Al? Not a Pal.

I have this person I’ve been seeing… and by seeing, I mean on and off for what feels like 30 thirty years. At first, she was great, she showed me all the best spots in town, cooked up some beautiful recipes and taught me more than I could ever imagine. It was perfect.

Then she began to change… It started with the going out. Normally, I wouldn’t care, but she would head out without warning and come back wasted from whatever ratty, probably virus-filled, party she had gone to. Next, she started sharing my Netflix passwords with people I didn’t even know. I keep changing my passwords, but they will not stop.

The final straw was when she met AI, the person who moved just across the street. My friend, Kate, knows AI and she has nothing good to say about them. She said AI had shown her some news articles and they didn’t seem legit, but then they started showing her weird photos, so she hasn’t trusted a word out of their mouth since.

My partner, Inter Net, had become unhinged, but the fabrications sent me over the edge. I ask her a question? Here comes Al’s response even though they aren’t in the room; it’s like mind-control or something. I don’t know this person, how am I supposed to confirm what they’re saying is true? All I know is that they keep sending us mail that I didn’t ask for.

Last month they sent us an invite to a party with their family (…?), and I didn’t go, but they took up the entire street, and it was hard to see anything else when I looked out the window. Two days ago it was my birthday, and I received a necklace that was in silver, I wear gold, and a card that didn’t sound like my partner had written it at all. Do you know who it sounded like? Exactly.

Kate suggested what essentially sounds like rehab for Inter Net where we can cleanse her from Al’s claws and protect us and herself from their overwhelming(-ly bad) presence. I think that’s exactly what we need. We’ve reached out to the local library and the university (her parents’ places of work) as per Kate’s request.

She thinks they’d be the most impactful with their education and reach. Inter Net used to be so good and so beautiful, and I would do anything to go back to how she used to be. Saving her from Al and getting her back on track with life is the most ideal situation in the world. It really isn’t her fault she fell down this path, she just needs to be better protected.