It all started when I was in my early years of karting. The fear of failure crept in, gnawing at me every time I stepped into the kart. I was constantly battling my own doubts, and in those darker moments, I found myself sinking into a kind of depression. The racing world I’d dreamt of didn’t feel like a dream anymore. It felt like a cage. That’s when I found videogames. It wasn’t anything special at first; just a way to pass the time and disconnect from the stress.

It was an online game, one of those random multiplayer matches, and I was just looking to distract myself. I found her there. At first, it was just the usual chatter—nothing personal. But then, we kept playing together. Day after day. I didn’t know her, and she didn’t know me. We knew only each other names. We spoke a lot and shared a few laughs. It was easy. She was my escape, just as the games were. Slowly, I found myself looking forward to our sessions. She never pushed me to open up about my life. As the years passed, everything started changing. My career began to take off, and the pressure from karting seemed like a distant memory. Yet, I still played with her.

But now, after all this time, something shifted. I couldn't ignore it anymore. There was a part of me that longed to meet her, to see if the person I knew through the screen matched the person I imagined in my head. I had grown so close to her, and the more we played, the stronger that feeling became. We finally decided to meet face to face.

As I walked closer to the meeting spot, I saw her. She stood at the end of the path, with a slight smile on her face.

Everything seemed to slow down, like time itself had stopped. “It’s really her,” I thought, staring at her face, which I’d never seen in any context other than through a screen. I walked towards her, my heart pounding in my chest, and all my doubts melted away in an instant.

“Hey,” I said, trying to hide the tremor in my voice. „I can't believe we're finally meeting.”