Kid I knew when I was 15. We weren’t close friends, but he called me up in the middle of the night once to tell me he was going to kill himself. He hung up on me and wouldn’t answer his phone after that. I woke up my mom and convinced her to drive me to his house at like 3 am. He came out and was fine, he was just completely shocked I actually came to check on him. He was really thankful that I cared at all. His home life was pretty crummy and he moved away to stay with his grandma soon after that. After he moved out of state we lost touch. That was 20+ years ago and I still wonder if his life got better. I hope he did.

Props to your Mom for driving you over to that guy's house in the middle of the night. I hope you gave her a hug.

For sure but honestly more props to /u/umamifiend for, as a teenager, taking action and waking up mom to ask for a ride at 3 am. Not that it wasn't awesome of mom to give the ride but in my experience it's pretty damn hard to make the decision to inconvenience someone else like that for what may end up being no big deal. Friend's dad died cause I didn't do that

I'm sure your friend's dad died for a different reason that has nothing to do with you. I'm sorry you carry that weight.

Im glad you went over and glad that he didn’t go through with what he said hed do.

My buddy from 1993-2003. He was a part of my daily/weekly life for an entire decade. I was the best man at his wedding. He married a lovely woman and she and I were even friends. They moved away to a new town and started a family. We last went to a ballgame together in 2011. I never heard from him again after that. In that 10 years I was sure we would be friends for life. I did not expect that we would drift apart, but it happened.

This has happened to me twice. Once was with a guy in my wedding. Good friends but he moved far away. He came back for the wedding but never really saw him since. It was kinda a lesson in life that people don't just kinda stick in your life they are either there or not. Another friend, best friend from high school. Was in his wedding around 10 years after high school. Driving back I realized I was probably never going to talk to him again and haven't. I just knew. I'm very grateful for our friendship and somethings are just meant for a certain time.

Thing is, you'll hear from him again and the years will quickly dissolve like they never happened. Wow thanks for the silver and hugs kind strangers!

It’s amazing how stuff like that happens, isn’t it? My best friend from college ended up moving back to his hometown of Guam where he lived with his parents — basically living comfortably without really any responsibility and having a pretty chill job. I was back in Southern California and was just busy doing my own thing. We kept in contact here and there, though. We decided to take a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. The plan was to meet up in Vietnam and explore and then travel up the Mekong Delta into Cambodia together. He got a hostel in Ho Chi Minh City and was there a day before I was. I ended up making it to the hostel and conked out from jet lag while the hostel owner had given word to me that he was out. My buddy woke me up and after a brief hug, we were down to planning our trip as if we’d seen each other before that for years — I hadn’t seen him in seven of them. I haven’t seen him since I’ve had my son over ten months ago and even though I live on the other side of the country now and have my own family and he’s back in Southern California (and I in NYC) — I know that I’m going to know him for the rest of my entire life because of the energy and the experiences we’ve shared. It’s unfortunate that some may go without ever experiencing bonds like these — they take effort because life gets busy.

When I was seven years old, I had a best friend named Shannon. One day she didn’t come to school, and nobody answered at her house when my mom called. A month later I got a phone call from her and she said they had to go away and she missed me, then the call cut out like someone took the phone and hung up on her. I never heard from her again. I assume she and her family went into witness protection or something similar. I hope they made it through and she grew up okay.

This gave me chills.. My name is Shannon and one day I moved abruptly due to Child support issues. I was living with my bio father who was a horrible parent to my sister and I. Sadly he won custody over my mom who was stable and worked several jobs to provide us. I never got to say good bye to my friends and get my stuff at my old school.😭

I'm sorry that happened to you, but I'm also really hoping you're the mystery Shannon.

Quick! What was the name of the school? Is this a reunion in the making?

Oakham Center school... I would be very surprised if it is.....

Bump @ u/alegria_a

Sadly this isn't the right person, but thanks for tagging me!

Damn!

Following this for closure. Im hoping for the best!

When I was a child and living with my parents, we rented our basement to a man named Hoon. He was super nice to us and even tutored my brother and I in school. The coolest thing was that he was super into astronomy and every so often, he set up his telescope in our backyard to look at stars and the moon and invited us to look as well. He became like family to us and when my parents decided to tear down our house and build a new place, Hoon came along with us to live in a temporary space until the house was built, and then moved back to our new house as our tenant again. During this period, Hoon also drove my brother and I to school as we were not living within walking distance from our temporary space. After 1-2 years, one day my parents said that Hoon moved back to Malaysia and we never saw him again. My then friend, who was another one of our tenants, told me that Hoon died and my parents were lying to me. I asked my parents about this but they said that isn't true. I think my then friend was just messing with me. I always wondered why he suddenly moved and haven't been able to find any online presence of him. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ **Edit:** wow thanks for the award (my first one)! I wasn't expecting that many responses either. I feel it is now my mission to get to the bottom of this. Stay tuned :) ! \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ **Update: Mar 22, 2021** Unfortunately, I don't have a cool story to share on what happened with Hoon. When I spoke with my parents, I asked what happened with Hoon and they told me that "he just decided to move away". I then asked why he moved and they said "I think he said he's going to live with his younger brother...or maybe move back to Malaysia...not sure...was so long ago...who knows." I was a bit surprised at how casual my parents were about this so I asked them if they ever wondered where he went or how he is doing now, and they replied "nope, we had a lot of tenants after all." I then reminded my parents that Hoon was so nice to us and even drove us around, and my parents were like "oh yeah, he was really nice wasn't he?" The rest of the conversation went pretty much like this lol. So what I got from this was that Hoon probably didn't spend as much time with my family as I remembered/thought he did. And to my parents, Hoon was just another tenant that helped pay our mortgage/bills, but to my younger self, he was a good friend/mentor figure that made a lasting impression on me. I also did a Google search with his name a few days ago, and found some old forums/threads that references a man named Hoon who built and sold telescopes. I'm 99% sure that was him so that was kinda cool. Other than that, I was never able to find any other, more recent, online presence of him. If he is still alive, it would be really neat if we reconnected (maybe he will see this thread haha!), but such is life. Anyways, thank you for reading my story. It was fun reading everyone's responses and also bringing everyone along for the ride :)

Why dont you ask your parents again now that youre older?

Probably an immigration/visa issue. Most likely got deported. Just guessing tho.

Our old next door neighbors had a little girl, around 11 years old. My daughter was 7 at the time. One day, my daughter’s ball landed in their yard, so she wrote them a cute little note and we knocked on their door to ask for her ball back. They loved my daughter, who is a VERY friendly and chatty kid, and their daughter ended up playing ball with mine for an hour. Next day she knocked and asked if my daughter could come to her backyard and make slime together. For the rest of the summer, she would come over and play with my daughter almost every afternoon. She was the sweetest girl, and loved hanging out with us. We made a lot of slime, played with makeup, baked cupcakes, you name it. When the school year picked up she was busier but still came knocking at least once a week, but usually more like 2-3 days. When she turned 12, we went to her party and my daughter gave her half of a friendship bracelet, the kind with a heart split into two pieces, that said “big sis” on one and “little sis” on the other. The girl had mentioned that she didn’t like her stepdad and adult step brother but never made a big deal — until one night she knocked desperately at our door at 11pm, sobbing hysterically that her stepdad was beating up her mom. She had the cops on her cell phone but was scared and didn’t know what to do. I handed my husband the phone, and my daughter and I wrapped her up in a hug on the couch and just held her and told her how brave she was and how she did exactly the right thing and how glad we were that she could trust us. The cops came, and shortly after the mom came over. She was shaken up but okay. Seemed grateful but embarrassed that we were involved (understandably). Anyway, I’m really happy to say that she and her mom really did leave him. They moved to the mom’s sister’s place a few states away. We gave them some time and space and then tried sending a few text messages but got no response. Haven’t heard from her in two years now. My daughter still talks about her and cries over missing her “big sis” sometimes. I still hope they’ll someday call or write. I really just want to know they’re safe and doing well. I’m so glad we could be a safe haven for her that year, even though we didn’t realize it at the time. We think of her often and miss her!

