If It Ended, It Wasn't Love

THE UNDERAGE BOY WHO GOT POSSESSIVE OVER THE WRONG PERSON

THE UNDERAGE BOY WHO GOT POSSESSIVE OVER THE WRONG PERSON

It's another cool, breezy afternoon, and Kylie is sprawled on her bed, her legs tangled in the soft blankets, laptop perched on her stomach. The room is dimly lit, with sunlight filtering through half-drawn curtains, casting a golden hue across the scattered books and empty coffee mugs on her desk. A light scent of lavender from her diffuser fills the space, but Kylie is oblivious to everything except the screen in front of her. The glow of her laptop illuminates her face, her eyes darting across the endless stream of Reddit posts, completely absorbed in a world far more absurd than her own.

Her fingers scroll mindlessly as she moves from one outlandish story to the next-each more bizarre, wilder, and crazier than the last. One moment she's laughing at a post about a cursed toaster that only makes sandwiches of despair, the next she's engrossed in a saga about a time-traveling squirrel who saves humanity. Reddit's endless feed of content keeps refreshing, drawing her deeper into the bizarre labyrinth of fiction. The platform is a maze of subreddits, each filled with users sharing their unique tales, discussing ideas, and upvoting the most insane concepts. It's not just a place to read-it's a chaotic, thriving ecosystem where creativity and insanity collide, and Kylie is addicted.

In between bouts of reading, she posts her own fictional works, enjoying the rush of watching her notifications light up with upvotes and comments. Her small, loyal fan base is growing, but even with the steady trickle of engagement, there's a gnawing hunger for more. The upvotes and follows are satisfying for a moment, but never enough to quench her thirst for validation. She craves something bigger-something that will make her stand out in the chaotic whirlpool of Reddit writers.

One afternoon, as she scrolls through another subreddit, she stumbles across a group of authors who seem to have cracked the code. They follow each other, read each other's posts, and leave comments that turn their absurd tales into something of a collaborative experience. The stories they write range from the scandalously bizarre to the downright surreal. There's a hilarious post titled "My Best Friend's Cat is Possessed by the Ghost of my Ex," and another, completely ridiculous, "The Werewolf Who Became a Vegan Chef." Kylie's intrigued by how they support each other, sharing and promoting their stories while building a strange but exciting community.

Curiosity piqued, Kylie joins the fray. She follows the authors, comments on their stories, and soon finds herself caught up in the whirlwind of Reddit fame. In just two days, her profile explodes with notifications-new followers, upvotes, and comments flood in faster than she can respond. Over two thousand new followers-authors and readers alike-now trail behind her, captivated by her quirky stories.

Her room remains unchanged, the dim lighting and cozy mess reflecting the quiet solitude she once felt. But now, her world is anything but silent. She's made friends-writers who appreciate her weirdness, readers who hang on to every absurd plot twist she creates. For the first time in a long while, Kylie feels a rush of happiness. Life, surrounded by these crazy stories and even crazier people, is unexpectedly perfect.

Then she stumbled across Krass-a fellow Reddit writer who, like so many on the platform, kept his real identity vague. He never bothered to share his real name, and Kylie, caught up in the flow of their conversations, never thought to ask. What she did know was that he was seventeen-something she made a habit of inquiring ever since she turned eighteen two years ago. It wasn't just curiosity; it was her way of keeping a boundary, even in the faceless world of Reddit. Krass lived far away-so far, in fact, that the chances of them ever crossing paths in real life were virtually nonexistent. That distance created a certain comfort, allowing their online exchanges to unfold without the pressure of reality creeping in.

Like any good Reddit author, Kylie was quick to jump from casual to ridiculous in record time. What started as a simple, "Hey, let's support each other's writing," spiraled into a playful banter, and before she knew it, she was teasing him with compliments like, "You're so handsome, Krass." The absurdity of it didn't escape her; after all, she hadn't even seen him. But in the strange, disconnected world of Reddit, physical appearances seemed almost irrelevant, and their conversation flowed with a carefree, almost reckless abandon.