The accident was difficult, and his leg had shattered from the impact. After it all healed, he had to undergo physiotherapy to be able to walk properly again. It took a few weeks, but he gained up the strength, and was able to walk. All throughout Nadia was there, and it re-affirmed his decision to marry her. It hadn't been the most romantic of proposals as it just came out of nowhere, and he always hated himself for that, but he just cared about being with her, always. Her smile, her warmth, her presence was all he needed, and it helped with his recovery. It helped him from falling back into that place where August haunted him.<br/><br/>So it was no surprise that when he was out of the hospital, he wanted to get married right away. They decided to travel, and move all around europe, taking jobs wherever they could. While in Greece, they eloped. It was quick, simple, but beautiful, right next to the water. Everything seemed perfect... and as far as David could tell, he was happy- finally.<br/><br/>They had settled down in a small town in France, called Desbiens, with a population of no more than 10,000, to go back to their roots, yet still be away from it all. David wanted to never be apart from Nadia, yet it was clear some time apart was needed just for sanity. So when David made some friends, Nadia encouraged him to go out with them.<br/><br/>One day he went out with his friends, and they ended it at a bar, as per usual. David came back to the apartment, with a bit of beer on his breath, expecting to see Nadia asleep. Yet as soon as he entered, he knew something was wrong. Her pictures, her coats, her shoes, even some of the furniture was gone. "Nadia?" he called out, worried. Expecting a robbery, he reached for his cell, ready to call 911. He stopped when he entered the apartment further and noticed... it was only<span style="font-style: italic">her</span>things. Everything he owned, even the TV and his laptop, were still there.<br/><br/>"Nadia?" he cried out, a pit welling in his stomach. This was strange. He went into the bedroom, and she wasn't there. He wasn't sure if he was relieved to not find Nadia injured or worse in the apartment, or devastated to not find her at all. He frantically started to check every closet and room. She was gone, and so was everything she owned. He reached for his cellphone and tried to call her, but her number was disconnected, as if it never existed. All signs pointed to her wanting to escape him, but he knew she loved him, so that couldn't be it. Right?<br/><br/>Of course the police didn't see it that way. For them it wasn't a missing case, but an abused wife leaving a destructive husband, even if David did seem a bit mild tempered for someone 'violent'. He was desperate, sometimes walking the streets in hopes of finding Nadia again. He put up posters, asked friends to help, but nothing worked. She was gone, and as that realization came to him, he became emotionally sick. Part of him felt like she decided to up and leave, but another part of him felt like it had been set up to look that way, and that she was in trouble... maybe even dead.<br/><br/>As he prodded further, something strange was going on. According to records, she didn't exist. Nadia Talini was not a real person. He looked for Talini as a family name online, found a few people, but none of them knew a Nadia. Showing them a picture of Nadia, no one recognized her either. This was rattling his brain, confusing him. It started to make him wonder, was she using a fake name the whole time? Or did she, or someone else, erase her from the records? Was she so desperate to leave, that she had to erase herself so he couldn't find her?<br/><br/>Those thoughts plagued his mind for months, always second guessing himself, always hoping to suddenly find Nadia on the streets, to grab her and ask "why?" Or maybe he would hear screaming, he would burst into the building to find her in trouble, and he'd finally save her, and then everything would be okay. He wanted her back... and he had to come to the realization that he would never have her back, but it was hard.<br/><br/>What was killing him the most was not knowing. If he knew she was really dead, or where she was, or that she really did just want to escape, he could at least do something, or come to terms with it. With the unknown lingering in the air, it slowly ate at his soul, turning him into something else. He had lost his job, he had lost his friends, and was starting to spiral. Nightmares of August and of Nadia kept him up at night, and drinking was the only way to get to sleep.<br/><br/>He hated being controlled by alcohol, but it was the only thing that made everything go away. However after some time, finally realizing he was losing control, he decided to quit drinking, packed up his things, and took a bus to a new city, Rosemère, for a new start. He got a new apartment, a new job working in sales, and even got a few new friends. He was still plagued by nightmares, and the unknown of what happened to the woman who was everything to him, but he tried his best to keep away from drinking, occasionally slipping.<br/><br/>One of his days off he was left with nothing to do, and couldn't stand being in his apartment alone. If he was bored he would lose himself in his thoughts, and that's when things would get bad for him. So he decided to take a walk at the nearby park, to keep his mind engaged. He took off his wedding band in hopes it would help him forget everything, grabbed his jacket and left the apartment, breathing in the fresh air-