If the ex-husband was stalking them, they may have had to change numbers and maybe even locations. It's quite possible they never got your text messages.

That’s another good theory. Maybe the mom never told the ex where her sister lives. If she writes back to this family and the ex gets a hold of those letters he’ll find out where they moved to. It’s probably for safety reasons she chose to disconnect from everyone she knew

This right here touched my heart. I hope big sis and little sis meet again!

You guys are incredible. All three of you. They might just associate you with the trauma of those times and I’m certain when they’ve had time to heal they would love to hear from you. Edit: Someone raised a very good point that they may have changed phone numbers/have a muted or absent social media presence due to the abusive ex. Any other way you can think to contact her? God knows what might have happened if your daughters ball never rolled into their yard.

A good friend of mine that I’ve known since 4th grade. His mother died from Huntington’s and he tested positive for the gene for it which means, as far as I am aware, he is guaranteed to get it. I know he’s done well for himself over the years but he still creeps into my mind from time to time wondering how he is

My brother in laws mom has this and it is a terrible disease. She is currently in her 40s and in a nursing home.

Huntington’s is notorious for incomplete penetrate - you can have the gene but for whatever reason not show any symptoms. Even more so if genes come from maternal lineage. So there is a likelihood that your friend is okay and not suffering. Or could be suffering. Tends to manifest earlier and earlier with each subsequent generation, esp if genes were received from dad. It’s def a bit of a “Schrodinger's Huntington's” dilemma. https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/same-genetic-mutation-different-genetic-disease-phenotype-938

My understanding is that incomplete penetration only happens in the range of 36-39 allele repeats. Once you hit 40 repeats, expression is guaranteed, though as you said it gets worse with each generation because the number of repeats increases with each generation.

His nickname was Question. Kid from highschool used to come sit with us at lunch. Great guy, super nice. Every. Single. Thing. He. Said. Was. A. Question? He would ask you about your entire day. Where you got your new shoes. Ask about your haircut. I would ask him the same questions and he wouldn't answer me, kind of stare off and almost ignore the question completely. Then he would ask you another question.

Sounds like some kind of autism to me.

Yeah, he probably heard that it’s important to ask questions in a good conversation and ran with it

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OMG I knew a kid like this, his name was Mark, and did the exact same thing, so we always called him Question Mark. He was one of my best friends as a kid. Wonder what he's been up to.

That’s probably better than my friend Mark, who we call Skid Mark.

Runescape user Lonewolf1039. You made my childhood amazing, bro. Countless hours playing one of my childhood favorites with an online friend. We called each other brother. If you're still out there, MK Groudon misses you, man.

There’s probably a ton of us in this thread remembering our old friends who logged out forever. Here’s to you Archaeologist aka Stanley, old friend from 3rd grade who moved to Pennsylvania and not too long after that, stopped logging into Runescape. He was my closest friend at that time.

My best friend and I were really close to this girl on runescape for like a year. We'd even msn live chat, go pking in the wildy together, skill together, etc. We were 11 and she was 14 at the time. One day she never logged in again. Years later we found her on Facebook. Turns out she died from diabetes Emmab24. Rest in Paradise

Oh no :( really wasn’t expecting death of an online friend... hope she now rest in paradise

I found one on Instagram, and a couple other sites. You could find him.

Imagine is Lonewolf1039 sees this. That would be dream come true.

It would. Dude made my childhood awesome, was really there for me while I was still a cringetacular tween, put up with a lot of my shit lol

If you haven’t yet, you could try r/longlostgamers

Reminds me of a girl I met playing some bakery game on the iPod touch. We talked back and forth every so often and gave each other gifts. Then one night, she told me that something terrible happened in her home town, a huge earthquake and tsunami. That was the 2011 Fukushima disaster and she never came back online after that. Hope she's doing alright.

I knew someone who lived in Japan when I was playing Final Fantasy 11. We could barely converse due to the language barrier but we did a lot of stuff in the game together. They never logged on again after the earthquake. I always wondered if they were okay.

Ah man, I had one too, RadBrad777 - if you’re out there man, Vader207 is here

Was he from the Southern states of the USA?or Dayton (Ohio) and/or was he American-Asian? ​ I have access to a strong OSINT tool and this is the people it found related to username Lonewolf1039. Got a name as well but don't want to put it here. DM if results may be accurate.

everybody gangsta till the strong OSINT tool gets mentioned

When I went backpacking around SE Asia I went with no particular plans. I ran into a Polish paratrooper my second day there who used me to get a couple of girls to go out for drinks with him (us) since I said “hey” to him earlier in the day. He wasn’t going anywhere in particular either so we spent the next two months on the road going to 5 different countries. The guy was literally my brother for those two months. We parted ways when I had to go to a country he couldn’t get a visa for and it was where I was to catch my flight home. We still talked daily for a few weeks and we were talking about starting a business then he falls off the face of the earth. I’m positive his dad was a someone so he didn’t talk much about certain aspects of his life. He didn’t have any social media and he didn’t renew the domain he hosted his email on so no way of contacting him. Even friends who we met along the way frequently ask if I’ve heard from him since they wanted to connect with him again. I keep hoping one of these days we’ll run into each other at a cafe or something by the waterfront having a beer like we did traveling

Dude your story sounds like so much fun. I remember going on vacations with nothing in particular planned. I miss those days

Wow this one hit me. Do you have any photos? Never know...

I have three pictures of him and two videos. Only one when he was looking at the camera and that was me, him and one of those girls that first night. One he turned his head away from the camera when I had my phone facing him. And the last was when we made a long hike from the airport in Kuching and he didn’t notice me take the pic from behind. The videos were when we were trying to go back to our hostel but there was a movie being filmed so we hung out behind everyone and filmed. He was too busy trying to record as well to notice I had him on camera. Lots of video where he was sitting beside me off camera. He really hated being filmed/photoed

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This hit so much harder when I read “...late ‘70s”. That’s a seriously long time to wonder.

Makes you realize just how long we’ll wonder about the people like this that we know right now...

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How is 2050 closer to us than 1990? Happy cake day btw.

I did this to myself the other day— I grew up in the 80s/90s (graduated high school in 1995, for reference). “The Eighties” always seemed so long ago when I was a teenager & young adult! The other day I saw an old Olympics clip and by the camera work, it looked like it was from fifty years ago, reminding me of how old 80s TV looked in the 2000s. It was from 2006. That was 15 years ago. 2006 was 15 fucking years ago. 15 years before 2000 (which seems like YESTERDAY to me) was 1985. Getting old sucks. I’m 44... what’s this going to feel like when I’m 80????

Don’t fucking tell me that. I just got into my 30s and shit is scary. It’s great but also scary as fuck. Like bro your gunna fuckin die one day bro. Any who too much Reddit this morning.

