Message

Message was created using Twine. [[Start Game]]

Buzz. Buzz. (link: "~Text message~ ") [Unknown: I love you.] (live: 5s)[[[Who is it?->Who is it?]] [[Where did this begin?]]]

They were someone made of igniter. Always starting something within you on fire. Hours were spent together studying, talking, listening to music, and greasy burgers swallowed at the diner down the road. Their voice was made of laughter and their eyes the stars. They reminded you of home: of [[sunshine in the summer]], that [[creaky dock]] down by the river, and the [[old church]] that you were both forced to go on Sundays. [[Why this text?]]

Your families would say it began when you were 5. (link: "At 5 you were destined to be together.") [At 5 you were pretty sure all you cared about were snacks and naps, but that was besides the point.] Who else were you supposed to be with though? It was straight out of a movie: both families moved in to a new neighborhood, both expecting a child soon, both looking for new friends. You were born a week apart, (link: " them older") [which they would never let you forget], yet it would never come across that way to a stranger. They were your built in best friend from down the street and that would never change. [[When did it change?]]

It changed for the first time when you were 13. There were in fact a lot of changes the year you turned 13. Your friend group had changed because for some reason you went from being cool in Elementary school to an outcast in Middle school. Your parents started yelling more especially when you were sure you were correct in the argument. (link: "They still were your best friend, never concerned if you were cool or not, or if you were not always correct in an argument.")[Now that you come to think of it, you guys never fought since your thoughts were always the same. Jinx! Double Jinx!] But you started to realize that there was something special about them. Something that brought butterflies to your stomach and your words to catch in your throat. They made you hyperaware of your new changes and that you were not completely comfortable with those changes. Hopefully, they didn't notice. [[When did they notice?]]

You never thought that this would happen. For years it felt like you were still just their best friend from back home. You didn't hang out as much in the past few months. They were busy with class, friends, and their revolving door of significant others. Not that you minded too much, your life was picking up too, but occassionally you missed your personal reminder of home. [[When did they change?]]

They asked you out for the first time at Freshman Homecoming. Everyone else saw it coming, but on the inside you were conflicted. Were you supposed to be excited or dread it? You had never been one for dances, but they made it seem like less of chore. That night was dotted with awkward pictures and the Top 100 playlist from the previous summer. (link: "The two of you danced, but never when the songs were slow.")[Looking back now, at least you got to dance together later...] [[The last dance]]

You broke up a while into college. College was supposed to be like a highlight reel and how could it not be when your best friend followed you to your shared dream school. But things were tough, classes were a lot harder than high school, you were bogged down with commitments, and home felt far away. You decided to give things a break and to see other people. Except you never did...They seemed fine with the idea of space and left your dorm without a word. [[Then there was someone else.]]

The dock was never safe for children to be on, but that didn't stop you and them from going. You guys were INVINCIBLE. They always would be (link: "casting a line")[Something you learned at the ripe age of 10] or jumping off with a running start. You would bring your floaties to make sure someone was in the river to judge the jumps or would lay on the dock with a book in hand. The entire world wrapped in the buzzing heat and content silence. On those days minutes stretched into hours and time seemed to freeze like a moment frozen in the frame of a picture. That dock was [[Home->Who is it?]]

Summer. Summer meant camping. They would help you lug the tent out to the backyard so that your dad could set it up. Summer meant s'mores that you learned how to make a sleep away camp. They always got the sticky sweet marshmallow to smear across their cheek, which made you double over in laughter. Summer meant stars. Stars that dazzled across the telescope and they knew every name. You would sit there and listen to them tell you the stories of the stars like it was a movie put on by the sky every night. Summer meant sleeping-bags. Sleeping-bags that were warm from the familiar heat of the ground and kept out the chilling breath of the night-time air. Summer was [[Home->Who is it?]]

Sundays at the old church were like Christmas. There were cookies, singing, and families gathered together with cordial smiles and gratitude in their conversations. You standing there in your Sunday's best, would catch their eye. Like an unspoken rule a rousing game of tag would start and end when your parents realized where you had gone. And you would leave your face beet-red, clothes smudged with dirt and grass, but always a smile plastered from ear to ear. The church was [[Home->Who is it?]]

During your senior year of high school you decided to spend one last night under the stars before leaving for college. Just like you had done when you were kids. You are driving down the backroads of your town, past the dock, and past the church. The sun had started setting a while ago and now the road in front of you was illuminated by headlights and the moon. They stop and ask you to follow them. You pulled off to a dead-end surrounded by trees and the dim moonlight. With the radio turned up and the headlights as a spotlight you danced. The first and last slow dance that you had shared. It was then that you knew this was your person and that nothing would take them away from you. From then on you and them became an us. [[Where are you now?->Where are you now?]]

It was February when they became a thing. You hadn't seen them in a while and you started to think that maybe you had lost them forever. Then there was the party in the dead of winter, everyone was crowded in the small stuffy house on the corner. Your roommate had dragged you there to meet up with a new date. Thats when you saw them, huddled in the corner of the room whispering to each other. Smiles were sloppily drawn on their faces and the world rose-colored. You remembered feeling that way in high school and quickly left to retreat back to your dorm room. [[Where are they now?]]

Your roommate became your best friend. They were there to study with you and watch movies on the weekends. They pushed you to go to parties, even though the memory was engrained in your head. You had moved on not by choice, but out of the need to take care of yourself. You had finally gotten a college and was ready for the next chapter of your life. Although you were not spending it with someone else romantically, you were surrounded by supportive friends and family. You had started an internship 2 years after the break-up and they were offering you a full time job. For once you felt like your life was coming back together. But did you want to let Them back into your story? [[Who is it->Who is it?]] [[The message]]

They had graduated early, filling most of their schedule up with classes the last few semesters. (link: "You only knew this was the case from the slam of their door at 6 am and the final one again at 11 pm.")[It wasn't stalking just a mix of curiousity.] The partners had dwindled down in the last few months too as the footsteps had become one set. For the most part it was just them and their roommate, if they were ever in the room at the same time. Occassionally you would see them at the dining hall or walking the paths between campus buildings, but hi's were no longer exchanged and neather were glances. Something seemed to be missing in his demeanor, something that you too had been missing... [[Where did this begin?->Where did this begin?]] [[The message->The message]]

Unkown: I love you. You had had their number unsaved for months now knowing they weren't going to text or call. But you knew deep down that this was them and the area code was all too familiar. But what were you going to do? (link: "You could ignore it")[Closing off this chapter of your life for good] (link: "Or you could respond")[Opening up a conversation, maybe even a second chance? Or was that childish to expect of a text? I love you is pretty weighty though...] [[Ignore]] [[Reply]]

You ignore the message. You move on with your life. It may hurt now, but it will not hurt forever. You have bigger things to look forward to. Things much bigger than a crush from your adolesence. [[You changed your mind->The message]] [[You delete the message]]

(link: "You gingerly reply.")[You: [[I don't know what to say.]]]

The End [[Play again->Start: Introduction]]

[[Play again->Start: Introduction]]

And you didn't know what to say. (link:"You had always loved them and that hadn't changed in all these years.")[ And yes they had hurt you, but you were always quick to practice forgiveness, no matter how bad you were hurting.] But you were different and so were they, who was to say that maybe that would make it all different. There was so much to think about. There was so much to talk about. Curiosity had been eating at you for all this time, what was the harm in just listening to what they had to say? Now it was a waiting game...[[all they needed to do was reply]].

(link: "~Text Message~") [Unknown: Meet me on the Quad tomorrow at 3.] (live:4s)[[[I guess a new chapter is beginning...->I guess a new chapter is beginning...]]]