Second Sister

by Chan Ho-Kei

  This was baffling. The library was closed over the summer, and the system shouldn’t be sending out any messages. Besides, she knew she had no books out. Even more confusing, the message looked exactly the same as any other notification, but it had nonsense strings of letters and numbers instead of book titles. Something must be wrong. She clicked on the link, which opened a browser window on her phone, but nothing loaded for a long time. After about twenty seconds she found herself on the Enoch School home page.

  Could the IT company be carrying out maintenance? she wondered. She’d heard their exam results were almost delayed by computer issues, but the teachers managed to re-input all the data.

  She clicked through to the library page and logged in to her account. Sure enough, her borrowing record was blank. Next, she went into the school chatboard to see if anyone else had been affected. There was a library thread, though not many people hung out there.

  Topic: [borrowing] Anyone else get a weird notification?

  That was the first topic she saw. It was from last night, and there were already four posts, all of which were people reporting that they’d had strange messages like the one she received. Violet stopped worrying. She decided to start her day by heading to the nearby Lok Fu Place mall to buy some new books. Before getting off her phone, she clicked on “return to menu” out of habit, which is how she saw the alarming words “what happened yesterday.”

  Even though this didn’t give much away, she felt a tightness in her chest as she anxiously clicked to expand the conversation.

  Group: Library

  Posted by: WongKwongTak2 (Ham Tak)

  Subject: [chat] What happened yesterday

  Time: June 30, 2015 21:14:13

  I heard there was a little incident in the library around noon yesterday.

  Something to do with That Thing in Class 3B. Anyone have info?

  That was all. Violet thought it must be a gossipy student who’d caught wind of what happened and put it out there to find out more. Posts like this were usually deleted pretty quickly by the moderators, but maybe the maintenance was holding up the process, or maybe no one had seen it yet, but it had stayed up long enough to get quite a conversation going.

  —I thought we’re not allowed to talk about That Thing?

  —You again, Ham Tak! XD

  —We have the right to know! The teachers can’t keep us in the dark.

  —Not scared of trouble? They can still give you summer detention~

  —Yay freedom of speech! (please don’t give me detention)

  —Weird that the mods haven’t taken this down.

  The discussion groups were moderated by student aides, but the library teachers were in charge of this one, and grown-ups tended to be slower getting things done on the internet. Violet quickly skimmed these comments, and just as she started to think maybe she’d been overreacting, she came to a longer post at the bottom of the page.

  Posted by: LamKamHon (Boss Hon)

  Topic: Re. [chat] What happened yesterday

  Time: July 1, 2015 01:00:48

  I was there that day. The Chess Society was printing leaflets for our summer activities – we saw the whole thing. I’m not sure exactly what went down, but That Girl’s family found her suicide note in the library. I caught a glimpse. Looked bad. Probably complaining about some other student. I don’t want to speculate if she killed herself as an accusation.

  I’m not going against orders, but since this is the truth (that I saw with my own eyes), there’s nothing wrong with me saying it, rather than letting rumors spread. If Miss Yuen makes an announcement with more info, even better.

  Anyway I bet this post gets deleted soon.

  Violet inhaled sharply. She’d thought destroying the missing page would put an end to the matter, but now there was a complication. She knew the head of the Chess Society by sight, and he had indeed been there in the library. He was fairly well regarded in the school, having won quite a few chess tournaments, not to mention excellent exam results as well. His popularity meant the other students would tend to trust his version of events.

  If too many other people believed him, she might be in trouble.

  After all the trouble she’d gone through getting rid of the incriminating portion of Siu-Man’s note, word was getting out anyway that the culprit might be someone from Siu-Man’s class. Worry churned in her, and she felt as if she might throw up the bread she’d just eaten. She quickly opened Line, clicked on her brother’s name, and tapped in:

  Bad news, someone posted on the school chatboard about

  But she didn’t complete the sentence. Her thumb hovered over the screen as she wondered whether this was something she ought to be telling him. He’d mentioned that his company was dealing with a major client and he’d be in for a promotion and a raise if it went well. She hadn’t paid a lot of attention—all she really took in was that he was going to be busy with work for a while. Maybe he shouldn’t be worrying about her too.