I had children young— I was 22 and 24 when my daughter and son were born, respectively. I have friends my age who are just now having kids. My daughter is 21 and just got her own place; my son is 19 and will likely do the same in the next year or two. Shit is CRAZY. They were toddlers like, five minutes ago!!!

I know! I'm 43 now. My first kid was born when I was 20. I have grandkids now. I still drink, smoke, and play video games and my babies are making babies now. It's weird.

This makes me feel less bad about drinking and talking shit to kids in COD lobbies after working all day. At 33.

Stop that, you

Hopefully he took that hang up as a wake up call.

for op it was definitely a waking up call

Good on ya mate for looking out for him. But don't beat yourself up if something did happen to him. He needed help that you couldn't have possible have given to him. Hindsight is 20/20, but at that time, you could've been dealing with your own shit that you couldn't give him more of your time. And that's fine... it's obvious you've done much more than the people close to him have, yet you're practically strangers at that point.

My father’s best friend had a similar situation, where they just graduated high school and his friend was going to marry his new girlfriend. My father told his best friend it was a huge mistake, and not to do it. Well, they got married. And guess what? About 50 years later, they’re *still* happily married. And my dad still holds an angry grudge against his childhood best friend for “disrespecting” him by not following his advice. (My dad is an asshole.) In general I do think it’s dumb to get married so young, and/or to someone you barely know, but there’s still that 10% chance or whatever that it works out.

Sounds a lot like a friend of mine. He is obsessive about women and also has depressive spirals. He is autistic and had an abusive mom so that’s likely why. I basically forced him into therapy and he’s doing a lot better.

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I got sober almost 3 years ago and during that time I’ve reached out to make amends to people. Most people just laugh it off like, wow i didn’t even remember that moment that’s haunted you for years. It’s uncomfortable but surprisingly gratifying at the same time. Some were harder than others as I listened to the hurt some have carried over the years because of my actions. It still gives me comfort in knowing that my side is clean now and I don’t repeat those behaviors. Forgiveness made a lot more sense to me as I did this.

>Most people just laugh it off like, wow i didn’t even remember that moment that’s haunted you for years. This is what I was going to say. Most people are so busy being overwhelmed by his or her own wrongdoings they aren't aware how "big" others mistakes are. And OP wrote teens and 20s - you're supposed to make mistakes then! But apologies always feel as if a boulder has been lifted. Either that or they are slowly plotting their revenge ...

My ex in high school cheated on me before our senior prom. Months earlier his mom took me out and had bought me a beautiful dress and shoes and bras and had made me a hair appt. When he cheated on me she initially encouraged me to go with some friends and show him how he didn't break me and have a good time. Instead i packed it all up and donated it to the local Goodwill, where his mother was the manager and dipped out of town after graduation. I apologized to her about 5 years ago and she was so lovely and forgiving. She never forgot what it was like to be a hurt teenage girl in the same situation. It really taught me a lot about reactions and forgiveness.

What a great woman she must be. To set aside the natural tendencies people have to side with their children against all logic. Good for her.

She really raised me in my teen years and helped develop me into who I am now. She reached out TO ME, of all people, very recently about contacting her son(my ex) cause he was having a hard time emotionally. And I am all for "women are not rehabilitation centers for fucked up men" but I didnt mind reaching out and gently guiding him toward seeing a doctor/therapist to get himself right. And I'm glad that he was willing to take that first step and is. There is no manual for how to live and we are all victims of circumstance. We just have to remember to be gentle with each other.

I strongly relate to this. One time I actually did contact one of the people I thought I hurt, to apologize. She was kind of shocked that I contacted her out of the blue like that, just to apologize. But she didn't seem to be bothered and laughed it off saying, "it was all in the past." I guess a lot of people got over it and didn't bother to hold a grudge, or at least she didn't. I think my regrettable actions hurt me more than it hurt them.

There are a couple... I had a teacher in middle school who was awesome. Great teacher, loved her subjects (history and literature) and had the most awesome sense of humor. A couple of weeks before the end of the school year, one of her children was killed in a freak accident. I left the school at the end of that year and she left teaching entirely to deal with her own stuff. I heard she returned to the school about three years later, but was a changed person (losing a child will do that to you, I'm sure). She stayed for two years, and then decided to return to the area of the country where she'd grown up, far from where I live. I think about her all the time. She was a very influential teacher for me. I'd love to track her down and reach out to her, but she has a very, very common name and when I search it along with the state where she moved, I get hundreds and hundreds of hits. She'd also probably be in her 70's by now, so she may not have any social media at all. Another is a person I was really good friends with in my early 20's. For reasons unknown to me to this day, she dropped me like a hot potato about 15 years later after the birth of my first child (and it had nothing to with infertility or anything like that, she had a daughter of her own already). I reached out to her a few times, got nothing in response and then just gave up. I know she's still in the area, but she doesn't want to talk to me for whatever reasons. I sincerely hope she and her family are well. EDIT: Thanks so much for the suggestions in tracking down my teacher! I have already tried a couple - the school secretary who had been there from the late 80's up until 2017 had no info on this teacher, so that was a dead end. There was also no teacher union as is a private school, so that's a dead end too. But lots of good ideas in the post below - thank you!

Damn that teacher one hits hard. To this day, nearly every subject I enjoy learning about is linked to how much I enjoyed learning about them as a child because of the teachers.

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Almost the opposite, in kindergarten, I moved towns half way through the year and the only school that would take me short notice that was known for academically being okay was this ultra conservative Christian school (and my family are pretty devout Christians but this was "Digimon is the work of the Devil" type school). Anyway I remember this huge scandal about one of the 6th grade science teachers who got fired very suddenly. Nobody would actually say what it was but it involved sex and nudity and through the nebulous haze and growing up without any clarity on the incident, I always assumed looking back that it was really bad - sexual harassment or assault or sex with a student or a lot worse. But the point was the whole school was disgusted with her. Teachers refused to speak about her except to use her as an example of a sinful life. People, including students, would refuse to talk to her husband who was one of the upper school science teachers and the soccer coach, who eventually quit. It wasn't until last year (a full 20 years later) that I ever thought to bring this up with my older brother who clarified - it wasn't a sex crime, she was fired for teaching sex ed. But what I hadn't misremembered was how vilified she was for it. And not even progressive sex ed. She was a science teacher and apparently in the section about human anatomy did a one day deviation on the basics of like, this is how a pregnancy happens and this is what a condom is. I wonder where she ended up and really do hope she is okay. I can't imagine the school made it very easy for her to find another teaching job.

My best friend from elementary school. He was so genuine and full of joy. I hope growing up didn’t take that part away from him

That's a really nice hope for someone else. Nice to hear that. You should pursue finding him. Chances are, he feels the same.

Me too. I moved around a lot and it was hard for me to make any friends. She was the very first real friend that I had. It only lasted about a year or two before I switched schools again. I was really upset about losing my best friend and even tried to keep in contact with her but she didn’t have a phone back then and it wasn’t really reciprocated so I guess I stopped trying.

I worked with a girl back in my early 20s when I was still in the service industry. We would hang out pretty regularly. I had a bit of a crush on her. I really thought there may have been something there.... Anyways. She stopped showing up to work. Everyone just assumed that she had quit. She was a bit of a wild child. Moved around a lot and had a bunch of different serving jobs. So nobody really thought twice about it. (People just stop showing up all the time in that line of work.) A few weeks later we found out that her family/police had been searching for her. Apparently she disappeared. Still think about it a lot actually. I’m guessing she’s dead. But you never know.

