My only friend is online, and we speak pretty much every day, and have done for the past two years, thus the fact that we’re very close to each other.

Keep in mind, he suffers from depression and the rest of his life (which has probably triggered it) is already very hard.

However, recently I’ve noticed that I’m not helping him - I get the feeling that I’m actually making him worse, because I tend to vent and a lot and although we ask each other how we’re doing a lot, he does so more than I do, and I’m afraid that the combination of me venting and not asking him how he’s doing as much as I should is having a horrible impact. I also don’t know how to help when the response to ‘You alright?’ is a no.

I’m one of his only friends and according to him I’m the only one left who he can trust.

And I’ve just cut myself off from him.

I get the feeling that the universe is out just to ruin my plans sometimes - first thing I saw was that he sent me an attachment on messenger, which I check a lot, and when I went onto our regular chat (Discord), he’d asked me if I wanted to call later and play with him on Xbox.

I said that I was going to bed early last night and the last message I sent was ‘I’m sorry’.

I am the actual cancer of humanity. My poor friend.

I don’t want to stay in contact because I’m only making his life worse, but I don't want him to think that I killed myself, or got annoyed by him and left him (like everybody else), I just want him to be happier.

What do I do?