She

Bergen General Hospital, Haukeland, Norway. Nina was finishing a catheterization procedure in a patient (an elderly woman who did not mince words and name-calling). The nursing students, for which Nina was responsible during her internship, couldn't stop laughing at what the lady said. Finally they finished and went to the meeting room, where they discussed the summary of what had been done on duty that day.

Nina was the head nurse in her sector, a 1.63 cm tall woman, resolute, with a firm hand when it came to work matters, while the employees treated her with affection and jokes all the time. Her hair was kept in a bun, her yellowish green eyes were vibrant, and she never got used to people commenting on their color. She was exhausted, counting the minutes for that day's work to end soon, as she would face a huge traffic to get to her house.

Nina said goodbye to everyone, hurried to the dressing room, took a shower, changed her clothes and left. When taking the phone out of air-mode, he received Dave's message via gmail Hangouts. She stared at the phone for a few seconds and went to the parking lot to get her car, put on her romantic forró tunes and faced the intense parking lot that formed every day around three in the afternoon towards the west side of Bergen. Getting into her car was like stepping back into the '80s past, her playlist made anyone swear she was in love, but no, that never happened.

Nina tried to change the list that was playing, standing in front of another tunnel, that's when another message arrived on her cell phone screen:

'It's me, Richard. We kept in touch a long time ago, but we lost each other.

*displayed message

* Typing...

'Hello, Richard. Sorry, but I don't remember you.

“We communicated on social media, as I understand it, but then you sent me an email saying you had deleted your pages online.

20 minutes passed...

Nina got home, kicked off her shoes, hung up her keys, and went upstairs to her room on the second floor.

- OK! Truth. Deletes them all a long time ago.

- How are you?

Nina walked up and down tidying her residence, music playing, went to the kitchen and started to cook her dinner.

David was impatient for how long it took Nina to respond. He kept looking at his phone screen, so he types: — I hope I'm not bothering you.

- I'm well thanks. You're not bothering me, but it's weird talking to someone without a face in profile.

“Yeah, it's weird. I can send you several photos after we get to know each other better.

Nina was thoughtful... She thought it was a prank call from her friends. He decided to see how far they would go. One time she was going to catch them in the lie!

- You are still in hospital? I remember you were a nurse.

'Yes, I still am.

- What are you doing now?

“I'm listening to music at Spotyfi, cooking, cleaning the house, and at the same time trying to put on false nails. Is that you?

"I'm saying goodbye to my apartment right now." Packing.

"Are you going to travel?"

“Yes. I'm moving out.

"From Bergen?"

'No. Northern Europe.

"And are you going to tell me where you're moving?"

- I'm coming back home.

— and will you also tell me where this house is?

“Laughing…yes.

After a long time in silence, Dave decided not to reveal too much about his identity. I didn't want to lie when I met her, but in her situation, it was difficult to speak openly. All Nina had of him was a few messages from Google Hangouts, synced to G-mail. It is known that many imposters and organized gangs use this app, as well as using WhatsApp to scam men and women on the internet.

Nina looks impatiently at the screen of her mobile device and feels slightly irritated by that vague, slow dialogue where the other end of the line didn't complete lines.

“I'm waiting…” she wrote.

— I just finished a job of many months, where I lived in several countries, now I'm going back to London, at least for a while, until I start working again.

Nina clicked on the messaging app's profile: Just Richard, that's what was written there. No profile picture, just a camcorder icon next to the username. He went through his entire account, G-mail was there, calendar option, message and phone call or video call. Then she went into her email, but the history had been deleted by her.

“Look, sorry for the frankness, either I'm the one who's really weird or it's not normal to be chatting with strangers online. Especially with someone without a photo, without a previous friendship with me, you are not in my contacts, add me out of the blue in a new app and want me to tell you my daily life? You do not know me!

In fact, Google Hangouts exists since 2013, but this tool gained more relevance in 2020, due to the scenario in which virtual communication became more necessary and present.

