I sent the message with a smile on my face. Hours later I found myself staring at the words in my sent folder, reading them over and over until the TONE::DISTORT function took hold. The words I had typed looked wrong, cold, too pushy - they became alien things that hurt to look at but I couldn't stop checking them.

The longer they sat without reply, the more the WORST::ASSUME cycle burned through me. Soon I stopped writing to anyone. The sick feeling when opening message apps grew too strong to fight. I watched as friends tried to reach out, but couldn't bring myself to answer. Their words looked normal. Now I watch life happen through screens, unable to type a single hello without seeing all the ways it will be read wrong.