I'm a divorced man with no children in a very small town. My divorce was unbelievably contentious, and we both weaponized our friends and families against each other. Once we finalized the process I thought that the madness would stop, but then one night the police arrived at my door and placed me under arrest for an act of shocking violence that I did not commit. (I don't know for sure that it was my ex-wife who called it in but it certainly isn't hard to imagine it was.) The police were actually very understanding and I was "quickly" let go and charges were dropped but it's the kind of accusation that doesn't rub off, especially in a town as small as mine.

Now that I'm socializing again, I'm finding that despite the very real fact of my innocence, pretty much everyone I know has become convinced of my guilt. Most people have just stopped talking to me or sent me messages essentially telling me I'm a lying monster/should be dead or in jail, but the most disturbing is that sometimes they will keep communicating with me but with a very strange and off-putting conspiratorial air. Like "Oh, of course, you're innocent - wink wink, nudge nudge, I won't tell anyone if you don't." Of all the ways to respond, that one really distresses me the most, and I can never look at them the same again. How can I make people understand that I DID NOT DO IT without seeming sketchy or defensive? Is it even possible for me to live here normally after this happens? This is the town I was born in, but I've already lost most of my old friends and some family as a result of this, and I just want the hemorrhaging to stop.

-Innocently Guilty