We left off our story with a man whose name has not yet been revealed, and the only person left for him...

Her name was Susanna Reed. He had known her since he was ten years old, and met her at summer camp that year when they were children. She had long blond hair, rich amber eyes, a cute lopsided smile, and freckles on the bridge of her nose.
Having grown up in their era, they had been immersed in waves of tie-dyeing, war protesting, and peace signs. He recalled her in his mind's eye with her old pair of round glasses, feather headband, and bell-bottom jeans.

She was the one he could always just hang out with for hours, free of all the awkwardness brought by just about anyone else. They had grown up and gone through all of the difficulties side by side.
By the time they were both eighteen, however, she had left to study the arts in California, while he had hung around to get his degree in Pharmacy School. They said their goodbyes, and promised to keep in touch.

One could say that he had made a little bit more of an "investment" in her than he had with some of the others... she was so much more valuable to him. As you may have guessed, they weren't exactly "just friends" ...it was complicated.

He listlessly reminisced about their past, and wondered where she was right now. Probably doing something more exciting than anything he had been up to of late. He was still in disbelief that she was all that was there.

Anyway though, the question was, was his commitment to her enough?

Feeling worthless, he scrambled for the phone book, and let out a sigh of relief as he found her number in the back of the book, written in a messy, slanted script. It was written on one side of a paper towel. What had he been thinking? Why hadn't it occurred to him that she was more important than just a number messily scribbled on a napkin?

His heart pounded as the phone dialed.

* One ring...*

*two... three...*

...nothing.

*Four rings...*

Finally, he heard the computerized female voice say, "Were sorry, the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected, or is no longer in service," then, "If you feel you have reach this recording in error, please hang up, or press one for more options."

At that moment, he felt that familiar sinking feeling of disapointment in his chest. The crushing physiological emotion of cold, hard hopelessness.
He slammed the phone down into it's cradle, and collapsed on his bed, burying his head in his hands.

He realized just how long it had been since they had last spoken... About 3 years.

...How horrible.
Now he was overwhelmed with guilt, and it flooded his senses to so much higher of a level.

It had become apparent to him right then, that even if he was able to track her down somehow, it was too late. If she wanted him enough... she would've found him already. It was a dramatic realization. They just weren't meant to be together, he thought.
One cannot pin a person down like you would a dragonfly specimen for a museum.

It was a dim, gray world, but it was reality, so he did his best to face it. All that he wanted was for her to remember him, and come back home. Had she even thought of him in the past year?

He never thought that he'd miss her so much, and now it dawned on him how foolish... and selfish he had been to take people in his life for granted.

You never know when someone will be gone.

He saw his life in 20/20, how he had simply stood by, waiting for someone to show an escape, and how he now hoped that he wouldn't be alone forever.