Someone I used to know

I have various muses that provoke my imagination. Sometimes I get this overwhelming sense of nostalgia thinking about happy moments in my life. Sometimes I hear a song- a specific song- and it gives me an idea for a specific story based on the tone, mood, and sometimes the lyrics. Sometimes it's when I dream about something that has never happened to me- like going to California. I fantasize about it, and I often wonder if the fantasy would be dulled by having finally experienced it. Have you ever met someone that you felt you connected with, sort of a kindred spirit that you started developing a friendship with only to have them disappear off the face of the planet without another word? That happened to me once, nine years ago. It was a most unsettling way for things to go, but at the time my imagination ran wild. I thought about him today because I still remember his birthday, June 23rd. I used to think about it all the time, wondering if he died, or if he got tired of me, speculating what could have possibly happened to make him stop talking to me. For a while I thought something bad happened, there could be no other explanation. Then my innocence waned and I grew aware of the corrupt nature of human beings. I grew cynical and skeptical that this person ever showed true kindness, it must have been a ruse. Even though all regard I held for him is long gone, I remember how he made me feel and how it changed over the rot of time. I have often thought (following a post on epistolary fiction) of looking over the old emails we sent each other, and make some sort of story out of it, leading to the dissolution and cynicism of the main character. It would be a way to be at peace with a mystery- write my own ending. It's a means of gaining control of things we cannot change.