After tonight, I think I want to take a break from dating and do some more traveling. Clearly I was doing something wrong, maybe I was coming on too strong. But something about having to change who I was, to make a man like me, doesn’t sit well with me.
When I get home, I change into my pajamas and pull out my box of potential travel destinations. Where should I go this time? I know Ria won’t have the money to go somewhere expensive, so I’ll either have to go solo or find something cheaper. Of course, I always offer to pay for both of us, as money wasn’t really an issue for me, but she refused to let me pay for her. She was a stubborn, independent woman like that, but I loved her anyway. After all, she’s the only family I have left.
ONE YEAR LATER
“What do you mean, you quit?” I look at the man over his desk as I brace my hands on hips and frown down at him.
“I’m sorry, Miss White, but all my leads have led back to the same conclusion. The woman in question is, in fact, the woman you are looking for.”
I throw my hands up in frustration as I grit out my response. “Urg! Mr. Higgins, I’ve told you a hundred times,that womanis not my best friend, Ria.She is an imposter, and I want to know what she’s done with Ria, and how it is that she looks just like her.”
“As I told you before, your friend has not been cloned, nor is she an imposter. Most likely she’s had some sort of brain injury that’s caused her memories to change.”
“Then how do you explain the missing scars on her wrist?”
“Plastic surgery.”
“Look Mr. Higgins, I have been paying you for five months to track down my friend, I expect you to have found some sort of lead in that all time. She was missing for a month, and you still can’t account for that missing time. Nor, in fact, can she.”
“She said she was in bed sick, there’s no way to argue that when she lives alone.”
This wasn’t the first time we’ve had this argument over the past five months, but it looks like it might be the last if he was quitting. When I couldn’t get a hold of Ria after three weeks and the police just filled out a piece of paper and didn’t no work into looking into her disappearance, I used my own money to hire a private investigator. Mr. Higgins had great Google reviews and seemed like he was eager to help me find her. But when Ria showed up only a week after me hiring him, things took a bit of a turn.
You might ask why I still need a PI if Ria had returned. But, when I looked at my best friend, the girl I’d known since we were in kindergarten, I knew instantly that something wasn’t right. There was something different about the look in her eyes, it was like she was looking at a stranger instead of her best friend. It seemed like she was pretending to know me, and our bond just wasn’t there anymore. I’ve asked her multiple trick questions about things we’ve shared in the past and every time she’s failed my test.
When I noticed the small scars on her wrist were missing, from the time she fell out of the tree when we were kids, I knew there was something much more serious going on here. Did Ibelieve that she was a clone? Not really. But there’s something about this woman that was just screaming at me that she wasn’t my best friend. I’m absolutely determined to find out where the real Ria had gone. But we didn’t have anybody else in our lives, so there was nobody else that I could get on my side to help convince Mr. Higgins, or the police, for that matter, that this wasn’t the real Ria.
“What about that business card? The one I had the picture of about granting her greatest wish?” The last conversation I had with her was about a business card that she had found slipped under her door. It promised to fulfill her greatest wish, and she was going to call them to see what it was about. I left that day for my three-day horseback riding trip and haven’t heard from her since.
“Ah, yes, well, that is interesting. I looked into the number but it doesn’t belong to anybody. it never belonged to anybody. If she called it, she’d get the same dead tone that you and I get when we tried calling it.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would somebody give her a business card with a number that doesn’t exist?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe some sort of strange prank?” He leans forward and steeples his fingers where he rests his hands on his desk. “Look, I’m truly sorry about this, Miss White, there are just no leads left to follow. There’s literally nothing left for me to do. And if you do find any more evidence, then please share it with me. If it’s worth following, then I’ll be happy to pick up the case again. But until then, I think it’s best that you just move on and try to get to know this new version of her. Perhaps you’ll find she’s in there, just hiding beneath the surface.”
I sigh, knowing I’m not going to convince him to do any more. “Thank you, Mr. Higgins.” I leave his office feeling frustrated and desperate. If he wasn’t going to help me, I had to figure out a way to find her myself.
As I arrive back at my apartment and push the door open, asmall card on the ground grabs my attention. I bend down to pick it up, and when I see what’s written on it… my heart starts hammering in my chest, making me place my free hand over it, as if that will help keep my heart from beating right out of me.
I hold the card up and read the familiar words.
Are you a woman who seeks adventure? Looking for something new, fun and exciting?
Call today to have your greatest wish come true.
1-800-YOU-WISH
CHAPTER TWO
PENNY
Ipress the end call button on my phone as a smile crosses my face. I had an appointment at the place that was the only clue to where Ria went. And it’s in thirty minutes. I glance at the clock as I grab my shoulder bag from my closet. It looked tattered and beaten, but I loved it. It was the last birthday present I got from my parents and I refused to part with it.
I have no idea what is going to come of this appointment, but I feel like I have to be prepared. Besides, I often left home with a bag full of goodies just in case I felt like jumping on a train or plane on a whim.
I grab my passport, a stack of cash, my favorite book, a couple of clean pairs of underwear, a bra, and a fresh change of clothes.
“Oh!” I turn back to my dresser and grab a pair of my silk pajamas.I always forget my pjs!I head to the kitchen and pull open my snack drawer. I smile to myself as I see it’s full of my favorite chocolate bars, and I start grabbing them and shoving as many as I can in my bag. There’s nothing like being stuck starving somewhere where you can’t grab any food.
