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. I joined my dream team, McLaren. 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.”