Overwhelmed

The worst came the next day.

In the early hours of the morning, an anonymous person had uploaded the video to the website. It was short, no more than five minutes long, it was poorly cropped and, as it was a normal camera, not a night camera, there was little visibility, you could only see what they themselves were illuminating. But they were recognisable, it was undoubtedly them, their voices, although distant, were there, especially when it forced the four of them to identify themselves.

Most of the comments appeared in the morning, Coral had not stopped refreshing the page again and again and knew at what hour and minute each one had been sent. Mostly mockery, irony and laughing emoticons. A few had taken advantage to capture their upset faces, and satires were not long in coming.

What's more, in the comments section they were divided into two factions: those who dedicated themselves to making memes , they did not stop uploading distorted videos, photos with different templates and Bottom text, and those who preferred to open a debate about what happened, asking, interpreting and redescribing the video. Not a single comment of support reached Coral.

One hundred and six users were online at the time Imobach woke up, Coral heard him stumble against his nightstand as he turned off the alarm clock. She took refuge in her room, hunched over in her chair, occasionally looking up to look at the sea, but then looking back down to reload the page. In the background she heard the new cooking class, today Yuusuke would learn how to make a Bienmesabe. Coral remembered that her brother had prepared it for her twelfth birthday, the maid at the time, and one of the last ones they had, thought it didn't look good, so she preferred to throw it away, without asking, and buy one from the supermarket.

She felt like crying again, she held it in even when she was alone. How could they be so calm? Hadn't they read the warning message? All those comments, people talking about her, about all of them, without being able to stop them, without being able to explain herself, she felt overwhelmed, it was a horrible feeling, one of the worst she had ever felt, even worse than when she saw a bone in her relay race partner's leg after falling from the stands.

Anger appeared, how could it be that no one was able to ask how she was? She felt bad, why didn't they notice him? Did she not exist? Why didn't they realize that something was wrong?

Teresa spoke to her at noon, they had finished picking in the garden and were heading straight to her house. She was gentle, she didn't ask directly, but went around in circles, her first question was if she had slept in the heat, and then if the heat had allowed her to eat something. Coral lied to her about both:

<<I slept with a fan ;) >>

<< an iced coffee can do anything!! >>

She had not touched the bed except to scrunch her face and wish to disappear, nor had he left his room except to go to the bathroom.

She looked at herself in the small vanity mirror, she hadn't worn glasses for a long time, unlike her brother, she preferred to always wear contact lenses, luckily she didn't have much vision loss, the glasses looked bad on her, they only accentuated the dark circles under her eyes. She hadn't gotten rid of her high ponytail since the day before, her hair was starting to hurt and the bag of ice her brother had given her was already warm liquid on the table, maybe she should freeze it , she thought, the only function of the ice at that moment was to ruin the table.

But her mind, treacherous, took him back to yesterday. She remembered the figure again, the greenish halo and her pathetic faces, exactly as she had said, that was what she was.

She read the comments for the seventh time, all of them, more than three hundred that had been published, she kept telling himself that it was to calm down, that he would find one that would do her good and that would help him relax, but she went back to review them and when she finished the only thing she felt was anguish.

A suffocating anguish that did not allow her to swallow water, breathe well or speak out loud.

“All for nothing…” she stammered.

She heard a knock on her door. Teresa? Finally! She just wanted a long, warm hug. But it wasn't to be.

“Coco,” he whispered, “whether you wake up or not, you have to go get checked out…”

Imobach slid on his knees until he reached his sister.

“What happened? Are you okay?!” He felt like she had asked a really stupid question but she didn't say anything, he just inspected his sister all over, she wanted to rule out any other bruises or burns apart from the swelling on her ankle.

“The video.” Yuusuke answered from the door.

"What video?" Imobach asked in complete ignorance. He was feeling desperate, his sister had started whimpering and he just wanted to wrap her in a blanket and rock her to sleep.

“The one you haven't seen. Yesterday, the screening they showed us. It was a mockery and they put it up. Only that one, if I'm not mistaken.”

Coral nodded, she had expected the worst, more recordings, even more disparaging comments, doubts about her adventures, suspicions of the falsehood of the cases and uncertainty about her person, but the anonymous person had only uploaded the video and disappeared, no criticism or notes. For now.

The doorbell rang, just what was needed, more noise , Coral thought. Yuusuke opened the door.

“Why didn't you tell me anything?” his brother asked her, looking into his eyes, their green color seemed to turn black.

