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Story 1: The Lead Masks of Vintame Hill

During August of 1966, the dead bodies of two men were found on a hillside in Brazil.

Much of what was discovered at the scene would leave authorities baffled and has never been fully understood.

What we are left with is a 50-year-old mystery known as the Lead Masks of Vintain Hill.

Rio de Janeiro.

Literally translated, it means River of January.

Except, there is no such water source.

When Portuguese explorer Gaspar Jilemos landed on the shores of Brazil in January of 1501,

he mistook the huge natural harbour to be the mouth of an almighty river and named it after the month in which it was discovered.

He did not come to realize his mistake until much later, and yet the name stuck.

Today, Rio de Janeiro is one of the most prominent states in the entire country, and its very name evokes images of a lush tropical paradise, home to stunning beaches, vibrant blue seas, and of course, beautiful people.

Despite being one of the smallest of the 27 federative units of Brazil, it has the second largest economy, third largest population, and is home to no fewer than 20 cities, the most notable of which is of course the state's namesake.

But just off to the east of that sprawling metropolis lies Nitroi, a thriving municipality in its own right.

During the 60s, Nitaroi was barely recognisable compared to how it appears today.

Back then, it was an underdeveloped, poverty-stricken town, suffering all the drawbacks of rapid industrialisation, which would ultimately enable its growth into the important financial and commercial centre it has become.

It was also the scene of one of the strangest and most enduring mysteries in Brazil's modern history.

A case known internationally as the Lead Masks of Vintame Hill.

The late afternoon of Saturday, the 20th of August, 1966, was uncharacteristically hot, considering it was mid-winter in the southern hemisphere.

The skies had been clear, with a heavy sun beating down after a long spell of torrential rain.

As a result, the air in Nitaroi had become still and humid as excess moisture evaporated into the atmosphere and with not even the gentlest of breezes to offer any kind of reprieve from the sticky heat.

The high rise of Vintame Hill, however, was far removed from the streets below.

Here, a young boy was flying his kite, running through the long grass, whooping and cheering with delight.

At this altitude, the winds could be felt coming in off the bay, which were both cool and refreshing, and perfect for the kite's uplift.

As he traversed the slopes, tugging on the long string outstretched behind him, he noticed an odd depression in the grass, in which lay a dark heap that looked unnatural amongst its surroundings.

He decided to investigate, and as he began to approach, he could make out various items of clothing.

At first, he assumed that someone had dumped their unwanted garments on the hillside, but as he got closer, he found lying inside those garments the decomposing bodies of two men, accompanied by the sickly sweet scent of death.

Alarmed at his discovery, he rushed back home and told his parents, who wasted no time in notifying the local police station.

Unfortunately, as it was now early evening, and due to the fading light and difficult terrain, authorities were not able to reach the bodies until the following day.

Early on the morning of the 21st of August, Several police officers and firemen arrived on the hillside, where they were greeted by an odd scene, to say the least.

The The two bodies were found lying next to each other in a small depression and were partially covered by the long grass.

They were dressed in formal suits, each wearing a raincoat and next to them lay an empty water bottle and a package containing two wet towels.

However, the strangest thing about them, and the very attribute that gave this case its name, was that both men were wearing small lead masks over their eyes, which appeared to have been crudely cut from sheep metal.

In the pockets of the men's raincoats, police also found a number of receipts and a notebook which contained what was believed to be a list of alphanumerical codes and a set of instructions.

These instructions read,

1630, be at the specified location, 1830, Ingest capsules, after the effect protect metals await signal mask.

Suffice to say, authorities were mystified by these findings, but were soon able to identify the bodies as those of Manuel Pereira de Cruz and Miguel José Villerna,

two electrical technicians from Campos dos Goita Casas, a small town 170 miles northeast of the city of Rio de Janeiro.

There were no signs of violence or of a struggle, and the men carried very little on them in the way of money or valuables.

Shortly after they were discovered, the bodies were sent to the local coroner's office for autopsy, but due to the fact that the coroner was busy with other cases at the time, they were not examined until a number of weeks later.

By that stage, however, their internal organs had decomposed to the point where it was impossible to determine how exactly the two men had died.

Authorities instead concentrated their efforts on trying to understand the movements and intentions of De Cruz and Vierna, and they hoped that this would shed some light on how and why they had lost their lives.

