Lacking a penseive, this will serve to ease my overloaded mind.
I have been in a thoughtful mood today. Not as in considerate (though I try to be so) but as in full of thoughts, pensive.
And as often happens with such moods, I start thinking about Dwayne.
And I realized that it has been almost nine years since he went missing. And it still hurts, and I still turn around when walking down a crowded street, expecting to see him loping toward me, his lopsided smile unchanged.
To clear any confusion, I met Dwayne in high school through a friend of mine, whom he was dating. Even after they split, we remained very close friends. I went away to uni, and he went on to BC for work, and still we talked as often as we could. I remember that he lost my number once, and made phone call after phone call back to Newfoundland, to track down my number at uni. He was worried that I would be concerned because I hadn't heard from him in a while; he just wanted me to know he was ok, and that he loved me and all.
And then a few weeks later I got a call from my friend, the one whom he had previously dated. She told me that he had gone missing.
I said no, it wasn't possible, it hadn't been that long since we talked. She assured me it was true.
I outwardly accepted it, meanwhile thinking, "It'll be ok, he'll turn up soon enough".
Here it is, nine years later, and I still haven't given up. He'll turn up.
He used to play the song "Stay" by Shakespeare's Sister when we would talk on the phone. I can't hear that song without thinking of him and wishing he had only heeded the words.
If this picture is recognizable to anyone, please reply or contact the RCMP. Keep in mind that it is a nine year old photo, and his features would have most certainly altered by now. I am not the only one missing Dwayne. He has a circle of family and friends that are praying for his return.
