One-Shots

The popstar that never existed

   I had an idol named Schi Yin. She's a Chinese popstar but had an amazing British accent due to studying at the best university in Britain for all the years of her teenage life before becoming an idol and I admired her because she had everything. Looks, a beautiful voice, and her charms that attracts any gender.

   Her mainly used social media was Instagram. She followed no one, but had about 10 million followers, and I was one of them. She had a YouTube account too, with 35 million subscribers.

   She's very popular and obviously everyone loved her. Only people like you when you are pretty, famous or when you are dead.

   I had no friends in school, so only seeing Schi Yin posts kept me happy and thrilled.

   But one day...

   Around 10pm, I turned on the television since my phone was dead. What shown on the television was a very shocking news, since I heard every single detail in the news saying about Schi Yin.

   And when I heard that my favourite idol who I strived to become had hung herself yesterday, I felt tarnished. Torn. Broke apart.

   She didn't deserve any of these. It was heartbreaking, hurtful. Sad that I couldn't do anything about it. Depressed that I lost interest in everything. Nothing else was important, nothing was crucial anymore.

   Soon, I began to cut myself until the day when my parents came back with a horrified look on their faces as they see their child cutting herself.

   I forgot they were on a business trip for a month anyways. "Oh my gosh, Jaylin. Why are you cutting yourself? Stop!" My mom cried.

   Dad scolded me with full of worried statements in his voice, "Why are you cutting?! Since when did we teach you that? We had seen you growing since you were young! We took care of you, fed you! How could you?"

   I couldn't bear to see mom's saddened face and the tears that came out of her eyes, I also couldn't take it when my dad worries to much, so I reassure them and promised, "I won't do it again, and I am sorry for what I've done."

   But my dad couldn't buy it. "I don't care about you apology! We need to bring you to the therapist, or if not, the counsellor!"

   I hesitated at first, but I had no choice but to agree that I should go, so I gave them a small nod.

   So they brought me to the counsellor during the weekends. And it was a bore because I am the type of person who had to depend on social media for joy. But since it disappointed me, nothing makes me glad anymore. All I could do was frown, feeling blue.

   The first question he asked was, "Why are you cutting? Is there anything wrong?"

   I told him every single thing that happened like Schi Yin's death. Then he asked me another question, "Who is Schi Yin?"

   "My favourite popstar. She had Instagram and a YouTube channel, and she's quite popular." I told him, with a sigh. How could he not know such a well-known celebrity!?

   Somehow, he doesn't seem to believe me, so he googled her name. And he looked at the screen shockingly.

   He says, "There's no result found apparently... if I may ask, did you really see her?"

   "Umm... yeah? I see her everyday. Morning till night." I responded straightforwardly as I scrunched my eyebrows, rather confused.

   He sighed, looking like it was useless to talk to me, so he advised me, "Don't depend on social medias too much, especially if it upsets you to this extent, because it is addictive and distorts reality."

   But I couldn't get over the fact that Schi Yin died. Why would she suicide when she have such fame? Was she being harassed? Having plenty of issues? Struggles? The day that she died caused me to not attend school and wept the whole day till night because she was just like a bestfriend to me.

   Some of her posts consists of funny jokes that made me laugh, like as if she shared her jokes with me and had a laughing time together. That made people think that I'm weird, but I don't mind.

   But now, all these memories would be gone anyways. I'm a mess, and my best friend over the screen who died will not come back miraculously.

   It took me 3 weeks to get over it, and eventually I felt alright and got over it with the help of my counsellor. Nowadays life is nothing much, just school, reading, counselling, gaming, dinner and my beauty sleep. But this particular day when I happen to take my phone out after school at home, I saw Schi Yin's post.

   It was unbelievable, and extremely bizarre. How could she upload her pictures even though she was no longer existent?

   I liked her newest post anyways and I was squealing when I realised that I was the first person who liked her picture.

   The next day I went to school happily and found some of the girls of the whole group were crying.

   With curiosity, I went to them and squeaked, "What happened?"

   One of the girls that wasn't crying sighed, "They had been crying for 3 weeks because of Schza Lin's death."

   Huh? Schi Yin? Sounds really like a coincidence. I mean, she's famous anyway so they might have known. But I asked in the end just to not be mistaken. "W-what? Schi Yin?"

  "Oh my gosh," She face-palmed and corrected me. "It's Schza Lin."

   Confused, I asked, "Who's Schza Lin? I only knew Schi Yin."

  "Schi Yin? Who is she? A random made up girl?" She questioned.

   Huh... they don't know? Then I explained. "Well... she was very popular, had Instagram and YouTube. Over 10 million of followers and subscribers. Died 3 weeks ago, 10 pm."

  "Why does it sounded like Schza Lin? She died 3 weeks ago, 10 pm. Had over 10 million subs and followers." Another girl stepped up.

   Wait... Schi Yin was Schza Lin all the time? Wait... Let me check. I liked all her posts, so I might confirm.

   But to my horror, everything disappeared. No posts liked. It was like, I no longer had all my followers and whoever I followed. Some hacking system happening in my phone?

   I checked her YouTube channel. It popped out 'no result found'. How?

   I blinked at my screen, but faced them and apologised, saying, "Never mind, got the wrong person." I left the crowd while questioning whether I was dreaming or whatsoever.

   When I came back home, I saw a girl. Hanged on the ceiling and she looked exactly like Schi Yin. She gave me a creepy smile which shook me.

   She asked, "Do you like me now, my fellow fan?"

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Finished- 27/10/2019

Edited-9/8/2021

Author's note: God, this is honestly giving me chills. I haven't been reading horror for a while. [9/8/2021]