I peer closely at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. The clock reads 18:58. Double clicking on the icon for Garry's Mod, I pick up my phone and put my earbuds in, listening to my playlist of favorite songs.
The game finally loads, so I launch a new single-player game, allowing 16 players to connect if they want, and press "New Game." I make a room and start posing ragdolls in different ways. I quickly get bored, and turn Discord on to message my friends to join me. Eventually, one person joins.
MysticDog> Hi! <3
Amused, I message back, saying, "Hiya."
MysticDog> What's up?
imnotKyle> the sky
MysticDog> lol
MysticDog> Seriously though
imnotKyle> makin ragdolls and posin em
MysticDog> Oh
MysticDog> Okay!
Nanami, aka MysticDog, is a friend I made in real life. The others are in-game friends that I talk to, but only Nanami has ever seen me.
MysticDog> Wanna Skype? I have something I need to ask you :P
imnotKyle> sure
I alt tab out of game to Skype and hit mine and Nanami's chat. Just as I go to hit call, the screen changes to show I have an incoming call. Reading the name, I see it's from Nanami, as there are weird scribbly things that I cannot read. I answer.
"Hi!" Nanami answers cheerfully as her cute face pops up on my screen.
"Hi, Nami! What's up?"
"Umm..." She pauses. "Are you busy right now?"
I get the sense that something is off, but shrug it off and reply, "No, why?"
"Can you come over for a bit?"
"Sure." I decide to save asking her what's wrong until I'm at her house. I tell her I'll be over soon and shut my laptop. Pulling my shoes on, I head downstairs and grab my keys. I go out and lock the door behind me.
Several thoughts are swarming around in my mind. I know that none of them are true, as Nanami is generally very happy, and I know when something has gone awry that she will tell me. That doesn't stop the train of ideas, though.
Nanami opens the door just as I step onto her front porch. Her normally excited smile is gone, and a frown has replaced it. Her green eyes are downcast, and she looks like she had been crying before I arrived.
"Hey, what's bothering you, Nami?" I step inside and leave my shoes at the door, then slip into some slippers they got me as a result of being over so often. Nami grabs my hand and pulls me up the stairs to her bedroom. Even though it is a Japanese custom, I still feel out of place.
"Hey, uhm... A-aaron... you know that server we always go on?"
"The DarkRP server?"
"Yeah..." She pauses like she doesn't know whether to tell me or not.
"Hey, if something's bothering you, just tell me, okay?"
"O-okay." Nanami stops again, then starts to speak. "There is this guy, he... he started talking to me one day, and so he said he didn't have any friends, so I became friends with him. We started hanging out together on the game, and one day he asked me for my Skype, and I said I can't. Later, he started messaging me in-game, saying things like let's hang out alone and I love you and... and..."
