"Where there is hope, there is always pain."
When you were young, there was one thing you wanted more than anything in the world. One thing you would give your very soul up to achieve, if only it meant you would finally be able to make your mark in...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
⋖∘ʿ⋆✧⋆ʾ∘⋗
The world is cruel.
You've always known this. You've experienced it firsthand, saw the innocence of your childhood naivety fade away as you became a victim to just how cruel the world could be. It is a well-known fact we are warned of from birth, a fact which we accept and are rendered helpless to change, no matter how much we wish it. We live our lives dancing around it, hoping that we are so lucky to never experience it, praying that we can preserve our rose-colored lenses and keep them from shattering beneath the weight; no matter how foolish it may be to wish for it.
However, it is a different kind of cruelty you experience now as you scroll through the tags on your phone across multiple social media platforms.
Hatred is to be expected from any celebrity, and any person who finds themselves heavily scrutinized beneath the public eye. Though it is a sad fact that only speaks to the worst parts of our humanity, it is a fact nonetheless, and you were aware of it long before you signed that contract. Especially after the stunt you pulled a few months ago, you had grown to expect it, knowing it was bound to come in waves.
Countless people cursing your name, making assumptions about your character and who you are when they wouldn't know the first thing, faceless names flashing across the screen screaming profanities and insults that go further than the ones you had tried to prepare yourself to hear. Words that cut deep and true every time you come across them, finding their mark and lodging themselves deep into your heart, in a way you had never expected them to.
They are no different than words you had heard before, no different than the voices that speak their poison into your mind when you find yourself at your weakest, but it is somewhat worse to see them materialize in front of your eyes.
Perhaps that is the difference.
That the worst parts of yourself are what they see. That it's not just in your head. That they are right, even when they are wrong. They speak on your insecurities, your faults, your secrets, the things you have tried so hard to keep buried deep in your mind. They whisper the things you yourself have whispered in your mind. Words meant to cut as deep as they can. Words created to wound and injure.
Perhaps that is why they're so cruel.
Because they are truths you cannot find within yourself to accept as real.
"What are you doing?"
You are quick to hide your phone as Melody walks up behind you, but she has already seen the comments. She has been watching you for a while, seen the way the look in your eyes changed, the way you began to tense, your finger shaking each time you pressed it to the screen to scroll to the next comment. She knows that when you turn to her, the smile on your face is to hide the dull look in your eyes. That your laugh is not one of surprise, but apprehension as you fumble to turn off your screen and place your phone safely out of her sight.
