Toilet Paper Apocalypse

Chapter 1: Purple Poop Day

Marcus was filming his little brother when everything went crazy.

"I'M POOPING RAINBOWS!" Trevor screamed, running around the bathroom with his pants down.

Marcus chased him with his phone. "This is amazing!"

Trevor had eaten a purple crayon at breakfast. Now his poop was purple.

"Trevor! Do the unicorn dance!"

"I'M A MAGICAL BUTT UNICORN!"

Trevor danced around the toilet. Marcus uploaded the video immediately.

Ding! 1,000 views in ten minutes!

Ding! 5,000 views!

Ding! 10,000 views!

"I'm famous!" Marcus shouted.

That's when he got his worst idea ever. If people loved purple poop, they'd definitely pay for premium toilet paper.

"MARCUS!" Mom yelled from downstairs.

Uh oh.

Chapter 2: The Great Toilet Paper Scheme

Marcus's business plan was genius. Kids at school complained about scratchy bathroom paper. Marcus had soft hotel toilet paper from Trevor's birthday party.

Supply and demand!

"This toilet paper will change your life!" he told Jessica Martinez. "It's only fifty dollars a roll!"

"Fifty dollars?" Jessica asked.

"This isn't regular toilet paper. This is premium bathroom protection!"

"Protection from what?"

"Catastrophic butt failure!"

Jessica's eyes went wide. "What happens if I don't buy it?"

"Your butt might experience problems."

Jessica ran to get her mom's wallet.

Marcus sold twelve rolls in one day. Three hundred dollars! He was a business genius!

Then Principal Martinez called.

Chapter 3: Big Trouble

Mom was holding a letter and looking really tired.

"You're suspended!" she said.

"For what?"

"Toilet paper!"

"Oh. That."

"You told kindergarteners their butts would rot off!"

"I said they might experience 'catastrophic toilet failure.' That's totally different."

"You made Jessica Martinez steal money from her mother!"

"Jessica made a smart investment!"

"She's seven years old!"

"Young entrepreneurs start early!"

Mom sat down hard and rubbed her forehead. "Marcus, why are you like this?"

"Like what? Successful? Smart? Ahead of my time?"

"Like someone who thinks everything is everyone else's fault."

"Because it usually is. People are jealous of success, Mom."

"You're going to alternative school if this happens again!"

Alternative school equals kid prison. Marcus's stomach dropped to his toes.

"What if there was another option?" Mom said, pulling out her laptop. Kids holding giant checks filled the screen.

"KidFluencer Academy!"

"This looks incredible!" Marcus said.

Finally! A school for winners like him!

Chapter 4: Winner School

KidFluencer Academy was covered in neon posters.

"CONTENT IS KING!"

"BE AUTHENTIC!"

"MONETIZE YOUR DREAMS!"

Marcus loved it.

"Welcome, future entrepreneurs!" said a woman who looked like she drank too much coffee. "I'm Brittany, your Content Strategist!"

"I'm here because I'm basically a business genius," Marcus announced. "I built a three-hundred-dollar business in one day!"

Everyone stared at him.

"Wonderful confidence!" Brittany said with a practiced smile.

"It's not confidence. It's facts."

"Let's do introductions!"

"I'm Marcus Williams, future CEO!"

"I'm Sage," said a girl with purple hair who looked like she could stare down a shark. "I ran illegal betting pools."

"Smart! Gambling is just advanced economics!"

"I'm Aiden," said a quiet kid who never stopped recording. "I film everything because evidence is important."

"Good strategy!"

"I'm Cameron," said a nervous-looking boy. "I accidentally gave people food poisoning with my cooking channel."

"You learned what doesn't work! That's valuable data!"

Then Trevor burst in.

Chapter 5: Trevor Steals the Show

"I'm Trevor and I want to be famous too!"

Trevor had snuck in somehow. He pulled out a juice box.

"JUICE BOX UNBOXING PARTY!"

Trevor started dancing. Everyone pulled out phones to film him.

"That's not professional," Marcus said quickly.

But Trevor was already getting more attention than Marcus. Kids were laughing.

"This is hilarious!" Sage said, actually smiling for once.

"He's a natural!" Aiden said, still filming.

"Trevor doesn't understand content strategy," Marcus said. "He's just goofing around."

But other kids kept filming. Trevor did interpretive juice consumption. He made up a song about apple flavor. He invented dance moves on the spot.

Marcus felt something ugly twist in his stomach.