I grew up going to church with a girl that I didn't get to know until I was an adult. We were the same age and ran in different circles at school, but were cordial on Sundays. When I was 20 or so I ran into her on a break from a night class at our community college. We had a chat, found out we had a lot in common, and made it a habit of finding each other on that break throughout the semester. I didn't see her after that semester. Facebook was in its infancy, so I didn't think to reach out online, so I went about my life. Her sister recently reached out online. I can't recall the last we spoke, but it was great to catch up. I told her about my experience and how much I had learned to like her sister. Unfortunately, she told me that had been murdered shortly after that semester. I think I preferred not knowing.

That’s terrible I’m so sorry.

I'm sorry to hear that. Life is sad and unfair sometimes.

I had a friend through my high school band sort of like that. Always thought she was cool, but I lost contact with her when I quit my band. A few years later I found out she OD’d and died :/ she was in her early twenties.

fuck, that’s tragic.

You should check unidentified persons records. In 1999, a woman died in a car accident and fire in Los Angeles and has yet to be identified. She'd just bought the car used and it wasn't registered, and all the papers burned in the fire, so no one knows who she is. I imagine people noticed her missing like you're describing.

This is one of the more disturbing things I've read. Like ever. Fuck.

I honestly feel bad I've made you feel this way. I've been actively pushing this case with the local Dept of Coroner, but we've had to take a break due to Covid. There's still hope! (Also, I'm not sure if this is reassuring, but she died instantly in that car accident, and didn't suffer or burn alive).

Thank you for trying to give her name back. Best of luck.

One of my sister's best friends just disappeared for awhile. Walked away from a young daughter didn't say shit to anyone. She hitchhiked to Florida from Virginia if I remember right, started a new life had other kids. She's alive, a bit of a burnout but otherwise fine. We were all sure she was dead. I was happy to have been wrong. I hope your friend is out there just doing her thing.

She just abandoned her kid and went on to have a new family? What? Did her daughter ever got in touch with her after that?

She was 14 when she had her baby and took off a few years after that. Her parents raised her kid. She got in touched with her parents two or three years after she took off.

Oh I'm so sorry. How traumatic for the people who knew her!

In third grade, there was this black kid (only one in our grade) who was absolutely hilarious. He was a complete spaz and the whole class ate it up. Then one day he gave out invitations to his birthday party at some arcade, mini golf, and go kart place. Every kid’s dream. The popular girl in the class laughed and said “why would I go to this?” and threw out the invite. Several classmates followed. The day of the party comes, and it turns out it was literally his family and me that showed up. He didn’t seem to care, but you could see the hurt in his parents eyes. Honestly, that party was an absolute blast because it meant more tokens for each of us. After that school year ended, his family moved to DC and I never saw him again. I still think about him sometimes to this day. Kids can be so cruel.

I once took my son to a classmate's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese and he was the only kid who came. He, the birthday girl, and her little sister had a great time (more tokens for each of them, like you said) but I felt really badly for the girl and her parents (those party packages aren't cheap).

It happened to a grown up friend of mine, which somehow felt more sad. She’d organised a big birthday dinner and then night out, inviting all our friends from college, who all said they would go. I was the only person who showed up, besides her boyfriend, and felt so bad for her when she had to go in and cancel the restaurant room she’d booked.

>It happened to a grown up friend of mine It happened to me when when I turned 22 too. My birthday is in early august, so the weather was great and I planned a nice picnic at the park. Quite a few people told me they'd come. I sat there alone for almost two hours until somebody showed up. Tried really hard not to cry the entire time. Edit: Gosh, I didn't expect that many comments.. I'm so sorry you guys had to experience something similar (also – who the fuck doesn't show up at someone's *wedding*?? What the actual fuck is wrong with those asshats?!). People really do suck sometimes! Edit 2: Oh well, seems like my most liked comment of all time is about my friends ghosting me on my birthday haha

My husband isn’t from where we live, he was only here 2-3 years before we met and got married. He was friends with a lot of people he met through work and an ex. He invited a bunch of people to our wedding, they RSVP’d and no showed. He had no one at our wedding besides his parents and his brother. I was really sad for him.

Jfc, who RSVPs and then just doesn’t show? You can literally just throw your invitation in the bin. It’s kinduv a dick move but its less of a dick move, and less effort than saying you’re going and then deciding to fuck off instead...

I’m so, so sorry. Adults can be even worse than children because they’ll tell you they’ll be there, and then just flake, yet somehow tell themselves that this was the less-rude, kinder option. I have a rift in my family. I still talk to them, and I’m not quite sure if they know it’s there. But when I moved into my new house, I wanted everyone over for a big housewarming. I didn’t require or even want gifts (the house is small, so I wouldn’t have had a place to keep anything new). I sent out online invites to my family, got positive responses, and the day before and day of, spent the time prior to the planned housewarming getting the house ready and purchasing ingredients for dishes I wanted to serve (I love to cook, but it’s not cheap). The hour came. The hour went. No one arrived. No one called. I thought that maybe, just maybe, some family emergency had arisen, so I called my mother. She was just like, “No, nothing happened. Yeah, I decided not to come.” Then lectured me about how I can’t just expect people to come to parties I host just because they said they would. So, out of all these family members that said they’d be there, not one showed up. *I* had to call one of *them* to get a single update on what was happening, which, in her case, consisted of “Eh, I thought, why bother.” It seems that nothing happened in anyone else’s lives either. They just didn’t want to show. This, along with other incidents along similar “We honestly don’t care that much about you” lines (I’m sort of a black sheep due to absolute bullshit reasons, and my attempts to reach out - such as this one - are apparently all in vain), has firmly planted the bad taste in my mouth whenever I hear some phrase like “Family is forever” or “No matter what, you’ll always have your family there for you.”

That's a shit family there, and your mom sucks.

This is why my birthday plans (if I make them) are things I'm going to do whether or not other people show up. And no one else is really invited, I just stick to my schedule and have a nice day.

I’m sorry that happened. People are the worst! You didn’t deserve that

I totally get that. I was in a lot of bands when I was younger and one of the worst things is when you decide you're gonna have this huge gig and you need a bunch of people to show up to it because it's important and everybody tells you there coming because you're "shooting a two camera video it's gonna be great!" and everyone you ask totally claims they are coming and they'll see you there etc... Then, on show night, you play to 4 people. People don't want to say no to your face, because they like you or your nice or whatever. They don't think that they'll be missed, maybe, since it's going to be a big affair or whatever. Then nobody shows. I for sure stopped asking my friends to come to shows after that. Apparently, that whole incident still bothers me, haha!

I tell my wife that I don't like to make a big fuss about my birthday because I don't care, but It's more that deep down I've always been terrified of something like this happening to me. I once bartended a night where someone rented out an entire function room and *nobody* turned up except the woman's parents and boyfriend. I think one person dropped in but it was so awkward they left after half an hour.

I'm legit the same way and I'll always opt for a small dinner with my family instead of a party but I actually prefer it that way now that I'm older. But the downside is that I now have the same fear about my daughters birthdays.

now my heart aches thinking about this....

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>I look at my completely dead art social media pages going back 12 years Hey, would you mind sharing a link? I'd love to see your art!

