When I regained consciousness I found myself walking along an old abandoned bridge. I couldn’t remember anything of the past few hours, and I didn’t know what to expect, as the last thing I remembered was a phone conversation with my mother, telling me to be home before dark. I lifted my arm to see what the time was, as it was well into the night by now. As I did this I noticed I had written something on my hand, "15th lamppost 03:30". I looked at my watch, "03:06". Oh well, she didn’t really expect me to be home before morning anyway. For some reason, that nobody could remember, all the lampposts were numbered, and I could see that I was only about three away. As I got closer, I couldn’t see anything there for me to do or collect, so I sat with my legs over the side of the bridge, and stared at the flowing water beneath me as I waited for 03:30. I still felt fairly intoxicated and not everything was making sense, but as I stared at the water I saw a girl standing there. She wore a white dress and looked sad with her long dark hair covering most of her face, and as she turned to look at me I felt a warm hand clasp my shoulder. It was Lilly looking down at me with a concerned expression on her face.
"Look at tha..." I started, as I went to point out the girl standing on the water.
"Look at what?"
"Nothing, don’t worry." The girl had disappeared.
"I wasn’t sure or not whether you would show up Frances, you’ve been so distant. I just want to know if there is anything I can do to help." Without answering, I turned back to staring at the water, and she sat down next the me, with the same concerned expression, until she moved closer and put her arm around my waist. She knew that that was what I had wanted her to do for so long, but I wasn't sure if she was doing it out of pity or because she felt that way about me. It didn’t concern me though, all I was concerned about was the girl I had seen, and as Lilly edged closer I blacked out again.

I had a strange dream. I was walking past an old church, and with me was the girl I had seen on the water. As I looked at her more closely, I could see that she was around the same age as myself. But I couldn’t quite make out her face; it was as though she didn’t have one. I heard a crow squawk and I looked up to see it perched upon the steeple of the church. It sat with an authoritive air about it, when a thought popped into my head. The black crow looked down at the two lonely pagans walking past not caring for that which he guarded.

I woke up to find that Lilly’s warm arm was still tight around my waist, only we were now on a train, and I could hear the conductor announce that the next stop was Central.
"This is our stop," Lilly whispered in my ear. When the train stopped we got up from our seats, departed, and made our way to the streets above.
"Don’t worry, I’ll make everything be okay," Lilly told me, as she clasped my hand in hers. We walked around the city for a while. It was a quiet place at 09:00, and as we walked through the square in front of City Hall, I saw a crow hop quite purposefully behind a water feature. I didn’t think anything of it until it reappeared, as if to gain my attention, and then hopped back. I remembered the crow from my dream and let go of Lilly’s hand to follow it. Behind the water feature, lying on the ground, was the girl. As I noticed this, the crow flew away, and left me with her. She lay peacefully, as if she were sleeping, but something was wrong. I bent down to get a better look, when I noticed that her skin was a pail blue and that she wasn’t breathing. I carefully moved her hair away from her face, so I could see what she looked like.
"Holy Shit! She looks like you." Lilly exclaimed, as she came up behind me. I blacked out.

I recalled the events of the previous night. I remembered that I had had an argument with my mother, telling me that I was late home and that she had something she needed to talk to me about, but by that stage I had already had a lot to drink and I didn’t care for what she had to say. I also recalled the conversation I had with Lilly about what was wrong. I told her that my whole life I had felt like there was something missing, something that should have been there but wasn’t. I also told her about the argument with my mother, and she said that I could stay with her as long as I needed.

I came to just as the police officer told me "That will be all miss". He guided me to the front reception area, where I saw Lilly waiting for me. She didn’t say anything, and she didn’t need to, for she knew that words wouldn't change anything. Lilly took me in her arms and held me close, as the tears streamed down my face. She’s too good to me. We walked out of the police station and back to the train station, and caught the next train back to my house. When we got to the front door, my mother was already standing there waiting for me.
"I just got off the phone to the police; they told me what happened. I meant to tell you. She paid me a visit last night, and I was going to tell you when you came home, but you never did. When you were only a couple of months old, she was kidnapped and no ransom was ever asked so every one assumed the worst. Trust me, I did mean to tell you." She stood there with a desperate look on her face. I walked straight past; there was nothing to say. Lilly followed me up to my room; I sat down on my bed and began to cry again. Lilly sat down and put her arm around me.
"Just remember I will always be here for you."
"Can I stay with you awhile, just until things settle down?"
"Sure."
She wiped the tears from my eyes. I got up, stuffed some clothes into my duffel bag, and turned to leave. But then I got a thought. I pushed my desk chair over to my wardrobe, stood on it, and took down a box of old toys from on top of the wardrobe. I rummaged through the box, until I came across what I was looking for, and put it into my bag as well.
"Can we make a stop into the city before we go to yours?"
"Whatever you want."

When the train pulled into Central station it was dark again. I hurried back to the water feature, and taking one of my favourite dolls out of my bag, I laid it on the ground where the girl had been.
"I always wondered why I had two of the same doll, and now I know why. Guess what." I asked as I turned to face Lilly
"What?"
"I don’t feel like anything is missing in my life anymore, well nothing besides you."
"You have me Frances, and you always will."