“Why the hell do you care? You haven’t been around in ages.” he said, kicked the crusty dirt.

“I never totally left. I kept an eye on feeds. I occasionally looked at old faves.” He couldn’t help sounding defensive.

“Sure, you glanced at them. When was the last time you left a comment?”

“This place was good to me in the day, y’know?” He didn’t mean to sound petulant. “I got a lot of positive feedback. It boosted my confidence. Starting a blog was part of this. So was doing NaNoWriMo. And if I ever submit for publishing… this is where it began.”

They looked over the world. Little else to say, was there? The community was a vibrant glow right beneath them but refugees were already leaving and the the world turning to dust at the edges.

“I regret leaving Simon in Hell,” he whispered at last. “I’ll miss hanging with the King Of Mars and Alexa and Nick. I’ll even regret leaving the Muppets hanging.

“Yeah.” A wind tousled his hair.

“This is it?” He picked up his bag.

“Yeah. Thanks,” he said, “and goodbye.”