The Power of Steem

I was already seated and was waiting for my four special friends to arrive. We normally had dinner at the Casa, whenever we wanted to celebrate something. But today, I wanted to celebrate at an expensive restaurant, The Reeds. I wanted to celebrate a big achievement–my academics! I had gone from a 2.9 GPA to 3.8, all thanks to this unique set of friends I don't deserve. I went from a chronic procrastinator to a patient learner. I was extremely grateful and wanted the evening to be special, to be remembered for a long time, something we'd tell our future children– our special friendship.

My phone buzzed on the table and I flipped it over to see if they'd finally arrived. Just then, Brian, the leader of the pack, the motivator and strongest willed among us, pulled a chair and sat down. He smiled at me before offering his right hand, to be precise, for a brotherly handshake. I felt shy and lowered my eyes as I returned his peace offering. Adjusting his seat, he asked where the others were and I expressed my ignorance too.

We talked for a while but were interrupted because apparently something had caught Brian's eye. He got up immediately and started walking in the direction of whatever it was. U called him but he didn't respond. I tried to see what it was but Brian had already gone towards the bathroom.

A few minutes later, Brian marched towards the table, ruined mood, face scrunching up like a ball and fists tight. He sat down carelessly like a bag of potatoes dropping suddenly. “What happened, Brian?” I asked, confused how his mood suddenly changed. His fists tightened further and I backed out immediately, not wanting to be a victim of his anger issues. I advised him to calm down first and talk only after taking deep breaths. He looked at me with a side eye and sort of whimpered even with all the fumes he was emitting.

Timotheé, the short slender guy with an outgoing personality, the one who gave me communication lessons for free, rushed nervously towards our table. He pulled a chair beside Brian and sat down. I was so happy to see him that I hadn't even noticed how distraught he looked and passed an unreciprocated greeting. Brian took my advice and started inverting loud breaths at regular intervals.

Timotheé courageously placed a hand on Brian's sloped shoulders. Brian immediately jerked his hand away with a force that sent him headward straight to the floor, breaking the white wooden chair. He writhed in pain and tried getting up, his hand to his forehead.

“Brian!” I shouted. “What in the world is wrong with you?!”

Brian started cursing at Timotheé, something these best friends knew Timotheé hated a lot. It reminded him of his alcoholic Dad who beat Timotheé and his Mum all the time. Timotheé angrily charged at Brian but he overpowered him and flung him over the table. The sparkling glass decorations on the table shattered as the table cloth was dragged to the floor along with Timotheé’s body.

Everybody in the restaurant’s attention turned towards our table. Two muscular waiters were approaching us from the other end of the room.

“You can fight. Can't you? You had the courage to steal my fiance. Fight me! Come on, lover boy! Fight me! ” Brian said, moving towards the other end of the table where Timotheé was trying to stand up.

Wait. Rose? What?

Instead of Timotheé to retreat and maybe apologize, at least, he could have considered his size in relation to Brian, he lunged towards Brian with his small fist. Brian was muscular and welll built while Timotheé was slender but healthy. He attempted punching Brian's nose but Brian caught his hand and punched a river of blood from Timotheé's nose.

One of the waiters withheld Brian and tried pulling him away but he resisted. Just then, Ed entered and restrained Timotheé from charging again. “What is wrong with you guys?” He boomed, passing glances at both breathless men.

“Kyle, what's going on here?” he asked as he released the now sane Timotheé. He followed my eyes as they moved from the two fighters to the shattered glass to the torn table cloth and fallen chairs. Someone was calling the manager and there were eyes fixed on us. The evening I had saved for was wasted.

I saw a figure I knew very well approach our table. It was Ryan, the fourth friend needed to complete the evening. He looked furious and was holding what seemed to be a bundle of dollar bills. He shoved it into Ed's face. “What's this?” He asked, as the bills fell to the floor revealing the numerous white paper that was sandwiched between the notes, stealing everyone's attention.

Ed looked surprised and confused and claimed he didn't know what happened. Ryan grabbed his blue collar and pushed him to the wall. The muscular waiters tried to get hold of him but were unsuccessful. He rushed towards Ed and slapped him over and over again. Poor Ed looked completely surprised and denied knowing what happened.

“I was supposed to use that money for my mother's surgery!” He said, the atmosphere of his once calm voice tensed up. “Give me my money! I need it now!”

Ed claimed he didn't have his money and that maybe someone stole it and replaced it with fake dollar bills. Ryan didn't buy his story and punched him in his belly, demanding the same thing.

Rose walked down to our table with her mouth wide open as she saw Timotheé's nose dripping blood and Ryan beating Ed. She ran to Timotheé's side, oblivious that her fiance was staring at her, hurting. He whimpered again and threw another punch at Timotheé's face.

Brian loved Rose a lot and planned on marrying her. He had confided in me that he knew she was cheating but I knew neither of us expected it to be our own Timotheé. That's why he was so hurt.