Police spoke to a number of witnesses in Nitaroi, who claimed to have seen the two men in the days leading up to their deaths, and from these accounts, they were able to piece together a timeline of events.

It is believed that De Cruz and Vierna travelled by bus from Campos to Nitaroi on the 17th of August, carrying enough cash to purchase a used car.

This information was ascertained from their business account, which showed a single withdrawal of a large sum of money.

What they intended to do with this money is anyone's guess, but it is widely assumed that they were interested in purchasing electronic parts for their business.

Following this, they arrived in Nitaroi at 2.30pm that afternoon.

and the receipts found on their bodies indicated that they had purchased their raincoats from a local shop.

Soon after, they walked to a bar further up the street where one of them ordered a bottle of water.

The waitress there stated that both men seemed agitated, particularly Virna, whom she noticed glancing nervously around the establishment, checking his watch every few minutes.

The last time they were seen alive, They were riding in the back of a jeep driven by two other men, heading to an unknown location, although authorities speculated that their intended destination would have been the foot of Vintame Hill.

What happened from that point onward is a complete and utter mystery, and for the last 50 years or so, that has remained the case.

But the questions surrounding their deaths are still as prevalent today as they were all those years ago.

Why had they travelled to Nitaroi?

Who were they supposed to meet?

Why had they donned those lead masks?

And to what did those codes and instructions in the notebook pertain?

As with any bizarre or unexplained death, there inevitably comes with it a torrent of speculation.

especially from those within the Fortian community.

And it was no different with this case.

Brazil is a hotbed for strange events, some of which we have already addressed in other episodes, and others which we intend to cover in the near future, so it comes as no surprise that a supernatural angle has been applied to this story.

The theory goes that DeCruz and Vierna were not your average electronic repairman.

They were in fact highly trained technicians, who had used their expertise to engineer a means of contacting extraterrestrial beings, and that they had arranged to meet these beings on Vintame Hill.

Both men had been given a specific set of instructions, and after this process had been followed, it is postulated that their physical bodies ceased to function, and that their minds had been transported into some kind of extraterrestrial afterlife, existing forevermore in a realm of infinite knowledge and consciousness.

And as unbelievable as this sounds, investigators have found other elements of of the story which seem to corroborate connections with the supernatural.

At least two reputable newspapers reported at the time that a resident had seen a bright orange spheroid-shaped UFO hovering over Vintame Hill on the same evening that DeCruz and Vierna went up there.

Secondly, a close friend of the two men, Elsio Gomez, stated that the three of them were all part of a local group calling themselves spiritual scientists.

He said that two months prior to their deaths, they had built a device in their backyard, which they had apparently used to contact otherworldly beings, but that it exploded shortly afterwards.

With this in mind, our attention is once again drawn to the writings in the notebook.

It was stated that there was a list of alphanumerical codes, and some had theorized that these were encrypted messages received via their device, which which translated into the given instructions.

If we are to look at those instructions again, it doesn't require much of an imagination to see how such an extraordinary theory has been put forth.

1630, be at the specified location.

1830, ingest capsules, after the effect protect metals await signal mask.

This is exactly how the instructions were written down, and as it stands, the latter latter half of the sentence does not make a lot of sense.

However, if we apply some speculative punctuation, the meaning becomes a little clearer.

1630, be at the specified location.

1830, ingest capsules.

After the effect, protect metals.

Await signal.

Mask.

Exactly what the capsules were or how De Cruz and Vierna had come by them is unknown.

Nothing of the sort was found on their bodies, and it seems obvious that the men must have ingested them as instructed.

And as those capsules remain unidentified, it is difficult to determine what effect they were supposed to have.

The Protect Metals line seems a little more cryptic, but as no valuables were found on either man, Some have speculated that they were being instructed to remove their watches, rings or other kinds of jewelry, and that perhaps these were to be wrapped in the towels found next to their bodies.

Finally, whatever signal they were supposed to look out for is also a mystery, but the word mask obviously refers to the small lead cutouts which covered their eyes.

These masks had no functionality whatsoever, they were not see-through and they had no stems to hook over the ears, so clearly, they were not meant to be worn for any extended period of time.

Instead, their crude design points to the possibility that they were intended to briefly protect the eyes from an intense and blinding light source, and according to many a proponent of this theory, that light source would have been none other than a UFO.

