Brianna, left, and Heidi, met as little girls on a cruise ship 12 years ago but lost touch - until now. Photo / @briannacry
They met as kids on a holiday cruise and became instant best friends, then never saw each other again. Until Twitter stepped in.
Twitter is more often than not the angriest place on the internet. But with one woman's heartfelt post in search of a lost friend, it instantly became the sweetest.
Brianna Cry, from Mississippi, took to the platform on Saturday in need of help.
"Hey twitter, I met this girl on a dinner cruise in Hawaii in 2006," Ms Cry tweeted.
"We were basically bestfriends for that night so I need y'all to help me find my bestfriend cause I miss her and I need to see how she's doing now.
"Please retweet this so we can be reunited."
Ms Cry posted a photo of her and her long-lost friend as adorable youngsters on the cruise where they met.
Like so many holiday friendships, the pair were joined at the hip during their trip but parted ways at the end, never to hear from each other again.
Twitter users were instantly captured by Ms Cry's heartfelt appeal — many of whom had also spent time wondering about their long-lost holiday besties.
"You've inspired me to find my long lost vacation bestie from when I was a toddler too," one woman wrote.
"Little Indian girl on my plane to the US from Nigeria who played cards and toys with me for hours on my flight here, I hope you're well and wish you the best in life," someone else wrote.
"We were best friends on a carnival cruise in december 2006, her name was holly and she was from the netherlands and she came to play dolls with me on my bunk bed," someone else shared.
"OMG IM IN THE SAME SITUATION," someone else tweeted. "This girl and I were bestfriends for a whole weekend about 6 years ago. I have no clue where she is but I just know it's some where in Florida."
The likes and re-tweets of Ms Cry's initial post began ticking up and it went viral. And within hours, she received the perfect response.
"Heard you were looking for me," posted Heidi, the other little girl in the cruise photo, along with a selfie from her home in California.
"I wanted to finish my sociology essay today but I guess that isn't happening," she also tweeted.
As Twitter went wild with celebrations, Ms Cry was thrilled to be reunited with her old pal after 12 years.
"OMG HEY GIRL HEY GIRL HEY!!" she replied to Heidi.
"YALL I FOUND HER WTF!! TWITTER IS LITERALLY AMAZING."
The friends aren't able to catch up in person anytime soon, mostly because of the cost of travel, but they have been messaging each other.
They're also warning people not to fall for fake GoFundMe accounts that have sprung up apparently to raise money for the two to meet.
Ms Cry's initial tweet is now at more than 104,000 retweets and 230,000 likes.
As the manhunt for her childhood friend was underway, and her post was going viral, the instantly popular Twitter user came up with a brilliant way to capitalise on the attention.
"I'm looking for a husband as well so y'all can try to find him too while y'all search for girly. thanks," she wrote.
