unexpected text

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[Click on red text to proceed to the next page, or to make choices] You are hanging out in your bed looking at Facebook Marketplace, as is your wont. The curtains are closed, and as sunlight is fading from the weary summer day, the window A/C unit almost manages to keep you cool. The paper memorabilia you keep on your wall is flapping in the mechanized artificial wind, blowing, failing to be kept in place by varying methods of tape, glue, pins, and other adhesives. You are not paying very much attention to what is going on. You scroll on Mark Zuckerberg's magnum opus past a Super Nintendo you would buy if it were $20 cheaper, or if it came with cables. Or if it were 10 miles closer. You send a message on a listing for a cool-looking lamp, then receive a notification that "this seller doesn't seem to be responding very often". Your neighbor across the hall is practicing scales on guitar. Your upstairs neighbor is once again walking, it seems. You have scrolled so far you are seeing listings from over 100 miles away, even though trekking a mere 20 miles makes you feel like you've wasted the day, especially if you hit traffic. You think to yourself that there is no chance you find something you will purchase. You continue scrolling. You see a listing for a banjo with 2 strings, being given away for free as long as you also take an organ with only one working key. As you are embarking on an ill-fated consideration of the logistics of getting these into your 300 square-foot studio apartment, [[you receive a notification.]]

Facebook Messenger - Ayla Mincey: im on acid right now and im freaking out Ayla Mincey: i dont rly know who to text but Ayla Mincey: do you remember the first time i did acid and we texted all night? Ayla Mincey: im sorry i just need you Before you can finish reading each individual message, a new one has come in, four in total. You do not recognize the name of the person messaging you. You haven't even used Facebook to communicate with anyone in years, you just use it to look for a good deal on Marketplace, and maybe to occasionally check your yearly Memories. You open the app. Your last conversation was with an old high-school friend, a year and change ago. It's been so long, you don't remember if Facebook Messenger had read receipts or not. You long-press on the conversation with 4 unreads, and select the option to [[open the profile of the person messaging you.]]

<h2>Ayla Mincey</h2> <ul> <li>24</li> <li>Kentucky</li> <li>she/her/hers</li> </ul> [[View Profile Picture]] <p>Send Friend Request Block</p> Ayla Mincey - 2 years ago react to this post. 👍❤️😡 Matthew Quinn Matthew, Kelly Risperdal and 85 others

You pull up Ayla's profile picture. it is from 2 years and 3 months ago. I mean, she's very pretty, and she looks somewhat familiar, but you don't exactly recognize her. She has long hair that varies in shade along the length, messily dyed at parts to be red (artificial red, not like your natural ginger), black, silver, and what you guess to be a natural brown. She looks a little trans, but you've trained yourself not to guess whether people are or not, anymore. [[You scroll to the next picture.]]

A week before the previous profile picture. Still not looking distinctly recognizable. Is her head tilted at the same angle in every photo? [[Next picture.]]

This profile picture depicts a group of 4 people. Your older sibling is face-blind, and you've always felt a bit face-blind, but not as face-blind as them, so you don't usually mention it, though you've definitely always hated when people put group photos as their profile picture or on a dating app profile because of how long it takes you to figure out who's who. The picture is from 3 years ago, almost to the date. It is captioned "i'm here". 4 people, outside, lit mostly by a bonfire, standing behind it. 3 together, centered, with arms on each other's shoulders, the last one slightly off to the side, slightly blurred, in motion. You think Ayla is the one in the middle, but it's hard to be sure. Her hair is brown, or it might just be lit poorly by the fire. They all seem to have dyed hair. They are all beautiful to you in different ways. [[This isn't getting anywhere, and you still haven't responded to her.]]

[[scrolling]]

[[still going]]

Time to try old reliable. [[Scroll really fast, into the past.]]

that one wasn't even a picture of a person [[more scrolling]]

Still nothing. 5 years back now. [[scrolling continues]]

[[you are scrolling]]

[[eyes are unfocused]]

[[not really sure what you're looking for, might just go until you hit the start]]

[[could be a while]]

WAIT. WHAT WAS THAT. GO BACK [[Defeat entropy: scroll the opposite direction]]

A picture of yourself is on the screen. the datestamp is a little over 5 years ago. You're standing next to Jane, and you're smiling. You have matching tattoos of a frog on your inner wrists. Neither of your faces have raised eyebrows. In the picture, you're at the old family home, the big one, before it got sold. In the present, you are confused. You look at Jane a little closer. You close your eyes and sigh -- [[OH.]]

She changed her name. She changed her name to Ayla. You haven't thought about [[Jane]] in a very long time.

@@.fade-in;End of Chapter 1.@@ @@.fade-in-slow; <a href="https://essy.neocities.org">essy.neocities.org</a> @@