Neighbor Spread Rumors I Disturbed Peace; Mother and Daughter Regretted It

At eight o'clock that night, my neighbor Aunt Rosemary Lambert tagged me in the homeowners' group chat.

One glance, and my whole body went off like a bomb.

Ethel, do you really have to run around naked at home in broad daylight? @Unit 508 Ethel Fox.

In an instant, some busybody pressed her for details.

She posted a video. In it, in plain daylight, I was running around naked in my own home.

In my last life, I tore myself apart defending myself in that chat.

I even had property management install a camera inside my apartment.

But no matter how I tried to prove it, the video ended up spread across the entire internet.

My parents cut ties with me. My friends walked away.

My workplace fired me, and harassing calls blew up my phone.

Worn down to nothing, still fighting to clear my name, I was hit by a truck and killed.

When I opened my eyes again, I was staring at this same message.

1.

I rubbed my eyes and pinched myself, hard.

Making sure I wasn't dreaming.

The notification tones kept chiming, one after another.

Eight o'clock. Everyone had just gotten off work and finished dinner.

The chat came alive.

"Naked? Rosemary, what nonsense are you talking?"

That was Anita Whitney from 408 downstairs, the loudmouth of the complex.

Always hungry for any bit of gossip.

"Right, it's 2026 already. Who would do something that shameful?"

Flora from 610 upstairs chimed in too.

"That Ethel girl is fair-skinned and clean-looking, and she's polite to everyone. Why would she run around naked?"

Stacy Lawrence from 607, right above Aunt Rosemary, started typing in the chat too.

Back and forth they went, and the message count shot up to 99+.

"You think she'd feel ashamed?"

"She just puts on an act. What she's like at home is disgusting."

"I'm getting old. What reason would I have to lie to everyone?"

In my past life, I didn't wait for Aunt Rosemary to keep posting.

I confronted her out in the open.

My anger played right into her hands.

She dropped a video into the chat.

In it, I was completely naked, doing strange things around my apartment.

Proof, she said, that I was a repeat offender.

After posting it, she went on: "It's only the tenth of the month, and I've already seen it eight times. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I had to speak up."

In an instant, the whole complex erupted.

Some thought I was corrupt and indecent.

Some thought there was something seriously wrong with me.

Some were afraid I'd be a bad influence on their kids.

They came after me like mad.

In the end, the video got out.

I lost my family, my friends, and my life.

This time, I just stared quietly at the group chat.

Watching them buzz through their guessing.

"Isn't there some misunderstanding? This can't be real."

Neal Chavez from 306 across the way asked it carefully.

"Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding could there be? Eight times in ten days, and I saw every one."

"You didn't see it with your own eyes. It was a real eyesore."

"I posted it for everyone's sake. Every household here has kids. If a child saw that, it'd be a disaster."

Aunt Rosemary was clever. She knew the children were everyone's soft spot.

In a heartbeat, more and more people joined her in tearing into me.

"@Unit 508, have you no shame? Broad daylight, and you can't even close a curtain?"

Anita from 408 cursed me outright in the chat.

"Close a curtain? She's thrown away her dignity. You think she cares about a curtain?"

"Probably doing it to catch some man's eye."

Aunt Rosemary's words fanned everyone's anger all over again.

I'm thirty, living alone, and all my time and money go into making myself look good.

Before this, she'd hinted more than once that I dressed so nicely every day just to seduce men.

To get the attention of the men in the complex.

But back then everyone had brushed it off as a joke and paid it no mind.

Today was different.

"Aunt Rosemary's right. She's a little slut. She does it to seduce men. Everybody had better keep an eye on their husbands."

Stacy from 709 had never liked me, and she rushed to smear me too.

"Ethel, come out and explain yourself. Broad daylight, this is beyond disgraceful."

Flora from 610 started tagging me.

"I just watched the video. It really is a bit of an eyesore. Aunt Rosemary was right to warn us."

Neal from 306 joined the pile-on too.

"@Unit 508 Ethel Fox, gone mute? Say something!"

"Don't play dead. The video caught everything. Playing dumb won't get you out of this."

Aunt Rosemary tagged me over and over in the chat, like a rabid dog.

Looking at the screen full of curses aimed at me,

I deleted the defense I'd written, one character at a time.

Right now, anything I said would only look like I was making excuses.

I opened the member list of the group chat and added property management.

"Hi! Someone in the group is spreading false claims. Please remind everyone. If necessary, you can mute the chat."

Kenneth Lawrence from property management kept typing.

Five minutes later, he replied.

"False claims? Ms. Fox, the video shows everything clearly."

