My clout-chasing cousin staged a malicious prank that sent my grandmother into cardiac arrest. After the video went viral on TikTok, she decided to up the ante: she was going to hire fake armed robbers to break into our house and terrorize my grandmother again. My response? I bought a 12-gauge shotgun. When the "robbers" broke in, I didn't hesitate. I pulled the trigger. 1. It was Thanksgiving, a rare occasion for the whole family to gather under one roof. Uncles, aunts, and cousins crammed into my grandmother’s house for the holiday. My younger cousin, Chloe, who barely ever visited, actually showed up this year. Because she was the youngest, Grandma spoiled her the most. At the dinner table, Grandma was constantly fussing over her, passing her the gravy, cutting the turkey, and making sure her plate was full. But Chloe didn't care. She was entirely absorbed in her livestream, shoving her phone in everyone’s faces. The constant loud chatter and obnoxious behavior left the whole family rolling their eyes. Finally, I spoke up: "You have millions of followers. It's not cool to film the whole family and put us on the internet without asking." She rolled her eyes at me with pure disdain. "You don't get it. Holiday traffic is peaking right now, and traffic equals money! Besides, we're all family. Don't be so stingy." She immediately spun back to her camera, puckering her lips. "Omg, thank you for the Galaxy gift, besties! Mua!" I couldn't stomach her fake, sickeningly sweet persona. "Stop filming me." I reached out and pushed the camera lens away from my face. I didn't mind a quick picture for Instagram, but being broadcasted to an audience of millions made my skin crawl. "God, Harper, what century are you living in?" Chloe mocked, her tone dripping with passive-aggression. "Are you from the 1800s? You think a camera is gonna steal your soul?" "It's rare for all of us to be together, let's keep the peace," Grandma quickly intervened, trying to smooth things over. "Chloe, sweetie, just put the phone away for dinner." I swallowed my anger. It was Thanksgiving, and I didn't want to ruin the night for Grandma, so I let it go. But I never expected her to take things even further. I had just walked into the kitchen to slice some pecan pie when I heard a blood-curdling scream coming from Grandma's bedroom upstairs. I sprinted up the stairs and burst into the room. Grandma had collapsed on the floor, completely unconscious. Right beside her lay a highly realistic, remote-controlled rattlesnake. Chloe was standing there, holding her phone on a selfie stick, looking blankly at the screen as the live chat exploded. "I... I didn't think she'd be this scared..." A furious, blinding rage erupted inside me. I wanted to smash her phone to pieces and slap her across the face. Trading a family member's health for views. She had absolutely no bottom line. But Grandma's life was the priority. I shoved Chloe aside and immediately dialed 911. When the paramedics arrived, I helped them load Grandma onto the stretcher. Just as the ambulance doors were about to close, Chloe hopped in. "I'll go with you guys." I thought she was actually stepping up to take responsibility. Instead, the second the ambulance started moving, she started her livestream again. She even pointed her camera directly at the EMT who was performing emergency CPR. "Guys, my Grandma is having a heart attack. The medics are doing CPR. This is all because of the prank you guys voted for! Spam '1' in the chat to tell the Grim Reaper to back off! Help your girl out, drop some prayers in the chat!" The EMT glared at her, shaking his head in disbelief. Hearing her absolute sociopathic nonsense, I lunged forward and snatched the phone from her hand. "Chloe, that is enough!" Chloe panicked. "I'm live! Give it back!" I angrily ended the stream and threw the phone right at her chest. If Grandma wasn't fighting for her life right now, I would have ripped her hair out. She scoffed, caught her phone, and muttered, "It's just a joke. We're family. You can't even take a joke." "What the hell did you just say?" I snarled. She huffed indignantly. "She's not gonna die! Why are you yelling at me?! It's not a big deal, why did you have to throw my phone?" I fought down the urge to strangle her, telling myself I’d deal with her once Grandma was stable. But Chloe wasn't done. "It was just a little prank! Grandma probably won't even be mad at me! You're the one making everyone panic. Am I not allowed to love Grandma just because I stream? I literally asked my chat to pray for her! Stop gaslighting me with your fake moral high ground!" I was so livid I was seeing red. "If Grandma pulls through, I am going to destroy you," I warned her coldly, then ignored her for the rest of the ride. Luckily, we got her to the hospital in time. She was immediately rushed into the ICU. My dad, my uncles, and my aunts were pacing the waiting room in pure agony. That’s when Chloe appeared, putting on a flawless, tearful act. My dad thought she was coming to apologize and sighed, "We're family, we know it was an accident. Just don't do stupid stuff like this anymore." Chloe nodded obediently. I thought the drama was over. But later, passing by the hospital stairwell, I overheard Chloe's voice. "Hey besties, I got my family's forgiveness! I told you guys they wouldn't actually be mad at me. Grandma is in the ICU right now, so I'm doing a quick stream. Dropping a few Super Chats to help me pay for Grandma's hospital bills wouldn't hurt, right?" Standing in the shadows, I clenched my jaw so hard I thought my teeth would shatter. 