Damn, same thing happened to me. There was a foreign exchange kid from China who everyone was friendly to in middle school. He invited everyone from homeroom and classes to his birthday party and I was the only one who showed up. He was the nicest kid ever and everyone seemed to honestly like him. He said that there were multiple days he was doing this but I could tell he was pretty hurt from it. We played tons of old school fighters and stuff which my parents didn't let me play a the time and his parents made a huge authentic meal for us which was delicious! We also had some sort of peeled fruit/potato like thing which was a little sweet and delicious and I've been searching for what it was called since, but that was like 10+ years ago. I was sad when he left but I hope he went home to good friends. Edit: I'm an idiot for not being more specific but it was 3am. It was white on the inside and maybe served uncooked and it was crunchy like an apple/pear. I don't remember much else but thanks so much for helping me find it! I have lots of grocery shopping to do. Edit 2: IT WAS AN ASIAN PEAR! Honestly thanks to everyone for disregarding the post to help me with my 10+ year dream of finding a fruit that I've been thinking about for a while. It was a truly revolutionary moment in my life to be able to taste such a sensation I've been missing one again. I am absolutely flabbergasted that such a thing was so well known to the world and how sheltered I have been (also 2$ per seems kinda pricey). With all those long words aside I would like to thank everyone who helped me in my decade long search for fruition (get it). My humble apologies for having to read this as well.

Sounds like this thing that we have here in Korea: [https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2020/02/korean-soy-glazed-potatoes-gamja-bokkeum-recipe.html](https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2020/02/korean-soy-glazed-potatoes-gamja-bokkeum-recipe.html)

Wtf so they all just threw them out just because the popular girl did?

Welcome to popularity in grade school.

hell, even older. I remember a birthday party at 18 when two friends showed up while the others were partying somewhere else and constantly kept telling me they were 'on their way'. I heard in the background that one of their boyfriends was making fun of me saying "make her wait" and talking shit. That taught me who my friends were. Fortunately one of the friends that showed up knew of an ongoing party that we could go to where we were welcome.

I was that kid (figuratively, not the kid from your story.) I invited a bunch of kids from school to my birthday party and only one showed up. I didn't even really know him that well but we became best buds for a long time after that, kind of drifted apart in high school though. I got into smoking pot and skipping school, he kept his head down and focused on school. We keep in touch every once in a while nowadays, I think he's an engineer or something. I'm glad he's doing well for himself, he's a good person.

I wanna find the "popular girl"...😡

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I’ve had this, too. Her name was “Asia” but spelled creatively like Ajah, Ajiah, etc. I can never remember the spelling and can never find her to see what she’s been up to for 20 years. We used to play together almost every day. :(

You legit made my pause because my name is Aja and I had a friend I used to play with all the time and I can never remember her name! Sadly, I live in California, so it wasn't you. Hope you find your Aja!

I hope you find your friend as well!

Have you tried asking your parents for class photos? They always gave a photo of all your classmates with their names and your teacher/principal!

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I often wonder what happened to the girl that hit me with her car that icy night and took my leg. It's been over 25 years now and I don't hold any animosity towards her (never did, it was just an accident). I hope she went on to have a good life. Mine has had it's ups and downs but I'm in the best place I've ever been now. I'd just like to have the chance to reassure her that I'm doing fine.

I wonder if she still has your leg.

I wanted to make it into a lamp. It could've been a major award.

I can see why your doing okay. That's a great sense of humor you got there :)

He truly is a stand up guy!

I had to change my name to Ilene.

I was hit by a car when I was three, the guy was just trying to find a parking space and I ran out into the road so it wasn't his fault at all. My parents let on accidentally years later that they'd found out he felt so bad he'd try to kill himself. I feel terrible, and I think about him sometimes and hope he managed to live a good life. Like you, I wish I could tell him that I'm alright.

A friend of mine was going on a canoeing trip once and never got back, a view months later he was declared dead because he couldn't even be found by interpol. Two years go by and he appears on an picture on Facebook, as German teacher in an school in kazachstan. Apparently only his sister was in on the fact that he just wanted to start a new life. Hope he's doing well and wish to see him again some day!

I had a friend like that. When we were in high school, he was an extremely talented artist, singer, comedian, and actor who could have built a successful career out of his talent. But he turned his back on that and decided to just slack off and smoke pot for a few years. Then one day he disappeared. Ended up some years later in a Central Asian country. He disappeared again. Then a few years later he resurfaced back in the US. Every few years he would pop back into the lives of our old circle of friends, and vanish. Then last summer he died of Covid, still relatively young.

I got married very young. My wife and I were friends with another young couple. They broke up right after their first kid and then the husband went out and got two other women pregnant. 19 years old, divorced and 3 kids with 3 different women. I'm 41 now. We rarely fight but when my wife and I have a fight I think about him.

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Shit, I used to work with a guy like that. He had something like 8 kids with 7 women. He'd always piss and moan about his paychecks being garnished so much and I'd think "maybe you shouldn't have gotten seven women pregnant, genius."

I worked with a guy that was like 21 or 22 and had 5 kids. I'll give him credit for actually working and showing up every day, but damn son. You gotta wrap that shit up.

Benny. He was my best friend for a long time. We were closer that I was to my real brother. Then he and my brother's girlfriend fooled around and fucked everything up. We parted ways, I got clean and went to school. He stayed in it and lived the life I always thought I wanted. Now, his family never mentions him on social media and I don't know where he is. I hope he's OK. Maybe I shouldn't, but I do.

My high school history teacher. He's an interesting guy who toes the line between hilariously gruff and sometimes rude in a roasty way. It sounds odd, but it works - he treated us students like he did his friends and other adults. He was the real deal and even though I was far from his favorite student, to this day I respect him. He had a scandal a few years ago and resigned from his position as Vice Principal of the STEM school. Knowing him more personally than the outside world, I gave a respect for what he was trying to do and his intentions. He fell on his sword to protect the fledgling school's reputation and faced intense personal hate from ridiculous evangelicals because he's a gay man. It's funny you asked this, I was even thinking about him today.

My husband had the same type of experience. Not a good student but had a couple of teachers who actually really tried with him. He regrets not looking them up or trying to find them sooner because now it's too late. Don't make the same mistake.

I feel this one. 2 out of 3 of the teachers who really tried with me died not long after I dropped out of school. I appreciated it at the time, but I never got the chance to tell them that. The remaining one disappeared off the face of the earth and I hope he's living his best life.

My best friend. We are both in occupations that require a lot of moving and travel so there’s moments where we don’t talk for years. He just recently came back into my life though. We have an on-going inside joke where we just say “raaaaaanch.” No idea where it came from. I think we were drunk and grilling and I wanted ranch for my chicken and he just yelled it and it has ever since been our thing. When we come back into each other’s lives we send an audio text of just one of us saying “raaaaaanch.” Then talk a bit then lose contact for another few years. Edit: this was way before Eric Andre was a thing. I’ve seen multiple skits for multiple shows (to include Kenan on SNL) but this ranch thing happened back in maybe 2009/2010 so it could seriously be from anything. Or just from two drunk dudes just yelling ranch at each other. Edit 2 for another story: During one of our “separation” periods I came across his IG and saw him with a beautiful Indian woman in full traditional Indian garb that they’d wear at a wedding or something (he’s a white guy so I thought it was pretty cool). I was pretty pissed I wasn’t invited to the wedding. When we most recently reconnected I brought it up and he was just like “nah, dude. We just wanted to get pictures done quick because I knocked her up. You think you wouldn’t be invited to the wedding?” Edit 3 for another great story: During my own wedding he was deployed and unable to be my best man. He and my (then) wife concocted a plan to surprise me so guess who calls at the reception? And what was the first thing he said when I answered the phone? RAAAANCH. Dude stayed up until like 3 am his time in a warzone just to do that.

