My stories are so “terrible” and yet my #1 fan club keep reading all of my stories just to leave fake bad reviews on every single story. They’re so dedicated. I’m going to keep writing fictional stories about their bad behaviors until they take a hint to stop stalking me and to stop talking about me. This is my latest fictional story I wrote. So the one star “review” stalker took time out of its day to read my entire short story and rather than comprehending the moral of the story its false reviews do nothing to me or my decoy stories, it still left a fake one star review on my Smashwords account, anyway. (By the way, false reviews get removed, so I don’t know why the person keeps doing it.)
When Abigail Graham’s husband divorced her and then died of an
unexpected illness, she went spiraling downward trying to take care of her two teenage
sons and 5-year-old daughter on her own.
She pretended to like her ex-husband’s new girlfriend for the sake of
getting along with the kids. However,
the kids could see their mother’s bitterness but there was nothing they could
do. She decided to join some clubs in
town and met her best friend Millie Lynch.
Millie Lynch also suffers from various tragedies. Some people use their tragedies as a way to
become better people in life. For these
two, they unleash their anger onto innocent strangers who never did anything to
them. Abigail and Millie hate seeing
anyone else that is more successful than them and they are willing to destroy
people who have what they want. They
have already lost in everything, that’s why they don’t care what they’re doing. They know what they’re doing and they just
don’t care. How far will they go?
Joy Luan is a new foreign exchange student who just started Junior
High in Ohio. She loves reading and
writing books. Peter Graham, the class
president reads some of her excerpts and suggests Joy to join the school’s
writing club that is headed by his mom.
He tells her that his mom would love to read Joy’s work. Joy thought it would be a fun activity to get
to know other authors and writers and to befriend mentors who have been in the
writing business to show her how it’s done.
What happened next shocked everyone, especially Peter Graham.
The Elites
By: Lunch Lady
Publishing, LLC
Copyright © 2018
This book is a work of fiction. The names,
characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or
have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any
resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations
is entirely coincidental.
Names, characters and
incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination, or
are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales,
organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond
the intent of the author or the publisher. All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without written permission from the publisher and/or author.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If
you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an
additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not
purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to
Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard
work of this author.
-Dedication-
I’d like to thank everyone who believes in my writing. I’m spending more time with people who do
appreciate me and not those who don’t add anything of substance to my life.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 – Unbothered
Chapter 2 – Who Won?
Chapter 3 – Caught
Chapter 4 – Solitary Confinement
Chapter 5 – The Aftermath
Chapter 6 – Quote of the Day
Chapter 7 – Just Log Off
Introduction
Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are places for online
trolls to say whatever they want, be whoever they want, and talk however they
want. They have no real consequences for
spreading rumors and lies about people on the Internet or even lying about
their own successes. There are laws
about defamation of character and if someone threatens one’s life on the Internet
that crosses the line, but people are really far too busy to actually do
anything about it.
Why go through all that hassle to teach someone a lesson when
people can just log off the computer, deactivate their social media sites and
make new names that the trolls don’t know?
Some people allow words on the Internet to bother them.
For Joy Luan, she saw Mrs. Abigail Graham every single day at
school and her teacher didn’t have the guts to say anything to her face. So because Abigail never said any of the
toxic venom to Joy’s face, Joy never really let it bother her mind.
It’s always so confusing how online trolls think their words
should hold such power to mess with someone’s mind when these are the same
people we walk past every single day who never say a word to our faces when
they actually see us in person.
Unbothered
There are jealous people in this world who
cannot handle their envy. Mrs. Graham is
the type of person who believes that she should get more followers on Twitter
because she has lived longer. She does
not believe that younger people should have so many followers on their Twitter
and she thinks that “isn’t fair” even though maybe some younger people put in
more hard work to earn their followers and fan base. While some young people want to gossip online
all day and play video games all day other young kids decided to start their
dreams early in life instead of waiting six to twenty years later. Why fault them just because they achieved
their dreams at an earlier age? The younger
generation was always taught to respect their elders. What if some elders disrespect the younger
generation – what do the kids do when people who are supposed to be their
mentors are the ones bullying them?
