Page 31

I freeze.

The cursor blinks.

She had to be joking.

She types fast sometimes, like she’s dancing just ahead of truth.

Fang950: I keep mine hanging around my neck, on a chain.

MoonDance77: Okay, weird. So... why do you keep saying you understand me, Fang?

Fang950: Because I do. I’ve lived two lives forever. One in the mirror. One in the shadows.

MoonDance77: That’s poetic. Or a confession.

Fang950: Maybe both.

MoonDance77: Then again, what do I know? I haven’t seen myself in a mirror in six years.

I stare at her words like they might change if I blink.

MoonDance77: I’m just joking, of course. Always joking. I’ve lost friends, co-workers, people I cared about. All because I couldn’t be honest. But how can we come clean, Fang?

Fang950: We can’t. But do they deserve our truth?

MoonDance77: Doesn’t matter now. They’re gone.

She logs off suddenly.

Just like that.

No goodbye. No sign-off. Just a blinking message:

MoonDance77 has signed off.

I sit there staring at the screen, feeling the void she leaves behind like a hole punched in a wall.

I type anyway. Even though I know she won’t see it.

Fang950: I would stay for you.