Day 9

A few years ago I met this guy on the internet, it started out us just chatting everyday with friends in the chat room then he started contacting me directly. We spoke every day and night online for months before exchanging numbers.

We started texting immediately, talking about anything and everything, dreams for the future, what we wanted to do when we finished school. He called me once, I was terrified to answer at the time, but when I did, I felt like I’d known him all my life. That connection we had when texting was still there when we spoke over the phone.

I discovered he was from Louisiana so travelling could be hard as I was from Ohio. He was one year older than me and wanted to become and engineer, he was in currently in college studying engineering, he seemed fascinated that I wanted to become a geologist, like him I attended college to study geography and entry level physics and astronomy.

During that time we had sent each other pictures of what we looked like. He always seemed weary of sending me selfies, almost like he had something to be ashamed of. After almost a year of failed attempts to meet and video chat I felt like I had no other choice.

I contacted the guys who run the TV Show Catfish pleading for help. The guys contacted me a few days later over skype, I gave them a brief summary of my life including how and when I met Jack. They flew out the next day from New York, I had provided them with an email with all of Jack’s details and my address and contact number in case they needed to contact me before arriving at my home.

It was weird having them here the following day; it didn’t feel real at all. It actually felt like a dream. I told them everything, showed them the few pictures I had of Jack and some of the messages we’d exchanged. I showed them his facebook and Instagram, his Instagram was full of images, projects he was working on with the exception of one picture of him which he’d sent to me when we first exchanged pictures.

With all the details I could provide them they left to go and investigate as they put it. With what spare time I had I decided to get some college work done, it seemed to be the best way to take my mind off the events of today.

Jack messaged me later that day after finishing today’s class, speaking to me like normal. He even phoned me later that night when I decided to play some video game for a few hours, I didn’t let it slip that I’d contacted the guys from Catfish, I thought that would be better to announce tomorrow when they try to convince him to meet up.

The next morning the guys phoned me to check I was available to meet up; I hadn’t anything planned so I just told them to come round. I cleaned up whilst waiting on the team to arrive, they didn’t take long and when they did I felt more nervous than ever.

They sat around my dining room table to speak to me, they set the laptop in front of me and proceeded to show me that Jack appeared to be real as they had found records from his school to show he graduated top of his class in engineering, they showed me that the number was registered to him and where it said he was living which was where he had told me.

They found something Jack had never told me, there was an article from a few months before we started talking about a house fire in the outskirts of New Orleans. A family of four were involved, the youngest child, a girl of only six died of third degree burns in the hospital, and the fifteen year son had been burned badly trying to rescue his younger sister.

That fifteen year old boy was Jack; there weren’t any pictures of him after the accident only prior to it. Again the pictures were the ones I had seen. It made sense now, he was who he claimed to be but he was insecure about his looks after the accident.

It was then that Nev offered to contact Jack and arrange to meet. He disappeared into another room while he phoned Jack. Max looked to me and asked how I was feeling about all this. I was a little hurt that Jack hadn’t told me about the accident, he has told me his sister died in hospital after a house fire but not once did he mention he had been hurt. I was overwhelmed the man I had come to love had gone through a lot and turned to the internet for an escape.

When Nev came back he announced we were going to New Orleans tomorrow. When they left I packed a bag with enough clothing for a few days. Jack and I never spoke that night. I could understand, he was probably hurt I’d gone to Catfish just so we could meet and I’d never told him but I didn’t know what else to do.

The next morning the team arrived to take me to the airport for our flight to New Orleans. A few hours later we had arrived in New Orleans, it looked amazing from what I could see having never travelled outside of Ohio.

The team rented cars for the journey between the airport and the hotel and then Jack’s tomorrow. I phoned Jack that night, I apologised about involving Catfish, he said it was alright at least we would finally get to me although I might not like what I see the next day, I told him he was stupid if he thought I wouldn’t still like him if he had scars, I wasn’t that shallow and it wasn’t his looks I was in love with.

That was the first time I had admitted I loved him. Told him I always have I just wanted to wait until we met before I told him. He accepted it and told me he couldn’t wait to meet me and that he to loves me. I fell asleep talking to him that night.

My alarm woke me up the following morning; we had arranged to meet at around 11am at Jack’s home after he’d sent us his address. The knock on the door reminded me that we had to leave; I grabbed my phone and jacket before leaving with the team.

Nev drove to Jack’s place, all the while asking how the night before went and how I was feeling. I told them how we’d spoken all night eventually falling asleep talking, how we’d finally told each other how we really felt. His home was on the outskirts of New Orleans and looked like a plantation house.

They put the car into park just outside and we all climbed out of the cars. I followed them to the bottom of the steps while Nev stepped up to the front door and knocked. A minute or two later and the door opened a little I could hear voices one of which I knew was Jack’s. The door opened a little more, he wasn’t much shorter than Nev from what I could see, and his face was hidden by his hood.

They exchanged a few words before descending the steps to join the rest of us, Jack didn’t remove his hood, even when he was standing only a few feet from me his hood remained up. I could vaguely make out his face but with his hood shadowing his face I couldn’t completely tell if he did have scars or not.

We spoke a little, he explained a little more about the fie and what happened, he apologised for not sending me updated pictures of him and how he was scared he would lose if I saw what he really looked like. He told us he would feel more comfortable if we all went inside so he could then take his hood down without feeling too exposed.

He lead us inside, the house appeared bigger on the inside. Not too much furniture, just the right amount to keep the rooms very spacious, neutral colours on each wall giving them more options for furniture. We finally stopped in a room I guessed was a second living area, each of us taking seats, I remained close to Max and Nev until I could feel a little more relaxed.

We talked a little more before he plucked up the courage to pull his hood down. He had burns covering half of his face, his shoulder length hair hid how far back the scars went. Just glancing at him his scars didn’t look at all bad, I could understand he was very self-conscious about them.

I did what I thought was right which was to move to sit by him and take his hand in mine. His eyes widened in surprise but he soon smiled. The guys spent another hour with us before leaving. I stayed with Jack to take advantage of what time I had in New Orleans.

Later that evening Jack offered to take me back to the hotel and pick me up the next day to spend more time together and even take me to the airport that same day. I didn’t want to leave him at all but having the time away from one another would do us good.

The next day we met up again with the company of the Catfish team who wished us the best of luck as they departed. Jack spent the whole day showing me around New Orleans, we talked about our future and him possibly coming to visit me back home which he was up for.

It was hard to leave him at the gate in the airport, I literally felt like my heart was being torn out of my chest. I phoned him the moment I landed and continued to speak to him the whole cab ride home. We arranged then for him to come visit me in the next month when we were both due to be on study leave from college.

Over the next few months we continued to talk, make plans for the future. He did make it out to me for a short visit then I managed to visit him the next month. We were together when Catfish called us for a check up after three months. They seemed happy for us but I was over the moon we were making things work even with the distance.