2. This wasn't her first time pulling this garbage. Since she arrived for the holidays, she had been a relentless menace. Pranking people, humiliating them on camera, and exposing their insecurities—that was her secret to going viral. She knew my nephew Tyler was struggling with math and science, hoping to get an art scholarship instead. She had shoved her phone right into Tyler's face: "Tyler, what did you get on your SATs? Didn't your dad pay thousands for that prep course? If your grades are trash, being good at painting won't save you. You're never going to get into a good college." In front of the entire extended family, the poor kid's face turned beet red. He was young, prideful, but too shy to snap back. The awkward, humiliating tension immediately brought a surge of viewers to her stream. Later, egged on by her toxic chat, she secretly logged into Tyler's Xbox and deleted all his saved game data, causing the kid to lock himself in his room for three days. When she saw me playing video games in the living room, she sidled up to me, aiming the camera: "Harper, why are you gaming all day? Haven't seen you FaceTime a boyfriend all weekend. You're 25 and still single... wait, don't tell me you're still a virgin?" My dad and uncles were sitting right there watching football. I was mortified and furious, my fists balling up at my sides. She put on this smug, 'know-it-all' tone. "Aww, is Harper blushing? No way, you're 25 and never done it? People are gonna laugh at you, girl." When she saw my Uncle Mark, she enthusiastically dragged him into the frame. Uncle Mark was a laid-back guy, so he just smiled and waved at the chat. But then she zoomed in on his face. "Uncle Mark, your dark circles are crazy. Do you have erectile dysfunction or something? Low testosterone? You're only 39!" Uncle Mark froze, his smile dying instantly. There were over a dozen relatives in the room. And she ruthlessly doubled down: "Guess my aunt is being left unsatisfied, huh?" Uncle Mark couldn't even speak; he looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole. As the topics got more outrageous, her viewer count skyrocketed. Chloe was absolutely ecstatic, her face twisting into an ugly, greedy grin. I knew then that she was going to do something even worse. Sure enough. When my cousin Ryan brought his new girlfriend home for the first time, Chloe pounced. She didn't just say hi. She grabbed Ryan's arm, pressing her chest against him, demanding they take a selfie for Instagram. She was overly handsy, clinging to his shoulder. It made all of us uncomfortable, let alone his new girlfriend. Ryan looked pissed and tried to pull his girlfriend away. Chloe yelled after them, "Wow, haven't seen you in a few years and suddenly you're too good for me just because you work in the city now? Have you forgotten when we were toddlers running around in diapers playing husband and wife?!" Unsurprisingly, Ryan's girlfriend looked horrified. Chloe just proudly looked at her chat. "Pranking 999 people challenge! That makes 27! Keep it up, Chloe, you're doing great!" 3. A week later, Grandma was finally moved out of the ICU. However, her heart condition had severely worsened due to the shock. The doctors recommended a highly specialized, high-risk surgery. After discussing it with the family, I decided to take Grandma to a top-tier cardiac clinic in Texas for the operation and her subsequent recovery. What I didn't expect was that the video of Chloe's snake prank had absolutely exploded online. In a matter of days, it racked up nearly ten million likes on TikTok. I clicked on the video. The comments were sickening. People thought it was just a harmless, staged skit. They had no idea my grandmother almost died. "The ultimate prankster! 