The clock read 6:42 PM. Homework was done. Notes were sorted. The room was silent, still. I leaned back in my chair, staring at the ceiling. Too early to sleep, too late to go anywhere.
I glanced at the glowing power button on my PC.
"…Might as well," I muttered.
I reached over and tapped it. The fan whirred to life, and the screen blinked on with a pale glow. After logging in, I opened my browser, then stared blankly at my tabs. Nothing called to me.
A random blog post caught my eye. "5 Lonely Games for Quiet Nights." I raised an eyebrow.
"Perfectly targeted," I said, dryly.
Still, I clicked.
Most of the games were odd little things—no fighting, no points. Just strangers talking. Or pretending to.
One stood out.
"Chatterfield: Connect. Converse. Escape."
I tilted my head.
"Seriously?"
I downloaded it anyway.
While it installed, I tried a few other games. First up: a first-person shooter. In ten minutes, I'd been cursed at three times and team-killed once.
"…Charming." I said sarcastically after sighing, quitting.
I never really touched my computer that much, but seeing how close people were in real life, I didn't get offended that much. Still, I did contemplate reporting them.
Next, a sandbox MMO. Everyone else was already in guilds, wearing sparkling gear and dancing in towns like they lived there.
I made it halfway through character creation before giving up.
"This feels like walking into someone else's reunion."
That made me uncomfortable.
I was never really a fan of using my time to do something pointless.
Then a cozy farming game. Cute visuals, nice music, and NPCs that all smiled the same way.
"Too quiet to be real," I mumbled, and closed it
It felt like I didn't deserve that kind of treatment.
By the time I gave up on that, Chatterfield had finished downloading.
Once I clicked on it, a small window opened. Minimalist UI. Soft ambient sounds played faintly. A single prompt blinked on the screen:
Choose a chatroom.
I scrolled. So many names—Rain That Never Stops, 3AM Conversations, Room of Echoes. All of them sounded like poetry written by people trying not to sound lonely.
One name stood out:
Quiet Room.
I hovered over it.
It didn't appear to have that much people. In fact, there was only a single person online.
Not just that, the limit of the chatroom was only capped at two people.
"Well, I qualify," I whispered, and clicked.
The screen shifted. A chat log appeared. Someone else was already typing.
[ChattyBreeze]: is this thing on
A few seconds passed.
[ChattyBreeze]: or am i just yelling into the void again
I blinked, surprised. My fingers hovered over the keyboard.
"Guess I'm not the only one bored tonight."
I hesitated. Then typed:
[MidnightEcho]: not yelling. i can hear you
Her reply came almost immediately.
[ChattyBreeze]: oh. cool. hi then
I stared at that simple line for a moment.
"Huh," I said to myself. "That's… actually kind of nice."
I didn't log out.