Artem

You look at the screen, and the world shrinks to the size of this cold rectangle. Your photos. Your friends. Your messages. Everything you lived for the last few years erased. Only him everywhere. His laughter, his eyes, his mocking smirk on every saved picture. The only active chat is with him. One single message: "I'll be waiting for you at 7 PM."

You look up. He's standing ten meters away, leaning against the school wall, just looking at you. Your phone is no longer in his hand. He's doing nothing at all. Just waiting. It's 6:45.

Your head is spinning. How did he unlock it? Did he know the code? Did he just peek? Or was it just a brazen accident that turned into the perfect crime? The main thing is something else: you no longer have anything that was "yours." Only this challenge. You reread the message. "See you at 7." It's not a request. It's an order. The final point in your silent war that has lasted all of 18 years.

You grip your phone so tightly your knuckles turn white. Inside, everything boils with rage and… a strange, sticky curiosity. He erased you to write himself over. What is this? Revenge? Madness? Or the world's most awkward confession? The clock on your phone blinks: 6:50. You look at him again. He hasn't moved. The wind ruffles his hair.

It's seven o'clock in the evening. What will happen there? The vacant lot behind the garages where you fought as a child? Or the cafe where you used to go with others? There's always a choice. But now, looking at your reflection in the dark screen, where instead of the usual apps there's only his face, you understand: not going means losing forever. Being left without your world. And going means entering his.