The Connection
What would we do without the internet?
The internet has opened up a whole new world for humanity. It has connected us like never before and enabled the sharing of unprecedented amounts of information. This has allowed us to make rapid progress as a society… unless you’re an idiot like me who use the vast powers of the internet to do something as foolish as creeping on someone. I say that as I sit in front of the screen, scrolling through the Facebook page of a girl I liked 20 years ago. I know it’s horrible. I know I shouldn’t be doing it. She probably wouldn’t appreciate some random guy creeping her on Facebook. Yet here I am anyways. So what is it about this girl that I’m willing to break social taboos for? I met her 20 years ago and thought we had a great connection, but due to a serious case of paralysing fear and nervousness, I messed up at the moment that I was supposed to ask her out. Although time has faded my memory of it somewhat, that mistake continues to haunt me to this very day. I strongly believed that she was the ‘one.’ I’ve met other girls after her, sure, but each new person I meet only seems to reinforce how perfect she is compared to them. I’m probably wrong. Maybe my admiration of her is just in my head and has no basis in reality. But I can’t help the way I feel. To me, there was no coming back from that mistake. That was a pivotal moment in my timeline - where it split into two different futures: the one where I end up with the girl of my dreams and the one where I am now - alone and unable to move on from something that happened a long time ago. The scary thing about the internet is how it makes it almost impossible to move on. Despite how it sounds, I’m not blaming the technology though. I‘m perfectly aware that it’s really my own stubbornness that’s making it impossible to move on. Unfortunately, my awareness of my stubbornness does little to motivate me to overcome it. To make matters worse, now that I’ve found her on social media, I’m too afraid to act on it. Looking at her page, I can infer from the information that’s accessible to me that she’s probably happily married, with a family of her own. 20 years is a long time. In that time she lived her life fully, while I’ve been stuck in limbo. I’m just hoping for one last miracle. I’ve decided to do it. After lurking for so long, I’m finally going to send a friend request.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and pressed the “+Add Friend” button. I expected a long wait for a reply, or not to get a reply at all, but that evening, while I was picking up dinner, my phone blipped to show that she had approved my friend request. 20 years of waiting, and it all came down to this moment. My heart pounded in anticipation as I frantically pondered what to do next. Before I could mess things up for myself again, she unexpectedly messaged me first.
“Hi! Who’s this? Do I know you?”
”Um, long story, but we met a long time ago. Sorry to come off like a stalker. I just really wanted to connect.”
There was a long pause.
”I just looked through your profile, I actually do remember you. You’re the guy I met while I was working as a teller at the bank, right?“
”Yup, that’s me.”
”OMG! I just saw your pictures from the San Diego Comic-Con! I went there with my boyfriend, the year before you. You’re just as nerdy as he is lol.”
“Yeah, I saw your pictures too. I guess we missed each other by a year.“
”That was so long ago. So what made you want to reconnect now?”
“I’ve been working up the courage to send a friend request.”
”FOR 20 FRIGGIN’ YEARS??!!”
“Yeah, I guess. Sorry.”
”Well, what have you been up to all this time?”
“Not much, to be honest. How about you?”
”Well, I’m married now. To an awesome guy. He’s a writer.”
”Ah, that’s good. Glad to hear you’ve been living your life.”
“Well, yeah. You should too, you know. I don’t know why you haven’t moved on all this time.”
”What makes you think I haven’t moved on?”
“Um… you were stalking me on Facebook?“
“Oh, right. Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have. It’s just... I saw that you had a page, and couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”
“You really should move on, though.”
”I know. I know that. Maybe getting this chance to reconnect with you will finally give me closure.”
“I hope so. Looking at your profile, you seem like a great guy, with a beautiful family. The right girl will come along. You’ll meet the one that’s perfect for you.”
“I hope so too. Thanks. That means a lot.”
“Well, it’s been nice catching up, but I really need to go. My husband and I are going out. Maybe we can all hang out sometime, I can even introduce you to one of my single friends lol.”
“Haha, sounds good. Nice chatting with you! Take care!”
“You too!”
With a click of a button, I managed to put an end to a nagging 20 year-old unresolved issue. My mind was still swirling with thoughts of the conversation I had. I ate my dinner while still trying to process what just happened. I kept re-reading our conversation until I fell asleep.
I woke up the next morning to find that my Facebook account had been hacked. Everything, including my friends list and pictures had been wiped. I knew the first thing that you should do when you’ve been hacked was to reset your password, but all I could think of at that moment was to search for Clara’s Facebook page so I could re-add her as a friend. I couldn’t find it. I tried different searches, on different search engines and browsers, but I could no longer find her page. It was just, randomly and mysteriously… gone.
About the Creator
Ghostface Writer
Writing stories in my spare time. Daydreaming all the time. Welcome to the world inside my head.
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