The one thing she did remember was the expression on Zac’s face. The confusion. The hurt. The understanding. Then the anger. He was so angry. This was unlike anything she’d ever seen from him before. After he found out his girlfriend had been sleeping with a professor during their freshman year, he was pissed. Not like this. After he was accused of cheating on a mid-term, he was ready to take down the school. Still not as angry as this.
She wasn’t sure what to do next. How could she fix it?
The lightbulb went off in her head. A note, a message, a letter. Reconnect the same way they’d originally found each other. She’d explain everything. That was the only way to do it. The only way to make him see that she wasn’t duping him. Macie grabbed her tablet and logged in to Blind Friends. Her mailbox didn’t show a message. As much as she hadn’t expected one, it still sent her heart on a downward spiral. She pressed the envelope to open her inbox.
Nothing was there.
None of the messages from the past several months existed anymore. Macie checked her trash bin. The ones she had deleted were still there, but not a single one she’d shared with Zac. Swallowing hard, she searched for his screen name.
User not found.
No. That couldn’t be right. Maybe she typed it wrong.
User not found.
She hadn’t typed it wrong that time. He’d deleted his profile. Macie thought she’d hit rock bottom before. She was wrong. Deleting his account forced her lower. He hadn’t even wanted the memory of their conversations. Fortunately for Macie, she had a habit of backing everything up on her desktop. She turned it on, waiting impatiently for the old thing to boot up. Once she got her life on track financially, a new system was necessary. Especially if her online design business took off.
The file was still there on the desktop. She heaved a sigh of relief. Logically she knew it would be there, but that didn’t stop the fear from building. She’d downloaded the messages for prosperity. When they were old and gray, she planned on laughing with Zac about how they fell in love. It seemed stupid in light of his reaction. She printed them out. Maybe if she showed him the past, he’d realize she wasn’t doing this for some weird revenge.
That didn’t mean he’d read them, though.
She needed something bigger. A grand gesture. Like in the movies when the guy does something incredible to make the girl realize he’s not the asshole she thought he was. Of course, that was fiction. And the roles were reversed. Macie shook her head. The least she could do was try. If she failed, she failed. But if she didn’t try, she would have failed far worse.
An idea began forming in her mind. She moved toward her closet, pulling her shirt off and tossing it on the futon. Inside, she dug through her art supplies and pulled out everything that caught her eye. Something was missing. Wire. She needed wire. Something she could bend easily to shape. Wood. She needed wood, too. It was almost ten, but Macie needed those things that moment. Or she’d lose the inspiration.
She quickly dressed and headed out into the night. First stop, the dumpster behind her building. Gross, yes, but effective at finding discarded items for her art. It was too tall for her to jump into, but luck was on her side. Someone threw out a perfectly good kitchen chair. Too bad she didn’t have immediate need for it in her apartment or she’d lug it upstairs. She pulled it close to the dumpster and climbed onto the seat. A coil cut through the fabric and scratched her leg. No wonder it was thrown out. A box of wire hangers sat right at the top. Macie couldn’t believe another round of good fortune. She hauled her bounty to her apartment. An idea struck her again.
She didn’t need the wood. She had something much better.
Three hours later, the wire hangers twisted into shape. She mixed the paste and began to cover the wire with strips of their messages, entire sentences clear until parts were covered. Macie carefully placed the strips, wrapping them around the wire. The night disappeared into dawn. Macie had worked straight through without stopping. It was almost done. Almost. It still needed the proper base, but that would come later. First she needed to shower and down a couple of energy drinks just to make it to work.
For once, she didn’t even bother with eyeliner or mascara. She pulled her hair back into a messy bun, too messy to be stylish. Macie rushed out the door in jeans and a Linkin Park t-shirt.
The work kept her busy until lunch. Another energy drink might have given her a heart attack, but some real food would help wake her up, too. She hadn’t eaten since a quick dinner before she met Zac at the gazebo, and that had only been a small salad. She’d been too nervous to eat.
But she could close her eyes for a moment. Just a moment.
Macie started awake at the sound of someone clearing their throat.
“Late night?” Alex asked.
“No night.” Macie stretched her arms above her head and yawned. “What time is it?”
“One.” Alex sat on the edge of her desk. He’d toned down the attitude and his strict dress code of suits and power ties. His white button down and jeans was too casual for anyone in front of the camera. Unless he was working on a story that required research. It didn’t matter. Macie just liked Alex as a normal person not trying to be a controlling asshole.
“Shit. I slept through my lunch. I’m starving.” Macie reached for her phone, hoping for any
