Nightmare

by Salty Alty

Chapter 4: Foggy Memories & Digging Deeper

I shifted in my seat, thumping my leg impatiently. Surprisingly, she had been awake when I had emailed her the previous night, and we had quickly agreed to meet at a cafe a few blocks away. I would have brought her to Cuppa's, but I didn't feel like involving him in my work life. So I brought her to my next favorite place in the vicinity, Luna's Nook.

It was situated in a back alley near the guardhouse of the area, and was most often frequented by the Nightguard and those among the Dayguard who got saddled with the night-shift. It was incredibly quiet and tranquil, courtesy of the many layers of sound-dampening enchantments woven into the structure itself, as well as the calming smell of incense that was constantly burned within the ornate censers that sat up near the bar. And while most bars like it were rowdy, rambunctious joints, the Nook and those who visited would abide by the unspoken agreement of calmness and civility that had been established by the regulars. It was the kind of place you could eat a nice, quiet breakfast, catch up on some work, and enjoy a nice cup of alcohol or coffee in relative peace. 

And thus, I brought most of my interviewees here. It was a neutral, relaxing environment that would help put their minds at ease. And it had certainly helped a few of the ponies I had interviewed. Most ponies don't do well when faced with that sort of pressure, knowing that their every word would be documented and recorded, and that each and every slip of the tongue would be latched on to, and in some cases could potentially even ruin another pony's life. Thankfully, ponies tend to react much better to you once you've talked to them a bit over coffee; essentially, after you let them know you weren't out to get them. That you were a living, breathing pony who cared about them and the meaning behind their words, and not just the words themselves. All of that, combined with the soft tones of binaural music humming throughout the small establishment, made for a very relaxed pony. 

And so I found myself waiting for her arrival. The clock on the wall said it was five fifty-five, and she was due to meet me at six. 

Strangely enough, I hadn’t found anything substantial about her online. No pictures, no social media accounts, nothing. I'd only gotten her email address due to an old article she had written popping up on the fifth page of my search, so I didn't actually have a clue as to what she even looked like. 

I nursed my coffee and browsed the internet on my phone, the clock steadily ticking by. It must have been ten minutes later when a pegasus sat down in front of me. Her frame was much like that of a coat-hanger, and rosey-red fur stretched over her limbs, clinging to the bone. Her face was in a similar state. She had dark bags under her eyes, which were hidden behind faded red bangs, and her cheeks were sunken in. If I hadn't seen her move beforehoof, I'd have assumed somepony had just sat a corpse down in front of me. "H-Hello? Are you th-the reporter who asked to see me?"

I nodded. "Mhm. My name is Evening Shade, and I'm with the Global Reality Network. Thank you so much for coming out here today!"

She blushed, her cheeks turning a scarlet red. "It's... It's no problem at all." Poor mare looked like she was about to fall apart then and there; she was shaking, her eyes were scanning the room around her constantly, and she looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks. I could already tell I'd be here for a while. 

"Well, before we get started, would you like anything to eat or drink? They offer very good food here." I slid the spare menu over to her, reaching a hoof towards my bit purse.

Her eyes widened as she held a hoof out to protest. "Nononono, you don't have to do that!"

I shrugged, setting the purse on the table anyway. "It's completely fine, this place has one of the cheaper menus in the area, and I brought you out here before the sun even came up just to ask you some questions. Consider it my way of apologizing, okay?"

She opened her mouth, and then shut it after a moment, sighing deeply. "Okay... in that case I'll just get a Chamomile tea and the breakfast skillet."

I smiled softly, before waving the waitress over and placing our order. I myself had opted to get an omelette, as well as a refill for my coffee. "So. Tell me a little bit about yourself."

She blinked, clearly struggling to form words. "I err... W-What would you like to know?" 

"Tell me about your fillyhood."

And so we chatted, playing an impromptu game of twenty questions. We talked, we gossiped, we laughed. It was certainly interesting to see the shift in her behavior as the hour passed by, changing from this shivering, frightened mare, to a happy, smiling, jovial example of a pony. 

But I had other things to get to, so our small talk inevitably had to end. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but I just realized that we're running a bit short on time. Are you okay if I go ahead and ask you some questions?" I stealthily switched on my recorder, while setting a notepad and pencil on the table for her to see. 

