I have an online friend that I began talking to a couple of years ago. He’s a little younger than I am and he had a bad childhood, so he has some mental health issues. He was going through a hard time and his depression and emotional behavior was stressing me out. He texted me to tell me he was going to kill himself.
My immediate reaction was anger. What was I supposed to do from hundreds of miles away? I had no clue where he was and he was so out of it that there was nothing I could say to fix the situation. He didn’t kill himself, but I chose to stop talking to him after that. I couldn’t handle the amount of responsibility he was putting on me.
He got back on his feet, found a job and a place to live, and started seeing a therapist and taking his meds. A few months later, he reconnected with me to apologize and we’re now on speaking terms again, though we aren’t as close as we once were.
If he had killed himself and I found out about it, I would’ve been sad, of course. I’m not sure if I would’ve made an effort to attend a funeral like I would for a real-life friend, but it would’ve made me feel bad. In his case, I probably would feel some guilt as well.