IGCSE English First Language

The cancellation

2019 May/June Paper 32

Section 2: Comprehension

Write a story using the title, 'The Cancellation'

Memories of last year when three of my very close friends took their own lives. One after the other, they left the world that didn't treat them right. Maybe it was the shrilling cold of the winter that drove them to their deaths, I'd never know the real reason. They never told me. It was always the four of us, but now we were left with one. I was always the most rational one amongst them. I was often called 'emotionless' by them. Well, they weren't wrong. I never allowed my emotions to cloud my judgments and make my decisions. Though I do have emotions, I just hide them very well. Albeit, too well that people have blamed me for not feeling sad over the passing of my friends. I was and still am. But what do they know.

Last December we were in my basement where we hung out all the time. It was a whole game room made by my geeky little brother but we used it like it was ours. He never complained though. It was on our winter holiday, so as usual we played Mario Kart, Sims 4, Battleground. Like geeks we played games all the time. So on that fateful day, Jenna suggested we trolled some people online for fun over twitter. Sara and I were too engrossed shooting the enemies dead meanwhile Jenna and Brooks giggled endlessly over the Mac. The next day, we hung out in the basement again. They told us about how they made fun of random strangers online and the drama that ensued. I couldn't be bothered about how they got people mad over their silly comments, but Sarah rebuked them. She told them it was rude and they got into an argument. I thought they'd get over it like always but they didn't. For days Jenna and Brooks didn't come over. Sara and I were worried. The argument we had weren't so serious for them to suddenly act that way.

Few days after that, Jenna and Brooks texted us they were going to explain to us something important. We met at the neighborhood playground, our other hang out place. They had gotten into some beef with people online and so easily they got hacked. Their personal information were exposed on twitter, and twitter's cancel culture had canceled them. Complaints were sent to their parents and even the school. Their accounts got hacked and eventually suspended. The school issued a letter of expulsion to their parents. Everything happened so fast and within a few days, they were officially expelled with a minor criminal record. Parents were so disappointed, they weren't even allowed out of the house when their families went on holidays for winter break.

We didn't know what to do. What should any person do in this situation. Since we couldn't meet up, we just didn't hang out at all for the rest of winter break. Neither did Sara and I. I tried calling both of them to cheer them up, they would just wave me off and assured me they were fine. I wanted to check whatever happened on twitter, but their original posts were deleted. Whatever remained was a whole lot of hate comments, they were so hateful and malicious to the extent where they got sent death threats by many random strangers online.

 This was the cancel culture on twitter and how it worked.

They pick a mistake, get people to join the hate bandwagon, and drive people to their deaths. That was exactly what happened. Jenna committed suicide in her room and Brooks attempted but was taken to the hospital right away. She attempted for the second time and died on her hospital bed. Sara was with me the night after that. She cried for hours on end and I did too, but not as much. She was stressed and scared. We were both traumatized, our closest friends just died in our faces. We went home  with a heavy heart. The next morning, Sara was found dead. But the police couldn't find any traces of suicide.

The cancel culture was more toxic than I thought. My friends were killed and I will prove it to everyone.