Clip That

Miles could still hear those last words, the splash echoing against acoustic concrete, then his wet foot prints slopping away. He could hear it because it had been clipped from a live stream and rebroadcast on every major news network for the last four hours. As he sat at the bar and tried to blend in, all he could think about was how he never knew who “@Socratesdeez” was or why his friend had so carelessly abused him and the loosely bound friendship he thought they had.

Miles Brown taught English and physical education, unfortunately mostly the latter. Eric Jackson taught philosophy. They had a similar but distanced history. They were from roughly the same area, both went to the same college by chance, where they interacted maybe ten times. They both pursued teaching careers and wound-up teaching at the same high school.

Miles chose to move back home to be closer to family, and all that the local high school had available was gym teacher and occasional English substitute. The pull to his family was stronger than the pull to several other full time English teaching opportunities at some very well-paying schools.

Eric moved back home to save money, so he said, and Eric’s uncle highly recommended him for the philosophy department chair at the school he was the principal of.

They had maintained the same relationship they had in college, peaceful but awkward co habitation. It felt like they should have been friends given their past and recent close proximity, but they had just never made any real connection. Even now they rarely made effort to see each other on campus. If they did, they would wave and smile, maybe hesitate for a moment, then continue wherever they were headed. Eric thought it was bullshit that they were paid the same amount, and always kind of held that against Miles.

Eric’s part time gig was a content creator. Eric could see how overwhelming, influential, and downright scary social media is every day in his classroom. He tried to maintain an understanding of the newest trends and waves and to participate in them; his lame attempt to look cool in front of these young and already biased students.

His handle, Socratesdeez, was his clever attempt at mixing the purpose of his participation with a modern viral trend. Maybe he could be THE Socrates of Social Media, but with much, much, more money. “-deez” is an example of a neologism from the internet lexicon; it acts as a transition from what an individual would like to be attached or acted upon the genitalia, to the chosen specification of that genitalia. Voila, Socratesdeez. Eric was destined to be a pinnacle of society surely.

Eric sat on a bench at the end of the school day while the students ran out past him. While grasping at some title to enrapture the masses, two giggling students burst out of the gymnasium, each carrying two basketballs with the name of the school written on the side in sharpie. This was a new internet trend that had gone viral among the teens, and having a certified school basketball was major clout. On the chase was Miles, who was not quite prepared to keep up with two wiry sugar and adrenaline filled teenagers. Miles was panting five feet from the door after having ran through the locker room and across the gymnasium. While try to slow down, his dragging feet clipped a rock and he fell flat on his face. What Eric caught on camera was the two robbers rushing away from the gym, then the camera frames to Miles right before he falls.

“Watch this teacher fall face first chasing two punks, good vs evil?”

Paired with the right song, and the repeated slam of Miles’ face in rhythm, that video got Socratesdeez over 82.6 thousand views. Suddenly his other uploads got the views and signs of approval he craved, and responses encouraged more and more of this weird philosophical shit paired with hilarious clips. Eric saw the potential, the upvotes and reposts and money, and decided to get himself closer to his new victim.

“Socratesdeez presents: Face First Failure, and…concussion brain?”.

In this video, Eric asked to have lunch with Miles, with the intention to reveal himself as the source of that embarrassing and wildly viewed video, and to propose a partnership. The camera Eric had hidden in his bag to record the entire interaction was just for safety.

After some awkward attempts to catch-up and quiz each other on random acquaintances they may have shared, they started to eat. Eric found out from his gentle probing question of “Hey you must have updated since high school, where can I follow you now?”, that Miles stayed away from all social media and related apps. Miles had developed severe anxiety related to this overwhelming new wave of media fueled by you the viewer, and had chosen to make efforts to keep it out of his life. Plus being constantly told by his friend group what post he was missing out on was kind of like seeing it, at least enough for him. Miles was truly excited to finally eat with someone though, instead of sitting alone. He figured other teachers didn’t bother to make a connection with him because he taught gym and because he had a bad habit of rambling, which scares people away, or so he thought at least.

Eric was all too eager to listen, because he saw exactly how great this could be for his content. His scrapped his original title; “Update on Face first teacher, and what hurts more, felt pain, or potential pain?”. Instead, by exploiting the camera’s singular focus on Miles and by inserting voiceovers, Eric made it appear as though Miles consents to be recorded, Eric asks to partner which then Miles agrees to, then proceeds to go on an unfiltered rant. Miles rambles for six minutes about the likelihood that social media is corrupting the youth and asks Eric if he ever read Phaedo and all the while does not stop eating. The resulting image and edits make Miles look unhinged and dangerous. 1.2M Views, 12k Reshares, 752 Comments.

“Face First Failure complains about pay, but does nothing! The duality of dumbassery"

Miles had been venting. He couldn’t secure funding for clipboards, markers, and other supplies he needed, and although he managed to purchase everything, he hadn’t been able to see the dentist in a couple months, and his tooth still really hurt. Take the money and pay talks, specifically when Miles talked about knowing his worth and his time put in, add in clips of him napping between periods in his office, and leave out the important and humanizing stuff. Eric also left out the part about Miles complaining about some punk he uploaded a video of him tripping. One of the students had showed one of the other gym teachers and Miles was annoyed to find it was basically considered viral. 2.6M Views, 28k Reshares, 903 Comments.

