March 5th, 2086​

Mariana Turner sat by the newest mommy vehicle her mother decided she needed, and wrote in a journal she had found months earlier with an entry already written in it. She had decided to respond to the entry rather than be normal and rip the page out, and when she went to look back it an hour or so later, there was a response to the message she had written. As if the journal had a life of it's own, though she knew better than to think that, but somehow continued writing back and forth to whatever person or thing was also writing in the journal. Until she started asking questions like what its name was, how old it was, etc etc. She found an odd comfort in everything that was said between her and the mystery person, and whenever she felt like she was being ignored or was growing sick of not being able to settle down, she re-read the journal, only to find the person had already written something new for her to read.

Rather than going out to the bar or club with her brother, she sat in her room and wrote in her journal. She wasn't even necessarily the type of girl who would own a journal, but having one that actually responded to her as if it was a living thing made her life more interesting. She sat and watched words appear on the page as they were being written, and smiled, until her mom walked up and nudged her with her foot.

"Hey, we're heading out to get pizza." Rachael spoke, with her tongue sticking out as she poked Mariana with her foot.

"Okay okay," Mariana grumbled, trying to sound grouchy, however her smile revealed otherwise, as she got up and got in the vehicle, where she waited a few minutes for her mom and step dad to stop sucking face for a minute. She wondered how they were able to hold authority over her and Aiden all their lives, being only 24 and 25 years old. If anyone else had ordered either of them around and were that old, Mariana was sure she'd see them as nothing but a joke. But her parents had the right attitude about them to raise them, and she supposed that was good enough.
Once Corey, Mariana's step dad, was in the vehicle, he turned the vehicle and mp3 player on, instantly flooding the vehicle with music, and headed off down the road. Mariana put her headphones in to listen to her music, because he always called her music tastes crappy. She looked over at her brother Aiden, who was on his laptop doing whatever it was he did on that thing. The only thing she really used her laptop for, was her music, and graphic program she was using to make extra money. She developed character models for books so they could be turned into movies, or comic books.

She had more sets of types of characters than she even knew what to do with. There was Fantasy, Anime, Manga, Surreal, Horror, Children theme, and the others for the random people who requested for anything else. It took maybe a week per book series to create models for every single character in the book-and every single different outfit and facial expression they had, and she was usually paid between $500-$1,000 per series. Recently she was working on a personal project, which was coming up with what the mystery man/woman looked like, based on what little details they were giving her of their appearance. It was a give take situation, so she used every set she had to try coming up with the best fit.

She figured it had to be a woman, because the handwriting was too neat to be a man's, so that crossed off one small detail. During the drive, she thought over it all, until a thought came to mind that made her face palm. Never once had she put up a picture of herself to try convincing this mystery person to reveal themselves to her. So she decided to make a model of herself, that took an hour, give or take, to do, and print it off at the nearest library while her family pigged out on pizza. When she came back to sit in the car, she left the journal open while she grabbed a piece of pizza, and when she looked back, there was already something being written.

Can I have a real picture of you please?

Mariana blushed out of embarrassment when she read it over, and was stumbling over words she was thinking about writing. For a moment she was shocked, normally it took at least twenty minutes to get a response, or she'd write something, and not see one unless she happened to fall asleep and wake up to read it. Rather than writing what she was thinking to such a quick response, she decided to be smart with her opportunity.

Not until I get a picture in general of you.

She waited, as she nomed on her pizza, and a few slices later, she decided to stare out the window, until Aiden nudged her. She could feel his protective eyes staring at her already, and she swiped at him. "Stop it, Aiden." She closed the journal, and tucked it beside her.

"I thought we said you couldn't have boyfriends, Mary." He said smugly.

"What, are you even talking about?" She thought for a minute, and face-palmed remembering the last thing she had written, and opened the journal. It was most definitely NOT a woman.

"So, if this isn't your boyfriend, then why is his picture in your little book?"

"I didn't know I was talking to a man, you douche." She retaliated, getting a good look at the picture. Before she could write a response, Aiden got his first glimpse of what the journal was capable of, as the words started appearing on the paper as they were being written. He stared in shock and utter disbelief.

I hope that was appropriate enough. I couldn't find anything else I could put in this book. I was surprised I even found it when I did. I was in a funk and I'm glad you helped me out of it whoever you are. I don't even know your name and you saved my life. I hope eventually if you're not just in my head, that I can actually meet you. I was going to say no to giving you a picture and just let you figure it out on your own, but you've given my life meaning somehow and I wanted to thank you with that.​

Weird thing, I can say the same thing about you. I hope you're not too offended, but I kept thinking to myself, this person can't possibly be a man, the handwriting is too pretty. But thank you for the picture. You've actually inspired me to come up with a new comic series based on our conversations. If you want I can

I have an idea. Where are you going to be next week? I want to know if you're real, regardless if you let me see a picture of you first.

Oki doki. I should still be in the same place I am now. I'll give you a picture of a landmark and if you can look it up and it's real, then so am I. =)​

Mariana waited for a response, and couldn't help but laughing at her older brother, as his mouth hung agape. "If you're going to be meeting this man ANYWHERE, I have to be there too."

