『The Stranger Online』

1st of December

"Mom, I'm home!" I said and took off my shoes. I was standing in the entrance hallway which led to the kitchen on the right side and to the bathroom on the left side. Straight forward were the stairs that led to my room and to my mom's room. I placed them next to those of my mom and went into the kitchen.

My mom was done cooking and took off her blue apron. "Hello sweetheart, welcome back. Are you hungry? I made some noodles with sauce," she said. I nodded happily. The day was exhausting and I was hungry. I set the table and lit the candles me and my mom made together.

We lived alone since my dad died 11 years ago. I was four so I didn't really understand why my dad was suddenly gone. But my mom was great and handled everything as best as she could. I'm really thankful for that because now, we're super close and I tell her most things that bother me.

"So, Faye, how was your day? Did anything interesting happen?" she asked. "Oh not really, school was kind of boring and the teacher just made us work in silence most of the lessons," I explained. I placed a portion of the noodles on my plate and put some sauce over it. "And you? What did you do today?" I asked my mom while eating. "Oh, just some housework. Also, a package came in the mail, did you order that?"

She looked at me with her nice blueish-grey eyes. They matched well with her blonde hair, which she kept in a low ponytail. She had slight eyebags because sometimes she overworked herself but I reminded her to take breaks. I tried being a good daughter and I hope I did a good job.

"Yes, I did. It's just some art supplies. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I really just forgot." I explained. "Ah don't worry. It's all good, I was just confused because I didn't expect anything in the mail today."

We kept talking some more and after cleaning up, I went into my room.
I tried to keep it tidy but right now, it was a mess. So I decided to clean it up a little bit so I had space to draw. When I was about to finish cleaning my desk, I got a notification from Space. It's our most popular social media app so I was curious about what was going on.

It was a recommendation from my feed. The caption read "ᴅᴀᴛᴇ: 12/01 - Stories and Snow."
It looks like some kind of poem. I decided to look at it.

"ᴅᴀᴛᴇ: 12/01 - Stories and Snow.

Silence.
I wrote a story.
Blue.
It was snowing the whole day.
Ignorance.
She didn't look at me.

-𝒜𝓈𝒽"

The entry was signed off as Ash, so I guessed that the author named themself Ash. I didn't know the person's pronouns and their profile was empty besides the name Ash as well. I didn't know what to think of it. I mean, it looked interesting. I decided to follow the stranger. Then I got a call from my best friend Saya.

"Hey, Faye! I got a quick question!" she said as soon as I answered the call. "Did you see that poem thingy on Space? For some reason, it's trending!" Saya seemed really excited.

She was my best friend since elementary school and was also an artsy kid. She loved literature and photography. We also went skating together a few times so that's kind of our duo thing. She's fifteen like me and really sweet. She gets excited easily which I find very cute.

"I did actually just read it, but I didn't see that it is trending. What are the people saying about it?" I asked. "Well, they think the person behind it is a boy from our grade because of that last line. What do you think?" she explained.
I answered, "It could be anyone, honestly. Why from our grade and school exactly?"
"Because it popped up in the feed of most of our classmates. They think it was Simon, he's been pining after Mika for a while now. But she mostly ignores him so they say it's him. Although, it could be a girl as well since it's a gender-neutral name..." Saya got lost in thought while she was rambling on.

It looked interesting but why are they making such a big fuss about it? That last line of course but still. It's none of their business.

"I see. I'm sorry, I can't keep up with anything happening in the class hahaha." I laughed. Saya laughed as well and we talked for a little longer about our day.

"Saya, I'll hang up now, I was going to draw something. I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay? I love you!" I said. "Yes, see you at school. It was nice talking to you! I love you too!" she said and I hung up. I sighed.

I put my waist-length light brown hair in a ponytail and got my drawing equipment. I decided to draw some landscapes since I had to practice that.

After a few hours, my mom called me down for dinner. "Faye, dear, come down! Dinner is done!" I put my paintbrush away and ran downstairs. Doing that I almost fell over my cat. "Kiko! There you are my cutie." I picked him up and pat his head. Kiko was my black and grey tabby cat. I got him when I was eleven. He's been my loyal friend for four years now. I really love him.

"Mom, look, I'm bringing a guest," I laughed. "Hello you two, " she greeted us with a warm smile. In the kitchen, I put him down and gave him some cat food. He snuggled up to my leg and then proceeded to eat.

"Want me to help with anything?" I asked. She was getting the bread and the sandwich fillings in the fridge. "Can you set the table please?" "Of course." After everything was done we sat down and mom put a piece of paper and a pen next to her. "Are you going shopping?" I wanted to know. Usually, she didn't write anything down so I was a bit confused.

"Yeah, I also have to get some Christmas presents, so I gotta write the things down. I'll definitely forget the majority if I focus only on our goods. By the way, do you want anything special for Christmas?" she explained.

I didn't really need anything but some new clothes would be nice. I changed my style in the past year so that would be a great gift. "I told you that I changed my style in the past year right? I would appreciate some new clothes. I can send you some things on amazon if you want!" I said. "Sure, that's fine! Sounds great. Do you need anything food related? I also don't know what to cook next week so if you want something in particular you can let me know."

After dinner, I cleaned the dishes while my mom wrote her shopping list.

"I'll go to bed now, okay?" I said, already standing next to the door. "Yes, good night dear. Love you, sleep well!" She smiled at me. I smiled back, "Love you too, mom, have nice dreams!" And with that, I went to the bathroom, got ready and went to my room. I decided to finish my landscapes tomorrow.

Kiko came into my room and sat on my bed. He tilted his black head. "You wanna know what happened today? Okay, so basically nothing except for this one post on space which was kinda weird but also interesting. It was half dairy entry, half poem. I wanna see if the author keeps writing or if it was a one-time thing. What do you think?" Kiko just gave me a confused meow and laid down on my bed. "Yeah, let's go to bed. Sleep well, Kiko." I pat his head and then went to bed as well.

To be continued.
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Hellooo, I'm Emilico☆
I hope you enjoyed the first part of this story hehe! >w<
It was a lot of fun writing it and I'm excited to see which way this story will go! Don't forget to vote or comment if you enjoyed☆
If you have suggestions, I'm open to criticism (U^U)/

If you want a one-shot for any character from anime, dm me! ☆

-Em☆