Last Contact: A Short Story. Grace Otherwise

It was free to join. That should have been the first warning. Faraji has spent years building a life no one taught him how to live. Alone in D. C., estranged from every relative he has, he wants one thing: a connection that doesn't vanish when the season turns. Late one night, he discovers a dating platform with unusual rules, rigid timelines, and proprietary technology designed to bridge impossible distances.
The site is free. The pledge it requires is not. A dark, surreal story of loneliness and longing from the author of the Grace Otherwise series.