  It’s not that big a deal, really, she thought. She knew he could enter the school chat and give himself admin privileges, so she wanted to ask him to delete these posts. But when she calmed down, she realized this situation was different. No need to go overboard. Siu-Man’s accusation was just words on a page. Even if Violet’s name had come to light, there was still no evidence linking her to the death. Thanks to what her brother had taught her, she knew there was no way to connect those emails to her. Lily Shu was surely much more of a suspect—there were at least five or six people in the class who knew why Lily and Siu-Man had drifted apart. Any normal person would assume that Siu-Man’s suicide was caused by the love triangle. Who would suspect it was actually Violet pulling the strings?

  This was like releasing a safety valve: once again she calmed down. She opened her laptop again and logged into her blog, ready to answer Franny’s question. As she typed, she pondered whether she ought to visit the bookstore before or after lunch. Reading would help steady her nerves.

  And so the first day of summer vacation passed peacefully for Violet.

  She had no idea that the next day, this “complication” was due to blow up.

  Posted by: ChuKaiLing (Ling Ling Chu)

  Topic: Re. [chat] What happened yesterday

  Time: July 2, 2015, 03:14:57

  Someone posted on Popcorn about That Incident!

  http://forum.hkpopcrn.com/view?article=9818234& type=OA

  The following morning, Violet turned on her computer and logged on to the school chatboard again to see if the mods had deleted the thread yet. Not only was it still there, but there was a reply that shocked her. Shaking a little, she clicked on the link and a new tab opened. In the top left corner was the familiar Popcorn logo.

  POSTED BY superconan ON 07-01-2015, 23:44

  Mastermind behind girl’s (14) suicide?

  I, SuperConan, Prince of Popcorn and Keyboard Warrior, have explosive news for you all. Today’s bombshell is about that classic post from three months ago, “Fourteen-Year-Old Slut Sent My Uncle to Prison!!” that I’m sure had all us Popcorners cheering and munching popcorn—but what went on behind the scenes? The forgetful may wish to refresh their memories here:

  http://forum.hkpopcrn.com/view?article=7399120m

  It seems after this j’accuse made its appearance, a mob of public-spirited Popcorners naturally stood up for justice and came down like a ton of bricks on this fourteen-year-old ho who sent an innocent stationery-shop-owner to jail. They banded together to dig up her real name and address, plus her school photo, all to uphold righteousness and punish wrongdoing. Finally, the little monster jumped out of a window and ended her wretched life. Once again, Popcorners saved the day. Well done! Well done all of us!

  Ha, I bet many of you have doubts, but you don’t want to say them? Let me, SuperConan, one of the eight wonders of Popcorn, speak the truth you dare not.

  You. Are. All. Murderers.

  I, SuperConan, have taken part in countless flame wars, and god kno
ws I have my haters, but I’ve never, ever kicked a person when they’re down. The people screaming about justice are always complete bastards, never heroes. I’m not going to name names, but the Popcorn community should know who among you had a part in pushing this girl out of the window. Never mind if the shop owner was guilty or not. Even if he was wronged, does that really deserve a death sentence?

  Anyway, never mind that. I didn’t come here to guilt you guys, I came to drop truth bombs.

  First, click on this: http://forum.hkpopcrn.com/user?id=66192614

  That’s the home page of the Popcorner who wrote “Fourteen-Year-Old Slut,” Mr. kidkit727 (or Ms. kidkit727, I guess). As you can see, Mr. or Ms. K has posted exactly once, commented zero times, and logged in for the first time on April 10. Last log-in? Also April 10. Nothing wrong with that, maybe he or she created a burner account to defend this uncle. But to drop out of the discussion, never log on again, not help take down the little slut? That seems strange. Even using my SuperConan powers, I couldn’t find anything on the whole wide web connected to kidkit727. No email, no Facebook, no Weibo. No one who wants to raise the Popcorn army would be this secretive. Fanning the flames would make more sense. Which just makes me think: could this be a case of catfishing?

