Nicole, a mother of two and 36-year-old cook, thought her life was great. But her online life turned into a nightmare when someone she didn’t know, named “Bradley,” started leaving mean comments. She had no idea that the bad guy was closer than she thought.
Nicole was deeply upset by the mean statements. “Have you ever seen yourself? “That mirror begs to be free of your ugly body!” and “Wow, you have a big ego!” You call that a face? Did you think people were dying to see it?”
After weeks, the trolling kept going. Jack, Nicole’s husband, told her not to worry about it because it was “just words on a screen.” Nicole knew there was more to it, though.
Nicole’s best friend Ronnie helped her see that she needed to do something. But Jack’s lack of interest stayed.
Nicole found Jack’s laptop one day, and Bradley’s Facebook account was still logged in. Her world fell apart.
Nicole became very angry when she heard the news. She came up with a plan to tell their best friends about Jack’s secret at a dinner party.
The room went silent as Nicole told her story. Their friends gasped in shock as Jack’s face lost all of its colour.
“IT’S ACTUALLY JACK!” Nicole said with a shaking voice.
“It was just a joke” was Jack’s weak excuse, and it made Nicole even more angry.
At the end of the dinner party, there was awkward silence, and Jack had to leave. Nicole had to put together the pieces of her broken trust.
After what Jack did, Nicole stopped Bradley and thought about what would happen next. His sorry didn’t mean much.
Nicole told them her story to teach them a lesson: what you do has consequences, and online bullying can have terrible results.
Have you ever been harassed online? How did you handle it? Tell your stories to help people who have been through the same things.
