Well for some reason I feel guilty here. A couple of years ago I was 'that girl'. Me and a guy were having an online fling I guess. My sister passed away, my partner and I had broken up, and I dropped out of college all around the same time, it was just a really rough and unstable part of my life. The online fling was really just a distraction...We talked about meeting up like it was going to happen in a few months. We joked, and flirted, and all the rest of it, had our little "ily" "no ilym!" conversations, but it was never anything more than a little fun to me, I had a little crush on him, but in my eyes it was nothing serious at all. It was when he started leaving me voice messages about truly loving me and that he couldnt think about anything else, and he wanted to spend his life with me that I kinda thought 'whoa whoa whoa...this is getting way out of hand...'. So I backed right off and told him I wanted to be friends. He was absolutely distraught - I really couldn't even understand how he had gotten so attached really, I mean we hadn't even met... He was still desperate to meet up, but I just knew that couldn't happen anymore. It took him a long time to get over it.
I guess the dangerous part of online dating is that, like myself, a lot of people use the internet as their escape key from real problems going on in their lives. You can't really know how seriously someone is taking the whole thing.
In my situation, it was like being in a real relationship without the need for any real commitment. A pure fantasy. That fun floating on air feeling you get when you're in a new relationship - but without the reality.
I didn't string this person along on purpose, I honestly thought that up until the point where he started being super-serious and pouring his heart out, that we were on the same flirtatious -just having a good time level - but it evolved into much deeper feelings for him, and I just wasn't ready for anything serious.
This girl sounds as though she has a lot of issues that she has to deal with, and I could very well be wrong, but it is a possibility that she also just needed an escape. Something to make her feel good amongst the bad stuff happening in other areas of her life. I think it would be wise to give her a little space. But check up on her with a message every couple of days or so-without being pushy, and it must be hard, but just try to be patient. I hope it all works out for you!