Come on, Silver Spoon! Diamond Tiara thought with a huff, You know how much I hate to be kept waiting. She looked at the clock on her newest smartphone with the feeling of insurmountable annoyance.
The fourteen-year-old girl sipped on the straw of her soda cup, making a noise that told everyone that it was empty. She made sure it was only loud and long enough to get noticeably annoying, but not enough to seem like it was deliberate, which it was. She then put the cup down with enough force to rattle the table she was sitting at.
She looked around the light crowd of people scurrying around the mall like the insects they were, hoping to spot Silver Spoon coming her way. A few, she noticed, turned their gaze and shrunk from her when she made eye contact. That brought a fuzzy feeling of authority to the complacent teen. Knowing that everyone around her already knew she was better than them made her slightly less irate.
She was above letting such a ghastly expression as irritation show on her face. It would wrinkle her makeup and eventually lead to, shuddering at the thought, natural wrinkles on her skin. Real and permanent wrinkles! At her funeral, she wanted to be so wrinkle-free that even the mortician would die of embarrassment in her presence.
Wrinkles were disgusting.
Diamond Tiara looked back at her phone to get her thoughts away from such a heinous image. She had wanted an upgrade from her junky six-month-old phone on her upcoming birthday, and yesterday it was given to her as an early gift.
Through his network of contacts, her dad had managed to get a hold of this particular model. The best part was that it hadn’t even been publicly advertised, so she was the only one on the planet who had a phone like this. He made a big deal about how the phone was installed with a software program that took any image and determined its depth perception. Of course, doing so gave it an artificial three-dimensional shape on the screen as a result, but that was beside the point.
With her father’s connections and the family resources at her fingertips, the world was hers to rule. Nobody could stand in her way without getting burned.
That being said, she would make sure her closest friend Silver Spoon would know just how displeased she felt for having five whole minutes of her valuable time wasted. Five precious minutes that the two of them could have spent chatting on their way to do their nails and hair at a salon. Or they could be heading to a car dealership to get in the passenger seat of a new supercar for her chauffeur to test drive.
She didn’t have a license yet, but she would be legally old enough to take the test in a few short weeks. So it wouldn’t hurt to already have a new vehicle or two ready and waiting just for her on that particular occasion, right?
Perhaps she was being a little dramatic. Yesterday was rather unpleasant. Okay, it was an apocalyptic scale war zone that she was still fuming over. It all happened on a social media website that Diamond Tiara had been a proud member of for years. A fresh user going by Grayfu22edsilverl1ning had the tenacity to spontaneously label themselves as one of her hundreds of online friends without her permission. She had to let them know that it was important for her friendship to be earned. All it took was a few exchanges to reveal how toxic they truly were. But she destroyed them.
There was a feeling of pure satisfaction in knowing that, causing the corner of her lips to pull into a smug smirk. It was intoxicating to know that she would remain untouchable on that site with the help of hundreds of reliable others. As long as she ignored the bitterness brought from the hours of back and forth ‘disagreements,’ as they called it.
Diamond Tiara referred to them as friends, but she didn’t really know any of them. Her father’s annoying voice popped into her thoughts as she heard him say, ‘it’s important to not share your personal information with strangers. That includes your name and anything else that could be used to find you.’
That was such a dumb thing to say. With the proper equipment and know-how, anybody could track anyone down online. As long as you can get a hold of their IP address… or something like that. She had both. Money to buy the equipment and skill to bribe someone else who knew how to do it.
Something else that was annoying was that the social media site deliberately censored all of the ‘strong choice of words.’ If you have something to say, say it as it is. Having it edited the way they do was for sensitive immature losers. Losers like that suck up Gray-f-u-22edsilverD***. They only wanted an easy shot at being as well known as I am. News flash, that’s not how the world works. And don’t pretend you know me, IRL. I know you just went through my posting history. Garbage with an attitude like that has its place, and it’s my job to put them there.
The last comment she currently knew about that they had made was, ‘I’ll make you regret this Demon Tyrant.’ That was weak, weak, weak. As if she would ever cross paths in her life with that breed of trash. She brought the conversation up on her phone and scrolled through the comments, looking to see what was new.
The last response she had proudly sent back was, ‘You are so gloriously f****** r****** that I could care less if you just dropped dead. Nobody cares about you. Nobody will ever feel sorry for you. You’re worth nothing to me. I am, and will always be, leagues above filthy d*** sucking mistakes like you.’
That reply was followed by a mile-long list of comments made by hours of responses from her online friends backing her up, but nothing new from the toxic user.
If Silver Spoon didn’t show up within the next thirty seconds, Diamond Tiara would explode, but not at her friend, though. There were times she got loud towards her, but she never stayed upset for more than an hour.
Diamond Tiara began flipping through images of flashy supercars on her phone while simultaneously turning the 3-D settings on and off. Silver Spoon was a quiet type, and it made her easy to talk to because of that. She would, of course, respond and, on occasion, have something to say too. However, Diamond Tiara would always lead the topic of the conversations they had together.
More importantly, she needed to vent her frustration to someone, and Silver Spoon was the perfect candidate. The two had been friends for as far back as she could remember. It was as though a day hadn’t gone by without them being in some form of contact. That reminds me… opening her contacts on her phone, she saw it was empty. Not even Silver Spoon’s number hadn’t been added.
She had gotten it late in the afternoon yesterday, and it was beyond the latest model, so she was required to get a whole new number. But thanks to that annoying prick, she had apparently gotten too distracted to have added any numbers. that meant, even if Silver Spoon had tried to call her old number, it wouldn’t have worked.
