How Did You Find Me?

Life was just too much. Ginny couldn't handle it anymore. She needed to leave. And not on a holiday - like, leave and never come back.

She looked around her apartment. She had no family left, only friends. And the only friend who might miss her was Alice. But if Ginny went through with this, she could always reach out to Alice in a few years.

Ginny started to plan. She applied to change her name, got a new ID, and applied for a job in a similar but different field. She let her friends throw her a going away party and talked of planning a trip to a place she wasn't really going. Then she boarded a plane and never looked back.

Once she landed, she sold her old phone, got a new phone and a new number, and deleted all her social media, emails, and anything she could think of. Ginny no longer existed and Crystal was born.

She went to the store and bought a cheap electric razor and shaved her head. "Wow." She looked in the mirror. "I feel so free!" She looked at her new apartment. "New me, new life." She found being a tutor at the Learning Center to be much easier than her teaching job. Was the pay any better? No, not really, but she was happier and had more energy. She learned to surf and started working out.

She even got a tattoo; she looked like a totally different person. She didn't know if anyone would recognize her anymore. Not only did she look different, she felt different.

She entered a surfing contest, and she placed on the podium. They even wrote an article about her: "Newcomer to the Sports Places on the Podium.”

Her students were proud of her. The community she built was proud of her. She was proud of her. She was happy, healthy and free. It had been two years since she left her old life behind and became Crystal. Maybe it’s time to send Alice an email, she was sitting in her favourite cafe. She’s done enough internet research on her old friend to know that she was still at the same school. So she could easily find it. She was lost in her thoughts and didn’t hear steps behind her.

"Ginny?"

Crystal froze. That voice...

"Sorry, name’s Crystal." She didn't turn around; it couldn't be true.

"Maybe to everyone here, but to me you’re Ginny - my best friend, a best friend who disappeared 2 years ago." Crystal turned around, and there standing before her was Alice.

Crystal stood up and gave Alice a hug. "How?"

"It wasn't easy, I'll tell you that much. You were ridiculously hard to find." Crystal motioned to the chair opposite hers, inviting Alice to sit.

"Well, that was the point. You knew I wanted a fresh start."

"I didn't think you meant this extreme." Alice looked her friend over. "You don't even look like you anymore."

"But I'm happy... Happier than I've ever been. I work at a Learning Center, I tutor some amazing kids. I like the heat, I spend time on the water, I feel free."

"Why did finding freedom mean leaving all of us? You could have stayed in touch with us... We could have…”

"Alice, I needed to do something drastic. And no one would have let me do this. But I am happy about this. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you what I was doing, but I am not sorry I did it. I hope you can come to understand."

Alice looked around. "I think I get it, I just missed my best friend."

"I missed you too. Start over?" Crystal reached her hand out across the table.

Alice took her hand. "Start over."