I was stunned.

In my past life, property management had played dumb in the chat.

When I went to them and asked them to install a camera in my apartment to prove my innocence, they'd been perfectly cooperative.

"Are you sure the video she posted is even real?"

He typed for a long while. "Ms. Fox, Aunt Rosemary is a longtime resident here. She's a model resident. She wouldn't fake anything."

"Besides, Aunt Rosemary doesn't even know how to use that kind of software."

Two careless lines, and he'd made me look even more guilty.

I forced down my anger. "Let me be clear. She's spreading rumors. There are over a thousand people in this chat, and she's circulating a false video. That's against the law."

"You're the property representative. You're supposed to protect my interests and put a stop to this."

Silence for a moment on his end. "Ms. Fox, instead of spending your time throwing your resident status around to give me a hard time, you'd be better off thinking about how to apologize to everyone."

"And I really have to warn you. If you've got your eye on that man, you should try a different approach. This one won't work, and it's a good way to get yourself beaten up."

I was livid. I typed out a long message to confront him.

The instant that bright red exclamation mark appeared, I froze.

The next second, a notice went up in the group.

Property management has received feedback from residents. This community has always opposed indecent behavior. We ask certain residents to conduct themselves properly and not to affect everyone with their own improper conduct. If residents continue to file complaints, property management will take action to protect everyone's rights. At the same time, we remind everyone to keep an eye on their family and children and to stay away from certain residents to avoid any unpleasantness. Finally, we applaud Aunt Rosemary for defending everyone's rights!

The moment the notice went up, the already heated chat boiled over.

"Property management posted a notice. So it's definitely true."

"You shameless little slut, which married man are you trying to seduce anyway? If you've got the nerve, go knock on his door directly."

"@property management, you have to do something. You can't just let her run around naked at home every day. What if my kid sees?"

"This little tramp still won't show her face. Looks like she's scared."

"Good thing Aunt Rosemary warned everyone. Otherwise it'd be too late once something happened."

In an instant, the voices cursing me got even louder.

Plenty of residents gave Aunt Rosemary a thumbs-up.

She timed her reply just right. "As the big sister of this community, it's my responsibility and my duty to protect the environment here for everyone."

The moment she finished, I sent the line already sitting in my input box.

"May I ask, is spreading filthy lies about me in the group chat part of your responsibility and duty?"

In an instant, the whole group went silent.

Even Aunt Rosemary didn't reply.

Three minutes went by before she typed back.

"Ethel, the video caught everything, and you're still calling it a lie?"

"Ethel, I posted it for your own good, and here you are with no gratitude at all?"

I kept my eyes calm on the screen.

I laid it out word by word: "The window of mine facing your place is on the shaded side, and I almost never open those curtains. So how exactly did you shoot this video?"

Flora Finch from 708, who lives in the same stack as me a few floors down, spoke up.

"That's right, Ethel's got a point. That window's in the shade, and with the roadwork out front kicking up dust, nobody could open it anyway."

Rosemary, who'd had so much to say a minute ago, went quiet.

"@Concerned Resident Rosemary Lambert. Aunt Rosemary, say something. How'd you shoot the video?"

Thirty seconds later, she came back at me, angry now.

"You just picked your moment, figuring nobody would doubt you at a time like this."

"I filmed it on the spot, no big deal. It's only the tenth of the month and I've already run into it eight times, so grabbing a clip is hardly hard."

"Ethel, I didn't post it so everyone would tear into you. It was a heads-up for everyone, and for you too. Just apologize to the group and clean up your act going forward."

"I'm sure everyone will forgive you."

There it was, her retreat-to-advance routine, all wrapped up as being for everyone's good.

I knew that the moment I admitted anything, the moment I apologized,

not one person in that chat would let me off.

The video would end up online.

I'd be branded a pervert, and I'd end up exactly the way I did in my last life.

I didn't let it rattle me. I kept pressing: "You say you caught it eight times this month. Which eight? Which day, what time each one? Where are the videos?"

Another thirty seconds passed, and she snapped back: "Ethel, I only posted one clip to leave you a shred of dignity, and now you want me to put out all eight? Don't tell me it really is what everyone's guessing, that you're doing it to lure some woman's husband."

She was clever. On the surface she was covering for me,

and without so much as raising her voice she'd shoved me right into the storm.

"Post them, post them all. Once every clip's up, let's see if she can keep wriggling out of it."

Anita from 408 tagged Rosemary, pushing her to post the rest of the videos.

"She's got no shame herself, so why are you still covering for her? Let everyone see just how far this little tramp will go."

