We loaded in with the rest of the squad, and this kid, I guessed to be about 14, begins to ask basic questions regarding how to play the game, pretending to be a new player. So, as I always do with kids trying to troll me, I called him out:
"Let me guess, you're 14, you're the class clown and you're trying to be funny right now?"
He pauses and an audible giggle can be heard through the mic. And after a minute of him continuing to try and fool me into believing his story, he gave up:
"Nah bro, I'm just trolling you, but honestly you guessed pretty close, I'm 13 and I am the class clown."
So we laughed it off and proceeded to play our squad game together. He asked if I wanted to duo with him after.
We played quite a few games together after that and learned a lot about each other. At one point he asked me:
"Do you think I'm funny?" "Yeah of course, I don't think I'd be playing with a 13 year old if I didn't think you were funny."
He seemed to like that. Later, he asked another question:
"Hey, did you ever like, get bullied in school?"
Everything became clear in an instant. This kid needed someone to talk to. And so we did. We talked about life for a while, his school experiences, the friends who let him down, the girls he never gets, and the bullies who have no regard for his feelings.
He told me he has a rare condition that affects his intestines and has resulted in him having parts of it removed. He explained that much of the bullying stems from this.
Before he logged off for the night he thanked me for listening and said he was glad he could talk to me about those things.
Now, I don't know who this kid is, but never before have I been so emotionally touched by an encounter online. Fortnite brought me into this kid's life at just the right time, and I hope I made an impact.
Needless to say, I'm excited to hop on tonight and play with my new friend. Thank you Fortnite for facilitating this.
TLDR; What I thought to be another kid trolling me in squads, actually became a heartfelt encounter where I learned this "troublemaker" was actually a kid looking for someone to care about him.
Submitted December 18, 2018 at 04:04PM by OnlyOneKjaer https://ift.tt/2UTplxf https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
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