Mrs. Graham and her Book Club all think THEY deserve all the fame and
fortune. After all, they quit their day
jobs (more like couldn’t find work and turned to writing as a last resort – but
they like to tell people they retired early) to pursue their dreams full time. When Mrs. Graham’s dreams did not work out
for her, she decided to get back into teaching and that’s when she ran into Joy
Luan a seventh grader who joined her Writing Club after school one day.
Joy’s blog was all the town could talk
about. No matter where Mrs. Graham went,
people were always saying, “Wow, that Joy has a talent. Joy is going to be something some day and she
just doesn’t know it yet. She’s only
writing blog posts. She should write
actual stories. She has all this talent
and she isn’t using it to her full potential.”
Mrs. Graham got tired of hearing these
comments. Everyone kept telling Joy how
she should pursue her dreams whereas Mrs. Graham’s own husband told Mrs. Graham
not to quit her day job. One could guess
that was one of the reasons that led to their divorce. One wants to be a critic yet can’t take the
heat when her own work is criticized by people she is closest to.
Joy Luan decides to take the high road and not
let it bother her. In a few years, she
will be graduating and she won’t be seeing Mrs. Abigail Graham again. Mrs. Graham hasn’t directly threatened Joy’s
life so even if Joy Luan talked to the police or law enforcement, they would
tell her to ignore it – that there’s nothing that can be done. Still, the venomous messages won’t stop.
Abigail Graham knew not to do anything to Joy on
school property. She was slick only
sending Joy messages on blog comments and e-mails and never crossing the
line. Abigail likes to torment Joy
emotionally to prevent Joy from concentrating on her writing – to distract Joy
from her thoughts on completing a book.
All Abigail could think about was Joy this and
Joy that. Ever since she met Joy and
read Joy’s stories she was filled with green with envy how Joy wrote stories
effortlessly and it took Abigail a long time to get to be an English school
teacher. Some people have natural
talents. Just like some students don’t
have to study and they automatically get straight A’s. Writing is Joy’s natural talent – studying
isn’t. According to the townspeople,
people love Joy’s stories. However, she
knows she can always improve even if it is a natural gift to her. Nothing is ever finished. There can always be some tweaking. Joy envies students who don’t have to study
for hours and they get straight A’s on tests, but she doesn’t try to destroy
those students the way Mrs. Graham and her Book Club is trying to destroy Joy’s
writing.
What Abigail did not notice was that she was not
preventing Joy from writing stories. She
was preventing herself from progressing by wasting time trying to bring Joy
down and not focusing on her own stories.
And English wasn’t Joy’s first language, either!
One evening after everyone has gone to bed Abigail
gets out her MacBook and turns on the computer.
She thinks to herself, “If I can’t get the fame and fortune I deserve
from working full time on my writing career, no little seventh grader will take
my spotlight, either. What a brat! She writes part-time and is already gaining a
fan base on her blog. Everyone at school
is reading it. It took me years to get
what I have now.”
Abigail had very evil thoughts about what she
would do to Joy. Was Abigail going to
kill Joy – all because she didn’t want Joy to achieve fame and fortune at an
early life? After all, Abigail is
already flying off the handle as it is.
No, Abigail is the sneaky type – she does not actually break the
law. Killing someone would be breaking
the law. She does things to where she
knows she won’t get punished by the law because it’s legal. Is it immoral what Abigail is doing? Sure, but unfortunately, it is legal. Abigail does not care about what is immoral
or moral. All she cares about is that Joy
is getting more followers to her blog than her and Joy was not even telling
anyone about her stories and that Joy has to be stopped.