As soon as the words left my lips, all joviality and excitement left her, almost as if she had seen her worst nightmare. "O-oh. Okay... Go ahead then, I guess?"

I licked my lips, sipping down the last of the coffee in my cup as I opened my notepad, flipping to the page where I had everything I had wanted to ask her written down. "Alrighty then, let's start off with this. How much of your memory are you missing?"

She chewed the inside of her cheek, her face scrunched in concentration. "It's hard to say exactly, but I'd say a month’s worth of my life is just... missing. Like I told Dr. Razor, the last thing I remember is celebrating Hearth's Warming with my family."

I let out a 'hmm', scribbling in my notepad. I wasn't actually transcribing everything she said, that'd come later. For now, it was better to present the illusion of it. "I see. Your sudden reappearance was something of a news sensation there for a while. Can you tell me where you regained consciousness at?"

She nodded fervently. "Yeah, that memory is the clearest. I woke up near the old warehouse on Chic Boulevard, you know, the one right by '37?"

Now that was intriguing. I quickly jotted that down. "Uh-huh, and what was Dr. Razor doing for you medically in regards to your amnesia?"

Her ears splayed back a bit as she answered my question, sadness clear in her eyes. "W-Well, he was giving me all sorts of experimental treatments. Right before he... died, he said he had found a solution, and that it'd take a few days to prepare."

I flicked my tail. "Did he say what exactly that solution was?"

She shook her head, frowning. "He said something about some weird magic mumbo jumbo before he ran off into his office... never saw him again after the ambulance ponies came and got him."

"And did the EMTs tell you anything about how he died?"

She blinked in surprise. "Now that I think about it, not really. All they told me was that he had died of natural causes... And looking back, they were surprisingly nonchalant about the whole thing."

I raised an eyebrow at that, before continuing on. I looked at the second-to-last question on the list. "Prior to the incident, who were you employed by?"

She brightened up a little bit. "I uh, still work there actually. It's the Canterlot Times. I help write the weekly newspapers mostly, doing the photography and such." That was a tad bit helpful. Meant I could contact her superiors to see if she was in the same boat as I was. 

I wrote that down as well, before pulling up my phone and heading over to my email. Let's see if I could jog her memory a bit. "Okay, final question. Does this image look familiar to you?" 

Her eyes widened and she shot back in her chair as she gazed upon the blocks of green from the GenTech email. "Y-y-yes... I don't know why, but that bucking terrifies me. What the hay is it?!"

I put my phone back in my saddlebags, shrugging. "I was hoping you'd tell me. That will be all, Miss. Thank you for coming out and talking to me." I got up to leave, only for her to pull at my saddlebags.

"Wait... stay safe out there okay? I don't know why, but I feel concerned for you."

I smiled down at her, taking her hoof and shaking it. "Thank you for your concerns, but I'll be fine. If I need to talk to you again, I'll be sure to get in touch, okay?"

She didn't look like she particularly believed the words that came out of my mouth.

I'm not sure I believed them myself, honestly.

I opted to visit Bright's home first, as he had been the first of the three to pass away. It was a quaint little one-story home near the outskirts of the Upper Class district. It had a small chain-link fence surrounding it, as if that'd keep anypony out. Well... anypony determined, that was. 

The sun was just barely peeking over the distant horizon, and nopony was out and about quite yet. That wouldn't last long however, so I had to work quick. 

I flew up to the front door, examining the surrounding area. I really didn't want to have to actually pick the damned lock. It'd take too much time, time that I didn't have.

There were a few fake rocks and potted plants around the doormat, and I picked each one up, hoping to find a spare key. There wasn't one.

I looked under the doormat, only to be met with dust and a whole heaping hooffull of nothing.

I growled under my breath, kicking a hoof against the door in frustration.

And like magic, it opened. 

I could have sworn I'd heard somepony giggle.

"Oh you've gotta be bucking kidding me," I growled under my breath as I trotted inside, locking the door behind me. The foyer was relatively clean, for having not been tended to in a few weeks. It was also surprisingly drab, the walls were completely blank, devoid of any pictures or well... Anything that would cover the baby-blue paint. My hooves clopped against the hardwood floor as I walked into the living room. The TV was still on, playing some random reality show that could best be described as "atrocious", and the screen bathed the room in a bluish light. The couch itself was fine, but the large table in front of it was littered with soda cans and pizza boxes. 

