Good piece. I was ghosted in real life. My seven years long relationship ended (finally) when she left the house one day and didn’t call or text for over a month. Not even to her parents. We had the cops in the house, filed a missing persons report, you name it. Of course I was the primary “suspect” out of the gate. It was a horrific four weeks (it could have been longer, or maybe it only felt that way). Eventually she came back when the man she ran off with ended up in prison. This was four years ago. Her father has since passed and I am still not sure if she knows. It was one hell of a mental breakdown. I always knew she had a wild streak in her, I hadn’t considered it was clinical.

Three years later, when I tried dating again, I found myself with someone using me to get to someone she actually wanted. Her tool was gaslighting. Feigning interest, leading me on, then blaming me for the eventual break up when she didn’t get the response she wanted out of the other guy. I sure know how to pick them. At least the last one only lasted a couple of months.