Who would believe Joy that a 45-year-old woman
is bullying her in e-mails? No one! Abigail knew Joy would not tell anyone. Most people expect grown-ups to be mature. After all, Abigail has a son named Peter in
Joy’s class. Peter is one year older
than Joy – same difference.
Peter was so smitten by Joy’s romance stories
that he shared Joy’s blog to the whole school and town – everywhere he
went. Kind of ironic how Peter,
Abigail’s son is the one who told the town of Joy’s excerpts and Abigail, his
mother is the one who is trying to prevent Joy from receiving fame and fortune. People often wonder if Peter and Abigail are
truly related. Peter has a genuine heart
of gold and always loves to help people achieve their dreams whereas Mrs.
Graham wants to destroy people who have what she wants.
Joy is disappointed that her blog has been
destroyed by these anonymous venomous comments.
She created a blog to share her excerpts with the town. She never knew that there would be such vile,
hate-filled people who would try to bring her down. Joy wasn’t a celebrity yet and she already felt
“famous” receiving these hate messages and she hadn’t even published her first
full length book and already she is getting hate mail!
Joy learns that ignoring these manipulative
comments is the better route to take.
She leaves everything in God’s hands that these people would pay for
destroying her good name. Joy did not
want to give any more attention to this “hater” and so Joy decided to shut down
her blog. The town was devastated. Joy wrote a note to everyone saying that if
the people who were sending her these hate messages aren’t dealt with, she will
no longer be publishing her stories.
When she first started writing, it was a way to relieve her stress. It was not a way for her to gain more
unnecessary stress.
Abigail and her book club always love to update
people on social media what their next moves are and what they are up to. Joy decides to do the opposite. Joy doesn’t update anyone on what she is
doing and she becomes radio silent.
Abigail sees Joy every day at school. She wonders what Joy is up to now that Joy
does not have her blog to share her stories.
Joy pretends to act like she does not know who anonymous is that did
this to her blog. When Joy enters the
classroom that day to join the rest of the students, she sees Abigail at the
front of the classroom and smiles at her as if she does not know it is Abigail
who is behind the anonymous messages.
Joy is a very analytical person. She reads between the lines. She knows what people are going to do before
they do it. So she already knew that it
was Abigail and her Book Club friends who were sending the anonymous
comments. Before Joy joined the Writing
Club, she never received hate mail like that.
It did not take long for Joy to put two and two together that it’s Abigail
who is behind the anonymous hate messages – Abigail and her book club friends. The real question is: does Peter know what
his own mother is doing? Should Joy tell
Peter what his mother is doing or will he find out on his own in due time since
they live in the same house?
Who won?
It is homeroom
period and Abigail also happens to be Joy’s homeroom teacher. All the students can be seen getting out
their books and doing their homework.
Abigail walks around checking up on them to make sure they aren’t doing
any funny business. The irony is it is
Abigail who is the one who has tricks up her sleeves.
Abigail paces
around the classroom thinking quietly to herself.
Now that Joy has shut
down her blog, she won’t be getting any new followers. I won, woohoo, Abigail chuckles silently.
All Abigail cares
about is how many followers people have on social media. She thinks the Internet is real life. She is the type of person to gloat about how
many likes and or favs she gets on a post she makes. She is one of those. Who was Abigail, though? She wasn’t an actress and only the town knows
of her. So why does she think she can
act like a celebrity as if the whole world knows her books?
To Abigail and
her book club friends if you have 10 followers on Twitter, you are a loser. If you don’t have all 5 star reviews on your
books your book sucks. That is the way
Abigail and her Book Club friends think.
Sometimes, some of the loneliest people are the ones who have a million followers
and sometimes some of the worst books in the world have all five star reviews. Joy is more interested in connecting with
people who love reading her stories, people who can relate to what she is going
through. She does not care about 5 star
reviews or to befriend every Tom, Dick, Harry, Nancy and Bob she meets. She only cares to befriend people who
actually care about what she is going through – not people who get tired of
listening to her same old drama over and over.
