The Seat Swap That Got Me Harassed To Death Chapter 01
The moment I sat down in my train seat, a few lines of text suddenly materialized before my eyes.
[In three minutes, Emily Carter will approach you, claiming to have a severe stomach bug, and ask to swap seats.]
[If you agree, she will post a tearful video tonight crying that she caught a severe STD just from sitting in your seat.]
[Your boyfriend, Ethan Cole, will back her up, accusing you of a “filthy lifestyle.”]
[No matter how hard you try to explain yourself, no one will believe you. You’ll be harassed online until you finally take your own life.]
[Then the two of them will use your death to gain followers and make a fortune.]
A cold sweat broke out across my back. My heart hammered.
Just then, a whisper came.
“Um… excuse me?”
I snapped my head up. There she was.
Emily stood beside my seat. Her face was pale, one hand pressed against her stomach.
“My stomach is absolutely killing me, and…” Her eyes glistened. “Yours is right next to the restroom. Do you mind… could we swap seats?”
…
The air in the cramped carriage felt heavy, pressing in on me.
I took a sharp breath. This scene was exactly the same as the texts.
And after that, once I stood up, my life would be ruined.
“No.” The word came out before I realized it.
A beat.
Emily’s face went rigid. Her eyes glistened.
“Please,” she whispered, her voice cracked. “I’m really sick. It’s just a seat. I’m not asking for anything else…”
Just a seat?
No, this is the blade they’ll sink into me.
I leaned back against the headrest, my smile cold and flat.
“If your stomach hurts, you should take some medicine. How is sitting in my seat going to cure a stomach bug?”
Emily froze.
Then Ethan, my boyfriend sitting beside me, let out a sigh.
“Claire, don’t be like this,” his voice was heavy with reproach. “Can’t you see she’s suffering? “
“It’s just a seat. A normal person wouldn’t even hesitate. Why do you have to make everything so difficult?”
He looked at me like I was nothing but a hysterical woman making a scene.
A cold smirk curled on my lips.
“Didn’t you hear me the first time? I said no.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened. Shock flickered in his eyes.
“Claire!”
Emily immediately waved her hands.
“No, please, don’t argue because of me. I’m sure she has her reasons!”
“It’s my own fault for not packing my medicine…”
She burst into tears.
The sound drew the attention of an older woman from the front row.
She squinted at Emily, then her voice shot up.
“Wait… aren’t you ‘Snowball’? That charity influencer for the mountain kids?”
Heads turned, and half a dozen pairs of eyes locked onto our corner.
Emily’s sobs cut off.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, offering a shy, fragile smile.
“Yes, that’s me… I just try to help out where I can.”
The atmosphere in the cramped carriage shifted instantly.
The idle curiosity in the air curdled into collective hostility.
I felt a prickling sensation on the back of my neck. The feeling of being hunted.
“This girl does charity work and she’s about to collapse. And you won’t even swap seats? What’s wrong with you?”
A ripple of quiet agreement echoed through the rows.
“Unbelievable. It’s literally just a seat.”
“Some people are so incredibly selfish.”
The murmurs filled the carriage, pressing in on me from all sides.
Ethan’s face flushed a deep, angry red. He suddenly lunged, his fingers clamping onto my wrist with bruising force.
The ache in my wrist made it feel like the bone was about to snap.
I stared at his hand, the hand of the man I thought I loved, now treating me like an obstacle to be cleared.
“Get up,” he hissed, his breath hot against my ear. “Stop making a scene.”
Stop making a scene?
The words snapped me into a cold, sharp focus.
I laughed. No sound came out.
No. I was just getting started.
I slowly, deliberately peeled his fingers off my wrist.
“If you’re so incredibly generous,” I said, my voice cutting cleanly through the ambient noise, “and you’re so deeply worried about her…”
“Why don’t you get up and give her yours?”