DANIEL’S WORLD

Scrolling through MSN Messenger, a familiar name popped up.

Daniel Shi.

I’d met him two years earlier on a game called 8 Ball Pool, but I hadn’t spoken to him in ages.

Hi you, he typed.

I was just 16, and Daniel was quite a bit older than me.

He was 27, but I pinged back a message almost instantly.

Hey! I replied.

Sending messages back and forth, I loved the thrill of speaking to an older guy.

He was so kind and instantly made me feel like I was the only person in the world.

No guy my age had ever done that before.

It made me excited that someone so much older was even interested.

We started speaking most days and I didn’t tell anyone.

After my parents had split, I was a struggling teenager and Daniel was my