Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-27383608-20151213005701

The truth is, what you think the web is - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Tumblr, Reddit, Runescape - is just the tip of the iceberg. They're all only about 2% of the entire world wide web. The rest of the web you ask? Rumours say that it's just a bunch of unindexed pages that search engines are unable to get a grip on in the regular web. But in reality, it goes even deeper and darker than that.

I was from Threttenswine, a very under-represented area in London, where all classes of people lived - the poor, the rich, everyone. Multiculturism thrived, and at every corner there were people of all types of nationalities and religious backgrounds. People showed great unity despite the chilling threats of terrorism around the corner, helping each other out - just having each other's back basically.

I attended one of the few schools around the area - Mead Earls was its name. I was a lone wolf, refusing to be a follower, and generally did things my own way. Some people thought of me as a loner, but when they saw how I acted in class, the top-notch grades I constantly received and my fearlessness of a threat, they realised that I'd changed from my earlier persona of being a happy-go-lucky kid laughing at every joke to a serious student who never once smiled - once the joke of the year, then the kid who no one dared mess with ever again.

I even abandoned my mates a few times to go sit alone and read Berserk or Another, or entered the art department to continue the project I was far-behind in. 

The truth was, I never once considered school a part of my  real  life any more - I had assumed the happy-go-lucky persona to escape from it all, to chill out and forget everything else. But then I changed, realising that school wasn't my private life, realising that to harden myself, to strengthen my feelings, I had to face the facts, I had to speak back and not let my anger speak out for me any more, but incorporate it into my natural being.



Enough of that for now, back to the story at hand... It was a very rainy Friday after school, the pavements were a slight reflection of the sky, layered with puddles but tainted with fallen leaves and moderate filth. Teenagers were hurrying home with umbrellas in hand while the adults at the bus stops looked on with frustration, wary of the trouble that the teenagers would bring with them once they entered the approaching buses. That, added with the troubled traffic, must've really ticked them off. The petrichor was deeply seducing, I thought to myself as I started to ignore everything around me, rushing to the place I'd wanted to go to for a week. Despite having to return home by 7, I insisted on walking.

<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">The day before was when I heard of it for the first time, the Deep Web, from one of my 'abandoned' mates - he told me he'd heard of it from an anonymous message, and told me what it was. It peaked my interest - the fact that the  real  web is hundreds of times bigger than our current web is... I don't know. Weird. But think about it - 500 times bigger than millions of Facebooks, Reddits and Tumblrs. Interesting. He also spent a while talking about something gibberish to do with the epitome or embodiment of evil. Crazy guy.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Passing the huge Tesco, I looked back and reminisced the memories of my childhood associated with the place - it sucked how they replaced the old bus stops with new, modern ones, how they replaced the ground surrounding the stops with sand and aggregate, and lastly how the Tesco placed a ban on free plastic bags and requires the customers to now buy them instead!

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">In front of me, on the troubled road, was a crushed, grey car - an accident; the cause of the busy traffic, I thought. I done good by choosing to walk. As usual, I didn't feel any emotions and minded my own business, getting lost into my thoughts again.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">There. This was it... the giant Threttenswine Red Community Centre, which housed the Michael Gramous Library. The 'nostalgia' all struck me at once. But then I remembered I was dead on the inside - I'd lost the feelings of nostalgia, which were replaced by mere goosebumps which lasted for a few seconds. It still looked the same as it did all of those years back though, a clear contrast to its modern surroundings.