Caught
There’s that old saying about Karma: “What goes around comes
around.”
Mrs.
Abigail Graham will never forget the horrified look on Peter’s face when he
came home early from school one day and he caught his mom sending his classmate
some nasty e-mails. He trusted his mom to
advise his friend Joy Luan on her writing career. She let him down.
Abigail
decided to stay at home that day to grade some papers. She is the substitute teacher and fills in
for middle school teachers whenever they are on vacation, ill, or have
emergencies to take care of and she teaches English at the high school a few
blocks over full time.
“Stupid,
bitch,” Abigail yells her computer screen, pounding the keyboard ferociously.
Peter
shuts the front door, takes off his red and white Ohio State hoodie and hangs
it in the closet and says, “Hey, mom!
Are you here? I decided to come
home for lunch.”
Abigail
is in her pajamas lounging in the home office near the kitchen. She quickly shuts her laptop and attempts to
keep her composure so Peter does not think anything suspicious is going on.
“It’s
so good to see you, son!” Abigail greets Peter in the hallway and hugs him.
“Why
are you talking like you haven’t seen me in a long time?” Peter laughs.
The
two head to the kitchen to make lunch.
“Oh,
sorry, Peter. Sometimes, I get so
wrapped up in writing my stories I don’t know what day it is anymore,” she
chuckles.
Peter
takes a soda out of the fridge and sits at the round kitchen table as his mom
serves themselves a plate of mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, and leftover
lasagna, “I’m so thirsty. Gym class was
exhausting. I need a shower. I didn’t want to use the school showers
because you know how they are, ick public restrooms – I stink! I love living near the school because it
gives me time to walk home during lunch and I don’t have to take the bus.”
“It’s
thanks to your father we have this lovely home near the school. When he passed away, he left the house to
us,” Abigail reminisces.
Peter
lets out a loud burp after he finishes the last of his soda.
“Son,
you know you shouldn’t be drinking that stuff,” Abigail wags her finger at him.
“What? You’re one to talk, Mom. How did you get to be so fat? You’re 500 pounds!”
“Watch
your mouth, young man. Go wash up! It’s almost time to go back to school,”
Abigail says sternly.
Peter
mutters under his breath as he walks up the stairs, “What did Dad ever see in
you?”
His
mother hears what he says and yells back, “Hey, if it weren’t for meeting your
father you would not be here right now.”
“Don’t
remind me,” he shakes the mental image of his mother and father getting
intimate out of his head.
Peter
is your typical soccer jock with short sandy blond hair and brown eyes. Some say he looks like he could be related to
Zac Efron, the actor. Peter’s mother on
the other hand, Mrs. Abigail Graham reminds everyone of a troll who lives under
the bridge. The town often wonders if
Peter really is Abigail’s son. They sure
do not look alike at all. They only have
the same brown eyes. Maybe Abigail
looked beautiful in a past life once.
Beauty
is in the eye of the beholder.
Mrs.
Abigail Graham had put her husband under a spell. He would have never married her if he knew
what he was doing. That was the secret
and how she got Mr. Graham to marry her.
Once
Mr. Graham was aware of what he had done, years later he had divorced her. However, he would always be tied to Abigail
because of the children. He loved his
children but once he saw Abigail’s true colors he could not stand her.
Solitary Confinement
Abigail has been in the insane asylum for three years now. She is in solitary confinement and has no
access to the Internet or any technology.
She has no idea how long she has been here or if this is really
happening or if it is a chapter in her books she is writing.
She is sitting cross-legged on the cold floor rocking back and
forth and whispers, “Peter, Jordan, and Robby” to the empty room. Those were her sons. At least she thinks they are her sons and not
characters in her book.
She closes her eyes chanting to herself, “This can’t be real. This can’t be real. It’s one of the stories I’m writing. I’m not really sitting in an empty room with
nothing but blank walls and floors to look at.”
