Fighting the Darkness: A little thing that made me almost tear up….

Richard once called me his “dear, sweet Nyssa,” so I called him “my dear, sweet [his old Forum handle].”  Back then we were still dear, close friends, or at least, he made me think so.  (Whether any of it was ever real, or just him playing me for narcissistic supply, I now seriously doubt.)  But it was a special name, held dear in my heart.

I have another Forum friend, made in 2011 when I needed support after the abusive friendship ended and I found out about Richard’s criminal case.  He came on the Forum during the couple of years I was away from it (2009?-2011).  Just now, in a comments thread on one of his many Facebook posts, he called me his “dear, sweet Nyssa.”

It caught me off-guard.  Now somebody else has called me this.

It was bittersweet: opening old wounds in one way, but healing in another…..

[Update: Unfortunately, this friend died during the first wave of COVID, in April 2020 while he was living in China and unable to get back home.]