The Realest Ever - By Keith Thomas Walker Page 0,2
him a personal message:
“Hey, Duke. I’m doing alright. I miss you too. I had to delete your comment on my page. You said you hope I get better, but I don’t want anyone to know I was doing bad. I know I had to leave, but I don’t know if things will be any better down here. I can’t find a job, and Aunt Ruth is already getting on my nerves. I know it’s only been a week, but I get scared sometimes, and lonely. I feel like I don’t got nobody here that care about me.”
Kyra read her message and thought it sounded too depressing. Generally the truth is always best, but she didn’t want Duke to worry about her. She deleted most of her rambling, leaving only the first part.
“Hey, Duke. I’m doing alright. I miss you too.”
She sent the message and then looked through her brother’s pictures. He had a lot of them. A lot of family and friends, pictures of his children and his wife. A wistful smile spread Kyra’s lips as she clicked away, learning more and more about the social networking site. Kyra sent friend requests to a dozen people in her brother’s friends list, and then she typed the names of a few of her Arkansas acquaintances and was delighted to see their pictures pop up.
Twenty minutes in, she was amazed by how many people she could find on Facebook. There was a hit for just about every person she could think of. Noticing she was down to her last few minutes on the computer, Kyra switched her focus to Overbrook Meadows connections. Her spirits were immediately dampened.
Home was where the pain was, there was no doubt about that. But Kyra returned to Overbrook Meadows last week looking for a fresh start. It was hard to believe that her life in Arkansas was actually worse than her early years in Texas, but somehow it was.
Kyra typed the name of her only good memory from childhood and wasn’t surprised she got a hit. What did surprise her were the sudden goose bumps that sprouted on her arms and a rapid increase in her body temperature. Kyra took a deep breath, her eyes glued to the computer screen.
Facebook had more than ten possible matchesforDonovan Mitchell. Most had profile pics on display, so Kyra was able to rule out half of them because they weren’t black. She ruled out another half because their hometowns didn’t match. The only Donovan Mitchell listed with Overbrook Meadows as his hometown was at the very top of the list. Unfortunately Kyra couldn’t verify this one because his profile pic was the Dallas Cowboys logo rather than a photo of himself.
Kyra’s heartbeats became audible as she clicked on the profile. She felt like she was having an anxiety attack, but she wasn’t sure why. This was simply a computer. He couldn’t see her or even send her a message, if she didn’t want him to. Even if he could, Kyra didn’t know why she felt unsure of herself. Back when she knew him, Donovan never made her feel anything but loved. Donovan was her best friend fifteen years ago. In fact, they used to refer to each other as brother and sister. And Kyra had never known a better friend or person since then.
She tried to look through his pictures, but Donovan’s profile was set to private. The only pic available was the Cowboy’s logo he offered to strangers. Kyra clickedInfo and was told that his sex wasMale. Beneath that it said, “Donovan only shares some information publically.” Kyra began to click on everything associated with the profile, but she was blocked at every turn.
Frustrated and still inexplicably fretful, Kyra hesitated before she clicked the one button that could lead to unlimited access to Donovan’s photos. Kyra knew she’d be too embarrassed to answer the first question Donovan would ask her: What have you been up to? But she still didn’t know if this was the right Donovan. Even if it was, he’d have to ask his hurtful questions over the computer, and he wouldn’t see the pain in Kyra’s eyes if she decided to write him back.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am, but your time is up.”
Kyra looked up at the librarian and nodded. “Okay, I’m getting off.”
She clicked the “Add Friend” button quickly, before she could change her mind, and then she logged out of Facebook and left the computer.
The boy who had been waiting on her quickly took her seat. He