(Warning: Reader Discretion Advised)
Back when I was eleven or twelve, I was attending middle school in West Texas. While there, I met a boy named Jordan. Jordan was somewhat of an outcast, but was also friendly and athletic at the same time. This drove me to talk to him and we became fast friends. I started picking up on multiple attributes he had, including his artistic abilities and his determination to do his best in sports. To me, these things were the best details about him, and eventually, to others too. He would get called out, specifically by teachers and coaches, about the skills we could all learn from him and how he was a really good student overall. This led him to make more friends, but ones that didn’t stick around as much, like I did with him. They would all eventually go their separate ways and do their own thing, leaving him and I to do ours. This kind of cycle kept happening for a few years, until he made a new friend, named Michael.
Michael was an online friend of his, who Jordan seemed to really admire. Jordan would always talk about how nice the kid was and how they both shared the same interests in craftsmanship. Every day, their relationship seemed to be advancing, and Jordan seemed truly happy for once in his life. It never once bothered me how they were getting along, but I was skeptical of where it was going. So, one day, while Jordan and I were sitting in the school’s cafeteria, eating lunch, I asked him what he thought of Michael overall. Jordan seemed flustered and even embarrassed that I asked him the question, which was a bit odd to me, because he never acted that way when I asked about Michael before. Jordan then quickly covered his face and admitted that he had a crush on Michael and has always felt that way since he started talking to him online. I was surprised, since it never seemed that Jordan liked Michael in that way until now. I said I was happy for him, which was true, but internally, I was becoming worried that the online relationship was getting too far.
As the days went on, Jordan became more secretive of his and Michael’s relationship, especially around adults, and eventually left me out of what was happening with the pair. This left me on the sidelines, alone, but I would occasionally see Jordan in the halls. This led me to become nauseous every time I would see Jordan walk in the hallways with his eyes glued to whatever he was doing on his phone, imagining it was always Michael. I eventually got the courage to stop him in the hall, to try and talk to him. It worked and I pulled him to an empty hallway. I glanced at his face and expression, which filled me with regret that I hadn’t talked to him sooner. He had gone back to the outcast side of him, the one who was always lonely deep inside, the one who smiled through pain. I asked what was going on and why he was ignoring and pushing me away. He said he wasn’t and eventually became mad at me, claiming I was jealous that him and Michael had a good relationship and I didn’t. After that, he stormed away and went about his business. I stood there, waiting for him to come back, but eventually walked away myself.
I didn’t really interact with Jordan properly until near the end of middle school. I walked into school on a Friday and Jordan came up to me and apologized. He said he was really sorry for how he acted a few months ago and said that he just wasn’t doing well mentally. I could tell he wasn’t lying to me and accepted his apology, saying how we needed to set a few boundaries and words to let each other know how we were feeling and how to deal with it. To build trust again. He agreed and we went about our ways. The next week, we hung around a lot more than we had ever before and it was great. It was like we met for the first time again, except better. Just filled with hope and well wishes for what could come next. He eventually mentioned Michael and how he was really happy with where they were going as a couple. A couple? Since when were they dating? I asked him this and he said they had been dating since last week. I then realized. His attitude and demeanor were better than the past few months last week, maybe him and Michael becoming a couple was the reason. However, it made me wonder, what caused him to act ugly to me in the first place all those months ago? I let it go for the time being, seeing how happy Jordan was, and I didn’t want to ruin the moment.
The last week of middle school came and I was excited, because in the coming fall, I would start high school! However, when Jordan got to school, he seemed upset, shocked, and scared. I asked what happened and if it involved Michael. He didn’t say anything. I asked if they broke things. Silence, all but a look of despair and regret. I dropped it at that point. The whole week went by and Jordan still didn’t say anything to me about it. Eventually, the last day came and Jordan wasn’t at school. After school, I made my way to his place to talk to him, but when I got to the door, his mom opened it and said to talk to him another time. She then quickly shut and locked the door in my face. I heard wails grow loud behind the door as I walked away. I discovered what happened a few days later.
Jordan’s phone was taken away. Not by his parents, but by the police. Jordan’s parents had been noticing strange things with their son and the little phone he used all the time, and decided to look through it. The parents found something disturbing and called the police. A officer showed up to the house to investigate through the phone and ask Jordan a few things. The officer then decided to text Michael’s number from his own personal phone to ask a few questions. The policeman discovered, through the responses he received, that Michael was not his real name. The officer then decided to take the phone for investigation and left the family to their own devices for the rest of the day, saying the police would call when they had some more answers. At the end of the day, the police called the family, for some more questions. All the family went and were sent to the police chief’s office. There, they saw two officers, the chief himself and a woman. They started interrogating Jordan, in a somewhat accusatory but nice way, asking what he remembered about Michael. Jordan told them what he had experienced, doing his best to remember. They eventually stopped asking questions and said the family should go to a certain office to do some paperwork. After that was done, the family were told they would have answers tomorrow, so they should head home. They did and received the truth the next day.
The police had discovered that “Michael” was a 30 year old man who had been messaging Jordan several texts that contained explicit images, trying to convince Jordan to do several things over the span of two years. It even got to the point where the man had almost convinced Jordan to meet up with him at a local park, but luckily, never happened. The police arrested the man and after a few years of delay due to the pandemic, was given a five year sentence for his crime. I lost all contact with Jordan and his family after what happened, which may be for the best.
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