I’ll add it right now and then give her a good ear-full. Once Diamond Tiara got the number into her contacts, she called Silver Spoon.
The first attempt rang until it got to voicemail. Diamond Tiara tried again, thinking since her friend didn’t recognize the new number, she simply didn’t answer. Unfortunately, the second attempt ended the same as the first reaching the voicemail. That was a little off-putting. Silver Spoon wasn’t as extroverted as Diamond Tiara, but she wasn’t a recluse. Although she didn’t even have a single social media account, something Diamond Tiara had occasionally teased her about.
The third time Diamond Tiara called, it was picked up halfway through. “It’s about time. Where are you? I’m sorry about the mystery number. That would be because my stupid new phone required me to change it.”
“Hello?” It wasn’t Silver Spoon, rather her dad, on the other end.
“My bad, I didn’t think you would have Silver Spoon’s phone. This is Diamond Tiara, you know, her bestie for life. She’s not grounded, is she? We made plans to go shopping today.”
There was a momentary pause that seemed to hold an uncomfortable tension. “I’m sorry. There isn’t any way to…” he gave a sigh that seemed to have a heavy pained weight behind it. “There’s no easy way to say this… she’s gone.” Was he about to cry?
“Gone where? Maybe she just forgot to tell you where she was going. But, wait, that doesn’t make sense. She wouldn’t leave without her phone.” After thinking for a brief moment, Diamond Tiara continued. “Did she leave a note? I’m sure she’s just on her way to meet me so we can go shopping.”
The only answer she received was silence. Her phone didn’t disconnect, did it? That would be very annoying if it was a common occurrence. Why couldn’t they have this phone and the plan it came with working the way any other cellphone in public use does already?
Silver Spoon’s father spoke just as Diamond Tiara was about to say something and test if it had lost service. “You don’t get it, do you? She’s gone, Diamond Tiara. Dead. More accurately, she overdosed on her mother’s sleeping pills last night.”
Hearing that, Diamond Tiara’s phone nearly slipped out of her hand. “What…?” This couldn’t be real. He had to be lying. “Listen, I know Silver Spoon more than you do. She’s always telling me things that she says she doesn’t tell you about. And I’m not telling you what they are because I’m her friend. I know she would never do anything like that.”
When Silver Spoon’s father spoke again, he sounded very agitated. “She was bullied on a social media website called FacePlace.”
FacePlace? Diamond Tiara almost laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. She doesn’t do social media stuff. I’m constantly telling her she should try it, but she always turns down my offer.”
“I’m looking at her account on her computer right now. It was made yesterday. The things they said to her… are still saying to her are—” a grunt of suppressed rage and sorrow was heard on the other end of the line. “If I ever get my hands on the ones responsible, I am willing to face jail time if I have to because I would kill them.”
Diamond Tiara was starting to feel the same. If what she was hearing was indeed true, she would do more than simply annihilate the users responsible on every social media website. Instead, Diamond Tiara would track them down and become the very bane of their existence. “What’s her username?”
“Grayfu22edsilverl1ning.”
…
…
…
All of Diamond Tiara’s senses went numb.
Silver Spoon is… was Grayfu22edsilverl1ning? The same user that she had been… “you’re lying… you’re reading it wrong, something!” Diamond Tiara only realized her mistake when she finished talking. Her, making a mistake? Impossible. She was… No, is. She is perfect. She is never wrong. He wouldn’t catch on to the fact that she’s the primary user responsible if she happened to be incorrect, which she never is.
That little flickering glimmer of hope suddenly seemed more like a fantasy than anything else.
Silver Spoon’s father spoke, snapping Diamond Tiara’s attention back to reality. “Don’t assume that because I’m over twice your age, I don’t do social media. Unlike you youngsters of today, I use FacePlace to promote my business. So I’m perfectly familiar with how this website works.”
Diamond Tiara went through the facts in her head. Yesterday evening she got into an online argument with Grayfu22edsilverl1ning. Grayfu22edsilverl1ning was Silver Spoon. As a result of the conflict, her friend committed suicide and was now dead. And Diamond Tiara was the sole user responsible.
A new feeling exploded inside of Diamond Tiara, one she had never felt in her life. But unfortunately, there was no one to redirect the blame she felt coming onto someone else how she usually did.
All those hateful things she said came rushing back to her, but the stranger it was meant for now had a face. For the first time, she felt… She felt… Cornered. Helpless. Small. Alone… Sick. The perceived world Diamond Tiara knew and ruled over shattered into dust in that instant. Was this how her… her… victims felt… when she pressured them?
I just killed my friend… And it’s my fault.
Author's Note
Sorry but I need to rant.
What will it take for Cyberbullies to understand that real people are on the other side of a username? What do they think we are, emotionless NPC’s only existing for their personal satisfaction and entertainment? It is impossible for them to see the repercussions their words have on complete strangers located on the opposite end of the planet so they keep doing it. Stuff like that doesn’t effect them so why should they care?
For that matter, what’s even the point? What’s stopping me from doing the same thing Silver Spoon did? I even know the perfect place to hide the evidence. I know all about the repetitive ‘people care for you and will be sad that your gone’ speeches. They all regurgitate the same message, but what do you (the reader) really know about me? Most of the time my existence is acknowledged when I make mistakes more often then when I have a short lived pointless achievements, so it’s difficult to not see myself as replaceable often when there’s always someone who can do something I can better then me.