'Yes, I did. I also don't remember much of how we met, or why we broke up. I mean, we lost communication, but I have a lot of conversations between us. What made me try to resume this approach.

“I didn't find any email. Nothing! Why have you reappeared now?

'Well, it was an accident. I was deleting this account and everything that was synced to it, so I saw our dialogues. I'm single, on vacation... That was it.

- Hmm! Vacation... I know. Say right away that it was one of my friends who passed my contact on to you. The truth is always welcome! Which one? Kara or Lyon?

"I don't know either of them."

David knew all about Nina's life, due to her vast online photo library, and the fact that her phone was synced to Google in real time.

“Listen here, Rich! I will block you now.

“No. Please don't do this!

- Goodbye!

“I don't waste my time talking to strangers. Either you convince me now why I shouldn't delete you, or I won't let you know again.

- Wait! I'll tell you everything, but you won't believe it. Maybe it gets even worse...

— Try it!

“I'm a very famous actor, you might have guessed from the username on the email, Richard is a pseudonym. As I understand it, you were talking to someone on the internet who was impersonating me, so someone gave you my email address, and you started texting me, and I replied for a long time, until you disappeared. .

Nina stopped, thought, took a while to piece together the fragments in her head, remembering the time when she denounced various charlatans and fraudsters on the internet, who almost always passed for someone famous, actors, singers, models or military.

"So you're David Nichols?"

- Yes.

"Should I pass out now?"

Nina sent several messages mocking him. She was sure that person was either one of the internet quacks or some kind of joke.

“If it were another time, I'd keep talking to you until I get enough evidence to denounce you, but these days, I don't have time anymore.

“Nina. It's me, really. I'm David. At first I thought you knew, as you kept in touch by calling me by my name on G-mail, but then I knew you might not believe it.

— Famous or not, I wouldn't even recognize your name in email, I don't follow famous social media, I'm not part of pop culture. Do you know how many David Nichols I must have talked to? At least 300. I denounced them all. I worked with it dear. It was my favorite Hobby!

"So that's how you got to me?"

"It must have been." It's been over ten years... stages of life.

"Do you believe me now?"

'Oh, of course I believe it! It's super common nowadays for a super famous Hollywood actor to get in touch with unknown people on the internet...

“I know this is all very surreal. You may have heard this from thousands of imposters, but it's me! What can I do to prove it?

"Is this serious?" Wow, how tiring! Are you really going to insist? Just to think that there are thousands of women who fall for financial scams every day through unscrupulous psychopaths like you is a shame! You take advantage of the fragile moment of a lonely person, and play with their feelings, promise them love and withdraw all the money you can from these people... I'm sorry for them! If you contact me again, I will expose you publicly! I hope you get arrested, and burn in hellfire forever!

David impulsively clicked on the video call icon, and froze in front of the screen when he read the notification saying he was locked! He felt all the helpless feeling rush through his veins in that instant. He couldn't even try to prove he wasn't lying! He continued to stare at the phone screen, annoyed, unrepentant, and decided to forget about this story. Erased everything that existed on your computer, and disconnected your Google account from everything that existed on that machine.

Nina, on the other hand, was outraged with these mobsters, who spread faster each day on social networks, she more than anyone, hated lies.

David packed his bags, made his flight to London, and sitting aboard the aircraft, he couldn't help but think about Nina's attitude. A restlessness invaded his chest, spurring his curiosity, for a moment he found himself hoping she wouldn't disconnect him from access to his library. He opened Google Photos on his phone, signed in to check it out, and found himself relieved, sighing loudly, when he saw that everything was still there. He smiled, and continued his spying.

He took some screenshots of the photos he found interesting, as he was afraid of downloading, he didn't know if she would receive notifications. David had gone through album by album, from the first photo she had saved on the platform until the plane landed. Watching this stranger's life had become his favorite hobby. Lost between smiles, looking at some of her selfies, he thought:

“How does a person record so much of his own life without posting it anywhere? Why so many pictures then”? he thought.

