One Man Band System

After getting treated at the hospital and discharging himself, Eric walked aimlessly with a bandage slapped across his nose. Going home was out of the question—they would just throw him out again. He checked the remaining cash in the envelope; there wasn’t much left since a chunk of it had gone toward his medical bills.

He sank onto a roadside bench and unzipped his duffel bag. Pulling out a manila folder, he looked inside. It held all his vital documents: his birth certificate and his diplomas from elementary school all the way through high school, which he had just graduated from a month ago.

"Crinkle." He gripped the folder tightly with both hands. His heart ached at how easily his family had discarded him without even hearing his side of the story. He remembered the time he went to Melissa’s apartment. She had asked him for help moving some furniture around because she wanted to rearrange her living room. There was absolutely no physical contact, let alone kissing.

Besides, Melissa was like an older sister to him; he would never even dream of crossing that line with her. Eric replayed the video footage in his mind—the scene where Melissa was the one who initially hugged the guy who looked just like him, then kissed him passionately.

"I didn’t do it. None of this makes sense. In that video, Melissa was clearly being intimate with that guy, and that guy definitely wasn’t me. That means she’s cheating on Jason. But how do I prove it? The video looked so real and seamless, like it wasn’t even edited. But... even if I could prove my innocence, Mom and Dad wouldn’t listen to me anyway. They always put Jason and Ruby on a pedestal. I’ve never mattered to them," he muttered to himself.

Eric recalled his childhood, which he had spent entirely in the shadows of his siblings. Jason was six years older, and Ruby was just two years younger than him. Whenever he got an A in elementary school, his parents’ only response was a dry, "Good, keep it up."

But when Jason was in middle school and scraped by with a C, his parents threw a massive celebration. It was the same story whenever Ruby got a B or lower, anything she wanted, they bought her instantly.

Despite the blatant favoritism from his parents, he had always been incredibly close with his siblings. They used to help and support one another, up until now. In fact, Ruby was the one who had introduced him to her best friend, Vivian, so they could date.

He was also close with his cousin, Jade. The five of them had played together constantly since childhood, with Jason always looking out for them. But everything changed the moment Jason brought Melissa home to meet the family. Jason wasn’t as warm as he used to be; he seemed to care way more about Melissa’s feelings than those of his own siblings.

Ruby and Jade also grew tight with Melissa, leaving only Vivian to stay by his side and keep him company. Reflecting on it all, Eric leaned back and stared up at the blue sky.

"Hahaha, even Vivian believed that video... Honestly, I can’t even blame her. I’d probably believe it too. It was a flawless setup, whoever made it," Eric muttered bitterly.

"Ding." A text notification chimed on his phone. He quickly pulled the smartphone from his suit pocket to check it. His eyes went wide. The video he had just seen was now being blasted to the extended family group chat. Eric sat upright, staring at his screen, his face turning pale. If his extended family found out, he would have nowhere left to run. Since he lived in a small town, the entire community would catch wind of this scandal, branding him a disgrace for something he didn’t even do.

"Ding." Another message popped up in the family group. This time it was Jason speaking. He officially declared that he was calling off the wedding with Melissa. His reason? Melissa had confessed to cheating on him with Eric—and claimed she was now pregnant with Eric’s baby.

"W-what? No... way... I didn’t touch her... Seriously! I don’t want anything to do with Melissa. She’s five years older than me, and she’s even a year older than Jason... This is insane... It’s impossible. I am not the father of her baby," Eric thought to himself, panic seizing him.

"Ding." "Ding." "Ding." The family group chat exploded with reactions to Jason’s message. Distant uncles, aunts, cousins he had never even met, and elders who used to be kind to him were all tearing him and Melissa to shreds without asking for his side of the story. But the absolute heaviest blow came when Jason texted the group:

"Eric, if you’re reading this, thank you and I hope you’re happy. Congratulations, you’re a father now. I no longer consider you my brother. To me, you’re just a stranger who happens to share my DNA. Don’t ever come home or show your face to me again, because as far as I’m concerned, you’re dead."

Tears began to stream down Eric’s cheeks. Jason had been his role model and the brother he loved most in the world. His hands shook violently against his phone as he read the words. To make matters worse, Ruby and even Jade, who had just promised to support him and said she believed him, immediately blocked his number after sending messages condemning him in the group chat.

Vivian, the girlfriend he loved and envisioned a future with, blocked him too without saying a single word. "Ding." Another notification hit Eric’s phone. He checked it and saw an incoming email. When he opened it, his entire future crumbled. The email detailed his formal withdrawal and the cancellation of his tuition funding for the local university. His father had pulled all of his educational funds and terminated his enrollment.

"Hahahahaha... I’m ruined... I am completely ruined because of that toxic woman!" Eric screamed in sheer frustration, causing several pedestrians to snap their heads around and steer clear of him.

Eric slumped over, processing the sudden wreckage of his life. In the blink of an eye, he had lost everything: his family, his siblings, his relatives, his girlfriend, and his entire future. Burying his face in his hands, his messy hair falling forward, he sobbed uncontrollably while sitting huddled on the sidewalk bench.

"Ding."

Another text came through, but Eric didn’t even want to look at it, assuming it was just more vitriol from the family group chat. But then, suddenly, "ring!" his phone started ringing. He snatched the phone and looked at the caller ID. His blood instantly boiled, his rage hitting a breaking point. He swiped to answer.

"Melissa! Why the hell are you framing me like this?!" he yelled.

"Oops, sorry! There was no other way out. Just so you know, my relationship with your brother died a long time ago. I’m just waiting on my new boyfriend, so my bad, haha," Melissa replied smoothly.

"But why frame me? What do you have against me, huh?" Eric demanded.

"Yep, I have a problem with you. Before you could expose my cheating, I figured I’d beat you to the punch. When you came over to my apartment, you ran into my new guy, didn’t you?" Melissa asked.

It clicked. Eric instantly remembered that when he had gone over to help move the furniture, there was another guy inside the apartment besides Melissa. He hadn’t thought anything of it at the time because Melissa claimed she had asked a coworker to help out too. He had also spotted the guy later on his way out to the motorcycle parking lot; the man was leaning against a catering van, staring at his phone.

"So... that video was intentionally made to frame me? And that guy, is he Jason’s friend? Blake?" Eric asked.

"Hmm, the first video wasn’t, since you couldn’t see the face. But the one inside the van? Yeah. Wow, you recognize Blake? He’s actually the one who edited the video. Pretty clever, right? Anyway, sorry and thanks. Bye-bye," Melissa said.

The line went dead. Eric gripped his phone, ready to smash it into pieces. Instead, he forced himself to stand up, threw his duffel bag back over his shoulder, and resolved to head straight to his house to lay out the whole truth to his family.