itch.io

this was such an enthralling read! from start to finish, you had me hooked. i love how you interweave stories with these huge narratives and implied 'lore' behind what some would consider smaller, more human matters. 

I think you did a great job at foreshadowing what was going on in the background-- it made me think back over the narration and realize that how that character acted actually made a lot of sense with the character's attitudes (not gonna spoil it, it's really good)

I do wonder if living that long had anything to do with it or if in the end it was being closer to being normal humans than they all think.

god, what a bitter portrayal of abuse. as someone who has gone through similar things i very heavily relate-- when you have one person you're relying on who tells you what reality is you really have no choice but to believe them. and what cruelty it is, to use it to trick and manipulate rather than teach as a parent should. 

I feel like the excuse for what she has to do to go outside also doubles as a metaphor-- to go against your abuser is to necessarily 'hurt' them. it's for others to seem so shocked you could be so cruel. 

and then the pain doesn't stop once you escape

god i have a lot of feelings about this story and it's really like ocean is all the shitty online friends I've ever had pumped up to 11 (which unfortunately has continued to adulthood)

I've never had anyone be as awful to me as ocean was to my face but it's like all the things I knew were implicit in my relationships with people was laid bare.

I've never had anything as extreme as the end happen to me but in a metaphorical way it made me wonder about an alternate reality in which I let those people continue to break me down so I could be their definition of a 'good friend'.

I look forward to what you make next and I'm very inspired and happy to know that internet chat stories are a thing.