Never had anything like this happen before and want to get some opinions to help me understand.
I built up a close friendship with another woman in shared accommodation. She's 42. Seemed absolutely normal, friendly, kind, lighthearted, laughed a lot.
One day I came home to find her sobbing at the dining table. Dropped everything and comforted her as she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and in between sobs told me what had happened.
She's just received a phone call: her 10 year old goddaughter had been killed by a hit and run driver. The police were looking for the culprit. She was shocked and devastated.
Over the next few days she talked to me about this tragedy every time I saw her, reminiscing about the goddaughter, talking about the girl's likes and hobbies, and explaining how difficult the funeral would be during lockdown. One day she was sobbing again: they'd caught the drunk driver and it was someone she was at school with. Next day she was crying again: the man had killed himself.
Naturally every day when I saw her I dropped what I was doing and gave her as much sympathy and comfort as I possibly could, sitting and listening to her get all her memories and misery and shock off her chest. The incident upset me greatly and I even found myself lying in bed unable to sleep once or twice because I felt so sad about the poor child and the bereaved mother.
Over the next month she updated me daily on the details of the funeral arrangements (happening by Zoom), she talked about having to compose a eulogy to read out. She later gave me detailed descriptions of the coffin, the funeral, etc. Then she said the bereaved (single) mum wasn't coping alone and so she was going to travel there and stay with her for a week. She asked my advice on how to travel to the place and we discussed at length the routes, the need for a mask on a train etc. I gave her a lot of time, attention and advice.
I then found out that she'd made it all up. No dead girl, no drunken driver. Well, there was, but it happened to someone else years ago. Immediately she found out that I knew she'd told a very long and detailed lie, she packed her bags and left the house.
I'll probably never see her again, BUT I can't stop thinking about the whole incident: the story, her tears, her distress, seem to haunt me. It's like I need some sort of "closure" or explanation why she put me through an emotional wringer for more than a month, and I can't get it from her because she's gone.
What's bothering me most is trying to decide whether she has mental health issues, or is she just a liar, out to garner attention and sympathy. She wasn't trying to get any money out of me or anything like that, just my time and attention and sympathy.
I'd appreciate any insights.