The Ariel incident

This folder contains the poems I wrote last year, chronicling an internet relationship. I never met the woman, Ariel, in person. We "met" online, and on the phone... and I fell deeply in love with her. Two days before we were to meet in person (after 6 weeks of corresponding via e-mail and telephone calls), she told me that she had been diagnosed with liver cancer. She did not want to meet me, she said, because she wanted me to remember her like she was in the photos she had sent me. I accepted this as being her will, and did not try to find her.

A few weeks of unbearable agony and heartache followed, with her getting progressively worse, with intermittent e-mails and calls from her. I received an e-mail one Sunday morning, informing me of her death. The "friend" also informed me that she would be buried in Israel, as she was of Jewish descent.

Now that the tears have dried, I wish to offer an apology to all those who have read my poetry relating to this so far. My feelings at the time were very real. My rage and regret, my tears, my disbelief, all of it was real. I had truly believed that she was THE one, my soulmate.

Two weeks after her funeral, I got talking with another online friend. Through perhaps strange coincidence, I told her the story of Ariel. And the following discovery was made:

I was not alone. An unknown number of women had grieved over the "death" of the same person... I had been pulled into an elaborate hoax, of unbelievable cruelty. The person I fell in love with, Ariel as I knew her, DID NOT EXIST.

She has a partner-in-crime. I know their names, I know where they live, I have driven past their house. I have not approached them, nor informed them that I know of their existence. This has been verified by investigation of IP addresses, landline phone numbers and other information I had received."Ariel" even contacted me a few weeks after the "funeral" under another username - why, I can but guess. To see how I was coping with the absolute pain of dealing with the death of someone I had come to dearly love.

I wish this to serve as a warning to people out there in cyberspace. Please be careful. If a person does not want to meet you, there may be a very good chance that you are being manipulated psychologically. I had to go for therapy. The psychologist told me that these people I fell prey to, are more than likely psychopathic.

I apologise if my poetry has misled anyone. The pain I felt at the time I wrote these poems was very real. Strange as it may seem, I suppose I ought to be grateful to Ariel, for bringing out some of the best poetry in me.

I wish it wasn't so.

With sincere regret

ghost

ps - I have rated this folder as 18+. Some items have a higher rating, but these will be clearly marked as being XGC.