The year was 2022. The social trend at this time had everyone mesmerised: not only teenagers and youngsters, but adults as well. Every person seemed to be taking part in this latest trend.

Two friends set out in their usual pattern of exploration. “I video recorded three deaths, one robbery and one drowning,” said Stu.

“Ah! Guess what? I got four deaths, a burning, three assaults and two hijackings,” said Pid. The two friends, like everyone else in their generation, simply followed the trends and social norms of their society. However, this trend had been around for over two decades.

Within fifteen minutes of their exploration, an accident occurred in which a woman and her one-year-old son were trapped in a car. The car then caught alight. Seeing their chances to improve their social recognition status, the two rushed forward and hurriedly took out their cell phones. They began recording as soon as the woman and child were engulfed in the flames. Her pleadings and wailings were a cry for help, but because her generation was full of people like Stu and Pid her death was certain.

What was uncertain to Stu and Pid was who would burn away first. “I’ll give the woman seven minutes, and the child no less than four minutes!” screamed the ever-flamboyant Stu. Pid believed that the woman would burn away within ten minutes and her child in six minutes. Pid believed that he had more experience in such situations.

However, before they could see the end result of their bet, they spotted their two other friends: Igno and Rant. The four friends had always advocated for this trend that they were part of. As a matter of fact, the four friends believed that everybody was like them and acted in the same way as them. Walking away from the blazing car, their hands glued to their cell phones, they attentively and meticulously surveyed every possible street and section of the town that they walked through.

They saw a woman being assaulted by two thieves for her belongings. Within a flash the four friends were on the scene, recording videos of the incident with their cell phones. The woman was battered and bruised. The whole ordeal lasted for five minutes. Immediately after it happened the four friends posted the video on their social media profiles. Instantly the video was praised and the comments flooded through. Some people commented on how they could have angled their recording better. Others commented on the brilliance of their timing from the beginning to the end of their recording.

The video went viral. The four friends were considered to be the “celebs of social media”. Newspapers, magazines and the afternoon news all centred their headlines on the video from Stu, Pid, Igno and Rant. The four were loved by the masses.

In order to thank their fans, the four friends decided to take a video of themselves. While they were engrossed in their video recording a slight mistake from a truck driver caused an accident. The truck ploughed into the four friends. All four of them died. It was meant to be a day of praise and applause from the masses, but it turned into a day of gloom and depression when everyone heard of the deaths of the four beloved friends.

However, a video soon surfaced. A man had recorded a video of Stu and Pid’s last moments. Surprisingly, they had still been alive and in the video they were pleading for the man to call an ambulance. By the time the ambulance arrived the two friends had died.

Everyone was now in a state of anger. They all voiced their disdain for the man. “How could he disapprove of Stu and Pid? He’s a horrible person!” Other comments said: “If our society has people who disapprove of Stu, Pid, Igno and Rant, then such people have no place in our society.”

The police tracked down the house of the man who had posted the video. They searched the house and found many things that were taboo and illegal. His house was filled with books, scientific equipment, a telescope, microscope, and many charts of maths, science and other miscellaneous subjects. He had no television or computer in his house. Immediately, he was arrested and shackled in chains.

In his personal journal his identity was revealed as Darian Dru. To make matters worse, his journal voiced his abhorrence and hatred for Stu, Pid, Igno and Rant. He was labelled as “insane” and “crazy”. These were the kind of titles that were given to people like Darian. No one dared show that they were “insane” and “crazy”, because they feared the backlash from society.

Darian had believed that the deaths of Stu, Pid, Igno and Rant would make the society better, but nothing changed. New heroes of the masses soon emerged. Their names were Idi and Ots.

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