A Phone Full of Friends, A Room Full of Silence

Mia has three hundred friends online, but she eats dinner alone every night.

After school, she sits on her bed and scrolls through photos of parties she never goes to.

Her classmates laugh in the pictures, holding drinks and hugging each other.

Mia taps a heart, then puts her phone down.

The room feels very quiet.

She wants to call someone, but she does not know what to say.

One evening, her phone dies during a rainstorm.

With nothing to scroll, Mia looks out of the window and sees her neighbor, an old man, sitting alone on his porch.

She walks over with two cups of tea.

They talk about his garden for an hour, and Mia forgets her phone completely.

That night, she sleeps better than she has in months.