92 - The Only People Who Knew the Real Me
It comes all of a sudden. Messages from classmates I haven’t spoken to in more than twenty years. People from a life I buried. People from a version of me I can barely remember without hurting. I cut ties with everyone after my downfall more than two decades ago now. I thought disappearing would give me peace. It didn’t. It only gave me loneliness. A long, quiet loneliness that settled into my bones until I stopped noticing it. But they found me anyway. A class reunion, a few names passed around, my name came up and someone searched through social media and suddenly they were all there, asking where I’ve been, asking if I’m okay, asking if I want to see them again. Telling me that they want to see me again And it didn’t make me happy. It didn’t make me excited. It made something inside me collapse. It reminded me of a life I lost, a life I thought time had erased. Because back then… we were carefree. Just friends. Real friends. Not tied to money, not tied to benefits, not ti...