The Shock
I remembered a girl I dated twenty years ago when we were 18. Suddenly, I really wanted to know what had become of her, how her life turned out. I thought it would be nice to meet and chat—not to get back together, but because she was part of a great chapter in my life that I always look back on fondly. Her name was unique, so finding her wasn’t hard. Her Facebook page’s last post was over four years old and shared details about her funeral’s time and place. I was stunned to learn she had died—I just couldn’t believe it. For some reason, I was sure she had a family and was living happily. That night, I cried in the shower.
Conviction
I was only together with this guy for one summer, and we broke up because his dad got a job abroad and they moved away. He was such a kind, quiet guy—I only had good memories of him. Then one day I looked him up and regretted it deeply. His social media was filled with racist, far-right posts, and it shocked me that this was the same person I remembered.
The Search
I wanted to know how my ex was doing—the one who broke my heart to pieces ten years ago when he suddenly ended things. He just stopped contacting me: calls went unanswered, messages unread. From a mutual friend, I learned only that "he didn’t want to be with me anymore", and that was all the explanation I got. In the years that followed, I cursed him many times, wishing him no good—actually, I wanted him to feel the same pain he caused me! Finally, only one post appeared about him on social media. A fundraiser for his wife and two little girls. I didn’t even know he’d married and had kids—he always said he never wanted children. There was a photo where I barely recognized him—skin and bones. It turned out he had late-stage cancer, with only months or less to live. I felt so physically sick I ran to the bathroom and threw up. I wanted someone to break his heart too, but not like this!
Luck
Dani was always a bit of a troublemaker, and that’s what drew me to him. He was the bad boy from the neighboring town, and for a short time, I was his girlfriend. My friends envied me, but it wasn’t a happy relationship. Dani got angry quickly and would yell and rage. After a few months, he dumped me for a girl way hotter than me, and I cried on my friends’ shoulders. Then I graduated high school, moved to the capital, and eventually my family joined me, so I lost touch with people from my hometown. One evening, Dani just popped into my mind, and I looked him up out of curiosity. I found out he’s in prison for killing his girlfriend—the hot girl he left me for.
The High
I left my first boyfriend because he was heavily into drugs. He smoked joints like they were cigarettes and never went to a party without some kind of powder to boost himself. I was in college, studying to be a lawyer, and couldn’t relate to that lifestyle. He was really smart—maybe the most intelligent person I’ve ever met. After I graduated and started working, I looked him up to see where life had taken him. He died of an overdose a year and a half after we broke up. Such an unimaginable loss—he was such a valuable person. His mom is a true angel, and my heart breaks for her having to bury her son…
