The End of HyCu64

Evie woke from her midday nap to find Patrick messaging her.

SpaceballsTheUsername: E, I’m pissed

SaltMerchant: Why? Is it because this blizzard has been going on for several days, and your overactive little ass is stuck at home trying to avoid your moronic family members?

SpaceballsTheUsername: Yes! Exactly! Gee, you really get me. But for real, this whole thing feels like a cosmic middle finger to the youths of society.

SpaceballsTheUsername: We make it all the way to the end of the semester without even one lousy snow day, but then BOOM, we’re up to our frigid asses in snow the second break starts.

SaltMerchant: I hate to admit it, but I’m going slightly stir crazy as well. You know, I almost considered spending time with you-know-who.

SpaceballsTheUsername: Oh, man, why do you gotta be that way? I admit I haven’t talked to her except that one time I saw her at school, but she seemed nice!

SaltMerchant: Great! Maybe after this storm blows through, you two can frolic through the fields or whatever.

SpaceballsTheUsername: >:(

SaltMerchant: Sorry. Anyways, have you seen the latest HyCu vid? I’m probably going to watch it later.

SpaceballsTheUsername: Ew.

SpaceballsTheUsername: No.

SpaceballsTheUsername: Jfc, dude. You gotta stop watching that shit.

SaltMerchant: Oh, come on. It’s not like I ever take part in bullying him. I’ve never even left a comment on one of his videos. Look at my face. Does this look like the face of a bully? (◕‿◕✿)

SpaceballsTheUsername: Okay, that’s adorable, but I still think you should stop. I get that you don’t know him, but it just feels… I dunno, immoral or something.

SaltMerchant: :-p

They kept messaging for a while. It wasn’t like there was much to do otherwise. Eventually, though, things did need to wind down. Patrick had to go to dinner. His family was strict about those kinds of things. Evie, on the other hand, was super excited to watch the latest HyCu64 vid, but first, she had to prepare dinner for herself and Olive, much to her dismay.

On her way downstairs, she peeked through Olive’s door, which was slightly ajar, and saw her bent, misshapen body in a wheelchair. Evie cringed as she hurried downstairs, her only solace being that all she’d need to do is place her younger sister’s food tray someplace in her room where she could reach it. No eye contact or vocal exchange would be required. Evie wished her father wasn’t such a workaholic. She hated having to do this.

After a brief dinner eating alone, making sure to set something aside for when her father returned, and putting Olive’s tray in her room, Evie was practically bursting with excitement at seeing HyCu64’s new video. He always uploaded Tuesday and Thursday, and it was always terrible. But oh boy, was it terrible in the most beautiful way.

HyCu64’s true identity was a thirty-two-year-old named Hyman Cummings, and unfortunately for Hyman, his name was but one of the many areas of ridicule people often exploited. For almost a year, he had been a constant outlet for the most awkward, hard-to-watch content on the platform, so naturally, countless people tuned in to see him, Evie included.

He was a fat little man with a personality that seemed genetically engineered for the sole purpose of being mocked. In his first video, “Hello YouTube,” he proceeded to list off his name, age, sexual preferences, and, of course, his various mental ailments. He spoke in this gratingly whiny voice, and his reasons for why he was starting the channel in the first place were so poorly explained, with him bouncing from topic to topic. It was a complete mess and received an appropriate number of dislikes.

During this period, the channel was still small, with only one or two of his videos surpassing five-thousand views. The videos themselves were poorly edited vlogs detailing his daily life in his room, which frankly looked like a child’s bedroom with all the toys and video games scattered about. He’d talk about his big ideas for making a video game or a cartoon, or maybe he’d talk about a time when he was bullied in the past. It was all terribly cobbled together and barely edited, but it didn’t matter much, since only a handful of people were seeing it.

But all that changed when he released a video two months after he started titled, “you bullys aksed for this!!!” In it, Hyman started the video by ripping his shirt off, then rapping in response to specific people in the comment section who had left disparaging remarks on his videos. It was his most embarrassing video, receiving waves of contempt and derision. The entire thing lasted for three minutes, and within a week, it had gone viral. Within the next few months, it would go on to accrue slightly over one million views.

It was during the height of the video’s popularity that Evie learned of Hyman. Right away, she hated him from the bottom of her heart, but at the same time, she couldn’t stop watching. Before she knew it, she was tuning in for every single video.

It was Tuesday, and his latest video, “Apologize,” looked like it would be good, even though it wasn’t that long. Evie clicked on it, and to her surprise, she was greeted by Hyman, not in his iconic sweater and khakis or a garbage-tier cosplay, but in a suit.

“Hey there, YouTube,” he said. Evie was already enjoying this. “It is HyCu64 right here, and sadly, it is not a bright, sunshiny day.” Evie wondered if the weather was bad where he was, too. “Earlier this week, my mommy…”

Hyman covered his mouth and looked to the floor. That familiar, “Oh, thank Christ I’m not him,” feeling was growing. At the same time, Evie felt a pang of pity, as she could guess where this was going.