"So much for doctors being tidy." I snorted, before continuing on through the house. The laundry room, kitchen, etc. didn't have anything interesting that I'd get my wings ruffled for. They were all messy like the living room was. The kitchen sink was overflowing with dishes, the bin of dirty laundry hadn't been washed... and I could tell it had been like that before the colt had died. Still, I made sure to leave no stone unturned as I searched his house. 

It was when I had made my way to the bedroom that I found something peculiar. 

The door was locked. 

Ponies who lived alone had no reason to lock their bedroom doors.

I huffed, digging out two bobby pins. I wasn't all that good at picking locks, I'd admit that much. Still, even I was able to pick most household locks in under a minute due to their shoddy quality. 

I slipped one of the pins inside, using the other to act as a tension bar. I fiddled with it... and fiddled with it... and after about five minutes I was righteously pissed off. Who the hay puts an expensive lock on their bedroom bucking door, and doesn't even bother to lock their own front door?! 

It took me another five minutes before I gave up on the clean and quiet route. "Okay, Mr. Door. You wanna play? We can bucking play!"

Don't you bucking judge me! The door had thoroughly ruffled my feathers and it deserved to feel bad about itself!

I checked the windows, making sure that the neighbors weren't outside and active. I wasn't able to see anypony, so I trotted back to the bedroom, turned away from it, raised myself up on my hind hooves and buckedit open with a mighty CRACK! 

It really wasn't all that the movies made it out to be. The door didn't fly off the hinges or anything super crazy like that, it just sorta swung inward as the lock broke under the force. 

Kind of anticlimactic when you think about it. The noise wasn't even all that loud.

I poked my head in. Inside was significantly tidier than the rest of the building, with the bed clearly having been made before Bright shuffled off the mortal coil. His desk was also in a similarly clean slate, with the large PC tower having all the cables bundled up nicely and hidden behind the desk. The monitor was still on, and the wallpaper looked like some photo of his graduation ceremony. "Why the hay is this still logged in?" I asked aloud, sitting down in the large and luxurious faux-leather office chair. 

The files were organized incredibly well, and there were indeed a good few, but the main one that stood out to me was the folder simply titled "Work."

I decided to take the plunge and open it, and what I found inside shocked me. Every email he'd been sent, every project he could take home to continue working on, you name it. It was in this folder. 

I quickly fished around for a flash drive in my bags. I kept at least ten on me at all times, and while it may have been an expensive habit, it was one that had proven itself worth it time and time again. Never underestimate the ability to take the data you find home with you without needing to memorize it all or make physical copies of it. 

I clicked the "Copy" button and waited as the progress bar slowly but surely ticked by. There was a good amount of data that needed to be transferred, so it'd probably take a good five or so minutes. 

I elected to rummage through his desk in that time. "Maybe the dolt has something good in here..." I mused to myself. Passwords and such were always nice to find, as were keys and other such tools that allowed one to access their personal emails and other such things of that sort. 

The first few drawers were worthless; More of what I already had copying from his computer. But as I reached the bottom drawer I felt a grin stretch its way across my face. "Jackpot." Inside, there lay a thick, pinkish liquid contained within a large beaker. Just looking at it I could see the sheer amount of magic forced into the strange concoction, the ozone smell that scorched the air was almost overpowering, causing me to gag as I picked it up. Maybe this was what had been about to net him that promotion?

 There was a thin white strip wrapped around the tube, and as I turned it over in my wings I read the label aloud. "Amnestic Compound 'Faerie's Kiss', Variant #F-09... what in the hay is this stuff?" 

I resolved to stash it in my bags after scrubbing his name off of the test tube. I figured that I'd toss it to Dawn and see what he could do with it. He was always the smarter one of the two of us, and he was a lot more knowledgeable about this sort of thing than most ponies in his profession.

I nearly jumped out of my skin as the computer sounded off with a loud ding!, signalling that the transfer was complete. I snagged the flash drive and booked it, walking out of the backdoor and flying away as stealthily as I could. 

I sighed, banking back towards the inner city. "Next stop, Gentle Suture's."

I coughed up a bit of soot as my flank hit the bottom of the chimney. Suture, unlike Bright, was actually smart and had decided to lock her doors, and she didn't have a spare key outside to boot... soooo I was forced to use the next best option that had been available to me at the time.

