Dedicated to lennysuguz for being a faithful reader 🧡🧡🧡 and the best of support.

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William and I hadn't talked in about three weeks. I'd texted him before I went completely off the grid to tell him that I would be off for a while but hadn't stuck around to see his reply. My aunt was suspecting something because she was sleeping in the living room so I had to be extra careful around her. She was making her own life miserable seeing as how uncomfortable her sofas were just to try and catch me on the wrong. Even if she hadn't forbidden me from ever sleeping on them, I'd still pick my thin mattress over those hard cushions any day.

I acted as if I was okay and that everything was normal but deep down I missed William. We had only talked for three days and no matter how much I tried to not get attached I still ended doing it. I had decide that no matter what happened that night I would talk to William before dawn. If he really cared about me then he would actually be worried that I had been missing for three weeks. The message would not even suffice to keep him at ease.

My phone was burning a hole in my book bag and I kept staring at it thinking my aunt would catch onto my plan. That morning I had snuck it out into my book bag and carried it to school. It was useless seeing as I had no data or texts but I had a plan in mind. I made sure to do my chores extremely slow so that my aunt would leave me behind. After she left I'd quickly finish my chores before going online and hoping William was still around waiting for me to be back.

Everything went according to plan and at around eleven all the customers had cleared out and my aunt left the diner heading upstairs. She didn't even spare me a glance as she shouted her final orders at me. I started hurrying up but still being thorough and by midnight I was done.

I sat cross legged on the kitchen floor with a plate of food on my lap and my phone in my slightly shaking hand. It switched on fast and I expected it to hang like last time but it didn't. There were no notifications for me. Had William forgotten me? But he seemed so genuine. That's what I got for getting my hopes up. I should have known that it was all too good to be true and nobody would ever care about poor Malaika.

I logged in on Tiktok and my inbox was empty before finally logging in on Instagram. There was a blue dot on the message icon and I smiled quickly clicking on it happy that I had been wrong about William forgetting me. It was a message from him, just one and it was in form of a voice note. My last message to him sat there staring back at me. It had been rushed but I didn't have the time to write something thoughtful.

I'll talk to you soon. Bye for now.

The voice note was dated a week ago which seemed strange but I clicked on it nonetheless. I had heard Williams voice before on his videos but for some reason I felt all giddy. Maybe it was because of the fact that it was directly addressed to me. When the voice note finally loaded and I heard his voice its like my whole world stopped. It was so deep and full of emotion that I had to pause it to compose myself. Once I was good I restarted it ready to listen but nothing would have prepared me for his next words. His voice was a little slurred but I assumed my phones speaker was messed up.

Hello Malaika (hiccup), is that even your real name? It sounds so pretty but I bet it's fake just like you. Two weeks without a word from you and all you had to say was I'll talk to you soon (hiccup). Do I look like a job application agency to you? (hiccup) Don't answer that it's rhetorical or do, I don't care. You probably won't listen to this anyway seeing as you disappeared. You know I had so many texts typed just like last time but then I remembered you scolded me for it so I deleted all of them. My friends warned me about making friends with an African girl, because you're probably a fifty year old conman who wants to exploit me for my money.( hiccup) You're a liar Malaika or whatever your name is and you took advantage of me. I thought you were a genuine person who actually cared but no sixteen year old goes without using their phone for two weeks. Maybe you're in prison somewhere serving life for murder just like you said and you like preying on white teenage boys. Well not this one. (hiccup) I hate you and I hope you rot in hell. (pause). Shit that's long but whatever. Bye and oh by the way fuck you and your friendship you murderous conman. ( hiccup)

By the time I was done listening, I was sobbing silently, my heart broken and my whole body shaking. I tossed the phone away from me like it burned my hand and pushed my untouched food away before curling into a ball in the cold floor. I cried my heart out silently feeling my whole world shatter around me. William had just proven me right with words, I'd gotten attached too fast and now I was paying for it.

Out of nowhere a burst of anger washed over me and I sat up reaching for the phone. I wiped away my tears but it was no use because others fell in their place. I took a deep breath and long pressed on the microphone icon ready to tear him a new one but as soon as I opened my mouth to talk only a strangled cry of pain left my lips. How could he say all those things to me? He didn't even know me and yet he accused me of all of that.

I released the icon and tried to delete the message but my fingers were wet with tears and kept sliding off the screen.

I'd never stood up for myself before but this one time I would. I deserved it and owed it to myself. And besides its not like he could see me. I composed myself once more and pressed on the icon.

Hi William. I just wanted to say thank you for your not so warm sentiments. I am actually in a kind of jail but it's so much worse than if I was in real prison. At least there I'd get to sleep and hopefully make friends with a few inmates if they didn't chop me up to death. I'm sorry I'm not daddy's rich white boy who can afford data subscriptions to last him two lifetimes. I'm sorry I ever showed concern for you and I'm sorry for accepting your friendship. You judged me without knowing my story and honestly that's okay everyone does it to me all the time. What hurts the most is that I actually thought you were different but you're just like everyone else. Goodbye William, thanks for proving to me that's there is no good left in the world.

🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅

Onions make me cry and so did that chapter.