"Your first assignment," Brittany said, checking her phone while she talked, "is to make content that shows your unique value!"

Marcus smiled, but it felt forced. This was going to be harder than he thought.

Chapter 6: Showing Off

Marcus made a video called "Why Most KidFluencers Fail."

He secretly filmed his classmates.

"Here's Emma making makeup tutorials," he said. "She doesn't even wear makeup!"

"Here's Jake teaching productivity. His backpack is full of missing homework!"

"Here's Cameron teaching cooking. He can't make toast without burning it!"

"The difference between me and these people is that I'm actually good at things."

The video got 500,000 views! The comments were amazing:

"Finally someone telling the truth!"

"This kid gets it!"

"Everyone else is fake!"

Marcus felt incredible. But then lunch happened.

Chapter 7: First Pushback

"Dude, what the heck?" Sage said at lunch, slamming her tray down.

"What?"

"You made us look like idiots!"

"I documented reality!"

"You secretly filmed us without permission!"

Sage's eyes were narrow and dangerous. "You're being a total jerk!"

"I'm being successful!"

"Numbers don't matter if you hurt people!"

"Numbers are the only thing that matters!"

Aiden kept filming the argument.

"What about being a decent human being?" Sage asked.

"Good people finish last!"

Cameron looked uncomfortable. "Maybe we could all just—"

"Stay out of this, Cameron," Marcus said.

Sage stared at him like he was an alien. "You're seriously turning into a monster."

"I'm turning into a winner!"

Marcus walked away feeling annoyed. These people were obviously jealous.

Time to go bigger.

Chapter 8: Going Nuclear

Marcus's next video was going to be huge.

"KidFluencer Academy: The Biggest Scam Ever!"

He secretly filmed everything. Brittany admitting the program was mostly trial and error.

"We're kind of figuring this out as we go," she said into her phone during a break.

Students crying about failing.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong," Emma said to Sage.

Fake success stories.

But the best part was Trevor.

"Look at this pathetic situation," Marcus said to his camera. He filmed Trevor playing with other kids.

"A random five-year-old gets more views than trained students! This proves the academy teaches nothing!"

Marcus felt like he was exposing the truth. This was going to make him famous.

Chapter 9: The Ambush

Marcus ambushed Brittany with gotcha questions.

"Are you actually teaching anything valuable?"

"Marcus, the learning process is—"

"Yes or no!"

"Every student's journey is different—"

"Another non-answer!"

Brittany looked tired and confused. "I'm trying to explain—"

"This is exactly what I'm talking about! You can't even defend your own program!"

"That's not... Marcus, you're not giving me a chance to—"

"This woman is taking money from desperate parents! She's running a scam operation! And I'm going to expose it!"

Brittany's face went pale. "Marcus, please don't—"

But Marcus kept filming. He felt like an investigative journalist. A truth-teller. A hero.

Chapter 10: Going Viral

When Marcus posted the video, it exploded.

5 million views in 24 hours! Drama channels making reactions! News articles! Podcast interviews!

"This response is incredible!" Marcus told his camera. "Maybe the best response in YouTube history!"

"I've done a huge service to everyone! The media is calling me brave! I'm probably the bravest truth-teller of my generation!"

Marcus was flying high. He was internet famous. He was a success story.

Nothing could stop him now.

Then the consequences started.

Chapter 11: Consequences Hit

The academy shut down after Marcus's video. Everyone lost their money. Kids had to go to alternative school.

Marcus hadn't thought about that part.

"Thanks for nothing!" Emma yelled when she saw Marcus at the grocery store. "My parents can't get a refund! Now I'm going to Riverside Alternative!"

Emma's face was red and blotchy from crying.

"That's not my fault!" Marcus said. "I exposed the truth!"

"Some of us were actually learning there!"

"You were getting scammed!"

"I was learning to try new things! Now I can't try anything because I'm going to school with actual criminals!"

Marcus felt that twist in his stomach again. But he pushed it down.

Being right was more important than being popular.

Chapter 12: Emma's Anger

"We picked the same program!" Emma screamed.

"Yeah, but I was smart enough to expose it!"

"You destroyed our backup plan for views!"

"I saved you from being scammed longer!"

"I needed this program! My parents spent everything on it!"

"That's not my problem!"

Emma stared at him like he was a monster. "Do you even care that you ruined people's lives?"

"I saved people from being scammed! You should thank me!"