"Chill out, dude." Marianna spoke, laughing. "I'm not meeting anyone anywhere."

"But I saw the writing, and the-"

"Since when is anything weird for you?? We're still this old how, again?"

"That's different!"

"Not really." She rolled her eyes with amusement, and he was already back to his computer. When they were finally back at the house, she printed off a picture of a little theater across the street, taped it to the page, and waited. Up until the last week of living in the home, she waited for him to write back. But he never did. She had waited over two months, with nothing in return. After a while, she opened he journal, and was surprised to see something written.

"’I still recal the taste of your tears, echoing your voice just like, a ringing in my ears. My favorite dreams of you still wash ashore. Scraping through my head, till I don't want to sleep...anymore. You make this all go away, you make this all go away. I'm down to just one thing, I'm starting to scare myself. I just want something...I just want something I can never have."  This reminded me of you somehow. I hope all is well with you. I was admitted after my mother was shot in the heart in front of me and they found my journal. Mariana, I hope if this gets to you, that you know I didn't mean to abandon you. None of the messages I write anymore seem to be going through.​

"World was on fire and no one could save me but you. It's strange what desire will make foolish people do." I remember that quote from the first time I read out of this journal. I almost thought you forgot about me.​

How could I possibly forget someone I've never really met? The fact that I've never even seen your face is enough to keep me writing.

No need to wait anymore. I finally gained the confidence to take a picture. Don't laugh at me too much though, not that I'd know regardless. Just please don't laugh. I don't do this too often. I'm not allowed to.

Mariana hesitantly taped a picture her mom had taken that morning in the journal. She was wearing a light blue dress that went down to her knees, was short sleeved and was unavoidably showing cleavage. However revealing the picture was due to that fact, her facial expression was sincere, her scarlet hair was tucked behind her ears, and her light green eyes almost had a glow to them. The glow had come from the fact that she had spent an hour meditating before the picture was taken, and she was in a state of complete peace with herself. She sat down on the bed, and waited.

Goregeous, Mariana. I have no reason to laugh, but why aren't you allowed to have pictures of yourself?

It's a long story I can't explain right now. Maybe when I can actually see your face. But not right now. I hope you understand, it's too dangerous of a secret to give away.

You're technically not giving anything away, darlin. You are after all writing in a journal. ;) So you can tell me anything. I have no one to tell. I've been on the road for quite some time now, and don't have anyone else TO tell.

Okay. I'll tell you. When I was 6 years old, my parents were afraid of dying, so much that they found someone to make it so nothing could kill them, and that they would never age again. They didn't really have anyone they would miss, so it didn't seem like that much of a problem for them. As for me and my brother, Aiden, they wanted to wait until we were at least 21 to bestow this amazing gift on us, but until then, we had to get used to not staying anywhere for too long. Our moves are mostly for my mom's traveling photography business, but overall we don't want people figuring us out, because what we did to be this way was and still is illigal. The big wicca era made everyone go crazy with wanting immortality and anything else they could get their hands on, so they utilized those who did anything of the sort, or killed them. We only stay places for a few months at a time because of that, and have to change our appearance every time we move. I'll be moving again in a week.​

Marianna noticed a picture with a familiar landmark appearing on the page.

 

Where is that?

​
That's the hotel I'm staying at until tomorrow. Why? Are you close?

Very...0.o That's the last hotel I stayed at...which was uhhhhmmm, I want to say, 6 months ago.
She thought for a minute.
So, you're in Virginia?

Yep.​

Stay where you are. Actually, look under the plants. There should be a thin box with close to $200 in it. I felt like someone was going to need it, and no one ever really stays there so it should still be there.

Marianna jumped when there was a knock on the door. "Hold on." She answered.

It was her mom. "Hey there's someone down here who wants to see you."

For a moment, she could barely breathe, out of being suddenly nervous at the same time as shocked.

"Who??"

"Uncle Nate, derpa. Who else could it possibly be?"

"I dunno." She quickly scribbled something in the journal before running downstairs.

In all seriousness though, I really hope you're not just in my head. You're too perfect not to be though, but in the case that you aren't, I might finally have the chance to have someone other than my family to spend my forever with. =)
When she saw her uncle, she ran up and tackled him. He always had the habit of turning her into a complete kid for some reason. When she let go of him, she noticed a box on the floor with her name on it. "Hmmm? What's in the box?"

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Your new body." He laughed. "No, just the typical stuff."

"Yeah I know, bleach kit, dye, excetera excetera." She rolled her eyes. "Do I at least have a name that doesn't suck this time?"

"Nope. You're keeping your name." He showed her a picture of something he thought would be ideal, and she smiled. "Thought you'd like the change up."

She grabbed the box, and went to run back up stairs, but was stopped.

"Don't bother packing more than that journal and laptop of yours, missy," Nate instructed.

"Oki doki then!" Mariana called from the top steps. About ten minutes after she finally settled down to look through the box, there was a knock on the door. "Yeah?" She answered. It was her mom.