“FFF shows us why ignorance is not bliss, the tiniest things make you dreadfully sad”

Alright maybe Eric did it to cheer himself up and figured it could help others. Plus no one could relate this video to the actual events. A teenager in the junior grade had killed themself. They had been struggling with their identity and not a lot of kids welcomed that. There had been signs, and attempts at real conversation, and even a chat room and meeting once a month found through thetrevorproject.org. But ultimately, they still made their choice, and the school staff were only a few of so many devastated people.

Well Eric had this spare clip of Miles smiling and carrying a fast-food lunch, before a strong gust of wind blew the bag right out of Miles’ still clutching hands. Yesterday, after hearing about this tragic death, Eric went to talk to Miles. Eric had seen Miles offer an ear and a safe place whenever any student needed it. Miles was genuine in his offers to help, and it was evident since Eric usually saw Miles casually shooting a basketball with students on the old outdoor hoops.

Eric didn’t need to hide his footsteps on his approach like usual, Miles was crying, and it echoed around the office and through the gym. Eric ran back to his office and grabbed scotch tape. He knew an old trick involving scotch tape on frosted glass would give him the perfect hidden window to grab some premium footage. A piece of tape quietly ripped off and placed on Miles’ office windows and now it was clear. Stitched together, it looks like Miles is sobbing over a lost lunch bag. Eric was a little hesitant, but he still hit upload. 2.8M Views, 31k Reshares, 1.2k comments.

“LIVE: Confronting Face First Failure with Evidence of his Crimes”

Miles figured out who was posting these embarrassing and cruel videos. A snickering student had been dared to ask Miles if that was really him in the video. Some quick snooping on the account, plus a suspicion of Eric’s sudden interest, and Miles put it all together. Eric got a text from Miles telling him to meet by the pool after 5pm. Scared and easily about to get his ass kicked, Eric came up with the click bait title. His last resort would be to show the title to Miles hoping that Miles would be hesitant to do anything.

Eric’s phone indicated that 2,500 people were tuned into the stream waiting for it to start as he walked to the gym. As soon as Eric saw the number, he was filled with so much dopamine and adrenaline, the best high that is maintained by the steady stream of comments and donations. With his phone haphazardly taped onto his chest, Eric started the stream and kicked open the doors with all the confidence he could muster. The students from the late swim practice hurried out past him. It was evident by the wet pool deck and the still lapping pool water that they had just finished for the day. After holding the door open for them and awkwardly apologizing for kicking in the door, he walked directly towards Miles. Eric lifted his shoulders and puffed out his chest, giving him the cartoon Tasmanian devil proportions he assumed appeared tough, and had the effect of lifting the camera a bit more to make himself seem taller. As he got closer, Miles stood up off the bench, and immediately the camera height dropped. Miles glanced at the camera on Eric’s chest as Eric began to stammer about the stream, but Miles’ anger roared over Eric. The darkness in the gymnasium, minus the light lined pool next to them, seemed to echo deeper with his words, and the live feed shook with Eric’s body. Miles demanded to know why Eric thought it was ok to film and present him like that.

Miles stepped closer.

He wanted to know why Eric would pretend to be his friend. That was the worst part. Miles thought he finally had someone real to talk to, someone to confide in and vent with. He sternly reminded Eric that friends don’t do that.

Miles stepped closer.

Eric stepped back, and his calves felt the cold metal bleachers through his slacks.

Miles sighed, and though he lowered his voice it was still louder than the pool water slapping up against the tile. He begged Eric to explain why he thought that last video was even an idea in Eric’s mind. They were teachers, which meant they were role models and protectors first, educators second. His behavior was downright dirty.

Miles stepped forward again.

Eric took a quick and small step to the side to avoid falling.

Miles told him he understood the streaming stuff and gestured at the camera. He understood that social media has a powerful and wide reach over down right everything. Even a person’s emotions can be manipulated through it, and that wasn’t even a conspiracy theory. Miles even made sure to acknowledge that there are wonderful, amazing upsides to the progress technology and social media have made, and that there are outstanding people using it in positive ways.

But they both knew there was a large, vast dark side to that light. It was wicked, and despicable and wrong, and it needed to be held accountable someway somehow. Miles was practically snarling when he said they had found a game chat room log on the dead teen’s computer with horrendous words arranged monstrously.

Miles stepped forward.

He had one hand outstretched that he intended to place softly on Eric’s shoulder. He just wanted to ask Eric to respect his privacy, and no longer film him.

But Eric flinched backward hard.

One foot slipped forward on a puddle, the other turned his body with the intended momentum meant to catch itself.

Instead, Eric’s face struck the corner of the stainless-steel bleacher, leaving a dent in the bench and in his skull.

After a moment of horrified pause, Miles flipped over Eric’s motionless body. The narrow pathway between pool’s edge and team bleachers only had room for one shoulder width on this side. Miles accidentally flipped Eric’s body directly into the pool.

Eric’s camera live-streamed Miles’s anger and frustration, Miles reach out his hand, then a tumultuous drop. A few seconds of darkness, then Miles flips over the body into the pool. The stream continued as the camera bobbed above and slightly below the surface of a reddening water. Through water droplets, the comment thread seethes. Between exclamations to clip this, viewers start to tear apart Miles for being frozen in shock for so long.

Miles jumped in and pulled Eric out, the camera on his still chest showing a grunting Miles’ chin. Between the blood in the pool and the pool of blood forming under his head, Miles could tell Eric was dead. He looked directly into the camera, not sure if it was streaming still or what it had seen. Whatever it had, Miles did not look good in any of it. The stream ends as the water damage finally seeps in, and the last audio streamed is Miles’ jogging out of the gym in soggy sneakers. 36.7M Views, 1.3M Reshares, 18.2k Comments.