  So what I’m saying is, maybe you’re not murderers. Maybe you’re just morons and did a murderer’s work for them.

  I suppose you’re going to say I’m talking nonsense?

  Of course SuperConan can back up his words. Yesterday, I got a DM with the inside scoop. Remember this K guy or gal called the man in jail “Uncle”? Well, guess what. This dude had no brothers or sisters. So where did this nephew or niece come from? My info is reliable, but I’m sure you Popcorners have your own ways of verifying it.

  If this K person isn’t actually related to the man who went to prison, then how to explain this 1000+ word post? Defending a stranger? Or could there be some other motive at work?

  Ha! My dear, clever Popcorners, how do you feel now? HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW?

  As Violet read this bizarre post, she felt chills creeping down her spine. It seemed clear that SuperConan was an old hand at Popcorn—the internet was full of idiots like this who spent their days shooting their mouths off on all sorts of forums, as if they had no purpose in life apart from arguing with strangers on the internet. Although this post might look like pointless sarcasm, Violet understood very well who it was targeted at—particularly with that little detail about Shiu Tak-Ping not having a nephew.

  When she and her brother had come up with the plan to incite an online mob against Siu-Man, one of the things they discussed was what identity to hide behind. Violet knew from having pumped Martin Tong’s intern that Shiu Tak-Ping had no nephews or nieces, but her brother pointed out that this would be better than impersonating someone who actually existed.

  “Think about it, Vi. If we post as his wife or some friend of his, the real person could step forward and the whole thing would fall apart,” he’d said. “Besides, people need to identify with this poster. A family member would be more convincing than some old classmate or friend. Sure, we’re taking a risk by inventing a nephew, but I bet the Shius won’t reveal the truth, especially with Tak-Ping in prison. His wife and mother won’t be stupid enough to give reporters something else to talk about.”

  “Why not?”

  “It won’t help Shiu Tak-Ping. He didn’t even bother defending himself, just pleaded guilty. Reopening the case now wouldn’t do the family any good.”

  “What if someone who knows the family casts doubt on the poster’s identity and motives?”

  “We’re going to post this and disappear. Even if the journalists wanted to find us, they couldn’t. And if Shiu Tak-Ping actually does speak up to say he doesn’t know who this is, that just creates a Rashomon-type situation. There’s no downside for us. At the very least, we’ve lit the flame. You remember our goal?”

  “Yes. To eliminate Au Siu-Man.”

  His words seemed to make sense at the time. Now Violet realized that they’d missed one important point: everything would change after Siu-Man’s death.

  She went back to SuperConan’s post. He mentioned someone DMing him—could this also be someone from the library? She hadn’t thought Shiu Tak-Ping knew anyone at her school, but this went up just a couple of days after the suicide note came to light, which seemed like too much of a coincidence. Fighting to stay calm, she tried to think up possible scenarios. Could it be that this person knew all along that Shiu had no nephew, but let it go at the time, only to think of going public when the suicide note appeared—so he got in touch with SuperConan then?

  No, that didn’t seem quite right, though Violet couldn’t say why.

  She hesitated, then typed:

  Check out Popcorn! Someone’s stirring things up!! What should we do?

  http://forum.hkpopcrn.com/view?article=9818234&type=OA

  Although she hated to disturb her brother at work, he was the only one she could turn to.

  After sending the message, she sat with her eyes glued to her phone, waiting for a response. She knew he could get busy, and she prayed he’d find a moment to read it soon. After a minute, it still didn’t say “read.” All she could do was turn back to the computer screen, which was still on the Popcorn site, though she looked back at her phone every ten seconds.

  Five minutes later the “read” symbol finally appeared. She grabbed her phone and waited frantically for his reply. Her left hand was clenched tightly in a fist, and she hadn’t even noticed that her nails were digging into her palm hard enough to draw blood. It took another agonizing five minutes for the message to appear:

  no need to worry, it’s just some moron

  Violet quickly typed back:

  But he knows there was no nephew!

