Days Gone By (Markiplier)

Epilogue

"Thank you, everyone, so much for watching. And as always, I'll see you in the next video. Bye-bye!"

Mark ended his video on a new indie horror game that he was asked to play and review. It was a multiplayer game so he invited over Ethan and Tyler to film with him.

"That game was intense," Ethan said, getting up and stretching his arms.

"But it was pretty good," Tyler commented. "Hard to believe it was made by only two people."

"Those kinds of games turn out to be the best," Mark said. "You guys want to order some food?"

"Let's go out," Tyler suggested. "You've been cooped up inside a lot."

"Alright."

It's been six months since Ray left his apartment. He talked to her every night after she was done with work and on the weekends, they would have long video sessions. For a while it was almost as if she'd never left.

Almost.

He went to visit her two months after and stayed for a whole week. They barely kept their hands off each other and made love over every inch of her small condo. Ray told Mark that she was afraid that he would lose feeling for her since they were apart but it was the exact opposite; he craved her presence more and more with each passing day.

This past month they have been talking less, with his planned charity live stream coming up and her getting signed to a publishing company. Her book was already being sold in bookstores all over America and she needed to prepare for a book tour.

"Mark!"

Mark jumped out of his deep thinking and realized he was standing in line to get some food. The cashier looked at him, annoyed that he was holding up everyone else.

"Sorry," He said and gave the employee his order.

"I would ask you what's on your mind," Tyler said. "But that would be a dumb question."

"I'm fine."

"We know, dude," Ethan started. "And you've been putting up a really strong face for everyone."

"But we know you're silently suffering and it sucks to see you like this," Tyler finished. "When was the last time you talked to Ray?"

"Last week," Mark said, sadly. "She's been busy with her book tour."

"You haven't thought to go visit her again?"

"We don't really have the time."

"Maybe you should make time," Ethan countered.

Mark was about to respond but their food arrived and he was thankful for that. He didn't want to discuss his issues with Ray to anyone since it made him more depressed. With his other relationships, the distance wasn't an issue since it came with the job but with her it was different.

Everything with Ray was different.

"Let's talk about the charity stream," Tyler chimed in.

"Good idea."

*****

Later on, that week, Mark and the others finally had their live stream and it was a success. They were able to raise over five hundred thousand dollars for cancer research in twelve hours while playing Kerbal Space Program. He, as usual, was very gracious to his fans and promised that he would post a live video of him and his friends playing Card Against Humanity soon.

During the stream there were a few people who asked about Ray and what was going on in his love life but he brushed it off with a joke and moved on. He never talked about her to any of his fans and thankfully it soon became a passing fad, like anything that went viral overnight.