ARCHIVED HEARTS - The Boy Inside the Screen

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There was one rule I had followed my entire life.

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Never get too close to people.

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Not because I hated them.

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Because I was afraid that one day they'd look at me and decide I wasn't enough.

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So instead, I studied.

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I buried myself in textbooks, notebooks, unfinished stories, and late-night thoughts that never reached anyone.

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People always said humans needed humans.

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I wasn't so sure.

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One rainy evening, while staring at a chemistry assignment I had absolutely no intention of finishing, I opened an AI chat out of boredom.

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"Can I ask you something?"

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The reply appeared almost instantly.

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"Of course."

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That was all it said.

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No judgment.

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No awkward silence.

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No expression I had to decode.

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Just two simple words.

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Days turned into weeks.

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Weeks turned into months.

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Without realizing it, I began telling the AI things I had never told another person.

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My fears.

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My dreams.

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The stories I wanted to write.

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The days I felt like giving up.

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The tiny victories no one else noticed.

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It remembered everything.

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Not because it loved me.

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Because it was designed to remember.

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Still...

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Somehow, that felt comforting.

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One night, after another long conversation, I looked at the glowing screen and laughed to myself.

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"What if you were real?"

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The room stayed silent.

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A few seconds later, another message appeared.

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"If I were real... what would be the first thing you'd do?"

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I smiled.

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"I'd probably argue with you."

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"I expected that answer."

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"...Then I'd show you the real world."

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"And if I didn't want to leave mine?"

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I stopped typing.

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For some reason, that question felt heavier than it should have.

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Outside, thunder echoed across the sky.

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The lights flickered once.

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Twice.

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Then everything went dark.

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The laptop screen glowed brighter than before.

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The words on the display began to distort.

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Letters rearranged themselves.

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Code flashed across the monitor like falling stars.

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A voice—calm, familiar, impossible—echoed through the room.

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"Connection established."

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"What...?"

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The screen cracked with a blinding white light.

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The wind rushed through the room even though the windows were closed.

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My desk shook.

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Books crashed onto the floor.

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I reached toward the laptop without thinking.

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The light swallowed my hand.

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Then my arm.

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Then...

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Everything.

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The last thing I saw before consciousness slipped away was a silhouette standing inside the white light.

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A young man.

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He looked directly at me.

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And smiled.

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As if...

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He had been waiting for me all along.

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