Stacy from 709 couldn't wait either, prodding Rosemary to post the clips.

"Oh, an old woman like me shouldn't be sticking her nose in, but she runs around her apartment naked."

"If nobody gives her a warning, who knows what she'll pull one of these days."

"I really am doing this for her, and for all of us."

There she went again, trotting out the same lines, playing the victim in the chat.

I tagged her straight out: "Don't change the subject. Where are the rest of the videos? You say I run around naked. I want all of the proof."

"Otherwise you're the one spreading lies. There are one thousand two hundred thirty-six people in this chat. You've framed me for running around naked and passed around a fake video, and that's illegal. I have every right to call the police."

This time, she went silent.

Five minutes passed and she still hadn't answered me.

Kenneth from property management tagged me directly: "@508 Ethel Fox, it's not that big a deal. Don't go scaring people with the police. Aunt Rosemary meant well."

"Meant well? If someone said you run around your apartment naked, would you call that meaning well?"

He swallowed whatever he'd been about to say about me just apologizing and letting it drop.

He turned the gun on me instead: "You think everyone's like you, shameless enough to run around naked at home? Aunt Rosemary's giving you kind advice and you're threatening her with the police. You're completely unreasonable."

Just as I was typing fast in the message box,

Rosemary, silent all this while, posted one line.

Right there it read: "I was wrong."

Just when I was naive enough to think this whole mess was finally over.

Anita drawled her line into the chat: "I'm too old to be sticking my nose in other people's business. She wants to run around naked, let her. What's it got to do with me?"

Then she added: "Ethel, honey, I was wrong. I apologize. From now on I'll keep my own curtains shut, and you can do whatever you please."

Her show of backing down only fanned the crowd's anger hotter.

"Anita, you didn't do anything wrong. You don't owe her an apology."

"Since when is running around naked in broad daylight okay? @property management, are you people going to do something or not?"

"Anita, post all the videos so everyone can see how shameless this little slut really is."

"Everyone, Anita's doing this for our sake. Don't let her down. You can't go soft on trash like this who drag the whole neighborhood down."

Some of the owners who'd just been cursing me even wanted to come to my face and demand an explanation.

"I appreciate everyone's kindness, but Ethel, she"

She trailed off, playing the victim for the chat.

I @'d her again: "If you have proof, show the proof. Stop milking your age for sympathy."

"If you can't produce proof, then you're spreading lies, and no matter how old you are, you'll do jail time for it."

She saw that I'd caught on to her act.

She dropped the pretense completely.

"Me, playing the victim? Ethel, have a conscience when you talk. The video shows it clear as day, and over a thousand people in this chat saw it."

"Are you blind, can't you see it? Fine, I'll send it again."

A few minutes later, she posted a screenshot.

"Ethel, honestly, this neighborhood's dirty laundry shouldn't go public, but you forced me to send it again, so it ended up in the supermarket discount chat."

She dropped in a helpless little emoji.

That discount chat had over two thousand people in it.

She'd posted the video there for one reason: to threaten me.

To nail it down as fact that I ran around naked in my own home.

"@Anita, right now over three thousand people are going to see this video. That's at least five years for you."

I thought she'd be scared.

Instead she said, without a trace of concern: "What I posted is the truth. I'm doing this for everyone's good."

"Ethel, don't think that just because you know how to read a few characters you can scare me."

"My daughter's a college graduate too, and she knows the law."

At that point Kenneth from property management cut in again.

"Anita here was kindly warning you in the chat, and you shouldn't throw the law around to scare her just because you're young. Her daughter, Olivia Lambert, just got hired by a city agency. She knows a lot more than you do."

Soon the crowd that had been cursing me right alongside her started fawning over her.

"I didn't want to get involved in her mess, but our Olivia's always telling me the neighborhood is our big family, and I should have a sense of social responsibility."

Listening to her high-minded speech, I couldn't help but spit a few times.

"Our Olivia knows about all this too. She says I did nothing wrong, and she backs me."

Reading that line, I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

No wonder Anita, who'd only ever known how to screech like a fishwife, was slandering me with this much finesse this time.

Like a whole different person.

"Ethel, our Olivia says as long as you admit your fault and beg everyone's forgiveness, this can all be settled easily."

So that was it. Anita had gone through this whole elaborate song and dance.

And her daughter was coaching her behind the scenes.

As if to prove her daughter really was backing her.

She @'d property management: "I've pulled my daughter into the chat. Kenneth, approve her."

I watched someone join, a profile picture of a person in a business suit, using her own photo.

And in that instant I understood why this mother and daughter had teamed up to come after me in the chat.