Chapter 3

Even as I screamed in agony, the crowd below and the live comments on TikTok and YouTube were ruthless.

They kept throwing insults, celebrating my pain.

"Evil ex-best friend! Accomplice! Go to hell, bitch!"

On the massive screen above, my memories began to play in reverse.

The first memory appeared.

The screen showed the third day after Chloe's death.

I was at the absolute center of a massive cyberbullying storm. Thousands of people online were demanding I name the killer.

They doxxed my home address, sent me death threats, and spammed my phone with terrifying calls.

My personal information was leaked everywhere. I was fired from my job.

The sheer malice of the internet crushed me. I was blacklisted from society, unable to find any work.

I fled my apartment, desperately trying to escape the endless harassment in real life and online.

The screen showed a montage of my eviction notices. I had nowhere to go.

With no options left, I took my cat, Casper, and fled to a sketchy, cheap, run-down neighborhood on the edge of the city.

But the internet mob still found me. Right in front of my eyes, they poisoned Casper, the only living being I had left.

I held Casper’s stiff, cold body in my arms, crying until my voice was completely gone.

That year, with my grandmother already dead, I was only twenty-two years old and completely alone.

Lucas stared at my tear-stained face on the screen, letting out a cold sneer.

"Elena, you brought this on yourself. Don't act like a victim."

"If you hadn't protected the rapist, none of this would have happened. You think you deserve sympathy?"

"You are the last person on earth who gets to feel victimized! You chose to protect a criminal, this is your karma!"

The crowd chimed in:

"How shameless! Is she really trying to make us feel sorry for her?"

"Using pathetic memories to gain sympathy? Joke of the century! An accomplice is just as guilty as the rapist. Burn in hell!"

"How does she have the nerve to play the victim? Chloe's family was destroyed! Her daughter died, her mother collapsed, everyone suffered more than her!"

Right then, a girl's clear, bright laughter echoed from the screen.

"Chloe! Slow down!"

A young, innocent Chloe appeared on the giant screen.

She was running toward me on a beautiful, sunny beach, her face glowing with a bright smile.

"Catch!"

She tossed a beach ball toward me.

"My sweet girl!" Arthur, her grandfather, sobbed, throwing himself toward the screen.

Looking at Chloe's radiant smile on the screen, the old man, who had aged decades in the last ten years, broke down completely.

Since Chloe's suicide, he had gone to the police station every single day, asking: *Have you caught him yet?*

And every single time, the detectives could only shake their heads in pity.

The security cameras at the estate had conveniently glitched that night. The party had been crowded with guests.

Nobody knew who had followed Chloe out to the backyard.

And the only person who knew the truth was me.

On screen, after playing on the beach, I stopped in front of a quiet little chapel by the sea, silently making a wish: *Dear God, please keep my friends safe and happy. Let our friendship and love last forever...*

Seeing my prayers on screen, Lucas couldn't contain his rage any longer.

"Elena, you hypocritical liar! You ungrateful snake!"

He stormed over, pointing a finger at me, his voice trembling with anger:

"How dare you bring up our past! Are you trying to disgust me?"

"For ten years, you haven't said a single word of truth. Do you really think you're worthy of being our friend, of being my lover?"

And then, the screen showed a scene of me secretly throwing away a bracelet Chloe had gifted me.

The crowd went wild:

"Unbelievable! She threw away her friend's gift behind her back!"