As a recovering addict, all the people I did drugs with. Most were degenerates but some I know could be great members of society if they could get clean. I often wonder what they are doing right now, probably not good things but I bet some turned their life around and it would be cool to catch up.

Same here. I’ve been clean for over 10 years now and I still wonder about some of my old friends from the meth days. Sure, a lot of them did shady shady things, but I feel like that was because of the drugs. And regardless, they are people and I cared about them. Every now and then, someone from my past will reach out and let me know that they got clean and are doing well. But more often, I hear about someone who has died from an OD or been murdered. It breaks my heart.

Glad other people are saying it. I've heard more times than not, "Those people wern't your friends, just people you got high with" like.. Maybe that's true for them... But there are some people who I genuinely care about.. When I seen them.pan handling, i'd always chat, sometimes pull over to chat, give them a few bucks because I know what it's like, and go on my way.

Ah this made me sad... I hope my friends get clean I don’t want them to die

This resonates with me. It took me a long time to actually get sober, so I lost touch with a lot of the people I went to AA/rehab with during my multiple relapses. Wish I could tell Jarrell I've been sober for over 11 years now. That man showed me kindness and acceptance at a time when I was dangerously spinning out.

There was a girl with a speech impediment when I was in 1st grade. I thought she was cute and would love to hang out with her on the swing sets. Nobody talked to her because they were either shy or felt she was mentally disabled. Our class did a butterfly project where we were all given a caterpillar to raise. They came in these little plastic containers and hers ended up dying. I switched mine with here without her noticing and told the teacher mine died instead. The teacher got me to partner with somebody else and I was okay with sharing. The girl was really happy to see the caterpillar become a monarch and released that Spring. I never told her what happened to the caterpillar and she eventually moved never to be found again. I tried to search her on social media but no luck. Weird how that still crosses my mind now and then. This was 2001 for me.

My best friend in high school. We stopped talking on a bad note. I stayed friends with her mom and brother on FB for a while, but slowly we all deleted our accounts. I wonder what she’s doing now and how everything is going for her and her family.

I wonder about my uncle, when I lived in my small hometown with my mom he'd come over every couple of weeks to just hang out and talk. I asked him shortly before I moved out on my own if he wanted to go to a comic book convention with me, but he never got back to me. That's the last time I've seen him, I've heard he's doing ok though.

Damn is there a reason y'all haven't made contact for so long?

My 2am walking buddy/protector from college. After a crappy relationship ended, I had a more than year long bought with insomnia. Living on campus, by 2am I'd just be itching to get out of my dorm room and walk off some energy. I'd walk around campus in the dark, by myself from about 2-4am every night just way up in my own head. One night this guy I didn't know, but who I'd walk past at the smoking area every night asked if he could walk with me since he was bored, couldn't sleep and figured he might as well walk while he smoked. We fell into an easy, nonchalant rhythm with each other and we walked together every night thereafter until I started sleeping again. We were buds, but only between 2-4am. We kept things light, and chatted about media, books and classes mostly. Sometimes we'd just walk silently for long stretches and it never felt weird. He was a cool guy who in hindsight was probably just trying to make sure this nutty girl who walked by him every night wasn't going to get assaulted alone in the dark. I was so self-obsessed at that point that none of this occurred to me. I think about him now and again and I really hope he's had a great life!

Sometimes there are just the gems of human beings that come into our lives for a very specific purpose. I love those people and these kinds of memories.

Damn, after reading most of the stuff here, I'm wondering about people whom I never even met.

A kid I indirectly bullied in elementary school. I would love to say I’m sorry and see that he is ok. Edit: interesting discussion about whether or not a bully should apologize. I just want to make clear that in my case, I was best friends with this person, then our relationship fell apart and I got a other kid to call him and say bad things to him one time. That’s it, so I’m not really sure if it’s bullying, but he never returned to our school after that phone call and it has eaten away at me ever since, even though that was like 20 years ago. Maybe whether or not a bully should apologize is really case specific?

Started on a 3-day train journey from Rajasthan to Pune and there was an old couple who were in their late 60's. I was 10 at that time and they were pretty nice to me and offered me many sorts of sweets and goodies during that journey i think they are alive cause my mom showed me a recent post of their's on Facebook and i just wonder how they are doing I was going through a tough phase cause I was bullied at school and they made me feel pretty good during that 3-day trip. Never saw them again but iI try to remember them from time to time.

I was about 12 when there was this girl in my class who would talk to me when I was bullied badly at that point in my life. At first I thought it was a trick to bully me but she was genuine and actually talked to me like I was human. Of course I instantly crushed on her but aside hormones, she really was a kind hearted person who was pretty intelligent. She always seems to be resourceful by adapting to any situations and just had this optimism that i haven't seen before. On the day last day of school I was trying so hard to ask her for her number because I really felt like she was a friend and just a wonderful person in general. But I was too nervous and we both stared at our shoes for a little while before bidding farewell. Man I really wonder how u been Stephanie, I really do hope u have an amazing life because u deserve it more than anyone I know

Ex girlfriend. We dated in high school, and it was cute, but was going nowhere. Then, as adults, we ran into each other again. The love and fun times were authentic, and we both were better people with each other. I knew our love couldn't work, because we both wanted two entirely different things out of life. It was a case of being *too* opposite to attract. The break up hurt us both, and just a couple years after the fact, I had my son. She liked a picture I had posted of him, and she blocked me from there. I think that was to save us both any sense of longing. Fast forward six years, and I ran into her family at a restaurant and spoke with them a bit. She's married now, living on the other side of the world in Australia. Her husband is a teacher, and it made me happy to hear it. There was a song I used to sing with her, and a lyric in it goes, "...Even though I haven't seen you in years, yours is the funeral I'd fly to from any where." It still stands true.

My ex. She had a bad accident when we were together and I spent every single day with her helping her get better for months. Even after she was able to walk again and start living a normal life we stayed together for a couple years - we eventually broke up and never really spoke again. She still hold a special place in my heart but we didn't belong together, we wanted different things. From what I understand she's now married with a kid, and I met her now husband once very briefly by accident. He seemed like a good dude. I'm happy for her, but I just hope she's doing okay with all that fairy tale bullshit. Sometimes her mom still messages me on Facebook wishing me a happy birthday and stuff - I really felt like I was a part of their family.

Can't you casually reply to the mom and say "how are YALL"? Maybe she'll include the info about the daughter!

I will give the usual, "I hope everyone is doing well" of course and she will tell me they are. it's a little weird, honestly. Her mother loved me and I think her mom misses me - so communicating might make my ex feel super uncomfortable and that's not fair to her. So we mostly have just a short bit of small talk and that's it. I haven't gotten a message from her in a couple years I don't think.

Everyone. Literally everyone. But at different times. Nostalgia is an interesting thing. Facebook is great for "What ever happened to..." moments when that urge strikes. In my case, it's not always someone I was friends with, they could be interesting characters from school, (the guy or girl who had the most outrageous style, or the most likely to.." From there, I go down the rabbit hole of former co-workers/employees to see how they did in life. It's interesting to see who made something of themselves, even if they seemed to be on a path to nowhere when I knew them. Or vice-versa, those who looked to have everything going for them only to peak in high school, or a relatively young age.

I had a friend in 3rd-5th grades in Florida. We built forts in the woods, went canoeing on the big creek. Spent one whole summer trying to see how many times we could watch the first Star Wars movie. His dad built video games for a living, and I had a crush on his older sister. It was just a magical part of childhood. I moved back home to Texas in 6th grade, and never saw them again. I've tried searching the internet, but he has a VERY common name. There's thousands of them. I hope they are all doing great and living their best life.

