„I can’t believe Scrooge needed three ghosts to realize what an idiot he was and needed to change“, Benny said, after finishing the book as a homework assignment and shook his head in disbelief.

„Why? What is so hard to believe about a person being blind to their own faults?“ his best fried replied. „I‘m just saying, it would be enough for me if one of my friends would point it out “, Benny said to his friend Jacob. „Well, you‘re not that much better“ he said in response, „while he was chasing money, you are chasing clout“, „That‘s something different, I don‘t harm any other people during that.“ Benny answered while obviously getting annoyed. Jacob knew his friend well enough, so he stopped arguing about it, before it could escalate to a screaming match. „Let‘s grab something to eat“, he proposed instead, and saw how Benny‘s expression calmed down immediately.

„I’m home“, Benny shouted, while he discarded his shoes into the corner of the entrance hall. „Hello honey, how was school?“, his mom‘s melodic voice came out of the living room. „Boring as always and I still got schoolwork left to do“, Benny answered, while he started to go upstairs. In his room he sat down on his comfortable gaming chair with a big sigh. „I really could use the time to edit some of my videos, but I guess it’s no use, the presentation won‘t appear magically“, he mumbled to himself, as he pulled out his Laptop and wrote the Title: „Fame in the olden Days, how even in the past people risked their life, just for a bit of publicity“. What an odd topic that his teacher has assigned to him. And how Boring. He started to do his research and found articles upon articles about people dying in the most ridiculous ways, for example like the girl who tried to jump over a pit full of venomous snakes. How stupid one had to be to risk their own health, just for a bit of fame, he thought to himself.

„Did you hear about the girl who got stuck in the cave, and slowly starved to death? They managed to recover the body today“, Jacob greeted Benny the next day at school. „Good morning to you too, Jacob“, he answered in a sarcastic manner, „what was she doing there anyway?“. „She heard that no one had ever managed to get from one end of the cave, to the other, because they are connected by an extremely narrow tunnel. So she decided to be the first person to do it, even life streamed the whole thing. In the end, millions were witness to her final breath“, Jacob finished, with a suggestive glance towards Benny. „Oh don‘t be like this you know I would never put my life at risk, just for some internet clout“, Benny replied, „anyways, the class is about to start“ he said, with a slightly pissed tone and left Jacob behind.

„Do you want to watch this Talkshow with me tonight?“ his Mother asked during dinner, „it is with multiple researchers, who essentially all believe that in the future the only thing able to kill humans, will be their own wish to stand out from the masses, I personally have hope that humans will eventually grow out of their greed for fame. I mean, imagine what a horrible fate that would be, being immortal and still dying because of something that doesn‘t matter in the afterlife anyway“. „I‘m intrigued, let‘s watch it“, replied Benny with a queasy feeling.

„Shit, another thousand followers down“, Benny stared at the numbers in utter disbelief. Seemed like casual Mountain biking wasn‘t enough to excite people anymore. If he didn‘t want to lose even more, he had to act. Now. He grabed his helmet and carefully crept down the stairs, avoiding all the creeky ones. Once he was on his bike, he drove arround a little bit, looking for the perfect spot. Than he saw it. The Railroads. Perfect. He set up his equipment and started filming. He would just get off when a train would come, but the additional risk surely would give him a bunch of new followers. Just as he wanted to leave the tracks, he slipped, and fell in a very unfortunate manner. „Shit, I can‘t move, I must have broken my leg“. Benny left out a whimper. Just as he said this, he heard a train approaching. The last thing Benny saw, were it‘s headlights.