"Thank you for making me lose thousands of dollars and sending me to school with criminals?"

"Thank me for showing you that you're not cut out for content creation!"

Emma's hands were shaking. "I hate you," she said quietly. Then she walked away.

Marcus felt annoyed. Why couldn't people just admit when he was right?

Chapter 13: Sage Gets Scared

"Marcus," Sage said, appearing next to him in the parking lot. Her usual tough expression looked worried.

"We need to talk."

"About how I saved everyone from a scam?"

"About how you destroyed people's lives for views!"

"I provided a public service!"

"You destroyed a program that was helping people!"

"It was a scam!"

"No, it was imperfect. But you destroyed it because drama gets more views than fixing things!"

Sage's voice was getting higher. "Five million views of you ruining people's backup plans!"

"It's called exposing the truth!"

"It's called being a sociopath for attention!"

"You're just jealous!"

"I'm scared of you!"

That stopped Marcus cold. Sage wasn't scared of anything.

"Good! Winners are scary to losers!"

"You hurt Trevor!"

That hit different. Marcus felt something crack inside.

Chapter 14: The Trevor Problem

"What's that supposed to mean?" Marcus asked.

"You exploited your five-year-old brother!"

"Trevor loves being in videos!"

"Trevor loved playing with his brother!"

"He's famous now!"

"He's being bullied!"

"That's not my fault!"

"Everything is never your fault, is it?"

Sage's eyes looked sad now instead of angry. "I used to think you were just arrogant. Now I think you're actually broken."

She walked away. Marcus stood there feeling angry and confused.

That night, Mom told him the truth.

"Kids are being mean to Trevor," she said at dinner. Her voice sounded exhausted.

"They're calling him 'Juice Box Freak' and 'Dancing Baby.'"

"That's not my fault!"

"They're being mean because you made him internet famous!"

Marcus felt that twist again. Stronger this time.

Chapter 15: Fighting the Haters

"Responding to My Haters!" was Marcus's most passionate video ever.

"People are very upset that I exposed the academy," he said. "Which is exactly what I expected! When you tell the truth, they send followers to attack you!"

"People say I 'ruined lives' and 'destroyed dreams.' But you know what actually ruins lives? Falling for scams!"

"I saved these people! Instead of thanking me, they're attacking me!"

"Some people are even attacking Trevor! Which is absolutely disgusting! Trevor is innocent and makes great content naturally!"

"I'm not apologizing for being right! I'm not apologizing for having courage!"

The video got 3 million views. Marcus felt vindicated.

But Trevor was crying at school every day.

Chapter 16: Trevor Breaks

"I don't want to be in videos anymore," Trevor said one night.

He was sitting on Marcus's bed, holding his stuffed elephant.

"What do you mean?"

"I used to love making videos. Now I just want to play."

"Playing and making videos is the same thing!"

"No it's not! Playing is fun. Videos are work."

Trevor's voice was small and tired.

"But you're good at videos!"

"I don't care if I'm good!"

"Normal is boring! You're special!"

"I don't want to be special anymore!"

Trevor started crying. "I want kids to like me, not laugh at me!"

Marcus felt panic. "Trevor, you can't just quit being successful!"

"I'm not successful! You're successful! I'm just the thing you point cameras at!"

That hurt in a way Marcus wasn't expecting.

"We're a team!"

"Teams decide things together! You decide things and tell me what to do!"

Trevor wiped his nose on his sleeve. "And when I say no, you get mad."

Trevor was right. And Marcus hated that he was right.

Chapter 17: The Meltdown

Marcus tried to fix things with another video.

"Setting the Record Straight!" was his most unhinged video yet.

"People are trying to make me feel bad about featuring my brother! Which is completely ridiculous! Trevor is naturally gifted!"

"My own mother doesn't understand how success works! Trevor is claiming he doesn't want to be in videos! Which is obviously him being influenced by jealous people!"

"Everyone is trying to tear us down! I'm not going to let haters destroy what we built!"

The video was a disaster.

"This kid needs help."

"Call child services."

"He's lost touch with reality."

"This is disturbing."

Marcus's subscribers started dropping. Everything was falling apart.

Mom took away his phone.

Chapter 18: The Comeback Strategy

Six months later, Marcus got his phone back. He immediately knew what to do.

Comebacks always got massive engagement.

"The Truth About My Downfall!" was going to be his masterpiece.

"Hey everyone, it's Marcus," he said to his camera. "I know it's been a while."

