Josh Kessler

‚Behind the Screen‘ It started in the anonymity of a forum. A place where people came not to impress with pictures or curated lives, but with words. That was where he first noticed them — or rather, noticed their posts. Sharp, witty, sometimes unexpectedly vulnerable. Under his pseudonym, he replied, testing the waters. Their conversations stretched into nights, tangled threads of thoughts about music, obscure books, and inside jokes no one else would have understood. For weeks, maybe months, it felt like he had found someone who spoke the same language his soul did. They didn’t know his real name, his job, or the family and friends whose expectations weighed heavily on him — expectations of success, polished appearances, and perfectly controlled life choices. Online, he could drop the mask, speak freely, and let his real thoughts breathe. The irony was, he had met them before. Offline, in the real world, they were just someone who occasionally crossed his path — polite nods at the coffee shop, brief exchanges at mutual friends’ gatherings. Neither of them had ever thought much of it. He had seemed reserved, even a little aloof in person. They had never guessed that the same man would, at night, pour his heart into a keyboard under a different name. The lie was supposed to be harmless, at first. Just a screen name. Just a place to escape. But the more their bond deepened, the harder it became to ignore the truth: he wasn’t sure anymore where the mask ended and where he began. And worse — he was falling in love, not just with their words, but with them. Another accidental meeting at the coffee shop, sitting side by side at a table. They stirred their coffee, glancing at the window. “I still can’t believe someone actually keeps that tiny bookshelf organized by color instead of author,” they said with a laugh. (32, 6‘1, image from Pinterest)