<p style="margin:0cm0cm0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Once inside, the warmth made me instantly regain my senses to which then I went straight to the counter, leaving the  Lord Loss  book in the 'return box' before entering the teenage room. The inside of the library had changed a lot. Never judge a book by its cover. Computers lined the blue tables by the mini-wall, which shielded them from the rest of the room, and surprisingly no one was using any of them. The only people there were two teens examining books and comics at the back of the room. Checking the time, it was 4:30 - I had until 7 to return home; it only took me 15 minutes to get home from here. So I decided to use one of the computers, by the corner where it would be harder to see what I was doing.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Logging in, I waited for the "agreements" page to come up (which was a set of rules for using these computers), my heart beating faster and faster as if awaiting a drama performance. Once there, I clicked "Confirm" to which the page disappeared followed by another long wait... My index finger began tapping on the metal table, my nails making an impatient noise upon collision. FLASH. Purple screen? All of a sudden, the screen went pitch black and the lights on the computer disappeared. Shut down? "What the fu-" The screen turned back on and the lights reappeared, the former somehow having landed on a "Tor Project" website. Tor Browser? I quickly glanced backwards, around the room and then back - no one noticed. I felt like leaving the room, before something hit me. Wasn't the Tor Browser something to do with the Deep Web? Despite knowing that these computers never allow the downloading of external applications, I carried on. "Download Tor". Clicked. "Download Tor Browser". Clicked. "Installing..." Waiting impatiently, I stared at the ceiling, contemplating about what just happened and how I managed to bypass the administrative controls to install the browser. My heart was still beating fast, and a few minutes later the download was complete, which I opened... FLASH. Once again: purple screen, pitch black, no lights, back on. As I expected, I was somewhere else now - in a strange website within the Tor Browser. It'd completely skipped over the installing processes. I halted myself from looking back.

<p style="margin:0cm0cm0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">The website had a welcome message for me, with a black background and big, bold, white letters. The font was  chiller . A cold chill charged down my back. "Welcome to the Deep Blue, Lupin." That was my nickname... “Oh shi-“ An eerie music started playing quietly, but loud enough for the room to hear... Earphones on. I now started noticing crackling noises in the background of the music. For the first time after a very, very long time I felt an emotion: fear. Suddenly, the message 'reorganised' to form... "Ever heard of the Deep Tape, Lupin?" It kept on reorganising. "No?" Distorted screaming and shrieking noises started playing simultaneously. I felt like taking my earphones off - but then I remembered that I'm not a coward. "Do you want to kn0w?" Yes, I thought to myself. "You will know soon." Was this a hacker, I asked myself. "No." And with that the music and all of the noises halted. The screen turned off. The lights vanished. Then they returned back to normal.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Google" Why was I on Google now? Then I realised. Quickly, I typed up and searched what the "Deep Tape" was. Instead of seeing a list of results, another black-background page appeared, seemingly a drug-selling site, with images of drugs and their prices lined up vertically by the right side of the page.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Out of nowhere, a white chat box appeared on the bottom left of the page. I still struggled to look back - fear was controlling me.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Is this Lupin?"

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">I hesitated to reply. How did these people know my name?

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Don't worry about that!" "We've got more important matters to deal with."

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Even my thoughts weren't safe.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Did you visit the "Deep Tape" website?"

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Oh dear, yes you did..."

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Composing myself, I replied. "Who is this? What's going on? What is the Deep Tape?"

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">The anonymous messenger replied, "You've signed your own death wish. You should've left while you had the chance. Now you'll become like me... hahaha. Unless..."

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"What is this Deep Tape?! Unless what?" I quickly replied.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Once you watch it, it's all over. That's what happened to me. I'm dead." They replied.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"You watched it?" I enquired, ignoring his supposed joke. "What is it?"

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Humanity's evil. All collected in a tape. There was originally only one. Now there's three. Once you watch it, it blanks its memory, as if it lives."

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"What does it have to do with me?" I enquired.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"I watched the first one, it blanked its memory afterwards. That left one more tape out there, which spawned from somewhere no one knows exists. But now there's three all together, including the blank ones. Somehow. Hahaha... Same thing exists in each tape. I was ignorant of what to do after watching the tape. That's why I'm here now. Either way, something wrong will take place..." They replied.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"What does this have to do with me!" I impatiently replied.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Soon, you'll come across a black tape. It's human nature to venture into the unknown. Also 'divine' intervention. Hahaha. But remember - once watched, another spawns. It's up to you to decide what you do with the spawned tape. Or rather. The idea of the tape. Hahaha..."

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Freaked out, I continuously pressed 'back', leaving the drug-selling page, but no matter how many times I pressed 'back', I still stayed in the Google page. Just as I pressed the computer's 'Off' button, I glimpsed the url of the page. Weird combination of letters and... "Onion?" The "Google" logo distorted, only to return back to normal as "Gra-". OFF.