"Agh! Ho Ho Ho, it's Santa Hooves, motherbuckers!" I tried to shake all of the soot and grime off of me to no avail, and all that did was make me look even more like a homeless mare. 

Rubbing my eyes, I opened them and found myself staring at a living room that could have come out of any family drama. Saying it was well furnished would be an understatement. There were three couches centered around a large, central table. Paintings lined the walls, as well as some of those cheap inspirational posters that you'd get at the corner store. If I hadn't dug into her beforehoof, I'd have assumed she was a family mare, because sweet Celestia this was excessive.

Shaking my head at the ostentatious nature of the room, I decided to cut to the chase and find her office. The rest of the house was as luxurious as the living room was, even the mahogany doors bore golden doorknobs. I knew she was up there in terms of the salary she got, but there was no way she could have afforded this at all, not unless she had won the lottery. 

I trotted down the hallway, checking each door as I went along. Nothing of importance in any of the four I had checked, just the usual essentials. What piqued my interest, however, was the door at the end of the hallway. The doorframe itself was wonderfully ornate, and a metal nameplate was attached to the door. Bingo.

I flung the door open, not bothering to kick it shut behind me. I didn't figure I'd be here too terribly long. 

Inside was a large four poster bed, the mattress itself shrouded behind a light pink veil. There was a dark iron chest sitting next to the nightstand... I already had a feeling as to what it contained. There was also a set of double doors off to my right, which I assumed to be her private study.

I looked around the room a bit more. There were rolls of bits hidden inside the top drawer of the dresser, as well as slips of paper containing phone numbers and contact information. A few of the names were recognizable as some of the wealthier stallions in Canterlot. "Welp... now I know how she pays for all this stuff."

I backed away from the dresser, not even remotely close to even wanting to know what was inside the remaining drawers. Searching the rest of the room revealed nothing I hadn't already known; namely, that Miss Suture was a... Working mare in her free time. I only had one place left to check, and that was the large set of double doors off behind me. 

I gently pushed one of the doors open, wincing as they let out a sharp CREEEEEAK in protest. Inside, it had the same fantastical, picturesque quality as the rest of her home. A large and clearly hoofcrafted desk sat in the center of the room, with a well-cushioned high chair parked behind the desk itself, rising above the rather small laptop that laid in front of it. The walls were lined with bookshelves and framed rewards and accolades she had accrued over her career, and a gorgeous golden chandelier hung on the ceiling. 

I trailed a hoof along the desk as I circled around it. "Polished to perfection," I thought to myself, relishing the feeling of my hoof sliding across the wood as if it were slick stone. 

As I came around to face the laptop, I cringed at my reflection in the screen. My little trip down the chimney hadn't done my looks any favors. My mane was now scruffy and ragged, and I had blotches of soot all across my fur. Needless to say, I looked bucking awful. 

I powered on the laptop, which was much smaller than I was used to. I felt myself getting impatient as it struggled to even boot to the OS, tapping my hoof and swishing my tail. Once it had finally loaded five minutes later, I felt about ready to break it in half due to just how bucking slow it was! "What the hay did you even put on this thing, old mare?!" 

I had my question answered by the immediate appearance of a pop-up ad. "Of bucking course." It was filled to the brim with all sorts of bloatware and adware. I sighed, and began to struggle my way over to her email. I wasn't gonna risk downloading any of the files off of this thing; I wasn't gonna subject any of my devices to that sort of filth. 

It probably took me another ten minutes to navigate over to her email account, and I began rummaging through as fast as equinely possible. "Spam, spam, spam, booty call, more spam... 'Personal Concerns?'" I clicked on that email, which was addressed to Crystal Heart herself.

Within it was an absurdly long email chain, going back several months. Suture was excessively blunt, for being a Canterlot unicorn. Reading it from the top showed she had been worried from the get-go, constantly questioning Crystal Heart on things ranging from policy to individual tests and experiments that took place. The two had even gotten nasty with each other at times, with palpable snark and malice. The last email in the chain had been sent by Crystal, which had simply remarked that she was tired of the constant back-and-forth. No signature, no greeting... just a cold and generic statement. 

As if she didn't expect the pony reading it to care for long.

However, digging through her deleted emails didn't reveal the blocks of green that I had expected to find. Just past flings and work emails. So if she had been targeted, she wasn't targeted with the same email bullshit that had nearly gotten me. 