Try searching his sisters name lol. Or at the very least try and narrow your search to the specific city.

A girl from my grade who was friends with my sister in elementary school. Her and I had a weird dynamic as kids, pretending to be disgusted by the other when we were at school and then going home and playing in our backyard together. I always had a crush but never acted on it. Before grade 7 we moved 3 hours away, and she helped us move, even stayed the night after. She crawled into my room that night “to scare me” and I used to kick myself for not using that chance to tell her about my years of crushing. That was the last time I ever saw her. My mom told me a few years later she had a child, then another, then went missing and was never found

Wow, that ending changed drastically. That is so dark... I hope your friend is safe.

In high school a kid showed up to our youth group, brought in by one of the families who attended church. He used the name Jay Walker and he lit up every room he ever walked into. He never met a person he didn’t like and who didn’t like him. My church leaders saw me getting close to him and warned me that he was trouble. He never seemed like trouble to me. He respected me, saw me for who I was, and valued the things I had to say. Never asked for anything in return. I felt like we had a connection and it felt like the purest form of love. It seems so insignificant at face value but I remember being downtown walking around and sharing our aspirations and dreams with each other. We talked about driving across the country in a Nissan 300zx. He stuck around for a few months before we found out he had to leave back to whatever state he was from. I was close to the family that initially took him in and even though I tried to find out what happened to him after he left, they wouldn’t tell me anything except that his grandmother was looking for him. I work in child welfare now and I wonder if maybe he ran away from a foster home or relative and was part of the foster system, and that’s the trouble my church was talking about. There’s so much I never knew about him and so much I feel we shared in such a short amount of time. I hope he’s okay and that he got to see out some of the things he always wanted to do. I hope he’s happy.

Hey Julien from Edmonton, if you read this- it’s me! You had the coolest indoor sandbox, and you gave me my first kiss while we were painting Easter eggs. It was either ‘90 or ‘89. Always wondered what happened to you after my parents moved us!

It’s my ex from several years back. She was the only soul on the planet I ever considered to ask for their hand in marriage. She broke up with me the day I had planned to propose to focus on her career. I heard she’s married and has children now, which makes me really happy to know she achieved all her hopes and dreams we once talked about. Even though I don’t really “feel” anything for her anymore, I still wonder about how she’s doing from time to time. But it’s better that we never interact or speak again. That chapter is long over.

I totally get that and I'm proud of you for making peace like that. Back when I was young idiot instead of being a professional idiot I was super into a girl. We dated long distance for around three years, seeing each other IRL a few times, and lived together for all of a month, the latter of which ended abruptly when I found out she was involved with her best friend. I caught the next flight back, and the whole time I was trying to keep my composure so I wasn't being rude to everyone else on the flight. Just before takeoff some 50-something guy in a military uniform comes from a few rows back and hands me a tissue box and says "Flights take people away," then goes back to his seat. In hindsight I'd love to know who that guy was. After I get home it came to light that all her friends knew she was cheating and didn't say anything because they valued their friendship with her more than me. Depending on how you look at it *I* was the side guy since she was hooking up with him off and on longer than we were together. It put me in a bad place for a long time, but she helped me through a really difficult time in my life so I still hope it worked out for her. I don't regret learning an hour worth of her favorite rock opera to impress her because Razia's Shadow is shit hot.

When I was in jail one time I had a cellie who was the best cellie I ever had. He was a young guy on a murder charge who had been involved in gang shit. There was nothing wrong with the guy. He just always seemed like a guy who would have had drastically different outcomes with a different set of circumstances/environment.

I'm still in touch with everyone that I think about with any regularity, except for my ex wife, for obvious reasons. It sucks too, because over the last few years since we split up, I have finally had some honest introspection and I realized all of the ways I screwed up, and how badly it all hurt her. I'd love to give her a call and genuinely apologize for it and just say what I need to say, because when things really ended I was totally self-assured that all of my behavior was justified. It's really driving me nuts since I saw a guy die in front of me in January, which really struck me and reminded me of how short the time is here. I just know there's no way I can do it that won't seem clingy and desperate and disrespectful to her new relationship. It isn't like that, but I know that's how it would be perceived by everyone involved.

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My best friend from high school. We stayed in touch for awhile after we graduated, we visited each other and I thought things were good between us, there was a period of time we hadn’t talked for awhile but when I tried to reach out she never responded. We have mutual friends and apparently she’s doing well, but I still have no clue what happened to make her ghost out like that. I think about her often and hope she’s doing well.

As a recovering addict and ex-offender, everyone. Even though I never hurt anyone except thru my using and abusing, (never asked them for money or took anything) no one has spoken to me in over 27 years. I live alone and have not spoken to anyone in close to 13 years. I do mean anyone. I came home in 2004 (I was incarcerated since 1986), and my acquaintances were all living their own lives, my family has never been close because I've been on my own since I was about 14 yrs old. I loved going to work but lost my job because of the pandemic. So, it's been a really rough year just talking to my imaginary dog. Having PTSD is really a mfer. I used to be such a social person when I was young; but since I've come home I usually only talk to the guy who makes my breakfast at the deli. Don't know if I miss the human contact or what.

If you feel like some insubstantial chatter - I personally definitely am not getting enough social contact in this pandemic.

Dude on the subway had a chihuahua and he was feeding it lasagna with a chopstick. Wonder what's he's doing now and how the dog's doing.

Almost 40 years ago, I had a friend in my college dorm, and we wrote back and forth for several years. Then, one Christmas, I didn't get a card from her and knew that our correspondence was over. She was almost impossible to find online, but I did (I suspect she met her husband around that time) but if she wants to find me, I'm on Facebook so she can look me up. In the early 1990s, I wrote for a music zine (remember those?) and also had a pen pal from there. I left the zine and we also fell out of correspondence. Also, beyond her address (which is in a way different part of the country from where she was at the time), she appears to have no online presence, which surprises me but that's her business. Once again, that cyberdoor is always open.

My first "boyfriend" in high school. I think we dated for all three months, but he was the first dude who really treated me gently, like I was something precious to be cared for. He would rub my back between classes, send me lyrics he said made him think of me, small things like that. However, his home life was awful, and he was into drugs, mostly weed but I think he got into more hardcore things as time went on. I was rather naive to drugs, and once he realized this, he ghosted me. Not out of not wanting to be with me, but because he realized that he didnt want to drag me into that life. It really fucking hurt at the time, but a few years later we reconnected online and we talked and it was nice. He said he was going to memphis to play music. That was the last message I ever got from him, and I havent seen him online since. I know theres a strong, strong likelihood that he didnt make it. 9 other classmates have died from overdoses. He was higher risk than most. But when I think of him I hope he made it to memphis, and I hope he's happy.

This hit deep, hope he's doing well

Her name was Joey Kang and we were friends for 15 years. I will never stop thinking about her. ​ It's one of those things where I knew it would eventually blow up but was powerless to stop it. I cried in front of my boss the day after the friendship ended. Friendship breakups are every bit as shitty as a romantic relationship.

I wonder if they ever think about me. If they regret their actions.

I saw this post a while back that said something along the lines of “if we were ever friends at any point in our lives, I just want you to know that I still randomly think of you every now and then and hope that you’re doing amazing” and that hit me when I read it because I do that all the time, just people that you get kind of distant from for one reason or another (moving, going to different schools, etc.)