<p style="margin:0cm0cm0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Checking the time on my phone, it was exactly 6:50pm - Ten minutes until the library closed and until I had to get home. Damn it! I completely lost track of the time. I still didn't have the guts to look back. I slowly started turning my head backwards, then quickly stood up and started scurrying out the room. Wait. Through my peripheral vision I spotted something on one of the empty book shelves. Something black. Turning again, I approached it. It was a tape. A pitch-black one. How did it get there? I was sure that the shelves in this part of the room were empty when I first arrived. Weird. I couldn't resist the urge. Picking it up, I flipped it over. It was titled "Deep Tape III" via a white sticker. I was right. It's the third tape. Should I, or should I not? My mind started to hurt as if I had a migraine. I left with the tape.  Something  had come while I was refusing to look back. Or had come out of the site.

<p style="margin:0cm0cm0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Once I got home, I ignored the truck-load of complaints I received for being late, heading straight to my room, locking it and sitting down. The migraine had gone. After a few minutes of reviewing what just happened this day, I slowly took the tape out of my bag, holding it with both fear and interest. What sort of footage lurked inside the tape? "Humanity's evil? What does that mean?" Thank God I still had that old VHS-compatible television. Once it was ready, I took out a VHS tape which was surprisingly inside.  Enter The Dragon .  Memories .

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">The Deep Tape was in; I sat back and steeled myself for what was coming, heart pounding faster and faster, so much that it quaked my ears. "The Deep-Dark Tape III" - realistic sounds of women screaming, flesh being violently slashed, children shrieking and wailing, men mockingly laughing, and prayers being chanted in Latin... ...

<p style="margin:0cm0cm0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1"> Now, the next day, I wake up. Check the time - it's 2pm! Think I missed school. I repeat, "Oh crap! Oh crap!" several times, but then I realise it's the weekend. "Thank G-" Suddenly, my mind starts to fill up with gruesome images of... all types of evil. I involuntarily collapse back onto the bed, grasping my pounding head with my quivering hands and convulse aggressively. It wasn't a  dream , it wasn't a  nightmare . It was  real . What happened the day before was  real . What I saw humanity do over countless centuries... it was all  real . Chills erupt throughout my entire body, air struggles to enter my body as I violently gasp for breath. "Humanity... Humanity doesn't deserve to exist." I let something out when I watched that tape. Then I fall into a deep sleep.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1"> I wake up, now recovered. "It was real, it was real, it was real." I constantly repeat. "Mother!" I hurryingly open the door, briefly realising it wasn't locked any more, and gallop down the stairs to the entrance of the kitchen. No lights. Closed. It’s never closed. It's too quiet to be normal. What could've happened? Was it to do with yesterday after I 'blacked out'? I don't remember what happened after that. The door’s right in front of me. Why won't I open it? What lies behind it? I know something's not right! I cautiously feel the door, careful not to open it. As I gaze up and down the door, unsure of opening it, my peripheral vision spots something. I look at the floor. Blood. "Oh, God." I quietly gasp. I... I should've never watched the tape. It... let something out. "What have I done?" Was this what the anonymous messenger warned me about? I carefully put my ear onto the door. I hear something. Running water. Glaring at the blood, I think of my mother. I quickly open the door and I instantly go silent.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Trails of blood on the floor. Guts and brains everywhere. Eyeballs hung on forks. Bloody teeth all swirling in the water of the sink's running tap. The source of the noise. I puke. "Mother..." My brain heats up with boiling anger and excruciating pain, the door behind me suddenly closes and I don't remember anything else.

<p style="margin:0cm0cm0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">When I regain my conciousness, I'm walking to school on another rainy day - except, there's no school today. It's Sunday. The pavements are a slight reflection of the sky, layered with puddles but tainted with fallen leaves and moderate filth. Walking through the streets, I come across a TV inside a store, showing the news. Something horrible happened! 37 bodies were found piled up in Blue Wood, a town 10 minutes from here! Was it to do with what I let out? As I turn the corner to go through the lonely road leading to school, I begin to recollect some details. I called up a mate and asked him to meet up outside of school. For what reason must I have done this? Viewing the far, but approaching school, I remember what the anonymous messenger told me - that I could save myself if I did something. Do what? They mentioned something about the tape or idea of the tape, and that if I didn't do this thing, I would become like the anonymous messenger. Die? I don't want to die yet. I've got so much to do with my life. Fear and paranoia start to possess me. Is something going to kill me?