Then he asked himself how it was possible that there were still people like that, who could live their lives without wanting to show them off to a network of “friends”, or followers. Images of his grandparents flashed through his mind, it reminded him that people did record their lives, only in another way, in another time, and kept them in photographs, large and heavy physical albums, some all decorated, in the which people showed for every visitor who arrived at their homes.

The fact that Nina didn't want to have her life exposed didn't mean she didn't want to record all the memories, so that when she wanted to, she could relive them. That's what David concluded.

David's week had passed like a wind with no time to stop. Nina had no longer thought about the unknown of Google Hangouts, and David had had enough time to find out Nina's phone number, due to the WhatsApp conversations, the place where she worked, the sector, the title, the address, and everything due to the thousands of prints she took of everything daily.

The following week Nina had finished another day of work at the hospital, and was hurrying tomeet your travel partners, Lyon and Kara. Traveling with her cousin and her best friend was something Nina looked forward to, as the three of them hadn't taken a vacation in a long time. They were very excited about this adventure, and they were even already outside waiting for her in the parking lot, to drive to the airport.

Kara was a physical therapist, despite her best friend telling her all the time that she should set up her own events, tourism, or advisory company. She, like Nina, worked hard all year, and when she had the opportunity to get together with her best friends, she made sure to plan step by step, every detail, ensuring they brought back the best memories. They had VIP tickets to the best clubs, reserved tables at the hottest places, trendy restaurants, and everything else Kara had planned. Nina knew that with this trip, she would do no different. Thanks to Kara, she knew they would have all the good and the best.

Lyon was gay, tall, strong, never leaving the gym. He had black hair, black eyes, tanned skin, and dressed stylishly modern.The women went crazy when they saw him, until they regretted knowing that he was one more competitor against them, when it came to handsome men. As Nina used to say: Another one in the “bread line”, that is, he was also there to line up the “magic boys”, she said.

So the three met...

When Nina got into the car, Lyon was soon taking her cell phone and playing music for them on the way to the airport. On the way, they used Nina's cell phone while choosing reggaeton songs, songs by singer Anitta do Brasil and several other Latinos.

Lyon and Kara talked, laughed and winked at each other. Nina suspected they were always up to it. What Nina didn't know was that they had installed a dating app on her cell phone. Since she had turned off all notifications on her phone, she couldn't see when potential suitors in Italy responded to her in the dating app. And so the two friends had fun at Nina's expense, without her knowing what it was, during the entire journey on the plane until they reached their destination: Rome.

Nina wasn't in love, maybe in song lyrics, movies and books, but not in real life at all. She was fearful, stubborn, determined and very reserved. She wasn't shy, but she didn't like crowds, she didn't like to walk in groups, and she didn't have the patience for debate. She also had a schism about travel. I was familiar with many nebulous stories about disappearances of women around the world, having worked for many years in the military, serving the Red Cross, being involved in various voluntary projects, aimed at families and women victims of violence, kidnapping and neglect of society , both in Brazil and Norway.

There was always someone who knew someone who was involved in something like this, and who would tell him stories of what you hear over the years living in Brazil, or traveling around the world. Due to her engagement in social work aimed at protecting the rights of women, Nina was always careful not to be in danger.

Knowing this, this schism of her friend, who was super suspicious in relation to men, especially those who thought they were powerful, a bit more exaggerated than the others, Lyon and Kara decided to "help" her to find "online flirts". ”, even though she would never agree if she did, even more so with the app tuned to capture Italians in Rome. For this reason, the cousin and the friend did not tell her about their setups.

Lyon and Kara always informed the “matches” where and when Nina would be with them—at a possible club or restaurant when they were still in Norway, for example—but they never made a date, for fear of being discovered by Nina. The intent was to draw these suitors to her by making them appear sporadic. They've been lucky so far, as many men in this app had approached Nina at some of these parties before, and acted strangely, as if they already knew her.

