January 5th

 1


That fifth day the tweets got more interesting. “If I told you how to pursue your glee, would you?”

Simple question. People started answering it. “Yes”, “God yes”, “Please tell us” and so on. Simple replies but… I pushed my chair away from the computer screen. I didn’t respond. I just stared.

A direct message. On twitter. A feature I never used. I opened it. 

“No response?” was all it said. I stared at the DM and felt a tiny shiver go down my spine. How did… whoever it was… know I wasn’t responding? Why did they DM me?

I found out later that everyone that didn’t respond got the same message. And we all felt… violated… somehow. Somehow it felt like an intrusion. 

I didn’t watch the news that day. Didn’t feel like it. But it was filled with coverage of this new message. One commentator - I don’t know who or what channel, don’t ask me - said he had no intention of accepting the message's ideas. He was apparently roasted online so much he had to remove his presence. I understand he resigned the next day form his job. But I get ahead of myself again.


2


Would I do what a simple tweet told me to do? Would it make me happy or fulfilled or whatever? I didn’t know and I felt no reason to test that theory. I went to twitter and unfollowed the account.

The account still showed as a person I followed. I tried again and got the same response.

I shivered and turned my computer off and went for a walk.


3.


The streets seemed busier than normal. I lived in a small town and during the day you might see a few older people walking but rarely many others. Today the streets were… not filled, precisely. But those that were there were more energetic and took up more space than normal.

I nodded at a few people as I walked. They stared at me with not hostility (That didn’t happen until later) but they didn’t say hello back. They just watched as I walked by.

My town felt like it was not mine anymore. 

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