E-Mail

         They say chain letters are nothing but nonsense. They say to just delete them, don’t even bother. I used to believe that too. I would see “Fwd:” at the beginning of the subject of an email, and more often than not I’d delete it. I’d open them once in a while, but usually just to laugh. I’d usually roll my eyes. I regret that so much, I swear, if I could, I’d never do it again.

         The day started like any other day for me. I woke up and looked at the clock, seeing as that it was only 2:30 in the afternoon I considered going back to sleep. But upon thinking about it I decided not to. I stumbled to the bathroom, and looked into the mirror while washing my hands. I remember wishing I were prettier… oh how much I wish I could look like that again… I can’t believe how much I took for granted before it happened. I’d take it all back if I could… I promise. Upon leaving the bathroom I went into the kitchen to find “breakfast” and settled for a bowl of cereal. After eating the cereal I went into the living room to look for something on TV. Nothing, there was never anything on before 4:00 P.M.

         “I guess I could check my e-mail.” I thought to myself, walking over to the computer. I turned it on and then connected myself to the internet, clicked the E-Mail button and waited for the list of new messages to load. All but 2 of them were either junk mail or “Fwd:” I clicked the check box on the side of all those and then the wonderful “Delete” button. Then I clicked to read the first email, it was from my best friend, Crystal:

Dear Steph:
Wazzup Girl? Nothin here. Just wanted to write to say WAZZUP!!! And that it’s the middle of the night and I got nothin better to do. And that you smell like cheese… mmmm cheese… now I want some. OK, I’m off to find cheese, call me later, k?
-Crystal-

         I laughed a little after reading that, sent an equally goofy reply, and made a mental note to call her later. After closing that email, I went on to the next one, taking into account that it was from a friend that I hadn’t talked to in months, found it odd… but oh well. There wasn’t a subject, so I opened it up…

Dear Friends,
DO NOT DELETE THIS!!! It’s not a joke! This is not a chain letter! It’s real! If you don’t send this on to at least 2 other people, you will suffer the same consequences as the girl in the picture. Please, just copy and paste, cuz people will delete it if they see “FWD”… and this needs to be spread. It’s not a joke. The girl in the picture is Jennifer Jones, and she got this as a letter in Snail Mail and just threw it away, a week later this happened to her. This is serious. Someone, no one knows who, has the power to do this to you if you don’t pass it on. PLEASE just continue the chain!!!
-A Friend-

         “ARRRGGHH!” I exclaimed, I HATED it when people sent me disguised chain letters like that! Without thinking I hastily hit the Delete button, and forgot about it. A few of my buddies were online on my Buddy List, so I chatted with them for a while, and then logged offline. I played video games in my room for a while and read a little of the book I was reading at the time. Crystal called and we talked for a while, both having a laugh at the ridiculous measures people go through to spread chain letters. My sister wanted the phone right then so I had to get off.

         She took so long on the phone (I’d been waiting so I could call Crystal back) that I eventually fell asleep. I woke up and glanced at the clock; 1:15 A.M. I decided I could get online again and surf around, so this I did. Then an instant message window popped up from someone I’d never heard of before. “You deleted it, didn’t you? It specifically said, Don’t Delete. It’s not a joke!” I blinked for a moment, trying to recognize the screen name. I thought maybe it was Crystal trying to mess with my head; after all, she was the only one I’d told about getting that e-mail, so I merely typed “no shit, Sherlock.” Right then I got a pop up saying I had 10 new E-Mail messages all at once. Upon going to the E-Mail box, I saw that they were all that one message. This scared me, so I blocked the mystery person, thinking it was them that sent it to me 10 times.

         I deleted them all and then more of them came up in my in-box. The more I tried to delete them, the more they showed up! At this point, I was stubborn and determined to make them stop so I held down the delete button until the in-box appeared empty, it was then that I let go. But the very second I did, even more of them showed up! I caved. I couldn’t take it anymore. I opened it, and viewed the attached picture.

         What I saw made me scream and almost fall backward in my chair, the picture was horrifying. I felt sick to my stomach. Trying as hard as I could to not look at it, I clicked the button to close the window. But it popped up again, and again, and again, and again. Then this mystery person suddenly started typing to me, even though he/she/whoever was blocked. “See? Now was that so hard??” I could barley look at the screen. “Who are you?” I typed. “I am everything, I am nothing. I am nowhere, and I am everywhere. I am who you think I am, and I am who you least expect.”

         By now I started to put my hacking skills to work, I only needed to find out who it was so I could call the police, though I was terrified. “Don’t try to hack me, I’ve all ready hacked you.” He said in the instant message window. This image wouldn’t go away. I was almost in tears. I didn't get it, I usually found stuff like this amusing, and entertaining, there was something different about this, something I couldn't put my finger on. It was horrible… there’s no way I can think to describe it. The girl in the picture… she was… oh god… it’s horrible. Her face was twisted in pure agony… the sides of her face were… bulged out, her nose... it was gone. In its place was a horribly disfigured piece of flesh, her eyes were rolled into the back of her head, blood lining the rim of her eyes. Nothing disturbed me more than the look of pure agony. Her lips… there was something wrong with her lips, something sick, I wish I could remember. But I can’t… the operation ruined most of my memory.

         I pulled the phone cord out the back of the computer, “Nice Try” the instant message read. “You think I’m talking to you over the internet? Honestly! I’m not that stupid. I’m nowhere, don’t you understand that???” This came as a realization to me. This was the sick freak behind it all… for the first time in my life I believed a chain letter was true. With a rather “interesting” selection of words I unplugged the computer... leaving myself in pitch black darkness. Now, being almost 18, this fear of the dark was a little more than ridiculous, but I ran to the nearest light switch none the less. I was scared, truly and completely scared. I’d felt jumpy many times before, even extremely spooked. But it took a lot to really “Scare” me. I knew I had to be going insane. There’s no possible way that E-Mail could have been real. I put on a comedy video anyway, hoping it would take my mind off things.

         Towards the middle of this movie, there was a knock at the door. I about jumped out of my skin! Clutching the pillow that had been on my lap, I shakily walked over to the door to look through the peep hole. I screamed when I saw the same face that had haunted me through the images from the E-Mails. I ran to my mom’s bedroom, to tell her we needed to call the police, a psycho was outside. My fingers shook too much to dial the phone, I heard my mom’s bedroom door open. “Oh Good! You can dial for me, I’m too shaky to.” No response. “Mom?” I turned around. The agonistic look on the girl’s face in the picture was on my mother’s head.

         This is bad, I’m stuck in the house with this… and there’s a psycho outside. I’ve GOT to be going insane! Just then my “mother” walks over to the front door and lets this psychotic looking man inside. Then… the darkness enveloped me. Where did this sudden darkness come from? You ask. I don’t know. But I heard metal clinking together, like lots of sadistic tools being arranged next to my head. I couldn’t see. “Don’t move my beautiful; this might sting a little if you move.” I tried to scream for help, knowing it was hopeless, but I found that my lips wouldn’t open. I tried to push my tongue through… I had no lips, they were just… gone. My last thoughts I can remember were thinking “I’m sorry, I’m SO sorry, I’ll never delete a chain letter again. I’m sorry, I’m SOOO Sorry!!”

So that’s my story, now I’m part of that cult that sends out those threatening e-mails. I’d take everything back if I could. I would have never deleted that e-mail if I knew then what I know now. But that’s what happens, and life must go on. But I ask you, next time you get that e-mail. Remember me, remember this. Please.