“My mommy… is in… the hospital.” Hyman started hyperventilating, only catching his breath through the sobs after about thirty seconds. “She ain’t looking all that good, and I… I don’t know what to do. She’s sleeping right now, but she used to always say, ‘Hymie, you gotta be nice to people. Say you’re sorry when you make a mistake. There are more than enough bad people out there, so it’s just plain silly not to be good, all right?’ And I told her, ‘Sure thing! I’ll be good, no if’s, and’s or but’s!’ So, that’s what I intend to do right now. I want to say I’m very sorry for the time I lost my temper about the new Crash Bandicoot. I’m sorry to my former friend Catrina, who I talked about in one of my videos without her permission, and I’m sorry to anyone I offended in my rap battle. I have plenty more where that came from, and I’m hoping that we can clear the air on Thursday where I’ll be streaming live for all my fans, as well as give an update on my mommy. See ya then.”

And then the video ended. It was so sad. Evie knew that, but scrolling through the comments, for every sympathetic comment, there was one either criticizing Hyman for broadcasting his problems to the world or laughing at him for trying to salvage his reputation. Evie didn’t know how to react. She felt like she could relate to him, but at the same time, she detested how Hyman seemed to think his problem was worth sharing. Overall, though, she just felt deflated that she didn’t get to have her typical awkward HyCu64 content that she and all his followers could laugh at.

SpaceballsTheUsername: Yo yo yo! What’s up, peanut butter and Evie?

SpaceballsTheUsername: …

SpaceballsTheUsername: Yo???

SaltMerchant: Sorry, I’m still in bed.

SaltMerchant: This is me sleep typing.

SaltMerchant: What’s up?

SpaceballsTheUsername: Huh. You’ve been sleeping a lot lately. It’s almost one, dude. Get it together.

SaltMerchant: Why should I get up when there’s nothing to do?

SpaceballsTheUsername: Haha good point. I take it you’re still bored?

SaltMerchant: Yep.

SpaceballsTheUsername: I’ll tell you again, now would be the perfect time to bring your sis an “Olive” branch (laughs)

SaltMerchant: I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.

SaltMerchant: So… Did you hear about the HyCu vid last night?

SpaceballsTheUsername: Yeah, I heard! It’s crazy! His mom might actually die!

SaltMerchant: I don’t see what’s so crazy about it. His, “mommy,” is in the hospital. I think he said she’s like seventy-something, so it’s not that weird.

SpaceballsTheUsername: Dang, E. That’s cold.

SpaceballsTheUsername: You know, you can be kind of a…

SpaceballsTheUsername: …

SaltMerchant: Yes?

SaltMerchant: Please, don’t keep me in suspense.

SpaceballsTheUsername: …meanie. I was only ever going to say meanie.

SpaceballsTheUsername: And maybe if you weren’t one, you’d have more friends.

SpaceballsTheUsername: If you thought I’d say another word, you were just projecting.

Their conversation proceeded normally for some time after that. The only piece of relevant news came toward the end.

SpaceballsTheUsername: Oh! One last thing! Our house’s internet has been touch-and-go lately, so if you don’t hear from me anytime soon, that’s why – ttfn.

SaltMerchant: Aw, how will poor, pitiful Patrick get by without me?

SpaceballsTheUsername: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Really, Evie was disappointed to read that. Patrick’s conversations were the only semi-interesting thing she had to look forward to during the long days of isolation. She hoped that Hyman would make himself look especially foolish on tomorrow’s livestream.

That night, while eating dinner, she thought about Hyman. Ever since his channel’s spike in viewership, people have documented a surprisingly detailed number of incidents regarding his life, most of which are from his middle and high school years. For instance, one of his former classmates reported that on his first day of seventh grade, Hyman was dropped off by his mother. He then promptly asked for a kiss, which she gave him in front of everyone in a public area. Not even a minute into starting his new school, and Hyman had already been targeted by anyone in the vicinity with a malicious bone in their body. From there, things just got worse.

Hyman went on to break into tears in the middle of difficult tests. He’d do a presentation on his god-awful fanfiction. He’d sing an anime opening by himself for a talent show. The pile of vitriol he’d garnered form his classmates piled up into a grotesque stew of hate. By the end of middle school, there were accounts of some downright sadistic stuff, things far worse than just sitting alone in the cafeteria. We’re talking stuff like forcing Hyman to run across campus without his pants, or a girl pretending to go out with him on his birthday, only to lead him to a group of people that pummeled him.

Screw Lovecraft, Evie thought. Who needs to worry about that crap when Hyman’s life story is the true existential horror?

Halfway through her meal, Evie heard something collapse upstairs. She muttered a few swears to herself and hurried to Olive’s room. Inside, she saw that her sister had fallen out of her chair and was letting out painful moans. Evie would need to pick her up. Olive also spilled some food on her clothes, and she guessed she’d need to clean those, too.

Whatever. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do.