"What happened was I got targeted by a hate campaign! Because I was exposing truths that certain people didn't want exposed!"

"But I've learned a lot during my time away. I've learned that being right isn't always popular."

"I'm not here to apologize for being successful. But I am here to share what I've learned."

When Trevor walked in, Marcus saw his opportunity. This was going to be perfect.

Chapter 19: Using Trevor Again

"Actually, perfect timing! Trevor, can you come here?"

Trevor looked older now. More careful.

"I don't want to be in videos anymore," Trevor said quietly.

"This isn't a video about you. But I want people to see that we're okay."

"We're not okay."

"What do you mean?"

"You still only talk to me when cameras are on."

Marcus felt annoyed but kept smiling. "Trevor, that's not true."

"You're always thinking about content."

This was making Marcus look bad. Time to shift tactics.

"Trevor, I understand why you want to stay private now. That's why I'm not going to feature you anymore."

"Really?"

Trevor's eyes looked hopeful for the first time in months.

"Really. But maybe just for this one video?"

"And then no more videos?"

"And then no more videos."

Trevor nodded and walked to the camera. "Hi," he said quietly. "I'm Trevor and I'm okay."

"Perfect. Thanks, buddy."

Marcus had lied again. And it worked perfectly.

Chapter 20: Building the Empire

Over the next few months, Marcus refined his comeback strategy.

Videos about "cancel culture." Videos about "family loyalty." Videos about "standing up to internet mobs."

He never apologized for anything. But he talked about "learning and growing."

Most importantly, he kept featuring Trevor.

"Just saying hi to reassure people."

"Just showing we're a normal family."

"Just proving the haters were wrong."

Each time, Marcus promised it would be the last time. Each time, Trevor believed him. Each time, Marcus found a new reason why "just this once" was necessary.

Trevor started having nightmares again. Trevor started asking Mom why Marcus lied so much.

But Marcus's subscriber count climbed back up. 500,000, then 800,000, then 1.2 million.

Marcus was winning again.

Chapter 21: The Success Machine

By age fifteen, Marcus had turned his "redemption" story into a business.

He wrote a book: "Cancel Proof: How I Beat the Internet Hate Machine."

He started a course teaching creators how to "survive controversy."

He launched a podcast interviewing other "unfairly canceled" figures.

"The key," Marcus would tell other creators, "is never admitting you were actually wrong. You can admit you made mistakes, but frame them as learning experiences."

"And family content always works. People love seeing that you're still close with people who supposedly tried to cancel you. It proves they were lying about you."

Marcus was making millions. He was a success story. A winner.

Trevor, meanwhile, was falling apart.

But nobody asked Trevor what he wanted. Because Trevor was content now, not a person.

Chapter 22: Five Years Later

At eighteen, Marcus Williams was on the Forbes "30 Under 30" list.

His memoir "Truth Teller: My Battle Against Internet Censorship" was a bestseller.

His media company "Real Talk Productions" had launched dozens of careers.

He spoke at business conferences about "authentic branding."

Everyone agreed Marcus Williams was a success story. A young entrepreneur who overcame adversity. A family man who protected his brother. A truth-teller who refused to be silenced.

Trevor Williams, meanwhile, was thirteen and broken.

Trevor hadn't spoken to anyone outside his family in two years. Trevor had panic attacks when he saw cameras. Trevor had been in therapy since age nine, but couldn't explain to therapists why he felt so scared and angry without sounding "ungrateful."

But nobody knew that part of the story. Because Marcus controlled the narrative.

And Marcus was very good at controlling narratives.

Chapter 23: The Winner

Trevor knew that Marcus's brand was built on Trevor being "happy and well-adjusted."

Trevor knew that contradicting this would destroy Marcus's career.

Trevor knew that destroying Marcus's career would hurt their family financially.

So Trevor stayed quiet.

And Marcus kept succeeding.

And the world kept celebrating a young man who had "overcome false accusations."

Because the world loved redemption stories. Even when the redemption was fake. Even when the victim was still being victimized. Even when the success was built on ongoing exploitation.

Marcus Williams was proof that you could get away with anything if you controlled the narrative.

And Marcus Williams was very good at controlling narratives.

He had learned early that winning was more important than being good. He had learned that people believed what they wanted to believe. He had learned that family was just another resource to exploit.

And he had turned those lessons into an empire.

THE END

Some people never stop being terrible. They just get better at hiding it.