Chapter One

The sound of an instant message received rang from my laptop speakers waking me up from my light sleep. I glanced over at the digital clock on my nightstand: 6:02 a.m.; same time every morning and every night, before I went to school and before I went to bed. This had been going on for about eight months, this friendship.

It all started late one night while I needed help writing a song. I had the lyrics…now I just needed the melody. I searched on-line all night trying to find a musician's help forum, until I finally found one. I posted my lyrics and my thoughts about how I wanted the song to sound. After posting it, I fiddled around with my guitar until an instant message popped up on my screen. I didn't recognize the screen name, but it had to be someone from the forum because the message was in chord progressions. I wrote them down in a notebook and played the chords while singing to hear how it sounded. It was just what I was looking for. I wrote back, "Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it."

I thought that would be it, but it didn't stop there. We kept talking that night about music, about writing songs and a little about life. I made it clear that I wasn't going to be openly honest with him about who I was or even show him a picture. I wanted to keep myself safe from him in case he happened to be a stalker or some perverted old man. He understood my concern and wasn't willing to do the same. All I knew about him was that his name was Tom and that he was from England. All he knew about me was that my name was Audrey and I was from America.

Eight months of conversing and I had to say that I really started to want to see what Tom looked like, but I knew better. I really started to enjoy talking to him that after a while I started to naturally get up in the morning when I knew I was going to talk to him. And I would make sure that I was home around ten to talk to him. It was a habit.

I got out of bed and fixed my hair. True I wasn't seeing him, but I still wanted to look good. I sat in front of my Dell laptop trying to adjust my eyes to the light.

GuitarGeek717: Morning Sunshine.
FallingStar727: Hey stranger…how are you doing?
GuitarGeek717: I'm alright. How'd you sleep?
FallingStar727: Eh…I had some pretty weird dreams.
GuitarGeek717: Like what? Not nightmares?
FallingStar727: No, just weird dreams. One was that I was going to meet you. And I was very hesitant, but you finally convinced me and when we did meet you didn't have a face.
GuitarGeek717: Maybe that wasn't a dream.
FallingStar727: What's that supposed to mean?
GuitarGeek717: Maybe it was a premonition.
FallingStar727: And why's that?
GuitarGeek717: I'll be in New York City in two days. Now I know how you're afraid I'm a stalker or some perverted old man but I'm not. I would hope the last few months would convince you of that. But do me a favor and at least think about it, please.
FallingStar727: Ok…I will, but right now I've got to get in the shower.
GuitarGeek717: Well let me know if you decide anything. Have a good day.
FallingStar727: I will and you too. I'll talk to you tonight.
GuitarGeek717: I'll be here. Bye.

I put up one of my lyrical away messages so I could jump in the shower. Way to drop a bomb on me. He couldn't have told me any sooner? At least I could have more time to think about it then. This seemed so rushed. I wanted to meet him, but I knew better. He could still be a psychopath. I needed to talk to someone about this.

I finished getting ready and was about to head downstairs when I looked at Tom's screen-name. He had an away message up. Curiosity killed the cat, I looked. 'Remember when you said we'd never see each other? Well I've seen you in my dreams and you've seen me in yours. Now let's meet in person. Take a chance, wish on a falling star." He always knew how to put a smile on my face.

I made my way to the kitchen in the apartment I shared with Ashley, my best friend from high school. She was always there for me. Sure on the outside she seemed flimsy, like changing the way she spelled her name or the way she changed her hair, but she never let me down. This week she was Ashleigh with bleach blonde hair with red and blue extensions. When I got to the kitchen she was sitting at the bar eating. I plopped down next to her and buried my head in my arms. "What's the matter with you?"

"You know that guy I've been talking to?" I said through the little space between my arms.

"The internet bloke?" she asked in reference of him being British.

I shook my head. "He's going to be in the city on Thursday. And best of all he wants to meet!"

Ashleigh took another spoonful of oatmeal and asked with her mouth full, "What's the problem?"

"He wants to meet me in person." What didn't she get about this? Didn't she know how dangerous this was?

She looked at me dumbfounded. "I don't understand how that's a problem. You've been talking to this guy for months. If he was some crazy nut job he would have moved onto another girl already. So you're really not taking that big of a risk…" Ash dragged on, but I was distracted by a song that was on the radio.

"Life's getting harder day by day, and I don't now what to do, what to say…" those were my lyrics; that was my song.

"Shut up for a minute," I yelled at Ash. She looked at me surprised, but she did shut her mouth. I turned up the volume to the radio and listened to the song without any interruptions. The lyrics were my lyrics; the music was the same way Tom had suggested.

"That was 'Not Alone,' by a new British band called McFly. You heard it here first on Z100."

"That's my song!" I screamed out.

"What?"

I turned to Ashleigh, "I wrote that song, those are my lyrics. Okay, I didn't write the music but…" and then it hit me. "I'm going to kill him. I can't believe he would do that to me." I paced around the room.

"Who did what? And why are you freaking?" Ashleigh asked.

"Tom. Tom helped me write the music to the lyrics I wrote, but he went and stole my lyrics and released it without my consent." I slammed my fist into the bar. I thought Tom was a nice guy. I actually thought I could trust him, but then again it all goes back to the fact that I met him on the internet. I started to pace again faster and faster trying to think of something I could do to stop this song from airing without my permission.

Ashleigh got off of the bar and stopped me from pacing. "Why don't you just agree to meet him and give him a piece of your mind about what he did with the song? That gives you a reason to meet him in person…you can resolve this whole, 'I wrote the lyrics, but he wrote the music,' deal. And since I know everything that's going on…I must be there too." She finally let go of me and put both hands on her hips being so proud of herself.

"You're right. This does give me a reason to meet him. Boy is he going to get a piece of my mind. I'm going to tell him now." I patted Ash's arm and headed back to my room. I sat down at my computer and starred at Tom's screen-name. He still had his away message on. I read it over once more. He was one of the sweetest guys I had ever talked to but he really hurt me by taking my song and not giving me any credit for it. I double clicked on his screen-name and sent a quick message: "I'm ready to take the next step. I wanna see who I've been talking to for the last several months. Give me the details of where you're staying and when you want to meet. Hope to see or talk to you soon. XOXO, Audrey." I read it over three or four times before I realized I couldn't make it sound any better. I hit the enter key on my keyboard and sent the message through cyberspace to him. I waited in front of my computer to see if he would write back but no response. I closed my laptop and headed off to my first class of the day. This guy had no idea what he was getting himself into and neither did I.