But are we to accept this theory based solely on anecdotal and circumstantial evidence?

It seems there are many people who are sceptical about this version of events.

and believe that the deaths of these men have a far more rational and indeed earthly earthly explanation.

They believe that de Cruz and Virna were simply duped into coming to the hill where they were killed and robbed of their belongings.

It has been suggested that they were targeted by a group of criminals who saw them as naive and easy prey.

This group probably cultivated de Cruz and Virna's trust over a period of weeks or months, promising to put them in contact with extraterrestrials or to allow them to partake in some other form of spiritual enlightenment.

They then provided them with the capsules and a set of instructions just unusual enough to suggest that they were going to experience something extraordinary.

Those capsules were more than likely a form of poison and once the two men had ingested them and died on the spot, someone from the group arrived to collect their money and valuables.

It should be noted that all the cash the men had on them when they arrived in Niteroi, at least 3 million cruiseras, was never found.

Neither were any of their belongings.

And if we add to this the fact that another man, also an electronics technician, was found dead four years earlier on top of a different hill, wearing a similar lead mask, then suddenly this theory seems to gain more traction.

Again, much of this is pure speculation.

And even if the evidence supporting the idea of a robbery is pretty damning, how could two men, who are intelligent, technically-minded individuals, be so naive to fall for such an obvious ploy?

And what about the codes also found in their notebook?

Does their existence prove that the instructions were received via an encrypted transmission rather than face-to-face communication?

It seems not.

as the codes were later identified as part numbers of various electronic components and had no relation to anything else in the investigation.

Yet how do we explain the UFO seen above the hill on the night of the men's deaths?

We should stress that this was witnessed by only one person.

And if there is one thing we have learned during the course of our research on many strange events, it is that UFOs are reported almost invariably in the aftermath of something unexplained.

This is not to cast doubt on the individual's claim, but we feel we must be honest about the nature of such things.

When all facts are considered, this case does seem to have foul play written all over it, although we shouldn't dismiss other theories out of hand.

The assumption is often made that extraterrestrials would have no interest in money or valuables, but who really knows for sure?

If some other eyewitness accounts are to be taken seriously, in which people have allegedly seen aliens posing as human beings, then surely they would need such items in order to blend in.

In any case, whether there was something more sinister going on and the truth has simply been covered up, or the deaths were the direct result of foul play, both possibilities are equally disturbing.

Unfortunately, as intelligent as de Cruz and Vierna may have been, their belonging to a group calling themselves spiritual scientists demonstrates that they had a desire to believe in something more.

And as we are well aware, beliefs are often strong enough to defy and override simple logic, making them difficult for an individual to let go of.

It could be that they were so enamoured with the idea of a higher intelligence and a never-ending pursuit of knowledge that they allowed themselves to suspend all cynicism and critical thought, which otherwise might have saved them.

If the idea of robbery is to be accepted, then it is truly sad that two innocent men lost their lives over something as trivial as money.

Gone from this world, their physical bodies may be, but their spirits will forever rest on the slopes where they died, overlooking the city of Nitaroi as a cool, lonely breeze rolls in off the bay of the January River and silently whispers through the long grass of Vintame Hill.

Story 2.

The Water Vale Runner

Somewhere in South Australia, a small town holds a mystery in the palm of its hand.

The disappearance of a young woman in October 2016 would turn the community upside down and leave residents and local police questioning what happened to the Watervale runner.

There is is no denying that Australia is as stunningly beautiful as it is unique.

From its weird and wonderful wildlife, to its rich and diverse landscapes, unlike those of any other nation, the land down under truly is one of a kind.

And yet such a huge landmass has such a relatively small population.

The country's interior, known as the Outback, is a boiling, inhospitable desert.

And so more than 24 million people live their lives around the outskirts in more forgiving climates which range from tropical to temperate.

Many towns and cities are vast distances apart divided across just six states.

A truly fascinating place, Australia is also a bit of an enigma, much like the following tale, which comes to us courtesy of 26-year-old Jenny Roth.

The story takes place in Watervale, a small town situated in the Clare Valley of South Australia, a region famous for its vineyards and wine distilleries.

With a climate not too dissimilar to Northern California, the lush green valleys and quiet country roads seem like the last place you would expect to hear of any sinister happenings, but as we shall see, looks can be deceiving.

What follows is a tale that defies belief and sends an ominous chill up the spine.

