Dee had been staring at Millie's profile for twenty minutes before she finally typed "hey." The message sent with a soft ping, swallowed instantly by the familiar silence of a thread too long untouched. She pulled her knees closer, Miso purring against her leg like he could anchor Dee back into the moment.
Another five minutes. Then the reply came.
Millie :: 11:31AM
o hey! long time huh 😅
There it was. Casual. Like they hadn't gone from talking every night to nothing for days. Like Dee hadn't been logging in alone to their shared virtual space, watching the little paper lanterns they coded together float above the fake lake, waiting.
Dee's fingers hovered over the keys. She wasn't going to pretend this was fine.
Dee :: 11:31AM
Yeah. Too long. I've missed you, Mills.
Millie :: 11:32AM
awww 🥺 ur sweet
That emoji hit like salt in a cut.
Dee :: 11:32AM
I'm serious.
Dee :: 11:32AM
Feels like you just drifted.
Dee :: 11:32AM
And I kept holding the string.
Typing bubble... And gone... Popped back up.
Millie :: 11:33AM
i didn't mean to. just got busy. found a new crew i vibe with lately, yknow?
"New crew."
Dee blinked, trying not to read too much into it. But her chest tightened all the same.
Dee :: 11:33AM
Vibe with? Like... Better than we do? Couldn't you just introduce us?
Millie :: 11:33AM
not better, just diff. they're into new shit, new worlds, new styles. we've been collabing on some builds, it's been wild. and... you wouldn't really like them. trust me
That stung. Dee and Millie used to build worlds together. That was their thing. They'd made a whole haunted neon cathedral once, just for the drama of it. Inside jokes encoded into light shaders. Custom audio files of their laughter buried in the walls.
Dee :: 11:34AM
You stopped visiting our place.
Dee :: 11:34AM
I updated the greenhouse room. Thought you'd like the mushrooms.
Another pause.
Millie :: 11:35AM
oh damn. sorry, i didn't check. honestly, i haven't logged into that world in a bit. been hanging in new spots
Dee :: 11:35AM
You built that world with me.
Millie :: 11:35AM
yeah, but that was ages ago
Ages. It had been three months.
Dee's throat tightened, heart stuttering. She typed, erased, typed again. Her hands shook just enough for Miso to stir and blink up at her.
Dee :: 11:35AM
It just feels like you've outgrown me.
Millie :: 11:35AM
ur still cool, dee
Millie :: 11:35AM
just not really into the same vibes anymore i guess
Cool.
Not "important." Not "missed." Not "my person."
Just fucking brilliant.
A slap wrapped in satin.
Dee :: 11:36AM
I tried. Every week. Kept pinging you. Kept building, showing up. I thought maybe I was just being clingy but... I just wanted to still matter.
Millie didn't respond for a minute. Then...
Millie :: 11:37AM
dee it's not like that. people change. friendships evolve
Dee :: 11:37AM
This isn't evolution. This is erosion.
No reply.
Dee sat back against the wall, arms wrapped tight around her legs. She remembered a night when Millie had logged on crying about her breakup, and Dee stayed up for nine hours with her in the rain world they made. Made dumb jokes. Sang to her. Held her avatar's hand by the fire until sunrise cracked the skybox.
And now she got "people change."
Dee :: 11:38AM
I just... Wish it didn't feel like I'm the only one who cared enough to try.
Millie :: 11:38AM
you're making this heavier than it needs to be
That line almost did it. Almost pushed Dee into anger. But anger was too distant. This wasn't rage. It was ache - so familiar it felt like a second skin.
Dee :: 11:38AM
That's how people talk when they've already let go.
Dee :: 11:38AM
And they don't wanna feel guilty about it.
The typing bubble flickered.
Flickered.
Vanished again.
Came back.
Millie :: 11:40AM
look, i didn't come here for a guilt trip. i was happy to hear from you. but now it's all this emotional weight and i'm just not in that headspace rn
There - the final confirmation. Dee's emotions were inconvenient. Not that she didn't matter. Just that she mattered wrong.
Dee :: 11:41AM
I'm not trying to guilt you. I'm trying to understand why someone who meant so much to me suddenly doesn't act like I mean anything anymore.
Another pause.
Millie :: 11:42AM
you didn't do anything wrong
Millie :: 11:42AM
i just... we grew different directions
Dee :: 11:42AM
You make it sound like I'm the one who stopped being interesting.
Millie didn't respond.
Dee leaned forward, face inches from the screen, as if proximity could force sincerity. Like closeness could crawl through digital space and make someone see her.
Dee :: 11:43AM
You know what hurts the most? Not that you found new people. Not even that you didn't say anything.
Dee :: 11:43AM
It's that you noticed us drifting into silence and didn't reach back.
Typing...
Millie :: 11:45AM
dee i got tired. everything we talked about felt like nostalgia or heavy shit. my new friends... it's just easier. more fun. that doesn't mean you suck. it's just different
Not that Dee was boring - just that everything they shared became work. A weight.
The past. Not the now.
It felt like a gut punch with serrated edge.
Dee :: 11:45AM
Thanks for finally saying it. I suppose not even 5 years of having each other's back can make anyone feel certain anymore.
Miso meowed, a soft, curious sound. Dee reached down and gently stroked his fur, blinking hard.
Dee :: 11:45AM
I guess I just didn't realize I'd become old news.
Millie :: 11:46AM
you haven't. you're still amazing. you're just... more of a deep soul than i'm vibing with lately
A deep soul.
Dee almost laughed. That was just code for "you feel too much."
Dee :: 11:47AM
And what now? We pretend it's fine? Once-a-month check-ins until we both stop replying?
Millie :: 11:47AM
i dunno. we can still talk sometimes. no hard feelings
No hard feelings.
Dee breathed in, held it, then let it go like steam.
There were all the hard feelings.
But none that Millie wanted to hold.
She glanced at her desktop. The old photos, the screen captures from virtual worlds that no longer existed except in backups. Millie's avatar laughing in a witch hat. Her saying "i'd never ditch u lol." A pixel heart drawn in midair. Stupid memes in picture frames.
The silence now was louder than any fight would've been.
She looked down at Miso, who stretched and blinked with the unbothered wisdom only cats had. Dee whispered into the fur, soft enough that even the mic wouldn't pick it up.
"Let's see if she even notices I'm gone."
She reached up, set her status to invisible. Closed the chat. Not blocked. Not removed. Just... Absent.
Quiet absence - one that makes people realize too late.
The room was still, dimly lit by a single strand of LEDs wrapped around her bookcase. Dee sat there a moment longer, arms wrapped around herself.
Friendships die loud sometimes - with slamming doors and screaming matches and dramatic farewells. But other times, they just wither. Quietly. While one person waters the roots, and the other stops even noticing the plant.
Dee was done watering alone.
She kissed the top of Miso's head, curled up in the corner of her bed, and watched the little floating lanterns drift lazily in the background of her screensaver - glimmers from a world now lost to time.
She didn't cry - she ran out of tears already.
But hell if it didn't ache.
Phone buzz.
Void :: 11:57AM
hey. sorry for the radio silence. my phone underwent a... uh. rapid unscheduled disassembly.
Void :: 11:59AM
what's up girl?