Suddenly, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge as I heard guard sirens wailing off in the distance. "Nope! Buck that noise!" I sprinted out of the room, tearing through the house and hastily unlocking the back door and getting the hay out of dodge! I didn't even care if the neighbors saw me at that point, I wasn't getting tossed in jail on the off chance that they had been called on me specifically. The last time I'd had an encounter with the guards, it had nearly ended with my sorry flank being tossed in a cell after some uhh... let's just say "happy accidents." I wasn't having any of that buckery right now!

So, I ran back to my apartment with my tail between my legs. I'd gotten something substantial at the very least, which I counted as a victory. I would have to make sure to visit Occam later. However, as I slammed the door to my apartment shut, a thought smacked me across the face like an anvil.

"Now how the hay am I gonna clean up in time for my date?!"

I gazed at the reflection in the mirror distastefully. I'd gotten home around two, and by Celestia was all that dirt and grime an absolute pain to get out of my coat! That in and of itself probably took me a half-hour, and by the time I'd gotten to actually making myself look presentable it was nearly four in the afternoon. 

... Of course, that was the perfect time to discover that I had run out of makeup, and I was left to try and scrounge enough up so that I wouldn't look like what you'd expect to see if the cat dragged something in.

I was only slightly panicking. 

I had probably only just managed to finish doing my lashes when I heard a few loud knocks at the bathroom door. "Knock knock, Evey! It's about time to go!" Dawn's voice yelled out impatiently. I snorted. "Colts."

"'Kay, give me a sec babe! I'll be right out!" I rushed to finish the rest of what I could. I still looked like I shouldn't be caught dead in somewhere as upscale and affluent as the Cloud Nine, but I had to deal with the cards I was dealt. 

I heard a deep sigh come from outside. "Okay, Evey, its ti-WOAH!" He let out a totally dignified, and not at all girly scream as I tore out of the bathroom, dragging him behind me as I leaped down the stairs.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon Dawny! We gotta go! Eeeeeee!" I screeched out giddily, bounding outside and practically tossing him into the carriage he had hired. The cart rocked a bit from the impact, but it was fine. The stallion drawing the carriage just chuckled, shaking his head. 

Dawn rubbed the back of his head, shooting a sideways glance my way. "Jeez, Evey... could you have thrown me any harder?" he asked, turning away from me and then whipping his head around to face me once more. "And since when have you been able to swing me around like a ragdoll?" 

I shrugged, making myself comfy in the carriage's cushioned seats. Seems that he hadn't spared any expenses this time around. "I dunno. Maybe you've just gotten lighter?"

He scoffed at that, crossing his hooves. He was wearing a simple and inelegant dress jacket and bowtie, which contrasted heavily against my black sweater and navy blue scarf. "Hah, funny joke. As if I could ever lose weight with how much you insist on feeding me."

I bopped his nose, giggling as he crossed his eyes. "Oh please, don't you give me that. When we first started dating you weighed less than me!" 

The stagecoach had dragged the cart a fair distance by now, plodding along at a steady rhythm and humming a tune. "Yeah well uh... I can't really refute that argument now can I?"

I chuckled, snuggling against him. "Nope!"

It took us a short while to finally arrive, time which Dawn and I spent silently cuddling in our seats. It was... nice, I suppose, is the word I'm looking for. Just sitting there, my head against his chest, listening to the soft sound of his breathing and the constant thumping of his heart. He sat there, a hoof wrapped around me, his head resting against my own. It wasn't often that we got to simply enjoy our time together. Work and other life events often cut what little time we spent visiting each other short, so I cherished moments like these. Moments of peace. Moments of quiet.

Moments where we could simply relax. 

"'Ey folks, your stops right here." The stagecoach said, gesturing with his head to the large, white building to our left. The Cloud Nine was structured after the old Pegasopilan cathedrals, and the entire building attempted to match that aesthetic as closely as they possibly could. Every square inch of the building was made of cloudstone, and each and every one of their dishes was crafted to cater to and spoil any pegasus to bits. Juicy, tender seafoods, Cloud Cake, Skyweed salads... The works. I don't think I'd ever heard of any winged creature leaving this place unsatisfied. 

Dawn and I thanked the stallion as he trotted towards the large stone doors to the restaurant. The hostess, a small but stocky pegasus, smiled warmly at us. "Oh, hello Mister and Missus! What's the name of your reservation under?" 