And it all began on the evening of the 29th of September 2016.

Jenny had not lived in the area long, just a couple of months.

She had moved from Adelaide with her girlfriend Abigail to be close to her partner's terminally ill father, and being a city girl since the day of her birth, the quietness of the countryside had been something of a shock to the system.

The nights were dark, darker than anything she had ever known, and life away from the hustle and bustle of a big city was not only an inconvenience, but also terribly boring.

There were upsides to this relative isolation, however.

The air was fresh and clean, the landscapes were beautiful, and there seemed to be a quiet harmony, a peacefulness to everything.

She had grinned from ear to ear the first time she had heard the chorus of crickets after sunset.

The people were much friendlier too.

She and Abigail had only been living there for a few days before the neighbours arrived on the doorstep to say hello and welcome them to the small town.

She had struck up something of a friendship with Marie from next door, and they would often catch each other for a chat whenever Jenny went outside for a smoke.

Marie, being the outdoorsy type, was nearly always pottering around in the garden, weeding or digging or cutting the lawn.

On this particular evening, Jenny stepped out onto the front porch for her customary post-dinner cigarette, to find her neighbour getting ready to go for her customary evening run.

They spoke casually for a few minutes, and as always, Marie invited Jenny to go along with her.

As always, Jenny politely declined.

It wasn't that she was averse to running as such, but as it was just after 6pm in late September, The sun would be setting in little over an hour, and she already found the darkness and remoteness of the countryside unnerving as it was.

Suit yourself, said Marie.

See you later.

And with that, she hopped off her porch and jogged away.

Jenny lit her cigarette and inhaled deeply as she watched her neighbour leave.

She knew where Marie would be heading.

Her route usually took her outside the small town of Watervale, along miles of dusty country roads, surrounded by open fields, speckled with thickets of trees and small woodlands.

Beyond all that loomed a massive expanse of grassland and untamed bush, with only a few pockets of civilisation dotting the landscape, as wide open and stunning as it was intimidating.

Jenny could well appreciate why Marie insisted upon her evening runs, and wondered briefly whether she could ever get used to living in a place like this.

It was a nice change from what she and Abigail were used to.

But something about this town made her feel exposed, both mentally and physically.

In the end, she decided no.

Besides anything else, there wasn't enough in this small town to keep her occupied.

Watervale was just one of those places where nothing ever happened.

And with that thought still echoing somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she stubbed out the butt of her cigarette and headed indoors, completely unaware of just how wrong she would be.

The morning of the 30th of September started out bright and clear, and Jenny was pulling freshly laundered clothes out of the washing machine, ready to hang out on the line in the backyard.

She grabbed her cup of coffee, along with the laundry basket, and exited the house through the side door, and was surprised to see Marie sitting outside on the lawn, stock still and staring at the ground.

It was rare for her neighbour to be up so early, and it was even more unusual to see her sitting doing nothing in particular.

She was usually always attending to some chore or another.

Nevertheless, Jenny called out a greeting, but Marie appeared not to have heard her.

She called again, and this time her friend stirred and shook her head, as if she had just been pulled from some deep trance.

Marie apologised, saying she must have been miles away, but this was all she said before she slipped back into her reverie.

Any attempts at idle chit-chat turned out to be in vain, as Jenny quickly realised that her friend was far too preoccupied for conversation.

So instead, she proceeded to hang out her washing, but every now and then, she glanced over the fence at Marie, who continued to sit there in silence, frowning at the ground.

Something was indeed troubling her.

Before heading indoors, Jenny stopped and considered her neighbour for a moment, then asked if everything was okay.

I'm fine, came the reply, but the thickness of Marie's voice as she spoke suggested otherwise.

Needless to say, Jenny was not convinced, and decided to push the boundaries of their newly formed friendship by probing what was on her mind.

It took a little persuasion, but after a minute or two of gentle encouragement, Marie's shoulders finally drooped in resignation and she let out a soft but audible sigh.

You won't believe me.

But then Roger didn't either.

So what the hell?

Somewhat apprehensively, she began to relate what happened the night before.

She told Jenny that whilst on her run the previous evening, she had been out a couple of miles west of Spring Gully, as the sun was just touching upon the horizon, when she looked out across a wide open field to see three objects hovering close to the ground, about 300 metres away from where she was.

She had stopped dead, mouth agape, just watching as they floated, still and silent.

