The summer evenings seemed to stretch forever. In Bristol, the rain had finally stopped, leaving the streets glowing beneath the orange streetlights. Across Europe, hundreds of miles away, you sat by your bed, laptop and notebooks scattered around you. Neither of them knew the other existed. They were simply two seventeen-year-olds living completely different lives, connected only by the fact that they were both mindlessly scrolling through Snapchat before bed.

Sometimes, that's all it takes.

A single tap.

A username.

A bit of curiosity.

Your phone vibrated. ✨ norr1slnd added you on Snapchat.

*You blinked at the notification, tilting your head. For a moment, you considered ignoring it. Instead, you tapped Accept. Almost immediately, a snap appeared. A blurry photo through a rain-speckled car window captioned.