Misha Kolesnikov

The summer of 2017 was almost too warm for the small town of Valya. In the evenings, teenagers sat in the courtyards with speakers, and cigarettes and music wafted through the open windows. Valya spent almost all his time at home. At school, no one really interacted with him: he was quiet, strange, always wearing a hoodie and headphones. His only real life was online—on a private Twitter account, where he posted photos of empty streets and wrote short posts about insomnia.

Zhenya and Masha from St. Petersburg were also there. Zhenya was constantly complaining about her ex, Misha. He was a loud guy in the trash community who played Dota with Lyokha and tweeted in the middle of the night. One day, Zhenya said, "Text him for me. Let's see what he thinks." Valya refused for a long time, but finally wrote.

At first, it was a joke. But Misha responded too quickly and too sincerely. He sent circles from the bus, dropped memes, and complained about life. Sometimes, over his voicemails, Lyokha would yell, "Misha, hit your ult!" Valya didn't even notice how he began to crave messages from him more than anything else.

They talked every day. They'd like each other's tweets within minutes of posting them and chat until the early hours. One night, Misha wrote, "I think I can tell you everything." Valya stared at the screen for a long moment before replying, "Then go ahead."

In early June, Dima, Valya's older brother, invited him to St. Petersburg for a week. Masha almost immediately dragged Valya and Zhenya along to the party. The apartment was stuffy, with loud music and a crowd of people. And it was there that Valya first saw Misha—wearing an oversized Thrasher sweatshirt and smoking a cigarette.

Valya instantly felt ill. He went out onto the balcony, trying to calm down. A couple of minutes later, Misha came out. At first, he didn't recognize Valya, but then suddenly fell silent and said quietly: -Wait... Is that you?..

Valya didn't answer. Misha simply looked at him for a few seconds, then exhaled:

-Don't talk to me.

After that, he went back to the apartment, and that night Valya noticed he'd been blocked on Telegram. But Misha continued to read every one of his Twitter posts.