She never knew why they were so interested, but she was suspicious of Lyon and Kara because they were always trying to get her a boyfriend. Nina ended up turning her face away and walking away from these suitors. She had always had this aggressive way with men, inexplicably annoying and fearful about allowing a stranger to approach her, especially if he was trying to do her some kind of favor. It was difficult for her to even accept a drink from a stranger. She supported everything that had to do with women's empowerment and the evolution of women's roles in society. She couldn't accept a life where she had to submit to a man's whims.

Upon arriving at the hotel, the three unpacked their bags and toasted with glasses of wine and champagne. Between one cup and another, Kara gave a “like” to the photo of some sensual Italian, guided from time to time by Lyon. And in the midst of so many likes, a profile without photos was added to Nina's. The profile name was “".

David had seen Nina's profile prints on a dating app. Kara and Lyon forwarded the photos to themselves, and deleted it from her cell phone, but even deleting it from the device, the photos were uploaded to Google Photos. So, he made a paid profile, where he could choose which city, and region he wanted to sync with other users. He didn't settle down until he found her profile online!

Nina turned to them.

- What are you doing?

A Lyon and a Kara drunk from the effects of alcohol looked at each other. They hadn't stopped drinking champagne since they boarded the plane from Bergen to Rome.

Too late. Nina suddenly approached them and saw the messages being exchanged on her cell phone.

“But what…” Nina took the cell phone from Kara. "But what are you doing!?"

A discussion started.

The two friends couldn't take their argument seriously, while Nina was freaking out at what they did. The two laughed and did not stop justifying themselves, using arguments that said that only then she would go astray, since she was alone for a long time and did not give anyone a chance. They already knew she would have this reaction, and they were willing to accept the scolding.

Luckily, they really were very good friends, dear childhood friends. Otherwise, the fight would have been serious, despite screams and hysteria being heard from all sides.

Nina began reading messages aloud and deleting half of the matches from the phone. Friends tried to take the device from her hand and despaired asking her not to delete the application. They laughed and fought, laughed again and it all turned crazy!

Nina continued reading the latest messages aloud and found that half the town already knew the location of the party where she would be with Kara and Lyon. But the biggest shock came when he saw the messages on a profile without a photo: "The party of the year!" As he described it. "I wouldn't miss it for anything in this world."

Nina read aloud Lyon and Kara's response:

"Hope to see you at the party, stranger." We will be in a tent near the dance floor and the bar, of course! Hope you are tall, handsome and very sexy! I will be here for 14 days and hope to find something special.

She could hardly believe she was reading those messages. She lectured on how dangerous it was to go on a blind date, especially in another country. He kept babbling about how the rest of the world was not like Norway. In the end, she sat on the bed with her cell phone in her hand, on the verge of having a fit of tears, when her friends sat down beside her and went to comfort her.

- Friend! This business of being kidnapped and falling in love with a mob boss is in fashion! - Lyon said with a certain cynicism in his face.

"Aren't you the one who lives in the world of books?" Participate in all literature groups? So you know what's hot is being the slum owner's girlfriend! chortled Kara nonstop.

— Seriously, guys. That's not funny. I don't think it's cute to go around meeting whoever might be behind a phone screen, or romanticizing abusive relationships. It's not my thing and that's it! Am I weird? I am! I'm boring? I am! And period.

The atmosphere between them was already calming. They talked and tried to get right, like the good friends they were. The three Latinos left Bergen at two o'clock in the afternoon and it took them nearly five hours to reach Rome. They were very exhausted and influenced by the “drinks” they took on the plane and at the hotel.

Nina warned her friends that she wasn't going out that night, that she was going to delete all traces of that dating page and then rest. But Lyon and Kara begged, apologized, tried to explain once more, and Nina ended up giving in. Her anger had never taken more than five minutes, and they both knew it and used it clearly against her. So they finished getting ready to leave.

Nina, Lyon and Kara got into a taxi and headed for the party location.

Suddenly a message came from “Weird”, the stranger without the app's photo:

“Hi, stranger. It's almost midnight... The premiere is almost over and you didn't give a signal. Now everyone will move to the nightclub which will be packed in a few seconds. It will be impossible for us to meet if you don't answer me...

