My name is Oliver, and I am a cartographer of a world I’m not allowed to inhabit. I live in Seattle, a city of grey skies and constant rain, which makes the vibrant, sun-drenched itineraries I build for Maya feel even more like a cruel hall...
My name is Caleb, and I am a silent consultant for a life I’m not allowed to share. In the corporate world of London, information is the only currency that matters. I’ve spent fifteen years climbing the ladder, breaking my back to und...
My name is Ethan, and I am a master of the middle ground. I exist in the space between being a stranger and being someone who actually matters. It is a Tuesday night in Nashville, and the air outside the arena is sharp with the smell of exhaust a...
my name is marcus, and i’m tired of watching my best friend, david, disappear into the gears of a machine that doesn't love him back. we’re in chicago, and tonight it’s ten below zero. we were supposed to be at my place, finishi...
My name is Simon, and I am the man behind the curtain. The glow of my laptop screen is the only thing keeping me awake in this cramped apartment in Boston. It’s 4:00 AM, and my eyes are burning, tracking the red lines of a document that isn...
My name is Julian, and my car is the only place where the world makes sense. Living in Toronto means the morning commute is a battlefield of slush and snarled traffic. I live in the West End; my office is a five-minute walk from my front door. Ye...
My name is Rahul, and I am a ghost in my own life. It is 11:45 PM in Mumbai. The humidity is thick enough to swallow you whole, but I’ve been inside her apartment for three hours, moving with the silence of a man who doesn't believe he has ...
I knew I was in trouble when I started calling it “professional pride” instead of what it really was—wanting her to need me. Let's call her Amy and I was her realtor. That was the clean version. The one I could say out...
Receipts for a Face I’ve Never Touched I knew it had gone too far when my credit card company called me in the middle of the night, and my first thought wasn’t panic, it was whether the charges would delay her package. I’m in T...
My name is Min-jun from Gangnam district, Seoul in South korea. I'm a Night-shift convenience store clerk / Aspiring Illustrator. I knew it was pathetic to spend my entire rent savings on a designer scarf she’d only wear once for a "Winter A...
I learned early that if I complained, she pulled away. So I stopped. When she was late to reply, I said nothing. When she canceled plans, I said “it’s okay” even when it wasn’t. When she talked about other guys like it wa...
I was never the guy she posted.I was the guy she ran to. When things went bad, when someone ghosted her, cheated, yelled, disappointed her—I was there. Long messages. Voice calls. Screenshots of conversations I didn’t ask to see but r...
I didn’t notice when it started. Most things that ruin you don’t arrive loudly—they slip in quietly and make themselves comfortable. At first, I was just the guy she vented to. About work. About her family. About the men who dis...
My name is Liam, and I am a master of the "unseen hand." Living in London is expensive enough when you’re trying to build your own life, but it’s a death sentence when you’re secretly funding someone else’s. For the last s...
My name is Kenji, and I am a master of the "long game"—or so I tell myself to keep from jumping off the edge of my sanity. Here in Tokyo, the nights are neon and crowded, but I’ve never felt more alone than I do standing in the rain o...
