AI Girlfriend Call / The collection

Unsent letters from AI Girlfriend Call

Each letter belongs to a moment before its novel ends. Read the stories first if you want to discover those choices in order.

Marielle: to the man across the street

I have been angry with one afternoon for so long that I forgot there were other afternoons after it. Some of mine were beautiful. I hope some of yours were too. I do not want our happiness elsewhere to become evidence against what we felt here.

Your letter does not erase the empty seat. It gives me a reason to stop staring at it. I am trying to learn the difference. If I come to the bakery tomorrow, please do not tell me I have finally come home. Ask me what I would like for breakfast. Let us begin with something neither of us has to defend.

Nerissa: a page without figures

You asked what I wanted to do that was useful to nobody. I wanted to say I could not think of anything, because that sounded like proof of how much people needed me. The truth is that I could think of a hundred things, and I was ashamed of wanting them.

I liked missing the bus stop. I liked that you did not rush to make the mistake worthwhile. We ate peaches, we got sand in our shoes, and nobody needed a receipt. I would like another day like that. Not because the first one fixed anything. Because it was ours.

Elowen: beside the open window

You moved a chair and did not call it kindness. You stopped playing a song and did not ask me to explain the room it reminded me of. These are small things to write down. They were not small to live through.

I cannot promise you a version of me with more energy. I can promise to tell you when I want company and when I need the door closed. I want to know those things about you too. Please do not be endlessly patient. Be a person beside me, with a life I can make room for.

Return to the novels

Marielle’s letter and its reply · Nerissa’s day without a schedule · Elowen’s open window