Overwhelmed

Iza was lying on her stomach, waving her legs to the rhythm of the song she was listening to. Although she had headphones on, Natalia easily recognized one of the popular songs of the even more popular c-pop group. Iza was chewing gum and reading a magazine for women. Sometimes she was so immersed in her world, which gave her extra charm. Iza was short and petite, which made her popular among boys and her nice personality made girls liked her too. Looking objectively, Iza was not a beauty, but her face was definitely pretty and alluring.

Natalia smiled at the sight of her and set the two bottles of soda, bought downstairs from the vending machine, on the table.

"Wow! What happened to you?" Cried Iza, jumping up from the bed.

"Nothing. I slipped on the wet grass and fell."

"You haven't hurt yourself?"

"No. The ground was wet, so I don't even have a chafe," she truthfully assured.

"Are you sure?"

-"Yes."

"Well, ok" Iza returned to her magazine and put the headphones in her ears, which she took out while standing up.

It was a natural step now for Natalia Smuga to go wash up. Their bathroom in the room might not have been the largest and didn't have a bathtub (Natalia felt like a long bath in the aromatic foam) but the shower worked fine and there wasn't even a problem with hot water at this time.

Iza acted as always, Natalia thought. She was so natural towards Natalia, as if she did not know that her roommate was suffering from attacks on the Internet. Maybe it was so? Iza was recently fascinated by the new idol, so she spent most of her time on the Internet looking for information about him and browsing his vlog. Some college community may not have bothered her at all lately.

How will Iza react when she finds out?

Natalia did not want to involve her friends in all this. Maybe this hate, if ignored, will pass by itself? Why bother other people with it? It would only needlessly upset Iza. After all, her friend has her own affairs and her own troubles, so why does she still need other people's problems? But Natalia desperately needed someone to talk to. Those insults online, those terrible comments - she'd be lying if she said they didn't hurt her at all. After all, who likes it when people wipe their mouths with their name?

She put on a light T-shirt and sat down on her bed with a towel over her head. She reached for the phone.

Suddenly she felt a great rush of stress. She didn't want to read those ugly comments, but she had to know. She realized that every word could sting her like a hornet, but in the recesses of her mind the thought was that maybe someone had stood up for her? Maybe Natalia wasn't the most popular girl on campus, but she was in her third year of study and there were certainly people who believed in her integrity. These people had to stand up for her, ask for them not to spread rumors, to present evidence instead of repeating empty accusations. Someone like that was definitely found, right?

Natalia sincerely believed this, and although she was so upset that she could not swallow, she entered the discussion group.

There were even more dirty comments. It seemed that more and more people believed the rumors, and the rumors themselves became more and more black. Natalia was reading in a daze, still hoping that some positive or even neutral comment would appear. There was none. Did her sympathetic people not know how she was attacked or did they choose to ignore this fact for some reason? Or maybe Natalia was wrong and there was no sympathetic person at the entire university, not even a passer-by, who would ask to stop gossiping?

There was really no one?

Natalia felt a sharp dagger pierce her heart. The scruffy comments started three days ago, but were so common yesterday that today complete strangers were pointing their fingers at her. There was such a stir at the university that no one could ignore it anymore, and yet there was absolutely no one who would stand up for it. Did everyone believe the rumors or did people just not care about the truth and did not care about the fate of a certain girl?

At that moment, Natalia Smuga realized that she was completely alone in this world.

"Iza" began to speak without looking up from the phone "do you remember that I wanted to talk to you?"

"What? Ah! Now I remember! What's going on?"

Iza still had headphones in her ears and a newspaper in front of her eyes. It was a common thing, they talked like that, but Natalia felt a sudden rush of irritation for some reason.

"You know people hate me?"

Iza's legs stopped moving.

"Did you find out?"

"You know, it's hard to miss something like that," Natalia's voice grew a bit offensive. So Iza knew?

Her friend sat up normally and took the headphones out of her ears.

"I thought it would pass by itself before the rumors got to you."

"It will pass by itself?"

Yes, that was the logical assumption - if we ignore the problem, pretend it isn't there, it will actually go away. Just wait until the torturers get bored. What if they don't get bored? Natalia was hated for the third day and the mood on the Internet was only getting worse. As if it was suddenly fashionable to throw insults at her.

Natalia was not an explosive person. Usually she tolerated all adversities without any problems, but there was so much venom in her direction, so much hate, that she could neither ignore nor fight them. This hostility and mockery flooded her so much that it filled her completely

"If such things were written about you, would you also wait for it to pass by itself?" she asked more aggressively.

"Well, no ... But would you tell me about it?"

"I would fight for you! I would write to all these people that they are not telling the truth, that they are lying, that they are brainless idiots ...!

Suddenly Natalia burst into tears. She didn't want to cry, but the emotions that filled her were too many and she couldn't handle them. Every word of hate was like a knife that cut her heart. There wasn't one opponent she could face. Quite suddenly, out of nowhere, dozens of people attacked her, hiding behind their logins. She didn't know who they were, so she couldn't confront them, it made her feel so helpless! Their hatred also made her angry that people targeted her for their mockery, that they did not give her a chance to defend herself, but attacked her from all sides - all honest and righteous, instructive and moralizing, condemning her for something she had never done. How lawful and holy they were all!

She cried harder and harder - from anger, from helplessness, from pain. She cried out of loneliness. She felt abandoned and rejected because no one, absolutely none of her friends stood up for her and even asked how she felt.

"It's all right" Iza sat down next to her and started gently stroking her back. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I was really sure that it would pass quickly. I didn't want to stress you before the exam session. You know, every now and then there are some rumors. and they quit. People don't stay on one topic for too long. I was sure everyone would forget about it today. I didn't argue with them because that would only extend the topic and raise additional interest. But if you want, I'll tell these people now what I think about them! "

"No need," Natalia shook her head and sniffed. Iza offered her a box of tissues, which Natalia desperately needed at that moment. "I'm better now. You're right, let's ignore the topic. I don't know what happened to me."

True, Natalia had no idea why she reacted so violently? After all, malicious rumors appear on the Internet almost all the time. Every actor and actress she liked, every singer has to put up with all kinds of malice. Is it only because Natalia is not a public figure that she would never experience such a situation? I think so, she thought. But she knew that rumors about ordinary people were heating up the web too. Not long ago it was rumored that the girl she knows is making extra money as a hostess. Natalia knew that was not true, but did not react. She considered joining the discussion, but she had an important colloquium and by the time she did anything, no one spoke about it anymore. In fact, Natalia had displayed the same behavior back then, which now made her feel unhappy.

"Sorry," she apologized to Iza. "I guess I've been a bit tired and oversensitive lately. This situation happened to me so suddenly ..."

- "It's okay. Do you feel a little better now that you've cried out?"

"Some."

"I know what will lift your mood. We're going to have a home spa tonight!

"What? I don't have time to ..."

"You don't have a head to learn now. One day you can forget about it! We will clean your pores, nourish your skin and put pads on your eyes to reduce swelling and tomorrow there will be no trace of the fact that you cried today. You will show yourself at the university as radiant and beautiful as if you wanted to tell everyone that you have nothing to be ashamed of and no malicious gossip will hurt you! "

Iza's enthusiasm made Natalia laugh.

"You know, it's not such a stupid idea," she said. "Maybe I should start taking more care of my appearance ..."

"WHAT? What did you say? Natalia, did you meet any handsome guy?"

It might not be quite like that, Natalia thought, but she did have a beautiful man before her eyes. She knew he was just a figment of her imagination (because someone so handsome just couldn't exist) but it occurred to her that beauty was very appealing after all.