Left On Read

She woke up with a smile on her face, the kind that only came after being touched the way she was the night before.

Her skin was still tingling. The scent of him lingered on her pillow, just thinking of their previous night gave her butterflies.

She reached for him with sleepy fingers, expecting to find his warm body, maybe even hear that deep morning voice or good morning kisses all over her face.

But the bed was cold.

Empty…..

She blinked, confused, then sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Maybe he's in the kitchen. Making eggs. Or shirtless on the balcony. Sexy movie moment type of thing," she thought to herself.

She checked the time on her phone.

6:03 AM. Early, but not suspicious.

She got up and padded excitedly through the apartment, her oversized shirt barely covering her thighs.

But her excitement was burnt to ashes.

No man in the kitchen. No coffee brewing. No sound of a shower. No half-naked hunk posing with a sunrise.

" He wouldn't just leave…" she muttered, her voice cracking slightly.

But unfortunately he was gone.

"Okay… maybe he had to step out. Maybe he's getting breakfast," she mumbled, biting her lip. "I'll text him."

She walked back to her phone, heart now pounding in her chest. Her chest began to tighten. She picked up her phone and her heart sunk.

No messages.

No missed calls.

Be

She tapped on their chat. Or at least, where it used to be.

Gone.

Everything was gone.

The message thread that used to be filled with teasing texts, sweet nothings, and late-night sexts… wiped clean.

She went to her call logs.

Also wiped.

"What the hell…" Her voice cracked, confusion turning into panic. She scrolled through her contacts. His number vanished.

"Did I imagine everything?No, no, no, no, no he wouldn't "

She hurriedly opened Tinder, the app she met him on. Her thumb trembled as she searched his user.

"Unmatched."

She stared at her screen like it had slapped her.

"No. No. This is a joke. This is a joke, right?" she said, laughing bitterly as tears began to form. "Maybe it's a glitch. Yeah. iCloud has those sometimes."

But even as she said it, the truth was setting in. Her throat tightened. Her vision blurred. And then, just like that, she broke.

She sank onto the floor, phone still in her hand, sobbing like her world had collapsed again.

Because it had.

Three days ago her father passed , and the night of her crazy sex was the day she buried her him. She hadn't even cried this hard then. Maybe because her heart had already been numbed. Maybe because this stranger,this mystery man she met on Tinder,had shown up in her life like a drug and made the pain feel small for just one night.

And now he was gone too.

She called her best friend Maya, hands shaking.

"Pick up. Please pick up…"

"Hello?" her friend's voice was groggy. "Why are you calling me this early? Is someone dead?"

"I going to die," she said her voice barely above a whisper.

" I think I just got used and ghosted by a man I don't even know," she choked, voice cracking as tears dripped down her cheeks.

"Oh my God. Are you crying?"

"Yes! I—" she sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "He deleted our chats. Our messages. Calls. Everything. He even unmatched me on Tinder!"

There was a pause.

"…Wait back up . Let me get this straight….he is the same guy you met yesterday?"

"It wasn't just yesterday," she groaned. "We've been talking for weeks. Okay? He made me happy. Like, stupid happy."

"Girl. What's his name?"

"I—I don't know…"

Silence.

" So you're telling me …. you met a random guy online , brought him into your house …. had sex with a him and you don't know his name?"

"I KNOW how it sounds, okay?!"

Her friend burst out laughing. "You are so lucky your dad can't hear this. He'd roll out of the grave."

"Don't," she whispered. Her voice trembled. "Don't make it worse. I was drunk last night . I was broken. You know my dating life has been trash for months. I just wanted someone to see me. To want me and he …he did just that even though this was our first time meeting ."

The line went quiet.

"Hey," Maya said gently. "I'm sorry. I'm being a bitch. But girl… you don't need to fall for some faceless Tinder ghost to feel loved. You're smart. You're hot. You're wait, what name were you even using on the app?"

She paused, sniffling. "…Athena "

"Athena?" Her friend laughed. "What are you, a storm goddess?"

"I needed something sexy! Zariah felt too… regular," she muttered, curling into a ball on the floor.

"You felt like trash. That's all this is. You were grieving. You drank. You texted a sexy stranger. He came over. You got dicked down. End of story."

"But it wasn't just that," Zariah said softly. "He made me laugh. He made me feel seen. And yeah, maybe I didn't know his name. But it felt real. Even if it was only real to me."

Silence.

"Damn. That's actually… kinda poetic," her friend said. "Still dumb, but poetic."

Zariah laughed through her tears, voice hoarse. "I feel pathetic."

"You feel human," her friend replied. "But next time, maybe ask for a last name. Or at least a LinkedIn."

Zariah groaned and buried her face in a pillow. "I gave my body to a stranger because I couldn't deal with my grief."

"You needed comfort. You're allowed to fall apart. Just… maybe fall apart into someone who doesn't vanish like a magician after."

She nodded, wiping her cheeks. "I'll be okay."

"Yes, you will. And when you're ready, I'll help you key his car. Or find his mom on Facebook."

Zariah laughed again—broken but real. "Thank you."

All she could see now were glimpses. The curve of his jaw. The way he looked down at her like she was the only thing that existed. His tattoo. His laugh. His fingers digging into her hips like he wanted to make her forget everything but him.

And she had been forgotten , for one night.

But now all she felt was shame. And stupid. And small.

She closed her eyes and let the memories ache.

She didn't know his name.

And yet, he was the only thing she could think about.