I Am With You, Always

A Stranger Online

On the taxi ride home, Jana was still perplexed by her strange experience with a clairvoyant. Mary's words echoed in her head as if trying to find meaning in such a bizarre interaction. She picked up her phone and texted Ellie, “Ellie, I just got out of the appointment with the witch you recommended.” Almost immediately, Ellie called, “Tell me everything—and exaggerate.”

Jana shared her experience with her best friend, who was a devoted believer in all things esoteric—horoscopes, tarot cards, oracles, and New Year's rituals.

“Ellie, I don’t know what to think about my love life. She didn’t tell me anything. Just that everything is about to change and that there’s a man always with me, and now I’m scared to be alone.” Jana said, trying to keep the taxi driver from getting too interested in her conversation. She felt embarrassed that others might overhear her situation.

“Well, maybe there’s an incubus in the corner of your room waiting to eat you out!” Said Ellie.

Jana burst out laughing. “I wish!”

Ellie’s voice came through the phone, light but firm. “Darling, give yourself some time to process everything. Right now isn’t the moment to jump into a relationship. You need to get past what happened with work and move forward.” She sighed before adding playfully, “Honestly, I wish I had your skills. Any company would be lucky to hire me!”

“Thank you, Ellie. You’ve been so kind to me all this time—you’re truly a good friend! I’m glad you recommended this medium. It was a weird experience, not going to lie, but I feel like something changed inside me,” Jana said, reflecting.

"You'll be fine! I believe in you! Call me whenever you want, okay? Love you!" Ellie said.

Jana hung up with Ellie, but the image of that chalice filled with water and tint lingered in her mind. She rummaged through her purse, pulling out the stone. "Amethyst," she murmured, rolling it between her fingers. "What kind of weird amulet are you?"

With a sigh, she decided it was time to embrace a more positive outlook on life—starting with wine, YouTube videos, and letting her body slowly melt into the couch.

At home, she glanced around at her expensive furniture, her plants, the remnants of her once-high salary. "What if I sell everything and move somewhere smaller?" she mused. She pulled out her phone, browsed job listings, but nothing interested her. "I need to stop pressuring myself. I just need to relax and stop thinking about my job."

Almost immediately, a friend messaged her: "Hey! I’m streaming a video game. Wanna watch?"

Jana had nothing better to do than wallow in her sadness while watching someone else do something online. She received a link to join the stream and started killing time watching a game she didn’t understand and found boring. So she began commenting live and asking questions. After ten minutes, she started feeling more interested in the game and the other participants who were also commenting.

Then, something immediately caught her attention. BiggDude had joined the session and greeted everyone kindly. Who was this guy? His profile picture was tiny, but she could make out dark wavy hair, a strong jaw and a masculine beard. Probably just another handsome guy on the internet. She instantly felt attracted to him but couldn’t enlarge his profile picture to get a better look. She decided to talk to him and ask about the game, whether he knew the story.

He replied, "I just sent you a video summary of the game's story." Jana had no idea where he had sent it. It turned out he thought she was part of the channel’s community.

"I'm not part of the community." Jana said, and almost immediately, she received a link to join.

Now, she could finally see the profile picture of the handsome guy who had been talking to her. She spent a solid ten minutes inspecting it—dark, wavy hair, thick eyebrows, and a beard that radiated Greek god energy. Why does he look so familiar? The intensity of his gaze held her captive, exuding an effortless dominance that made her pulse quicken. She had to know more. Who was he? Was he just another heartbreaker, luring women in with his looks? She could sense it—the bad-boy energy, the quiet arrogance, the effortless masculinity. And yet, she couldn't stop fantasizing.

Yet, what surprised her most was how he expressed himself in the chat. He wasn’t like the others—his vocabulary was more refined, his messages thoughtful and polite. There was something different about him. And now, with direct access to him through the gaming community, the temptation to get to know him was too strong to ignore. What are you even thinking? She scolded herself, trying to stay grounded. But her mind had already betrayed her. She imagined him falling madly in love with her, craving her, claiming her as if she were the only woman in the world. In her head, he whispered that she was the one. Then, reality hit her again. She remembered her bad luck in love. Now, it wasn’t just her career that had fallen apart. It was her love life too.

“Why has everything failed for me?” She walked over to her bar and, out of the twenty bottles of liquor she owned, decided that the wine she had bought last week would give her the peace she was searching for. It was a $15 Argentine Malbec she had gotten on sale. She grabbed a wine glass from the bar, placed it on her glass table, and as she reached for the bottle to uncork it, she accidentally knocked over the glass, shattering it. "Damn it! Everything is going wrong, everything is a mess! I don’t understand why I have such bad luck—f**k my life!" At least she had the bottle, so she uncorked it and drank from the bottle.

She lit a cigarette and connected her phone screen to the TV so she could stay comfortably sprawled on the couch. "Damn it, I have to clean up this f*****g glass." She was afraid the cat might step on it, but even her cat wasn’t there for her. It was probably asleep in her bed, like always. She went to get the broom and dustpan, sweeping up the broken glass. Now it was just her, her YouTube video, the bottle of wine, and that profile picture of the guy who had piqued her curiosity.

Jana scrolled through the Discord channels, looking for more of BiggDude's comments. He seemed into politics, video games, and music. “What if I message him? But what would I even say? That I’m unemployed and looking for a relationship with a stranger online?” She laughed and took a big sip of wine that burned her throat. “Seriously, what am I doing?” She dragged on her cigarette, watching the smoke rise. “What if I just say hi?”

Suddenly, a message popped up, "Hey! You’re new to the community! What’s your name?"