It took a while, but everything was sorted out well before their father came home. It looked like another late night for him.

“God,” Evie said, “how did you manage to fall over?”

Olive didn’t reply. She hardly ever did. Instead, Olive just pointed a spindly finger at something on a nearby desk. It looked like it was just out of her reach.

“Ah, you were working on something. Is that right?” Evie said as she walked over to it, being careful not to so much as look in Olive’s general direction. It turned out that Olive was drawing something. It was a crudely done scene, made entirely with crayon, depicting two girls smiling and holding hands in a field. One of them was in a wheelchair. Above them were the words, “Thank you for taking care of me.”

At that moment, Evie felt silly, like all the animosity she held toward Olive was stupid. No, she’d always known it to be stupid. There wasn’t any excuse for it, none. Her sister was innocent.

But the moment Evie turned around, she saw Olive again, that poor, broken girl, and wondered why she had to survive. Evie thought about her mother, and suddenly, she no longer felt the desire to say anything to her. She needed to take it all out on someone, her disgust, her confusion, her everything.

Evie just muttered out a quick and lifeless, “Thank you,” before leaving the room.

It had been a long day.

Patrick was right. No matter how many times she called him out of boredom, he simply wouldn’t respond. That made the day exponentially more boring. The only thing keeping Evie from losing her mind was the upcoming HyCu64 livestream. Regardless of how composed Hyman was, Evie had the feeling it would be a complete mess, and you know what? She was looking forward to it. But all she could do until then was wait…

Evie had gotten so tired of waiting that she posted the following before the stream began:

“HC, I wanted to thank you for everything. Really! Your life is so pitiful, it makes everyone else look better by comparison. I just have one question, though. Do you get off to this? Maybe this is just some sort of sad way you think you can meet people? Either way, it’s hilarious how you think us caring for your mom is going to fix all your problems. Everyone has a hard time, but you seem to think the best way to deal with it is to exploit both you and her. News flash, nobody here likes you.”

It didn’t matter. She would never meet him, and venting made her feel better.

Her comment got a few likes.

What. The. Hell.

That was Evie’s first reaction upon seeing Hyman. The other viewers seemed to be having a similar experience, based on the reactions in the chat.

Simply put, the man they were watching was not Hyman. He was in Hyman’s room, had the same suit Hyman wore in the last video, and looked vaguely like him, but no, this was someone completely different. First off, Hyman was in his thirties, while this person was probably in his early twenties. This person also looked very professional and just in general more well-kept than Hyman ever was.

“Hello,” the man said, “my name is Hiram Clarke.”

This was absurd. He didn’t sound even remotely like Hyman. Evie continued listening closely.

“I apologize. I suppose many of you were expecting Hyman, but it’s been a year now since this channel began. I’m done. Let me start by affirming what many of you have likely already figured out. Hyman Cummings is, nor has he ever been, real. We made it all up.”

Someone offscreen picked up the camera, pulling it back and turning around to reveal that Hyman’s room wasn’t actually a room. It was merely a set in a much larger area. Not only that, but there were several people in the room as well, holding boom mics or working the lights, waving as the camera swung by.

By the time the camera was focused back on Hiram, the chat was going ballistic.

“I am a student at the Philadelphia University of the Arts, and I suppose you could say that this is I and my friends’ final project. It started about a year and a half ago. I was watching Bergman’s Persona with some of the boys. You know, just typical guy stuff.” He took a moment to laugh at his own joke. “That was when we got the idea of creating Hyman. For the record, anyone that contributed information to Hyman’s background is either one of my collaborators or someone typing away at a computer desk, lying for the hell of it. Whoever you are, I thank you for your work! For through your efforts, Hyman became a part of our reality.

“Because believe me when I say that Hyman is real.”

Hiram suddenly looked much more serious.

“He was real to most of you out there. Some of you guessed that it was all a hoax, but many of you responded along the lines of, “HC, I wanted to thank you for everything. Really! Your life is so pitiful, it makes everyone else’s look better by comparison.”

He recited the entirety of Evie’s comment, and as he progressed through it, countless other comments were shown along the bottom of the screen, each one hateful and insensitive. It was only when Hiram finished that his smile returned, though it was much more subdued.

“Wow,” he said, “you guys really dug into Hyman, didn’t you? The guy isn’t even corporeal, but I felt genuinely bad for him. And you know why? Because he was one of the most vulnerable characters I came up with. I’ll be the first to admit that he was far from perfect, but even after he pleaded for forgiveness, you lot just couldn’t help but use him as a sacrificial lamb, an outlet for your own issues. We find it natural to torment those who are most vulnerable, don’t we?

“That was the point I was trying to get across, at least, but I like to believe that it’s not all hopeless. I’m shutting down this channel forever! But before I go, here’s one final message to our viewers, no matter who you are! Ladies and gentlemen: Be kind. That is all.”

And with that, it ended.

Evie carried two trays of food. For the first time in a while, she wouldn’t be eating alone.

She breathed, steeling herself, and opened Olive’s door.