They stayed there for about two or three minutes, before moving off slowly, disappearing over the tree line at the other side of the field.

Marie went on to say that they were not like any aircraft she had ever seen before.

They were each about 50 feet wide, metallic and circular in shape, and they didn't make any sound whatsoever, even as they moved.

Even though she expressed that she didn't believe in aliens, she firmly believed that what she saw was not of this world.

There was just something unnatural and ominous about the way they behaved, which had deeply affected her.

Jenny did not doubt her friend's story.

Not only was she open-minded about the possibility of aliens and UFOs, having seen some strange things as a child, Marie had seemed sincere and genuinely disturbed by her experience.

As a result, she held off running for a while afterwards.

and it would be a couple of weeks before she worked up the courage to head back out that way.

But gradually, things did return to normal.

Marie's husband, Roger, on the other hand, didn't believe her, but that mattered little to her.

Their relationship was strong enough for them to be open and honest with one another, and in any case, she didn't need other people to believe her.

She knew what she had seen.

Her only hope was that she would never see them again.

And for a while at least, that much was true.

Then, at around 9.30pm on the 21st of October, Jenny and Abigail were sat on the sofa watching TV when they heard a knock at the door.

It was Marie.

She was bent forwards and gasping for air.

Her husband Roger was stood behind her, with a disapproving look on his face.

And when Jenny asked them what was wrong, he apologised for bothering them so late and then said in a rather dismissive tone, that his wife had been hallucinating again.

Breathlessly, Marie told him to shut up, then turned to Jenny and said, They were there again.

It seemed the objects had returned.

According to Marie, she had been running next to the same field where she had seen them the first time, when they suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Quite literally, one minute there was nothing there, the next, a movement in the periphery of her vision, made her look to her right, and that's when she saw them again, hovering low to the ground over the field and moving slowly towards her.

Again she stopped dead in her tracks and was at first too stunned to move, but eventually panic got the better of her and she ran to a nearby thicket of trees, dived into the brush and ducked out of sight.

The objects continued to move in her direction but as they reached the trees they passed directly over her head and disappeared from view.

She waited for at least an hour hour before leaving the small wood.

Once she was sure the coast was clear, she ran, and she didn't stop running until she reached the front door of her house, doubled over in agony and completely out of breath.

At first, Roger had been concerned, but as soon as Marie had mentioned the UFOs, he had scoffed.

They had gotten into an argument over his refusal to believe her, an argument which was now continuing on Jenny and Abigail's porch, much to the couple's embarrassment.

They didn't know whether to intervene or let the two of them have it out right there on their doorstep.

Maybe it was just the adrenaline, but Jenny noticed that Marie didn't appear at all frightened by this second encounter, even though it was easily more disturbing than the first.

If anything, she seemed emboldened by it.

and declared that she was going back there the next evening.

She challenged her husband to join her, which he wholeheartedly rejected, saying he was not prepared to indulge this nonsense any further and refused to entertain the idea of UFOs.

With that, he apologised to his neighbours once more, then walked off the porch and went back indoors.

Instead, Jenny offered to go along with Marie the next evening, whilst Abigail, who was pushing her mid-50s and didn't relish the idea of a run, declined, chuckling to herself as no doubt Roger had at the prospect of space invaders.

And so on the evening of the 22nd of October, Jenny left Abigail at home and headed out with her neighbour up to the field where she had seen the strange objects.

It was about eight miles out of town and Marie had brought her phone along in the hopes of taking some pictures.

But it was all to no avail.

The UFOs did not appear.

They did not appear the evening after either, or the evening after that, and after five days, Jenny, who had gone with Marie every night since, decided to throw in the towel.

Although she believed her neighbour was telling the truth about what she had seen, her girlfriend was beginning to feel a little neglected and had asked her to stop spending so much time with their neighbour.

Marie understood of course, but was determined to prove her husband wrong.

and continued to run out to the field every night afterwards.

It was a course of action that would end in tragedy.

In the early morning hours of the 30th of October, 1.13am as Jenny precisely recalled, she and Abigail were awoken by a loud thumping on the front door.

It was Roger, and he looked utterly distressed.

Is Marie here?

He had asked.

Jenny shook her head saying that she wasn't, and come to think of it, neither she nor Abigail had seen her all evening.

