Line #7 Tearjerker/PenPal


1	'''As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''
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3	* Dathan's horrified reaction to realizing Boxes wasn't under his bed...
4	* Dathan's reaction to finding out what happened to Mrs. Maggie when she let "her husband" into the house and her fate.
5	* "Screens" has the depressing ending of Dathan learning that Veronica, Josh's sister, died after being run over by the stalker.
6	** Dathan's [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realization that he hadn't spoken to Josh in years and is about to call his sister]].
7	*** Dathan's sadness when he learns that Josh "ran away", considering his plans to reconnect with him. Even more sad that earlier, Veronica's talk with him gave the implication Josh was getting into trouble.
8	* In the final chapter, Dathan laments how he and Josh began to see each other less and less, and when he invited him for his 12th birthday, he noticed that Josh was distant and gloomy. When Dathan finally asked what happened between him and Josh, he simply tells him: "You left".
9	** Josh telling Dathan he has a surprise for him when he becomes 13 becomes more depressing when in the final chapter, while his father looks through his jeans after being found in the box, that Josh ''completed the map from the "Maps" chapter, as a gift to Dathan. You can get tissues, even worse from the chapter itself...
10	--->[[ChildrenAreInnocent He was finishing the map - that must have been his idea for my birthday present]]. I found myself strangely hoping that he hadn't been taken while expanding it– ''as if that would somehow matter now''.
11	* Josh's fate. Made worse when his father breaks down after realizing he was the one who killed his son...unknowingly.
12	** The father's grief, particularly the description of him cradling his son's rotting body, is heart wrenching—especially considering [[TraumaCongaLine what the character has already been through up to this point]].
13	--->"My boy… My ''baby'' boy… Why is there so much blood? What did he ''do'' to you?!"
14	* The narrator's reaction to the end. Everyone he's ever known (besides his mother) have ''died'' because of a '''[[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot kindergarten school experiment]]'''. His kind neighbor, his potential girlfriend, ''his cat'', and then his best friend, ''all dead'' because he was stalked by an insane man who took his best friend due to their similar appearances. Poor Dathan...
15	* The last lines.
16	-->I miss you, Josh. I'm sorry you chose me, but I'll always cherish my memories of you.\
17	\
18	We were explorers.\
19	\
20	We were adventurers.\
21	\
22	We were ''friends''.
23	** The ending is just ''heartbreaking'', as Dathan mourns how he wish Josh were alive, wishes Josh ''never chose him as a friend'', and the pain that there ''would never be'' any justice served...
24	* One can only imagine how Dathan's mother must have felt through the whole ordeal. She ''knew'' what was happening and did everything in her power to protect her only son. When she learned that Josh and the stalker were both dead, she chose to hide the truth from [[ChildrenAreInnocent Dathan]]. She kept the reality behind all these tragic events- a deranged pedophile, the murder of their cat, the fate of her son's best friend- to herself for '''years''' just to protect her son. And it's heavily implied that their relationship will be severely strained as a result.

Context Tearjerker / PenPal