Oh, it was real alright.
Doesn’t she remember that day Peter came home from school and just as he
was about to leave for school after he got done showering, he stopped by the
home office to say good-bye to his mother and that’s when he caught her sending
those nasty hate messages to Joy on the computer?
She had been so eager for Peter to be distracted with his own
things so she could get back to her computer to send more anonymous hate
messages to Joy.
The Aftermath
After that experience, Joy started a non-profit organization for
people and their online businesses that have been destroyed by slanderous
reviews and the fake reviewers were never punished. If people feel alone in thinking they never
receive justice for the wrongdoings that happen to them, her group is for
people to come together and to share their stories.
Peter has become Joy’s manager of the non-profit organization. He knows the townspeople and has all the
connections with the sports teams and parties he has been to. His friends know people, too. Joy never asked Peter to help with getting
her stories out. He decided to share her
excerpts (with her permission of course) hoping someone would pick her up. It’s such a shame that Joy doesn’t know
anyone to be discovered. She’s “just
another author” just like Mrs. Abigail Graham in a sea of a million eBooks
written by other authors.
Quote of the Day
“You don’t pick the story, the story picks you.” – Anon
For a long time Joy had trouble in picking which story she really
wanted to tell the world of hers. Years
passed and it’s as if this story wrote itself.
The lines finally came together themselves.
Some days she would sit and think to herself wondering if this was
the right story to tell. A week later,
she still had the same idea in her head so it must be the correct story to
write. She just didn’t know how to put
her thoughts onto paper to where people would understand how much this
experience has affected her, her life, and her stories.
Just Log Off
You hear of so many people and celebrities telling people how they
don’t like to receive hate mail. It
comes with the territory of being a celebrity.
Joy is not famous and already she has learned to just ignore people’s
venomous hate messages. Don’t respond to
the hate mail. There’s no point. Why let words on a computer screen bother people?
Joy deals with these irate individuals in person. She saw Abigail every day at school and
pretended like she didn’t know it was Abigail who was sending her the anonymous
hate messages online so why on earth should Joy allow these hate messages on
the Internet bother her? It’s ridiculous
to think people hiding behind the computer screen should hold such power to
affecting her mind when she will never meet these Internet people that send her
hate mail.
Joy has learned you cannot please everyone and she has never tried
to please everyone. That’s why the
advice she always gives to people is to ignore those who will never be pleased
with what you do and to spend time with people who appreciate all that you
offer.
The people who will never be satisfied always seem to be the most
opinionated.
Joy does not go out of her way to promote herself or her
stories. Good stories will sell
themselves. She does not want to end up
like Mrs. Abigail Graham and her book club friends: joining twenty billion
writing clubs, going out of her way to major in English and take writing
courses only for her books to still not be known twenty years later with all
that promotion.
If people appreciate Joy’s stories, she appreciates them. She’s not looking to become a billionaire
author like J.K. Rowling or Stephen King.
Joy writes stories as a way to deal with the stress in her life that she
cannot control. She does not care about
the fake one star reviews she receives from other “authors” and she does not
care about the hate mail.
Abigail’s best friend had access to a friend’s library and still
six years later, Abigail’s friend’s dreams were shattered as well. Abigail’s book club gathers every week to badmouth
all the younger writers who got lucky in an era where technology and social
media are prevalent.
Abigail never supported Joy in the beginning. Abigail was severely jealous of all the great
support Joy was receiving. She envied
her and never wanted Joy to succeed.
There was nothing that Joy could have done to have Abigail’s
support. Some people are just bitter
like that. They can never be happy for
others when others have what they want.
Joy has learned to ignore Abigail and people like Abigail.
No matter what Joy said to Abigail, she wouldn’t listen so talking and reasoning with her didn’t do anything, either.
New Edit: Just like how the hater read this entire story and still didn’t comprehend the moral of the story. 🙂
One Star Stories 