Personal Log: Vanished
Posted on July 31st, 2022 by Rike Herschel

Henrike Herschel, Personal Log. Stardate 12208.02…

“Torin and I had lived together for eighteen years at my home on Tulgana IV, following the same routine week after week. It was comfortable… safety, in a way. You know there’s that feeling of knowing what someone does, how someone works, what they think without saying it, and… you don’t have to second guess any of it? Gottverdammt, it’s hard to explain… It was all going so well, like there was some kind of mystical equilibrium in the universe. It’s like, we had understandings of each other and our situations, you know?”

“So Torin, as a Vulcan, had that thing…so ein alberner name, Pon Farr. I honestly don’t get it but… Vulcans. The point to bringing that up is that it all went wrong around the uh- second? Ja, just nearly the second time for it to happen. Anyway, right when that was about to happen again, he just… disappeared. Poof. Gone. Vanished. I woke up one morning only to find that he and all his belongings were gone. Heck, I looked everywhere and practically turned the house upside down for any trace of existence.”

“Naturally, I freaked the hell out because why wouldn’t I? It couldn’t have been a kidnapping because his things would have still been there. But there was absolutely nothing, almost like he was a figment of my imagination or something. No- he must have voluntarily left, or worse: coerced. After the first week, I came to realize that maybe he really wasn’t going to come back. He was gone. Where? Why? I don’t know. But I… I was left with… grief? Yes, I think grief was the appropriate term for that. But even now, 14 years later, I still feel a twinge of sadness over it. I mean, at least I am going to therapy for that and every other small trauma I’ve experienced. Is the therapy working? Well- at least I’m not breaking down crying because I lost m-”

“Oh. Ooh no. Oh no. … I- awh nooooo verdammt. Excuse me, sorry. I uhh. I think I need to talk to the counselor. Right now. Ahh, Scheiße.”