Sometimes, social media is more than it seems.
Created by: Daniel Weiss
#RIP
It was late fall. My apartment was chilly due to the broken furnace my landlord kept promising to fix, so I put on my thick hooded sweatshirt. With a drink by my side, I continued my favorite pastime, scrolling through social media sites. It was mostly the usual; Pictures of pets, people angry about how a show ended, political diatribes that divide commenters. Then, there it was. The only tag that gets people on the same page. RIP. No one can argue with a touching farewell once someone has died.
So who was it? It seemed most of my friends knew the deceased. “This is so sad.” “What a loss.” “He left us so young.” Who was this unfortunate soul who passed on too early? I searched for a few moments. More posts. “We miss you already.” “Why him?” “Poor Greg.” That last one hit too close to home as I share the same first name with the dearly departed. My Aunt Connie mentioned how sad she is to announce her nephew’s passing. Wait, I am her only… Something weird was going on.
I quickly moved to my home page and found countless messages of condolence to my family. Was this a prank? My best friend Andrea posted a picture of us with a crying face attached. Who was the prankster that started this? I scrolled to the earliest post. It was an update from me that I did not write. “It is with a heavy heart that I announce my son Greg has passed away.” My mom?
I quickly picked up my phone. No signal. I tried to send an email. It bounced back. None of my messages would send. I looked at the date of the post. It was time-stamped tomorrow. What was I missing? What was going on? I did a search for my name. The first result was for a local doctor with the same name. A short scroll down to find an obituary. “Gregg Hadley, 23.” It was there, alongside my college graduation photo. This was either the most elaborate hoax, or something more sinister. If this was real, then what was the cause of death?
I searched for a while to no avail. Then I found it. It was on the local news station’s website. “Local man found murdered in his apartment.” It was dated today at 11:36 pm, and included my address. Murdered? How could this be? What happened? I hastily clicked “Read more.” It was at the very moment that I read, “Cause of death was multiple” that I saw the reflection of the blade on my computer screen.
