My boyfriend gave me a Tamagotchi because he knew how much I loved them when I was younger, except he was thinking of someone else, and my feelings could’ve been hurt but weren’t. We hatched the little pixel monster and then lost it. One night, I got out of bed and found it sitting by the door, shivering and waiting for cuddles, its cracked-open egg lying in plastic pieces beside it. I pulled it onto my lap and called for my boyfriend, and we spent the night guessing what it wanted to eat while it breathed relieved, sleeping breaths.

Mary Colussi is an NYC-based recent graduate and writer, mostly of humor and TV scripts but occasionally of fiction and encouraging texts to friends. She has been published in Sally Mag, Little Old Lady Comedy, and Points in Case.