “Son,” his dad said calmly. “Eve wasn’t real. You didn’t visit anybody. You broke into a stranger’s apartment and messed up her room. Then you went all over the campus talking to yourself. Manuel, we think you might have schizophrenia.”

    His mother burst into a fresh round of tears after that was said.

    “I’m not crazy!” Manuel yelled, getting up from the couch angrily. “How can you think that about me?!?”

    “Manuel, these things can happen to anybody-” Detective Collins started.

    “Fuck you guys! I’m not crazy! I’ll find her!” Marius screamed as he stormed out of his house, his family and the policewoman yelling after him.

    Manuel’s search for Eve came up empty. He looked all over her college campus, closely monitored by the police. He tried to find her texts, her Facebook profile, any proof of her existence. There was nothing.

    But how could that be? Manuel had kissed her, had sex with her, had loved her. How could she just not have ever existed? She was gone without a trace.

    He had become a laughingstock at his school. His friends, his teammates, they all said he’d gone crazy looking for a girl none of them had met and who had never been real. Eventually it was too much for Manuel: he dropped out of college. A week afterwards, at the urging of his parents, Manuel agreed to go somewhere to receive psychiatric care.

 

     Eve watched from the trees as Manuel’s parents helped him load up their car. She cried softly as observed, feeling guilt for the pain she’d caused him. As she watched she became aware of the cloaked figure that had appeared next to her.

    “Hello Eve,” the Judge said.

    “Hello,” she said glumly.

     The Judge held a black clipboard in its hands and read off of it.

     “Got a bit careless this time, didn’t we Eve?” the Judge asked in its creepy ambiguous voice.

     Eve nodded a response.

    “Let’s see…the terms were you could make yourself visible and corporeal to one mortal at the party, with the intent of having a quick hookup.” The Judge read lazily from the sheet. “You would also be allowed to posses a phone to continue a “long-distance” relationship that would not last more than a month.”

    Eve nodded again.

    “But it went on, didn’t it? You possessed his phone and kept talking to him. He eventually wanted to visit you, so you found an empty apartment, stole a key from one of its residents, hid any sign that resident lived there, and invited him into it. Continuing to take corporeal form, you had sex with said mortal- that’s a huge offense, by the way- and got him to fall in love with you.”

    “That’s all true.” Eve said softly.

    The Judge looked up from its clipboard and held it against its body.

    “So did you love him?” it asked her curiously.

     “I did.” Eve said.

      The Judge clucked a little. “Well I hope it was worth it. Once your sentence passes in the Courts I can guarantee you’ll be in purgatory for a long time.”

      Eve nodded solemnly. It was worth it, she decided. She had loved him but had also wrecked him. She could now only hope he’d recover from the mental scarring she’d given him. And hope that purgatory wasn’t as bad as she’d heard it was.

       “Come,” the Judge said. It held out a cloaked arm. Eve grabbed it lightly, and the two faded away from this world.