“Who’s there?” I asked into the void, hoping against hope that it wasn’t a fluke.

“Hey, Jordan,” the presence said.

“Aaron?” I said, feeling my thoughts shiver. “Is it really you?”

“Be real here, who else would ever know your name?” they said. “Yes, it’s me. Listen, I don’t know how much time I have. If they wake either of us up again, I can’t lose you again. Millennium Bridge, Saturday, seven in the evening. I’ll be there. If I’m not, I’m either dead or don’t exist. Alright?”

“Uhh, alright? Are you asking me out?” I said.

“Yes, I am. I miss you, Jordan,” he said. “I’ve been missing you for a year, and then some. I need you.”

“How are we talking? Do you have an operation now?” I said, hoping for a positive, real-sounding answer.

“Yes, I am,” he said. “The last one I’ll ever have.”

“Why? Are you alright?” I said. “Have they managed to fix you?”

“Jordan, honey, I have four procedures a year done on me. I’m everything other than alright,” he said.

“Pet names? We haven’t even met,” I said. “Don’t you think it’s a bit soon for pet names?”

“No. No, I don’t,” he said. “You’re the only thing I’ve been able to think about since last October. When you didn’t show up a year ago, I was gutted. When you kept not showing up, I’d almost given up on myself. But then you did show up again, and I knew you were real, and I knew I needed you in my life. I love you, Jordan.”

“Lad, you haven’t met me,” I said. “I appreciate it, but tone it down, alright?”

His presence seemed to go quiet, as if the mesh our thoughts were in had weakened. I felt him slipping away, as if he didn’t want, or couldn’t be interwoven with my thoughts anymore. “I’m sorry. I hoped you felt the same way.”

The moment hit me like a brick. What was I doing? I’d finally found him, and now I was being rude to him. “No, I’m sorry. I was too rude. I know it’s going to sound meaningless now, but… I’ve missed you too. So much. You have absolutely no idea how much I’ve gone through to find you again.”

“I do,” he said.

“I’m not sure you do, but I still want to meet you. In the flesh, this time,” I said. “How will you know what I look like?”

“I’ll just know,” he said. “I will.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound at all creepy,” I said. “I hope you’re actually a sensible person.”

“I hope so too,” he said. “Even if I’m not, I’ll do my best to be one for you.”

His presence again grew closer to mine. I felt disarray starting to happen, and a part of my brain, a subconscious layer beneath even the one I was thinking in right now, started playing us background music in the form of a single violin.

“Can you hear that?” I said, feeling a form of internal warmth, or at least the same general feeling as warmth, even though I wasn’t really having any senses.

“Yes, I can,” he said, softer and closer to me this time. “It’s just as beautiful as you are.”

At that point, I didn’t even need to hear his thoughts expressed in words to know that he was there. The warmth, the comfort, the sheer pleasure of knowing that more than a year of my life hadn’t gone to nothing. I’d gone above and beyond to find him, and by all that was sacred to me, I did find him. His mind was one with my own. He was mine, and I was his.

“You still haven’t me,” I said in the quietest, softest of ways. Almost like a whisper in thought.

“Your body, no, I haven’t. Don’t need to meet someone’s body to know they’re beautiful,” he whispered.

There was no chest of his to rest my head on and feel him breathe. There was no slow vibration for him to vocalise. But, at that moment, it felt as the closest thing possible to a cuddle. As I basked in the perfection, I seemed to disconnect somehow. I couldn’t talk to him anymore, but it didn’t matter. He was here, and the embrace of his mind was the last thing I felt before returning to my body.

“Any luck?” a deep male voice said.

I felt my body again, and it was shaking. I was breathing heavily, my eyes teared up, and I lost track of anything sensible coherent I wanted to say. I just nodded, before closing my eyes and feeling myself shake again.

“He was there? How did it feel? Tell me,” he said.

“Give her a moment,” Laura said. “You and your science. Sometimes you go a bit too far, as you’ve been told multiple times before.”

“He was,” I whimpered. “He’s real. He wants to meet me. I – I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to,” he said. “Take your time.”

I kept whimpering on their kitchen table, nowhere near able to process what had just happened. He really, truly was a human being of flesh and blood, and a mind which had found its way into mine. Aaron, whatever he looked like, my special Aaron, was not an imaginary friend. I wasn’t a hallucinating nutter. I was right all along.

“You should lie down somewhere more comfortable,” Laura said, and directed me to their couch. “I know it’s a big day for you. Savour it, take your time to calm down. These come along once in a lifetime.”

“Thank you so much, Laura,” I whimpered through my tears. “None of this would be possible without you. Thank you.”

“I couldn’t bear hearing your story anymore and not helping you,” she said. “When Colin told me about you, I just couldn’t listen to it. You’re young and gone through so much just to be alive. You deserve a lucky break, Jordan. And if I could give you one, I felt compelled to do so.”

“Shut up,” I said, and hugged her, still in my underwear, but I didn’t care. Whimpering and heaving, I tried to calm down, but I couldn’t. This couple went beyond their oath and responsibility to help me, just another patient in Colin’s history, find what I needed. “How can I ever repay you?”

“You should probably put some clothes on,” she said, not reciprocating the hug.