  She pressed send and settled in for another anxious wait, though this time it only took half a minute:

  really, don’t worry

  no one ever believes this jerk

  check out the replies

  SuperConan’s post had only two replies. One told him to shut up with a number of colorful swear words—maybe this was one of the haters he mentioned—while the other was just a pained smile emoji, meaning that only an idiot would believe this nonsense. As a longtime user of Popcorn, her brother probably recognized the name. Most people certainly seemed to be ignoring SuperConan, but Violet didn’t think they could let their guard down.

  Can I see you this evening?

  They usually only met once a week, but this was serious. Better to be prepared and plan for the worst-case scenario.

  can’t, sorry, have to work tonight

  busy lately, have to work this weekend too

  His reply made Violet feel worthless. Her fear had made her weak. Not long ago, her brother had praised her for being calm, and now here she was again, as taut as a bow. She was tossing in a stormy sea, her arms wrapped around him as if he were a piece of driftwood. She quickly typed in a few words of agreement and ended the conversation so he could get back to his job. He was working hard to make something of himself, and not just for money.

  “Before you graduate high school, Vi, I’ll get you away from that house.”

  That was the promise he’d made to her.

  “I can’t give you a luxury apartment like that man, and there won’t be a maid cleaning up after you, but I guarantee you’ll have a happy life.”

  Violet couldn’t remember how she’d replied, only how moved she’d been.

  She was no longer alone in the world.

  Even though she was still full of doubt, Violet did her best to persuade herself that this new complication would soon evaporate. There were hundreds of new Popcorn posts every day, and unpopular threads quickly fell off the home page in the standard economy of chatboards: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. SuperConan might be a veteran poster, but the others didn’t think much of him. If everyone continued ignoring this post, it would soon be buried.

  Ye
t there was no way she could be certain this would happen.

  Violet tried her best to forget about it and lose herself in a new Jeffery Deaver novel, which she’d very much been looking forward to. Even so, she found it hard to concentrate.

  That evening at seven, Violet sat at the dining table. “Is something wrong with the food?” asked Miss Wong, who was getting ready to leave. Unlike most Hong Kong homes, this apartment was large enough for a dishwasher, so she didn’t have to stick around to clean up.

  “Huh? Oh, no, it’s fine.” Violet hadn’t realized that she’d been staring at her plate. In front of her were fried pomfret, some broccoli and beef, and a cooling bowl of winter melon, sweet corn, and pork rib soup. This could have been a set meal for one at a restaurant.

  “You haven’t touched the fish, so I thought something must be wrong.” Miss Wong laughed. “Normally you start with the fish.”

  “Everything’s fine. I’ve just got a lot on my mind,” said Violet, forcing a smile.

  She’d been on pins and needles all evening. Every now and then she put down her book and headed back to the computer to see if there’d been any new replies under SuperConan’s post. She breathed a sigh of relief every time she saw that it was off the home page, but occasionally someone would post “SuperConan’s at it again” or something similar, bumping it back up. Her heart raced when this happened. She hadn’t thought her anxiety would be obvious, but even Miss Wong had noticed.

  Whooosh … whoooosh … The next morning, Violet was wakened by the sound of the vacuum cleaner coming from the living room. She glanced at the clock—it was already ten. She couldn’t remember what time she’d fallen asleep, only that she’d tossed and turned for a long time after going to bed. Her sense of guilt came rushing back. What if another Popcorner sank his teeth into this case and refused to let it go? She knew how these things worked—internet bullying and the human-flesh search engine.

  She grabbed her phone, hoping her brother had sent her a message on his way to work, but there wasn’t anything, not even spam. After hesitating awhile, she gathered the courage to open her browser and click on the school discussion board, then the library tab. She calmed down a little after seeing the contents page—the post by Ham Tak had disappeared. The mods must have finally taken it down. In the same spirit of hope, she went into her bookmarks for the Popcorn page. How far back would SuperConan’s post have fallen—ten pages? What she saw instead was far worse than she could have expected.