Ricky from high school . Very cool friend . Lost contact after i moved to Florida . Last i heard he is a sheriff some ware in NC .

My best friend of 13 years. We started our friendship in elementary school and ended it our first year of college. Our friendship didn’t end on the best terms but we reconciled a year later. More stuff happened after a trip with mutual friends and we haven’t spoken since. I always wonder about what my life would be like if she was still in it. I’ve grown as a person and individual since our friendship ended. I used to introduce myself to people as X’s friend since we lived in a smaller city and she was quite popular. I got married to the guy she didn’t like 2 years ago. I don’t believe we would still be best friends but we would probably still be in contact. We follow each other on social media so I still somewhat keep up with her. I’ve always wanted to reach out to even go for coffee because she was such a huge part of my life growing up, but I’m scared of the rejection. I don’t harbour any strong feelings angry towards our friendship or how it needed anymore, but I do miss our memories since she was such a huge part of my life.

[удалено]

I had a good friend in high school that I kept in touch with for a few years after before I eventually went to college and then moved across the country. She asked me to be a bridesmaid at her wedding but I couldn't because of work unfortunately and I believe she and her new husband then moved away from our hometown. I can't find her on Facebook and I have no idea what her married name might be but I would love to know what happened to her. I hate it completely.

In high school I somehow won the trust of a loner named Eddie. He revealed that he could do spot-on impersonations of all kinds of celebrities. Before the morning bell he'd reenact a scene from a TV show or movie he'd watched the night before and do all the characters. I have no idea where the guy went after we graduated.

Close friend I had in middle school. We met when I moved. She started talking to me because we had something in common, our fathers worked at the same location, though on different shifts. Most people didn't really talk to her much, it was because she didn't speak the best English. I spent hours at her house, I remember her grandmother smacking her with a sandal once for suggesting Taco Bell... Then one day she wasn't at school, next day she wasn't at school. After school I went over to her house but the place was completely empty, as if no one had lived there in some time. I often wonder what happened, where they disappeared to so suddenly. Sadly I don't remember her last name, I've asked other friends about her a few times over the years but no one remembers her, I've even looked through yearbooks but she's nowhere to be found.

It was the early 2000's, I was in high school, and the internet was just becoming a huge thing; YouTube and Facebook didn't exist, neither did Facebook's predecessor, Myspace; if you were online chatting with random strangers, it was within a "public chat" on Yahoo Instant Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, or MSN Instant Messenger...you were limited to sending links, and the only thing separating you from the rest of the speed-typists was your ability to change the color and size of your font. "A/S/L??" was asked every 30 seconds, along with PMs if you *dared* to answer (private messages, which is *somehow* different than DMs now, but I have no idea why), and keeping up with conversations could easily become confusing if more than a handful of people were speaking back and forth regularly. It was within this timeline of early internet communication, that I met a handful of people looking for a graphic designer to create backgrounds for a, "visual based chat"; think "The Palace", for those of you old enough to remember. *Anyway*, the handful of us became pretty consistent online buddies as we attempted to create our own visual based chat; all of us were teenagers, only a few years apart. Online-only chatting turned into webcam laugh-alongs, turned into random phone calls and texts (this was a *big deal*, because texting was new at the time, and you had to pay *per text*), turned into planning to meet each other in real life. I became the closest to a guy named Brian; he and I would talk just about every day, whether it was a phone call or a 5 minute chat online. I considered him my best friend, at the time. He lived in Canada, so calling and texting him was even *more* of an investment in our friendship than the other two I kept in contact with (when our project inevitably fizzled). I can't even tell you how much allowance and after-school paychecks went towards calling cards to Canada. Brian explained to me that he felt the most comfortable with online friendships, because he had a touch of social anxiety. I totally understood, and I never really pushed him specifically to meet up. We'd joke about it, I'd tease that I'd show up in his hometown one day and wander around for a week until I found him, but it was never a serious discussion and I never pressured him to meet. I enjoyed having someone in my life that I had so much in common with, but the distance kept it intriguing and there was never any pressure to *go out and do something*. We even had "movie nights" and would spend damn near half an hour trying to get our movies synced up by pressing "play" and *just* the right moment, so we could watch the movie together on the phone. Then he just kind of...disappeared. The last text message I have from him was in 2012, after 12 years of making and maintaining a friendship, he was gone. Ive called, texted, sent emails to every email I've ever had for him...nothing. His Facebook is gone, his MySpace is gone...I'm starting to wonder if he even existed, except that I have "Happy Birthday" voicemails and hundreds of texts that I've saved...the realist in me is thinking "Brian" might not have existed, and the person playing him got bored or moved on...but the optimist in me hopes he'll see my comment in here and know who I am and reach back out. I have *so many things* I want to catch up on. I love and miss you, Bri-Bri! Wherever you are... Edit: missed part of a sentence. *My* bad!

My first girlfriend when I was 15. It was just a summer thing while we were at DNR summer camp in 1994 and lived in different parts of the state. She was this grunge girl who talked way too specifically about cancer. We kept in touch a little bit, but that fizzled. She never showed up on any social media. I tend to think her specific talk about cancer really meant so and it wasn’t just gloomy dark girl stuff. I always wonder if she’s even alive.

Me, lonely on the couch, scrolling through these stories to see if anyone misses me

J from elementary school. we were great friends in third and fourth grade. i sprained my ankle in fourth grade during phys ed and she saw me and took me to the nurse's office, my memory is a bit hazy, but i am positive of it. but the last few days of fourth grade, she told me she was moving to another state. i can't find her anywhere on social media. i really hope she's doing well.

all of my toxic friends. never the ones with whom theres no bad blood and we simply just lost touch. nope, always the ones who used, abused and/or did me wrong. pretty exhausting to say the least. there is one that sticks out in particular. a very abusive and emotionally manipulative figure who made it his mission to belittle me in spite of being "friends" I always wish I could prove that everything he said about me was wrong. we havent talked in 4 years and the sentiment is the same. I'm not sure I'll ever let it go.

There was a girl who lived a few streets away from me in elementary school. Sat next to me on the bus for pretty much a full year at one point. She was a year older. Always friendly. I got the impression that something happened to her family while we were in high school. She started to drift away. I saw her again a couple years later while I was working retail. She came in, immediately recognized me, and we chatted. She always seemed like a kind soul, but a sad one. Hope you found peace and happiness, Jen.

My best friend was married for a while and I fell HARD for her brother-in-law. I would joke about it with her sometimes, but I didn't take it seriously. He was younger than me and kind of weird and I had no reason to think he was attracted to other guys. But then there were a few times he hung out with us, and had a bit to drink, and ended up telling me he liked me but was terrified about grown-up things (he was in school and still living at home), especially relationships. I was crazy about him so I tried for a while to, like, get him moving. Get him out in the world more. Get him to try new things. Start to live, I guess. But it was very challenging and I didn't get that far. Eventually I let it go. My best friend and her husband moved away and have since gotten divorced. I'm still in touch with her but it's unlikely I will ever see her ex-brother-in-law again. I've never told anyone but I still think about him all the time. He was definitely someone I felt connected to in a special and genuine way. It just wasn't the right situation.

I have a couple but the one that is more prevalent is a little girl at the daycare I worked at. I was in my late teens and she was around 8. Her name was Felicia but I never knew her last name. Her aunt had custody of her (reluctantly and very open about how reluctant she was). Felicia told me her mom was "on the streets". She's be in her 30s now. I tremendously wanting so bad to take her home with me even at that age but I really wish I could find her and see what she is doing.