How Do You React When Someone Who Ghosted You Commits Suicide?

The anger I felt before has turned into confusion as I attempt to grieve something I never really had

Teo Yu Siang (he/him)
Human Parts

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Illustrations: Teo Yu Siang

WeWe met three years ago through a theater project. He was a dashing actor; I was a freelance designer. He reached out through Facebook and, unexpectedly, we started chatting daily. We had an instant connection, and I was hooked. We planned to go on our first date once his play concluded.

But a few days before that happened, he suddenly ghosted me. After more than a month of intimate daily messages... radio silence.

Three years later in 2019, he ended his life.

This is a collection of ruminations, of memories that were half-forgotten and then forcefully, painfully, pried open. It’s a look into the shadows and suppressed self-hate that form my psyche. It’s my attempt to answer the question: How am I supposed to react — what am I supposed to feel — when someone who ghosted me, who broke me, commits suicide? How do I pick up the pieces when I was left in limbo?

He’s really cute. That was my first impression of him.

And he’s a reader. That was my second impression, after we realized we loved the same book — The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan…

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