Eli replies to a text that wasn't meant for her, but this way she gets to know Quinn, whom she starts to like more and more. They text for a while before Quinn is finally brave enough to ask Eli out.
A story about struggles with boundaries and acc...
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A sudden urge to close the laptop and finish online school for today popped up in Eli's head; it was one of these intrusive thoughts that wouldn't go away, no matter how hard she tried to suppress them. Squeezing her eyes shut and forcing herself to think about something else, pleasant and calming, did not help. And finally she gave in, pressed down the screen against the keyboard, and felt relieved by it; the relief so strong that her heartbeat seemed calmer and mind clearer afterward.
She stood up from the bed too quickly since spots invaded her vision. Her eyes shut instantly. Wincing, she tried to hold on to something but caught at the air instead, thus falling back onto the mattress. Despite her attempt to suppress them, it took the spots a moment to disappear, and when they did, she no longer wanted to leave her bed. Instead, she reached for her phone sitting on the night table beside other items, such as a lone strip of pills.
She had a couple of new messages, all of which were from the group chat that she had made with her friends, although the number of members had increased slightly since then. It was simple: her friends added their friends. Consequently, the chat would get a new member every two or three months. The newest member was Quinn, a friend of Maddie. And it was she who had sent the only message that day, "How are you?" it read. She took it as a day-starter question that Quinn had asked everyone.
So she typed, "I'm fine, I guess. Online school kind of drains me out though," and pressed the send button. She didn't bother reading the previous texts as she thought they would be finished conversations from yesterday, to which she simply couldn't add anything else.
After that she felt confident enough to try to get up again. As the spots didn't reappear, she began to stretch her arms and spine, reaching up to the sky, or at least the plain white ceiling. The warmth of the floor under her feet made her smile. Despite the gloom—she would almost never draw up the curtains there—she knew where to find the water jug so that she would pour herself a glass and swallow a pill.
The dimmest of sunbeams made her squint, once she turned around after closing the door to her room. On the way to the bathroom, the phone vibrated in her pajamas pocket. She didn't check it immediately as she needed to use the toilet. However, after washing her hands, she took out the phone and leaned against the counter, her reflection behind her.
The message was again from Quinn. "Oh, I'm sorry," it began. "I don't think you read the previous texts. That question was meant for Maddie. Her grandpa died last night..."
Her hand rose to cover her mouth while her eyes popped in shock. She was speechless. She didn't know how she could miss it. Maddie was her friend, and she replied to the question that was meant for her. To make matters worse, she'd complained about her life, when Maddie's relative had passed away. What an embarrassment, she thought. What a humiliation. For a moment, falling down the stairs didn't seem so bad to her, considering how much she punished herself in her mind.
Her shaking hands started to type a message, "Uh, I had no idea! I'm so sorry, Maddie. I hope you are with your family now. Please, tell us if we can help. I'm also sorry, Quinn, for that. I thought it was just a regular question, but it wasn't. Sorry." She knew that it must have had a lot of typos, yet she couldn't help it—her erratic breath or throbbing heart wouldn't let her.
