you've given me some food for thought, which to me makes me feel stupid, but i can't thank you enough for. i waited for an opportunity to "reconnect" and pretend to be someone else, but now i might just come back and tell them. but at the same time, i feel like they wouldn't believe me. like i left them for no reason. all my reasons for it were just fucking stupid. i wanted to "isolate" myself, which i've done several times with all sorts of people before, since before it's "helped" (only once). i feel like i've exiled myself from them by my own choice, when they were the only social interactions i had - i wasn't even feeling "down" or suicidal whatsoever, but at a time where i was fed up with what they were doing together, but not necessarily fed up with them as people. i think i'll tell them either way, and see what they think. thank you