10/10 content." "Pranking your own family is ruthless, but it's a thousand times better than those fake street pranks." "Lmao the way Grandma dropped to the floor is kinda cute." "Karma -1 for laughing." "Everyone saying Karma -1, chill. Isn't there a line? She's elderly. What if she literally had a heart attack?" "Look at the fun police up here! Bro, it's called entertainment. It's obviously scripted and acted out." The intense controversy only fueled the algorithm. The video went mega-viral. As much as I hated Chloe's guts, I was too busy taking care of Grandma to deal with her. But then, Chloe posted an update that pushed me past my breaking point. In the video, she looked hyped. After thanking her fans for the views, she announced she was turning the family pranks into a series. The next episode would be "Pranking Grandma Pt. 2". She boldly claimed she was collaborating with a famous, extreme prank squad. I knew exactly who they were. They were a notorious group of YouTubers who got views by harassing innocent people and making them miserable. They would stop exhausted construction workers on the street and ask them why they didn't apply Sephora makeup before leaving the house. When the bewildered workers just smiled awkwardly into the camera, the internet turned them into memes. Or they would chase down amputees, shove cameras in their faces, and ask why they didn't just walk on two legs. Then they'd answer their own question: "Oh, because hopping on one leg is faster! Makes sense!" They called their flavor of exploiting disabled and working-class people "post-modern dark comedy." If anyone got mad, they just gaslit them: "Bro, it's just a prank. Why are you so pressed?" Everyone hated them in real life, but online, they pulled millions of views. Right now, I had just settled Grandma into a rental house in rural Texas after her successful surgery. Chloe announced she was flying out to prank us again. She even posted a cinematic trailer for "Pranking Grandma Pt. 2", revealing the plot: they were going to dress up as armed robbers, break into our house, and hold us hostage. I let out a cold laugh and closed TikTok. You want to break into my house in Texas? I don't care if you're a fake robber or a real one. You're not walking out of here alive. If she wanted to play Russian Roulette with her life, I would gladly pull the trigger. 4. The trailer for "Pranking Grandma Pt. 2" caused a massive uproar online. Her follower count surged once again. Millions of people were waiting to see her terrorize my grandmother a second time. Fueled by the hype, Chloe posted daily updates: her plane tickets, ski masks, realistic prop guns, fake blood... Every post drove the internet into a frenzy of anticipation. A few days later, she and her prank squad touched down in Texas. And I took my ID and walked into a local gun shop. Seeing a customer, the owner immediately walked over and asked what I was looking for. "If you want to go hunting, I recommend this rifle. Great penetration, fast reload..." "If it's for home defense, this compact 9mm is great..." I cut him off. "If I am a woman, home alone, and a group of armed men kicks down my front door, what do I use to stop them instantly?" The owner paused, clearly taken aback by the specific scenario. "What? A whole group of robbers?" "Oh, I see. You want stopping power." He reached up to the rack behind the counter and pulled down a sleek, matte-black 12-gauge tactical shotgun. "One trigger pull clears the hallway. You could have a grizzly bear charging you, and this would put it on its back." Feeling the heavy, cold weight of the steel in my hands, I made my decision instantly. "I'll take it. Give me the buckshot." You want to play games in my house? I'm going to blow you to pieces. The next day, Chloe posted a photo of her squad at the local Texas airport with the caption: "Going to give you guys the surprise of a lifetime tonight!" At that moment, I was running a cloth over the barrel of my new shotgun. I've got a surprise for you, too. In Texas, the Castle Doctrine is absolute. If someone forcefully breaks into your occupied home, you have the legal right to use deadly force to protect yourself. Especially if they look like armed robbers. Whether it was a prank or not, how was I supposed to know? The clock ticked by. That evening, I was in Grandma's room, helping her change the bandages from her surgery. Suddenly, I heard the crunch of heavy footsteps on the gravel outside. Followed by aggressive, rapid banging on the front door. I peeked through the blinds. They had already set up multiple tripod cameras on the lawn. I calmly pulled out my phone and opened TikTok. Sure enough, they were live. The viewer count was skyrocketing, the chat moving so fast it was a blur. "The hype is real! It's finally starting!" "Lmao I bet the cousin is gonna piss her pants. Even if she knows it's a prank, she's gonna be terrified." "For real, Chloe's props and acting are way too good." "Kick the door down already! I want to see the grandma's face! She's so cute when she's scared!" "If the homeowner literally gets a heart attack, Chloe is a menace and I love it." "Taking bets! How many seconds until the cousin starts crying?" I quietly put my phone in my pocket. I didn't respond to the violent knocking. Instead, I walked into the living room. I pulled the shotgun from behind the couch, loaded the shells, and clicked off the safety. The show was about to begin. I raised the shotgun, aiming the black barrel dead center at the wooden front door. Standing on the other side of the wood, I shouted: "Who is it?!" The second they breached, I was going to turn them into Swiss cheese.
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