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

Rachael opened the door and walked in and sat down on the bed beside Mariana, after shutting the door behind her. She noticed the journal was open on the desk. "I see you're writing mystery man again?"

"Mhm."

"You never showed me his picture, by the way." She smirked.

"He's kind of a pretty boy, actually. But if you really want, I can show you." She walked over to grab the journal, and flipped back to the page his picture was on to show Rachael, whom nodded in approval.

"Definitely a pretty boy. Does he have a name?"

"He does, but it's kind of complicated. I've never actually met him."

"Well of course not, honey. You're using a journal that someone turned into something they could use to communicate with other people easier, without phones or computers."

"Hm...that explains. I take it Aiden told you about it?"

Rachael nodded. "Yep. He was ranting and raving about it and I had to explain it to him, too-obviously you have a better understanding than he did. This boy is the only one you're allowed to tell anything to. But I want to meet him, because we're going to need him for our next home. Did you read your profile yet?"

"No, why???"

"You're going to be married for a few months."

"But mom, what 21 year old gets....oh right. At my age it'll look normal to get married and then a few months later be divorced. Oki doki.” She grabbed a random pen, and went to write, only Rachael took a pin and pricked her finger, causing a small amount of blood to fill in the small crevices of her finger. “Ow! What was that for??”

“Watch.” Rachael flipped to the front of the journal where an empty front page was, and pressed Mariana’s finger down on it. The small amount of blood soaked into the page, spreading into a detailed map of where the man Mariana was writing with was.

“Creepy much?” Mariana protested.

“Nah. Just keeping track of your husband.” She laughed. “We’re heading that way, you should probably tell him about this, because knowing you, you’ve already told him everything else.”

Mariana blushed. “Nooo...why would I ever do that?” She hid a smile.

“We’re leaving tomorrow. I suggest you get your butt ready so I can get a picture of you for...you never said his name.”
“Ryan. His name is Ryan.” She grabbed the pen, and started writing, as Rachael looked over her shoulder to read what Mariana had missed.

Forever huh? You're not getting mushy on me, are you?

“Honey...you might want to re-read the last thing you wrote this young man.” Rachael laughed, and when Mariana blushed, she laughed even harder.

“I didn’t see that...” She sucked her lip in to hide from grinning.

That’s not really how I mean that...what I meant was...gahh I don't even know what I meant anymore. I meant that if you wanted I could...wait that doesn’t sound right either. -le sigh- Either way, my mom has decided she wants to meet you, so I suppose what I mean now, is do you want to meet me indefinitely? Or no?​

Well of course. But how exactly do you plan on going about this?

We're going to you. My mom told me someone did something to our journals that's allowing us to communicate through them. I'm leaving tomorrow, so stay where you are. My mom is taking a picture of me after we're done changing me. It's gonna be a kind of dramatic change, but I hope I don't scare you away too much.

It won't matter at all to me. You'll still be the same person to me. :)

Marianna smiled, and left to the bathroom with her mom where they switched her clothes out for her new ones, which were completely different from the simple, somewhat girly clothes she had gotten used to. Her mom helped cut and dye her hair, and decide on grey color contacts for her new eye color. When everything was said and done, Mariana threw all of her old clothes and hair in a garbage bag to be disposed of. Her new appearance included; black hair with bright neon green streaks, that was layered all over and straightened, thinner eyebrows to make the appearance of drawn on eyebrows, eyebrow, lip and ear piercings, grey eyes, thick but somewhat sexy eyeliner, and concealer to lighten her skin. For clothing, she wore high top monochrome converse, fishnet thigh-high stockings, neon green shorts, and a simple fitted black t-shirt with Edward Scisorhands on the front.

For a nice change, she kept her Tim Burton and sanskrit tattoos unhidden. She had Jack on one leg and Sally on the other, each peeking around a tree to the other one. Rachael smiled at Mariana as if she were a piece of artwork, and took a picture from an angle where every bit of her would stand out equally. While Mariana laid down with ice on her face and ears (the piercings most likely being fully healed by the time they arrived at their new home not being the point, but that the fresh feeling of the piercings still stung a bit), Rachael did the same thing with herself, took a picture to add to her portfolio, and went down stairs to torture Aiden the same way she did Mariana.

 

Marianna in the meantime dozed off within an hour of this all happening, and in her dream woke up in someone else's bed. She looked around, and was confused, the lightness in her head not helping matters as she stood up from the bed. She peered around, until she noticed someone standing in the hallway looking in.

"Ummm hello?" She asked the stranger, whom took a step inside the room.

"How did you get in here?" The stranger asked, as Mariana was still unable to make his face out.

"I honestly have no idea." She answered, hoping he got the confused tone in her voice. He stepped forward, and she recognized his face. The look on his face was similar to the look he had in the picture he showed her, and for some reason, however expressionless it was, it still made her stomach have ridiculous flip flops. "Ryan?" She managed to ask.

"Yes? Do I know you?"

"Yeah, you do. It's-"

Before she could answer, she was woken up by the sound of her alarm.