Coral looked away. She didn't want to say it out loud, it would sound stupid, but that was what she felt, she wanted them to notice without having to tell it, as always, since she was little, she wanted someone to pay attention to her and know what was happening to her, otherwise it meant that she wasn't important, that no one paid attention to her, that she was dispensable.

“Can you believe it?!” a calico cat with short curls appeared at the door and did not lower his tone for anything in the world. “To me!” she did not bother to correct himself, changing it to we. “Who do you think you are? Even if they investigate you on a Deep Web forum !” the executioner sentenced the penance.

“We don't know him, at least not us.” said Teresa at her side. She sat on the bed, looking intently at Coral. “And from what Adassa investigated, neither do you... He's a troll , he just wanted to laugh, nothing more.” she said, it seemed that this kind of mockery, apart from making her feel embarrassed and blush, didn't affect her too much.

“Obviously, we're not that important” Yuusuke intervened, he positioned himself at the door again, he was the furthest away. “Besides, the poor quality of the joke predisposed him.”

“You-you knew?” Coral asked confused.

“Clear.”

Yuusuke assumed it, but his friends were experiencing such terror at the moment that they didn't recognize anything other than that apparition. He only reinforced his philosophy, don't get carried away, think, look, and then act.

“That fog,” he continued speaking. “was nothing more than the particles of dust raised, colliding with the beams of light. And the metallic voice…”

“So why did you hide then, smart guy?” Adassa asked.

“I can't let them record my face.”

“Understandable” Imobach justified.

“The movements left a lot to be desired” if he compared it to the technology where he came from, he could place it ninety years ago.

“That's true,” Adassa said, nodding quickly as he pointed. I wonder what program they used…

“But look,” Coral ruffled her hair, which was still tied up, “there is a campaign making fun of us and you start criticizing how badly it was done. Now of course, because at the time you didn't say anything.”

“What do I do? Put him on my shoulder?” Adassa meowed.

“No! N-no, but…” Coral looked around, and felt helpless, she couldn't trust anyone, she couldn't. She raised her legs and gathered them in her arms. “But I'm right… they are humiliating us… no one…”

“You're right, none of us like what's happened, look at us.” Imobach was good at those moments, speaking slowly and calmly, he had always thought he would end up as an underpaid psychologist in some office.

“But… why me…? Then,” she whimpered. “it’s me. It’s me, that’s what they think, that I’m a drama queen…”

“A little bit, yes,” Adassa stated “but it doesn't bother her.” She tried to fix when she felt Yuusuke's gaze on the newly shaved nape of her neck.

“I'm sorry you feel that way, Coco, but I don't think that's the truth.”

“Cry, that usually helps.” Teresa came over to take her hand-. But you're wrong, you're an excellent delegate, a fast runner, a born surfer, a student capable of combining friends and exams, a helpful friend, you say yes even if you don't feel like it just because it makes the other person happy, you run errands, you visit old people, you take care of some of your friends' siblings...

“Enough!” Coral shouted. She abruptly pushed the hand away and rolled away in her desk chair. “Get out. I want to be alone. If that’s how they see me, I’m not worth it. Get out!”

“Coco, I think you're going too far.” Her brother warned him.

“No, get out,” she bellowed in a more timid tone.

Before turning around to look at the sea again, she saw Adassa's bad mood and Teresa's wet eyes. She didn't want to look at her brother, and even less at Yuusuke. She felt bad for talking to them like that, but at the same time, she felt good. She wanted them to feel like her, she wanted them to understand her.

Teresa stiffened, reacted when Imobach placed a hand on her shoulder, then stood up.

“Sorry,” Teresa said.

The door closed loudly, Imobach tried to remain calm, he understood that she was affected and did not really want to do any harm, but he should not be allowed to do anything either.

That lump in her throat was again, now it had even gotten bigger, her limbs went numb and Coral had to stand up to move them a little, she felt a tingling all over her face. She went to the light, turned it off but after a few seconds she turned it back on. She felt tired, not only from sleep, but also from all the thoughts that were going through her head, they were more and more and they only crashed into the walls of her temple instead of going out…

“Why me? I've always behaved well, I've been obedient…” she said looking at the ceiling, she didn't really know who she was saying it to or what. “Everyone thinks I'm capricious and a wimp.” She thought about Teresa, with everything she had lived through it would be normal for the blonde, but not for her, no. “Why not me if I've had a good life? Why not me?” She looked at her lower legs. “And on top of that…” She cried again.