Roger told them that she had gone out for her usual run at 6pm, but she had not returned and that he didn't know where she was.

He had waited up until just after 11pm, believing she must have dropped in to see a friend on her way back, but he had fell asleep on the sofa.

When he awoke again just after 1am and realised that she hadn't returned, he panicked.

At length, He said that he was going to drive the roads Marie had been running, and as he wasn't sure of the exact route she would have taken, he asked Jenny if she would go along with him.

Even though it was late, both she and Abigail agreed to help.

It took them about an hour to reach the field where Marie previously said she had seen the objects, mostly because Roger had been driving at walking speed, calling out her name and shining his torch into the fields and hedgerows.

There was no sign of her whatsoever.

As it was getting on for 4am,

they had to abandon the search and drove back to town, hoping against hope that they would find Marie at home safe and sound.

But as they pulled up on the drive, they could see that the house was still dark and empty, just as they had left it.

No one was in.

Although Jenny tried to reassure Roger that there was probably some perfectly reasonable explanation as to why Marie had not come home, he stayed up all night worrying.

and the next day, Jenny and Abigail awoke to find a police car sitting outside their neighbour's house.

Marie had still not returned, and by 8pm that evening, a search was being coordinated comprising local police and volunteers from the town.

This eventually grew into a statewide search, involving hundreds of state police officers, helicopters and sniffer dogs.

Signs were attached to lampposts and telephone poles in Watervale and in surrounding neighbourhoods.

and local news put out bulletins asking anyone for information on Marie's whereabouts, but things remained eerily quiet.

The search parties found nothing, the helicopters and sniffer dogs found nothing, and although a few calls did come in from people who thought they saw Marie, these turned out to be cases of mistaken identity.

Then, on the 11th of November, police located a pair of running shoes, with the socks still inside them, sitting casually behind a hedgerow at the side of the road.

They were found in such a fashion that suggested the person wearing them had simply been pulled right out of their shoes.

The laces were still tied and the socks were pushed inside them as if worn by an invisible pair of feet.

Both Roger and Jenny identified them as Marie's and were shocked to hear that they were located not too far from the field where she had first seen the strange objects.

The search was formally called off on the 30th of November 2016.

No trace of Marie Gillingham was ever found, found, and she has not been seen or heard from since.

Her disappearance hit Watervale like a slap in the face.

She was well known in the town and popular amongst other residents.

They all said it would have been highly unusual for her to just up and leave without so much as a goodbye.

All of her belongings remained at home, and still do to this day.

She left for her run with only the clothes on her back and her mobile phone, which was also never found, and telephone records indicate no outgoing activity in the form of texts or calls since she vanished.

Earlier attempts to triangulate her location using her phone also yielded nothing.

Taking all of this into consideration, Marie just didn't have the means to run away.

She didn't work and had little money of her own and relied heavily on her husband's income.

Roger himself was questioned over what kind of relationship he shared with his wife.

Although they argued just like any other couple, they were still very much in love and had a strong marriage.

He was ruled out as a suspect fairly early on, due to lack of any evidence or a motive suggesting he had been involved in her disappearance, and the fact that other people attested to his upstanding character and gentle nature.

The general consensus in the town is that Marie was kidnapped whilst on her run and possibly raped and murdered.

And although police have not publicly stated this to be the case, it is by most accounts what they suspect.

There is no evidence to suggest foul play, however.

No signs of a struggle were found, no traces of blood or cadaver odors were picked up by the dogs, and there were no suspect tyre tracks suggesting a vehicle had been in the area, other than Rogers, of course, when he, Jenny and Abigail went to search for her.

The investigation is still ongoing, and many believe that only time will tell.

Jenny, on the other hand, believes differently.

She believes that no matter how much time passes, Marie, or what possibly remains of her, will never be found.

She has no doubt that her neighbour was abducted, but the question on her mind is not by who,

but by what.

She still lives in Watervale with her girlfriend.

Abigail's father passed away in May 2017, and they now have no reason to stay.

And yet something is keeping her there.

Maybe it's guilt.

Maybe it's that she feels duty bound to stay and support Roger in his moment of need.

Or maybe she just misses her friend.

She did not realise how close she and Marie had become until after she was gone.

And there is not an evening that goes by where she does not step out onto the porch before retiring to bed and looks across to her neighbour's house, hoping hoping to see that familiar, smiling face looking back at her.