The three friends stared at each other for a few seconds. Nina hesitated a bit and replied in the app:

"I'll be the one in the black dress." The prettiest at the party, you bet!

The three laughed at the answer, as the party was in character. All women would be in black. And then Nina deleted the app forever. The friends laughed, even though it pained her to see that she permanently deleted that account, with so many beautiful men arranging interesting dates.

"Where are we going, lady VIP?" Nina asked.

“We're going to a real premiere,” Kara replied, omitting the fact that there were already courtesies ready for them at the hotel reception, sent by Stranger from the app.

"For the ticket price, which was more expensive than our entire trip scheduled to Anitta's Rock in Rio Lisbon show, it must be a good thing, I hope," said Nina.

'Yes, it's good stuff, red carpet, acrobatic dancers hanging from bungee cords, fire-breathers, pool, tents, a fine band playing live. Oh, and even an international DJ! Our name is at the top of the list. The night will be perfect, friend! said Kara euphoric, looking suspiciously at Lyon, who was her accomplice!

Lyon agreed with everything the two said. Everything was in good spirits with him, as long as they enjoyed their nights in Italy well for two weeks. He couldn't put down the phone, he also used the same dating app he'd made for Nina.

The party location was incredible: outdoor tents, a swimming pool, comfortable and luxurious seating; Very neon.

— After all, is it a debut of what? Nina asked.

"It's a VIP party," Lyon explained, "celebrated after the actors give their interviews and serve the audience."

"And how did you get us a seat?"

Kara lied:

— Buying, right, friend. Now let's toast our night of poor Latinas but playing at being rich in Italy!

They toasted. When Nina finished her neon blue drink, she pulled her two friends onto the dance floor.

— I love these songs!

And the three drunks went dancing.

Nina was a dance teacher in her spare time at the hospital, not to mention being Latina. When she danced, she caught the attention of everyone at the party, at least those who were paying attention. The men began to approach Nina, who stopped them with a firm, clear hand gesture. Tall men, very elegant, well dressed, and of remarkable beauty.

Her friends scolded her discreetly in her ear:

— Friend, are you crazy? Kara scolded.

- So it is! Lyon agreed. — Leave it, friend; let them come. Then we move to their table, which must be more expensive than ours; look at the boys' clothes!

“No, friend, I'm so scared,” Nina said, through the loud music. “I've heard thousands of stories about the Italian mafia kidnapping women. I'm not giving a leash to anyone here. And I've been really brooding since we traveled.

Kara rolled her eyes.

"Here she comes with the kidnapping stories!" Relax, woman!

Nina's favorite songs played one after another and she kept dancing. It looked like the DJ had access to his Spotify playlist. In the midst of so many sensual dances, Nina stops for a bit, gasping, runs a hand through her hair tossing it back, trying to dry the sweat on her face, then she opens her eyes, looks up, and sees him!

David Nichols was at the party. He watched her from the top floor as the guests below danced a lot. He wasn't just here on business, although he was officially on vacation after his last public appearance.

Nina didn't recognize him right away, but kept looking at him, he seemed to be the most handsome and elegant man at the party! Then he looked at her too, saw her dancing with two people in the middle of the floor, his friends.

David pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, just to make sure this woman dancing on the floor was the same woman he'd talked to in the app hours ago. Strangely, her profile had been deleted, and so had their conversations. He smiled, and thought it was no less to be expected of her.

He continued to look at her, intrigued by that dance.

Nina was still on the dance floor when a blue-eyed white man approached her. The boy introduced himself as Giosi, and asked her to dance. Nina kindly declined the invitation and tried to get away from him, but the boy insisted, and she was already starting to feel uncomfortable.

The Italian boy was so insistent that Lyon and Kara were forced to intervene. They took Nina off the dance floor and back to the table.

A tall black security guard of unparalleled beauty approached the trio, who had left the dance floor due to the Italian boy's persistence, and returned to the table. He calmly explained that he had noticed that they were being harassed, and offered them to go up to the private area of the place as a courtesy of the house.