Dawn chuckled, levitating the two golden tickets to her. "No reservation, but I won that raffle you guys ran a while back, and figured I'd give my marefriend a treat. These are still valid, right?"

She nodded vigorously, taking the tickets and stuffing them into her apron. "Of course! Enjoy your time here at the Cloud Nine!"

I shot her a quick "Thanks!" as we went inside. The interior was marvelous, the chandeliers all hung on individual clouds, and the atmosphere was filled with calm but still upbeat music and the sound of a hundred ponies engaging in deep, fervent conversation... probably about the stock market or something, but still. Rich ponies will talk about whatever the hay it is rich ponies will talk about.

We were led to our table shortly afterwards, Dawn and I sinking into the booth. "Any idea what you're ordering, Evey?" He asked, scanning the menu he had been given. It wasn't too terribly big, only two pages of items, but I suppose that was part of the charm of this place. It didn't need to impress you with flashy specials or extravagant menus. All the staff had to do was serve you your food and that was usually enough to get a pony craving for more. 

I shrugged, eyeing the seafood section ravenously. "Hmm... I think I'm gonna go for the shrimp gumbo, how about you?" 

He narrowed his eyes at a specific part of the menu, and his face lit up like a Hearth's Warming tree. "Oh hay yeah, they've got cod here!" It had taken a while, but I'd eventually gotten him to try seafood and he'd been hooked ever since! 

I heard an exaggerated gasp off to our right, and a mare with white fur and a curly purple mane trotted up to us. I'd met her back in Ponyville... I think her name was Rarity. "Oh darling! I certainly didn't expect to find you here!"

I don't know why, but I felt sick to my stomach as soon as she got close. As if her very essence was just repulsive to me on some deep, primal level. "Oh err, yeah. I'm here with my coltfriend."

Dawn gave me a look, retreating a bit behind his menu. "You know her?"

Before I could even open my mouth, the mare was already answering for me, which pissed me off to no end. I could speak for myself, damnit! "Not quite, Pinkie Pie had held a party for her, and I'm afraid she ran your marefriend off before we could even properly meet her!"

I bit the inside of my cheek, my tail flicking behind me. Pinkie Pie. The name sounded familiar. "Yeah uh, she’s the obnoxiously pink one, right? I had work to get to and quite frankly, she was violating my personal space constantly."

She held a hoof up to placate me. "Oh no no, you're fine dear! I should be the one apologizing to you! Pinkie Pie has always been a bit too...  "extravagant" for most ponies to deal with." The words rushed out of her mouth, and then she gasped as if she had forgotten something. "Oh, but where are my manners? My name is Rarity, owner of the Carousel Boutique and Element of Generosity!"

That feeling from before intensified, and warning bells rang out in my head as she finished her sentence. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. The message my body was telling me was clear.

Danger.

"It's err... Nice to be properly introduced, Miss Rarity, but I'll be right back. I've got to make a call." I said hurriedly, before walking quickly towards the bathrooms. 

Once I'd safely secured myself in the restrooms, the knot in my stomach released, as if it had never even been there. "What the buck..." I huffed out, supporting myself on the sink. A cursory glance in the mirror showed nothing out of the ordinary.

"Must have just been a stomach bug... Yeah that's a nice, reasonable explanation. I'm fine, it's allllll fine..." I sat there for a few minutes until somepony else came in, and I took that as my cue to head back to my table. 

As I trotted back, Rarity was nowhere to be seen and Dawn was looking at me weirdly. "You okay, Evey? That was weird, even for you."

I laid my head in my hooves as I sat down. "I think I may have caught something in the Everfree." 

He laid a hoof on my shoulders, giving me a reassuring, but still concerned, smile. "We can head to a minute clinic later, okay? You'll be fine."

I nodded, shivering as goosebumps rolled along my spine. "I 'spose you're right. Let's just enjoy dinner for now."

And enjoy our dinner we did, and we must have finally left around nine. It was probably the best anniversary we'd had to date, if I'm being entirely honest with myself. 

By the time he had dropped me off at home, it must have been one in the morning. We had stopped by his place for some fun after we'd left, and I was awake as I could be. 

I grabbed myself a soda and plopped down into my computer chair, habitually checking my email. 

"Huh. That's weird." I'd received an email a few hours ago from... oh. Oh.

"Oh buck, she actually responded."