Faceless friend

A message reads… "Can u be online this Friday? I have to talk to you". The responder answers, "I can't promise but will try".

The sender is a young girl who has been frequenting the net for the last couple of months. She needed to have her last chat with this faceless stranger. She eagerly waits for the Friday evening when her chat friend would be online.

She is very punctual. She sits in front of the computer in a café and fiddles the computer for some time to pass her time. She logs in at exactly 6 pm and sees that her friend is online. A smile crosses her face and she starts typing to her faceless friend. She had been sharing everything about her to this faceless friend that she had come to trust the person on the other side of the line like her twin soul. She respondent gives her all the advice that she need and she always feels light hearted after the chat with her friend.

But today she didn't have a problem. She had made her decision. She hadn't been online for more than a month. She had failed to qualify for her next higher grade and the most important person in her life had left her. Her sister had asked her to continue in a private school but she feels that her world had ended after the departure of the only person whom she had come to rely on. She needed some one to listen to her but her sister had no time to listen to her childish outburst. So she was depressed and wanted everything to end for her.

"Hi, thanks for being online. I just wanted to say hi to you. I may not be able to do that after today."

"are u going somewhere?"

"no but I think I may not be available after today"

"so do u mean to say that u will be busy?"

"no but I don't think I would be able to come online after today"

"ok but why? Any problem?"

She pauses and writes "I hate everyone. My life sucks"

The stranger writes "hey… you can talk to me if u like. I m listening" and listens to her outburst. She writes, "I am very much depressed. I have no will to live anymore. My father just left my mother for another woman. I hate him but my mother says he left since he was not happy with her. Can u believe that?"

The stranger does not have right word to console the girl. He just tells her to continue her story. He is just thinking of how to help the poor kid on the other side of the line.

The girl continues "I even hate my mother for letting my father go away from us. She could have told us if they had some problem. But my sister says, they weren't happy with each other and it was better they went separate ways. Now if they weren't happy with each other, why would they stick to each other for all these years?"

" May be they wanted you to grow old enough to understand".

" U too sound like them."

"do I?  I m sorry if I had offended u but I was just being truthful"

"Ok, but can you believe that my father is leaving us and going abroad. I won't be seeing him for many years. He says he wanted to take me but his new wife doesn't want any of his kids around and he chooses that bitch over his very own kids. Now I hate all of them".

"Hey, u can't go on hating them all. Can u?"

"Yes I can, if I have to".

"Do u really want to turn into someone looks at the world with hatred?"

"mmm I am not sure"

"then U admit that u don't hate them."

" Yes, I don't hate them always but right now, I hate them all"

"this phase of your life will pass, just give urself some time and try not to think of this issue though I know it is difficult".

" are u sure, it will pass?"

"Cross my heart, a time will come when u will even get to like your step mom"

"don't expect me to like her"

"ok"

"and there is another thing I want u to tell you about. I have failed to qualify for my next higher grade and I don't want to burden my sister and mother. They want me to continue in private school but I know how difficult it would be for them to meet the house hold expense"

"What do u really want? Do you want to continue with your studies or do you want something else?"

"I want to study but I also know that it would be next to impossible for my mother and sister to meet my school expense."

"mmm may be u can get the help from your dad"

"I am not even talking to my dad anymore and I don't want any help from him or his wife"

"well… what do u plan to do next?"

"I donno"

"well, u can take a good night sleep and talk to ur mother and sister about ur plans if u have any"

"May be I will just talk to them about how I feel. I haven't done much talking since my father left us. I felt so depressed that I thought I would lock myself up in the room and let the world end"

"Hey girl… cheer up, this is not the end of the world. There are so many things stored up for u. U just got to pull the right strings and things will start to tune in to ur tone"

The stranger gives her tips on how to keep herself occupied by reading some books and he gives her a list of books that she can borrow from the public library. She takes a note of all that and she leaves the café with a smile on her face.

The stranger doesn't realize that he had just saved a life from a fatal suicide. She had come all prepared to bid farewell to her chat friend and leaves the café with a determination to live no matter how tough her life turns out to be.