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Closer to the school building, I notice that my pocket feels incredibly heavy today. I place my hand inside my left trouser pocket only to feel something cold and sharp. A knife? I never carry a knife! What's going on? Suddenly I remember - yesterday I'd found out a way to save myself by solving the anonymous messenger's riddle. I had to pass it. Like a chain letter. Not the Deep Tape. But the idea of the newly-spawned Deep Tape IIII. Don't know why, but if I don't, the thing I let out will kill me. If I do, it'll prey on the new victim instead.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Once in front of the school building, confused as to where he is, my mate reveals himself from the shadows of a nearby tree and approaches me. Weird. Abruptly, my brain starts to heat up again - this time out of pure anger. I remember it all. My fists clench tightly as he approaches me, and I feel like destroying him off the face of the Earth. He was the 'abandoned' mate who started this all. He told me about the Deep Web. Now that I think of it, he did talk about a tape which showed humans as the embodiment of evil. If he hadn't told me, my mother wouldn't have died. Those 37 people would still be alive. No! I forgot all about what happened to mum and what I saw yesterday! My brain starts heating up even more, and this time even my heart starts to pain. Then the pain ceases. It doesn't matter, what happened to these 38 people. They deserved it. Humans need to be wiped out. We are civilised savages. But the fact still stands that he led to this all. I need to save myself. He'll be the next victim.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Yo, what did you wanna discuss?" He asks - my eyebrows twitch.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Remember the Deep Web?"

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Yeah, man." He replies - my breathing quickens.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Remember that 'embodiment of evil' tape you were talking about? I watched it."

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"For real?" He asks - my fists clench tighter.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Don't ever watch it man, what I saw in there, it changed me." I say, using reverse psychology.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"What? Can't be that bad. Calm down, man." He laughs - my toes constrict.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"You don't understand. You haven't seen the tape. We should all die."

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"All? Who? You and me? You're crazy man." He mocks - my teeth ram together.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"No, I mean all of us. Humans. You'd think so too if you saw the tape!"

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"The tape is a hoax. You probably saw something else." He says - my left eyebrow raises.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"It's the video they label "Deep Tape", or the "Deep-Dark Tape". I saw every single minute of it."

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"The Deep Tape. It's real? That good of a flick, huh?" He jokes - my expression turns serious.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"No! The human race has committed very heinous crimes against their own. The tape is a compilation, documenting the most unspeakable acts of all."

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Is it... So you actually watched it..." He smiles.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"So many horrifying things marching across that giant screen. You don't know how we really are, What we're capable of. I saw it all. If you saw it, you'd think differently, too. You'd understand we're doomed. We need to die. And so we have to-"

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Have to what? Have to get us all killed?" He shouts.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"That's right. You're defensive cause you don't know the truth. Humanity only seems good to you because you were born in a peaceful time, but war's our nature. It'll always come back. Have you ever seen hundreds of frightened people, standing in line, waiting to be killed? Have you seen horsemen raid and destroy a village, dance on the bodies of their victim, crushing them as they celebrated victory, chanting religious prayers? Then create countless pyramids out of their skulls? Then feed their bodies to the crows? Have you ever seen a gigantic bomb wipe away millions who had never even picked up a weapon? Civil war, where a mother is hacked down in front of her child, or a child in front of his mum, whose guts are placed over their mother's necks. And the soldier, breaking up a family by slaughtering the father and taking the mother and daughter as 'booty', leaving the child as an orphan. And his eyes, enjoying the torture, enjoying the screams of the helpless child as he carelessly leaves. That same mother gives birth to the soldier's child a year later, who grows up with hatred for his mother's people, then joins the army to do the exact same thing his father did to his mother's people. What happens to the daughter..."

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"You think you're better than those people by judging us to be killed?"

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"I know I'm not! Neither are you. No human can be! What I just said is a leaf among countless of others. That's why I killed 38 people! Even mother!" I reveal.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"Then kill yourself!"

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Suddenly, I experience a painful headache again. I involuntarily take out the knife in my pocket, direct my arms forward and face the knife towards his face.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"What are you doing? This ain't no joke, fam." He shockingly says, stepping backwards.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"You now know about the tape, hahaha..." No matter what I do, I can't voluntarily do anything!

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Before he can react, my hand holding the knife faces me, and I stab at my own neck. I hear a laugh and collapse to the ground.

<p style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">"You can't do to those that which has already experienced it, hahaha... Something you overlooked, my friend."

<p class="MsoNormal">   <ac_metadata title="The Deep Tape (First story, need help reviewing)"> </ac_metadata>