I watched all of them ruin the evening, broken-hearted. Everything happened twice the speed you read the whole drama.This wasn't how the evening was supposed to go.

Back at our rented apartment, they took turns packing their things and leaving to God knows where. We were the only ones who had each other's back in this school so where were all of them going?

Ed left first. Then Brian. Ryan followed. Timotheé didn't return to get anything.

I mean, we attended a party yesterday. Together. We were so happy. How did we get here?

I couldn't sleep that night and I was sure that neither of them did.

Two weeks after the incident, neither of us spoke to each other. I wondered why they weren't speaking to me though since I didn't have any beef with any of them. Even the ones that weren't fighting are now cross with each other. Wow. Maybe it's because I tried to get them to reconcile but they all bluntly refused.

And that's how we graduated and hadn't said a word to each other. Luckily I was able to maintain a good GPA throughout my school. Life wasn't the same without them, I mean, I had to leave that apartment cause I couldn't feel fine knowing that my four best friends who used to live here with me aren't here anymore.

Years later, I was working at my uncle's company, helping him get clients from big organisations. And I hated it. The work wasn't boring. My uncle just never appreciated my effort and he always reminded me that if he had a son, I wouldn't be working at his company.

To get away from that emotional damage, I would write stories for my blog on Steemit, during my free time. It's basically a platform where you can earn money from posting content— quality content. A cryptocurrency platform. And I actually enjoy posting on the platform because I was able to meet new friends. They reminded me of Ed, Timotheé, Brian and Ryan.

It was weird though because ironically these four internet friends were interested in the kind of things I was into and had their names in their usernames. It was really strange but I didn't want to even attempt to confirm my suspicion. Besides, none of them had a picture of themselves as their profile picture.

A community on the platform for Americans was organizing a national meet up. The event would be held in North Carolina and was in two weeks. A much need escape from my suicidal job. I was excited to attend since my four internet friends also said they were coming.

Two weeks later, I had ordered an Uber and was stepping outside the hotel building, swiftly fitting the length of my thiṅ body into the door frame. We arrived at the venue some 45 minutes later or so.

The event center was so huge and beautiful. The event organisers had provided many activities to take part in. I passed through the bar, the arcade room, and the food until I reached where many people were seated and all of them had a shirt similar to mine. A blue shirt with the words “The Power of Steem” printed boldly in white characters.

I walked towards the back as the front seats were already full. And lo and behold, the perfect smile I'd ever seen, coming from the mouth of the Instagram influencer, Timotheé Lavigne! He was so surprised and happy to see me at the same time that he dropped a few tears on my shirt before releasing his tight grip.

We stared at each other for some time before starting a conversation I so longed for. We chatted for some time before a man who was swirling a red cup in his hands approached us but was distracted by his phone. We didn't notice him either and continued our chat. He suddenly called my name and Timotheé's. We looked at each other before turning to look at the man.

It was Brian! And he was totally unrecognizable. He'd grown big beards and had tattoos on both arms. Timotheé and I got up immediately, suddenly remembering who it was. At least his eye color and smile didn't change.

He hugged the both of us tightly and refused to let go. This was too much. Brian and Timotheé in one day? Just keep playing this movie like this.

Timotheé started crying again and apologized for his behaviour on our last evening together. He explained that what he did was very terrible and he was trying to be a better person.

Brian said he was sorry too, for allowing a silly girl to ruin their six year friendship. And therefore, they reconciled.

What the ..? I had never seen Timotheé cry before. Wow. This is a lot.

Just bring in Ed and Ryan. Complete the scene. Please.

A man was supposed to send me some Steem. He was one of the moderators for a competition His username was edwashere. Instead of sending it already, he was skimming the crowd looking for me, maybe wanting to start a conversation.

Ed. Eddie Turner.

The same thing happened. Only that we would have almost hit a pregnant woman. Timotheé's face spoiled even further. He looked like he'd just come out of a sci Fi horror movie. His eyes had produced enough tears for today.

Just then, Ryan sat down and said hi to no one in particular. We all looked at him and shouted his name in unison. This made him shake nervously before he realized who it was.

As we hugged him, he pushed Ed away from him. He accused him for his mother's death. Stating that if he'd just given him the money that day, his mother would still be alive. Ed said he was sorry his mother died but still denied knowing anything about the paper notes.

This time, Ryan thought about it for a while. We also pleaded with him to end the matter already. It seemed like Ed was telling the truth. Ryan listened to us and admitted that he'd missed all of us a lot, our hangouts and mischief. He apologized to everyone and we all, you know, hugged again?

I smiled at my best friends and soon realized that they were the same internet friends I had on Steemit. We all laughed at the realization, seeing that we still kept in touch with each other even without revealing our true identities.

I looked around and saw people laughing and smiling at each other. Some sharing drinks, food and stories. Our friendship was restored.

Aside from helping me escape from my uncle's nagging, Steem was able to bring us together.. To bring people across the globe together. To unite people and foster a wholesome community for all. That was it's true power

The end.

If you read till the end, woah, you just read 2145 words.

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