Click the pic for the original challenge. Written for Ermilia’s Picture It & Write.
Author’s note: This won’t really make sense unless you read the prompt first. Click the pic…
“When are we going to get to meet her, Mark?” Denise asked.
“Did you do it all night long?” Ty joked.
“Shut up,” Mark snapped, defensively.
Ty’s question parroted one of the group’s favorite movie quotes. There were laughs around, but Denise wasn’t amused. She studied Mark’s annoyed and troubled face with deep concern. His infatuation with “Annie” was unhealthy. Sure, she was pretty, but it probably wasn’t even her real picture, let alone her real name. They all knew he’d never met her, yet he insisted on keeping up the pretense.
It crushed Denise to watch Mark wasting hours of his life with what amounted to a pixel pin-up girl. Yes Denise stalked her. So what? Her Facebook profile was the most contrived thing she could ever imagine… Interested in: Guys, Partying, Guys… come on. What Mark really needed was a real date, someone with breaths and a pulse.
“You should forget Annie,” Denise said. “I met this girl at the gym who’s single. Her name’s Katherine. You should let me introduce you.”
Mark narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m sure your friend is nice,” he said.
“…and rich,” Denise added. “She runs some internet dating company or something.”
Mark shook his head. “You don’t understand. Annie’s special.”
© 2013 Anne Schilde
I find this incredibly sad. And real. And contemporaneous.
Did you read the first two written by Eliabeth and Ermisenda? I was just playing along.
I diiiiiid! As you commanded!
Love the last line. It’s true.
Hehe!
I think you can hire a service like this already. It’s supposedly good for getting rid of unwanted stalkers. Nice write though. Who is to say that “Katherine” would have time for her clients.
The new viral craze for ridding yourself of unwanted stalkers is some advice column called Agony Uncle or something like that. You have to be careful though. You don’t want to lose your wanted stalkers… baby with the bathwater, you know.
I doubt it would work on her. She’s particularly stubborn!
Story of…[insert multiple people I know]‘s life.
You’d think people would be more inclined to the breath and pulse.
This is so true … happens all around us !!!
I don’t actually know of any, but I’ve seen some suspicious statuses.
This story definitely ends on a sad note.
Even while writing my prompt, I knew that it was most likely the life of quite a few people out there. I think it’s great to find solace with others on the internet but one has to be careful…not to lose their sense of reality. Great follow-up, Annie! Thanks for contributing this week!
- Ermisenda
I never really analyzed the prompt, I just followed it “Through the Eyes of Denise” in honor of Blind Sight. Happy anniversary!
Holy crap! Is that really a thing? Do people really care so much about what other people think that they would rather live a lie and fake happiness than actually BE happy? Sorry… Great story! That just threw me for a loop.
I guess I was sort of surprised by a couple of the comments, but I know people who’ve faked having a guy call them, or had flowers delivered to themselves on VD… stuff like that, so that isn’t really so different.
really very sad for Mark..an amazing write-up
I left him in the condition I found him.
It’s so sad that in many cases in real life this happens: people think they can find true love through the internet… although I won’t say that it’s not impossible, but for me a relationship holds more value when it happens by chance, face to face.
Great contribution for the picture!
Jessi: You know how to tell if an elephant is in love with you?
Annie: How?
Jessi: The peanut is still in the card.
I think love is a confusing thing no matter where it happens, but the Internet is a crazy place for sure. People change when they get behind their Oz curtains. Even if the feelings turn out to be real, what happens when Mark peels back the curtain and finds the e-whore pulling strings? Priscilla’s post talked about the girl knowing everything about James Bond, and I laughed out loud because when I’m online, I know everything about James Bond too. In RL, I can’t even remember the names of the three movies I watched or who played Bond before Daniel Craig. I can carry on a chat the same way I write my stories. I have a dictionary, a thesaurus, a language translator, and an insanely powerful encyclopedia at my fingertips and that’s all before I pull up Google. But I wouldn’t be like that if you met me. Anyway, I’m ranting again. Thanks for the comment, MD!