Am I wrong for responding to my ex best friend after I said I needed space?

I (18F) recently told my (ex) best friend Jules that I needed space from our friendship. Over time, things had become pretty toxic on both sides. She could be controlling and often assumed the worst about me because of her own insecurities, while I tended to avoid conflict and didn’t always put in as much effort or communication as I should have.

Recently, she started an argument saying I needed to try harder in the friendship, even when I was really busy. When I explained that I was stressed, she dismissed it, and things escalated. It turned into a bigger conflict, and I ended up telling her I didn’t know if I wanted to be friends anymore. She asked if I meant best friends or friends in general, and honestly, I didn’t have an answer. I just knew I needed space.

When I told her that, I tried to still be kind and said that if she ever really needed to vent, she could.

Two days later, she messaged saying that once I was done with my “space,” we needed to call. I didn’t respond.

A few days after that, she reached out again, really upset because her bunny had died. She was grieving and needed someone to talk to. For context, her bunny had actually come up during our argument. I had told her that some of our conversations felt overwhelming, she assumed I meant her venting about her bunny, which wasn’t true at all.

Even though I had said I needed space, I responded and comforted her because I didn’t want to ignore her while she was going through something like that.

Now I feel conflicted. I genuinely meant it when I said I needed space, and I’m seriously considering ending the friendship altogether. I’ve even had multiple people tell me that she hasn’t been a good friend to me. But at the same time, I feel like I left the door open by saying she could still vent, and it felt wrong not to respond when she was clearly hurting.

I’m also worried that by replying, I might be sending mixed signals or making it harder to actually create the distance I need.