Internet lies

People will believe anything. You wouldn't believe some of the crazy theories people actually believe on the internet. Like flat earthers who refuse to believe the earth is spherical, instead believing it to be flat instead. Or how about those online conspiracy theorists who believe Hollywood actors eat babies to stay young and handsome, or how they believe a secret cult known as the Illuminati control the world's governments and society as a whole. There are folks who believe lizard people live amongst us, disguising themselves as humans or that aliens secretly watch our every move. Some of these conspiracies can be funny or intriguing to speculate over, there are very few that actually hold merit or have even proven to be true. My personal favourite has to be the Mandela Effect, where everyone remembers something being a certain way, yet in reality it's always been another way. Like imagine waking up one day to see the sun is now red, only for everyone else to say it's always been that way and even in old movies and pictures the sun is indeed red, not orange or is it yellow? Now that's a Mandela Effect. There is also the Butterfly Effect, where if you were to do so little as kill a butterfly in the past, it could drastically change the present or future. The Butterfly Effect is typically the plot to most movies or books that feature the premise of time travel, where the time traveller makes a bad decision in the past that needs fixing otherwise their personal life is doomed. These are all fun theories, ones made up by imaginative people. Some are harmless to believe, while others can have sometimes dangerous and uncertain consequences if you decide to believe them, which brings us up to the clutch of this story. That being the time Josef Carlin was wrongfully accused of the murder of poor little Ally Sedan. You see what happened is this; Josef worked at a theme park called Ricky Mouse Land in Miami Florida, which was based on the popular children's cartoon show. Ally had unfortunately died during a particularly gruesome ride on the tea cups, the cup she was inside of span out of control and the railing was loose so she came tumbling out of the ride at speed so fast it proved fatal as she crashed head first onto the yellow brick ground, staining it red with her blood. What happened to Ally was a tragic accident, the ride was old and unstable, it simply broke and led to tragedy. However, others wanted revenge, they needed someone to blame. So when news leaked that it was Josef who had operated the ride that day, everyone wanted to point fingers and claim he did that on purpose. That he intentionally made that one tea cup spin out of control in a successful attempt to kill that poor girl! The rumours were all over the internet, Josef was even "let go" from his job because of all the negative press he and the park were receiving.

"But it was just an accident!" Josef protested to his bosses.

"We know Josef, of course it wasn't your fault, but people are boycotting us because of what happened. We have to let you go, but not without a generous redundancy package to the pay of $3,500."

"Now that's a lot of money Mr Walt, but I need steady income to pay off my mortgage!" Josef cried.

"I'm afraid that's all we can do. Maybe if this whole thing is proven to be an accident in court and this witch-hunt is forgotten, we'll take you back." Mr Walt forced a corporate smile.

"Thanks..." Josef sighed sarcastically, before accepting the deal with a reluctant handshake. However, losing his job was the least of his worries. Hundreds, if not thousands of people were rallying against him online for what happened. "Child Killer" was something Josef unfortunately got used to seeing everyday on social media. The harassment got so bad he had to quit using his mobile phone altogether, as random people kept calling him every hour with so many different numbers it proved impossible to block them all. He even got his phone hacked so that it was scorching hot in his hands from time to time. The guy even got swatted where people fake called the police saying he had committed murder at his residence. Things only got worse and worse for poor young Josef however, as one day his haters began showing up at his house, filming him and swearing abuse at him and his family.

"You get to have a family, while Ally's parents grieve! Child Killer!" One of them shouted at that always hurt Josef the most, because he most certainly did feel responsible for her death, despite the fact it was clearly a fatal accident, one nobody could have possibly predicted. The $3,500 he got from Ricky Mouse Land was soon spent, as he and his family fled America to live in some rundown apartment building in Mexico. Life out there was tough, but they managed, living under the radar but away from the press. A year passed and things got easier, but one day some gangsters in the area recognised Josef working at a little bar not too far from the apartment he and his family were staying in. These gangsters unfortunately believed the horrible internet lies about him and planned to kill his whole family. It happened one peaceful Wednesday night after work, Josef and his whole family were sat on the living room sofa watching a family movie (not a Ricky Mouse film though, because they now hated that rat), enjoying themselves with cheap popcorn and soda (which was all he and his wife could afford). Things were good enough however, almost perfect. Their life was finally getting back on track. Then it happened. Smash! A Molotov cocktail came crashing through the window, onto the living room coffee table.

"Fuck!" Josef gasped, standing to his feet, while the family film still played on the tiny TV in front of them; flames were bursting from the glass bomb that exploded right in front of them.

"Daddy!" His daughter Elizabeth cried.

"Keep away from the fire!" He warned her and his son.

"What's going o-"

Before his wife Candy could finish her sentence, another Molotov had crash landed directly into her chest, burning her alive in an instant, she screamed!

"Mommy!" Elizabeth screamed in frantic terror, cowering behind her father. Soon the whole apartment was engulfed in flames, as the gangsters downstairs kept throwing more and more fiery Molotovs into their window. All that could be heard was Josef and his family screaming in agony and horror.

"Serves you right, child killer!" One of the gangsters spat on the ground, before they all climbed back into their car and sped off into the darkness of night, before the police could show up and arrest them.