- 2.
[Why is she just standing there? Doesn’t she
want to help?]
[Ugh, I’m just gonna go watch the sister. This
is boring.]
Comments scrolled by, then someone posted
a video link.
I clicked it.
It was my sister’s livestream.
Same situation: “disabled” person. “lost” bus.
く
money.
Different scenery.
My sister was wearing a cute school uniform,
her cheeks rosy and perfect.
She looked sympathetic as she helped up the
woman with the limp.
Then she handed over her overstuffed wallet.
I glanced at it, and there were at least two or
three thousand bucks in there.
The audience melted at the sight of my
sister’s watery eyes.
[She’s so good. Beautiful and kind. I heard
she’s also a straight–A student. The other one
く
probably fails every class.]
Comments praising my sister flooded in.
I noticed my sister subtly glancing away from
the camera, toward her backpack.
I spotted a faint glint of a phone peeking out
from a hidden pocket.
When she realized everyone was on her side,
she smirked and smiled.
Of course.
This experiment was rigged from the start.
My sister knew exactly what was going on
and was prepared to act in her own best
interest.
L
I was the only one who was clueless.
Like an idiot, I thought I could escape the
sticks and fly toward my own future.
I was living in a real–life Truman Show.
The comments were getting impatient.
[She’s a total loser. No point. Poor people
can’t be good people.]
The fake disabled woman must have gotten a
signal.
She started throwing a tantrum, hoping to
guilt me into helping.
“Young lady, you have no heart! You can’t
even spare a few bucks? How am I supposed
く
to get home? What about my three–year–old
son? He’s crying for his mommy!”
The woman’s yelling attracted a crowd. They
started staring at me, mumbling about how I
was disturbing the peace.
I didn’t care.
I walked over to the public pay phone and
dialed 911.
Thank God 911 is free, no matter where you
are.
“Yeah, I need to report a scam. Someone’s
trying to con me.”
[…]
<
The fake disabled woman froze, and the
comments stopped.
Then, people started typing furiously.
[Is she crazy? Why would she call the cops?]
[Wait, how did she know? I’m dying to know!]
By the time the cops showed up, the woman
finally snapped out of it.
She was all tough and mouthy, but now she
looked scared and was stuttering a lot.
“Look, Miss, just let me go. We don’t have
any beef! You don’t need to call the cops!”
As soon as the silver handcuffs clicked onto
her wrists, her legs magically started working
く
again.
One of the cops looked at me and said, “How
did you figure it out?”
I politely greeted them, then said, “She was
using a local accent, but her speech was all
wrong, like she was faking it.”
“People with leg injuries usually use canes to
help them get around.”
“When you walk with leg injuries, your shoes
get worn down unevenly.”
I smiled, a dimple flashing in my cheek. “But
most of all, disability cards always have a
stamp from the Social Security
Administration.”
The cops nodded in understanding, praising
my sharp mind.
The comments had been silent, but now they
blew up again.
[Whoa, she’s so smart! She must be a good
student!]
[She’s kinda cute when she smiles. If she had
lighter skin, she’d look just like the sister.]
[Comparing them, the sister is kinda dumb.
Who hands over their whole wallet to a
stranger? Is she stupid?]
The tide of public opinion shifted in my favor.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought I was
finally going to break the cycle.
<
But then, my sister’s fans got excited. They
started spewing hate online.
[Oops, she’s screwed. The head of the project
doesn’t like the results. She has to do another
test.]
[She’s gonna fail this time, guaranteed.]