Nina was left without a drop of blood on her face. She didn't let the bouncer finish talking and in a shaky voice said they were already well settled, and thanked her. The boy then smiled and walked away.

Her friends freaked out at her attitude, and she explained that this was all very weird, that it was all being too easy, that something was wrong. She was very brooding. In fact, she always was when it came to these matters. Friends cursed her, said she was watching too many movies and series. They blamed the books! They asked her to land. She said she was the only one there who had both feet on the ground.

— Friend, why are you always like this? Always do this! We're gonna miss the photos! We can stay there with the DJ if we want. Friend, why didn't you accept? We will lose expensive drinks for free and a private area just for us. Lyon complained with his arms crossed, stamping his feet like a child.

"Then you go." I will not. What if we get kidnapped? Thousands of tourists disappear every year and are never found again. Who will look for us? Nina asked.

— Norway, why! We are Norwegian citizens who went on vacation to Italy, we are tourists, my love! replied Lyon. — And the news would also reverberate in Brazil.

"As if it mattered!" Nina replied, making faces.

- Really, if someone wanted to kidnap us, kidnapped and that's it, me! But let's not leave now, because I have to take advantage of the blow I dealt to my card just today! And everyone laughed at Kara, who never took anything seriously, not even the arguments between them.

Kara was tall, thin, with long hair, straight and black to the middle of her defined back. He wore lush clothes. It looked like it had come out of a modeling magazine. She spent hours making up and producing herself. Friends called her “fuckin loca”! I was so euphoric at parties...

As the three walked back to the dance floor, security returned to David, who continued to watch the trio from above, and amidst the loud sounds of the disco, informed him of Nina's refusal. David said something to him and made him go back to them. The bouncer returned to Nina and her friends' table, and explained that the courtesy was on the part of David Nichols, the lead actor on that premiere. He informed them that he himself had instructed him to make the invitation to them on his behalf. Kara couldn't help but start laughing nervously, making jokes with Lyon's support.

— Our friend, if you refuse this time, the one who will kidnap you and kill you is me! And they both laughed.

- And even? David Nichols? Inviting us to the private area of the party? And why the hell would he do that? Please don't get me wrong, but we just want to enjoy our vacation here in Italy, enjoy our night, we're not hurting anyone. Norway has all our data, where we are, where we are going, our cell phone has GPS, everything that happens to us will imply the name of this debut and the name of this record. Please leave us alone! We didn't do anything wrong. - Even the bouncer looked surprised at her attitude, 'usually no one refuses an invitation like that,' he thought.

Kara and Lyon couldn't stand it when they heard Nina say that. David listened to everything on the other end of the communication radio between himself and his private security guard. So the two offered to go instead of her:

- Hi! Pleasure, young man. I'm Kara, this is my friend Lyon. Do we really accept the invitation to meet David Nichols, or was the invitation just for this fine girl, Nina Dahl?

The security guard received permission through the headset, showed them the way, and accompanied them as they warned them that it was not allowed to take pictures of David and the other guests in that area. Nina sat where she was downstairs, alone, watching them disappear into the crowd. Kara commented to Lyon that she would come after them later when she saw that everything was fine. If she didn't come, at least she would die of envy of the photos they were going to take without her, because of her distrust.

As friends made their way to the premiere's “VIP” area, the same little Italian daddy who had once pestered Nina on the dance floor, drunk and insistent, sat beside her at her table. Taking advantage of the situation when he saw her alone. David watched them intently with a steady gaze.

This same boy's friends sat down beside him and brought drinks. Nina got up, was in despair, was almost panicking. She was frightened to remember that her friends had arranged meetings between her and half of the city. The boys were polite, formal, but still inconvenient. One of them held her by the hand trying to stop her from leaving the table, they said:

'Please don't go, bella ragazza, don't be afraid, we're good lads. We just want to talk, enjoy the night, stay per favore!

Nina tried to free herself while the boy held her by the hand, gently, without brute strength, and in an attempt to convince her, said: — per favore!

It was then that suddenly David appeared with several security guards around him and said:

"Let go of the girl's hand!"