Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-27383608-20151213005701/@comment-27383608-20151217220325

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 or cried - once the joke of the year, then the kid who no one dared mess with ever again. I 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 stopped considering 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 anymore, 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. 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 a ton 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. As I passed 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! 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.

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 only lasted for a few seconds. I was last standing outside of the library 3 years ago, I thought to myself in a daze. That long, huh? It still looked mostly the same as it did all of those years back though, a clear contrast to its modern surroundings. 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 – that’s why they say to never judge a book by its cover. Computers still 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 4:30pm - I had until 7pm 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. Logging in, I waited for the "agreements" page to come up (which was a set of rules for using these computers), my heart beating slowly, 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 slowly, and a few minutes later the download was complete, which I opened. FLASH. Once again: purple screen, pitch black, no lights, then 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 and opening processes. My mouth opened for a few seconds, then closed. I halted myself from looking back, fearing the unknown. The website had a black background with a welcome message for me, written in big, bold and 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 today: fear. Suddenly, the message 'reorganised' to form: "Ever heard of the Deep Tape, Lupin?" Deep tape? It kept on reorganising. "N0?" 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. I was interested. "Do you want to kn0w?" Yes, I thought to myself. "You will kn0w soon." Was this a hacker? "N0." And with that the music and all of the noises halted. The screen turned off. The lights vanished. Then they returned back to normal. Had the site just replied to my thoughts? 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. So, these are the types of things which inhabit the deep, dark web, I thought. 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. "Is this Lupin?" I hesitated to reply. How did these people know my name? "Don't worry about that! We've got more important matters to deal with." Even my thoughts weren't safe. "Did you visit the "Deep Tape" website?” “Oh dear, yes you did..." Composing myself, I replied. "Who is this? What's going on? What is the Deep Tape?" 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..." "What is this Deep Tape?! Unless what?" I quickly replied. "Once you watch it, it's all over. That's what happened to me. I'm dead." they replied. "You watched it?" I enquired, ignoring his supposed joke. "What is it?" "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. Who created the original? Who knows?” "What does it have to do with me?" I enquired. "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... The 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. "What does this have to do with me!" I impatiently replied. "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..." 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. A weird combination of letters and - "Onion?" The Google logo distorted and then transformed to ‘Grams’. OFF. 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. But I still didn't have the guts to look back - was something behind me? 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. For some reason 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 then left with the tape. That’s when I realised - something had come while I was refusing to look back.

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. Punching the wall, I realised that my 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 a VHS tape out of it which was surprisingly inside. 'Enter The Dragon'. Memories. 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 torn apart, children shrieking and wailing, men mockingly laughing, and prayers being chanted in Latin. ...

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-" My heart starts trembling. Instantly, my mind starts to fill up with gruesome images. 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 doesn't deserve to exist!" I let something out when I watched that tape. Something that shouldn’t be in this world. I then fall into a deep sleep.

I wake up, now recovered. "It was real, it was real, it was real." I constantly repeat. "Mother!" I hurryingly rush out of the messy bed and 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. I approach the door. 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, then go back. 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... 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’s smile. I can’t be a coward. I quickly open the door and I instantly go silent. 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. As dumbstruck as I am, I secretly feel a bit of pleasure as I leer around. I puke. I see no trace of my mother or him. "Mother.." My brain heats up with boiling anger and excruciating pain, the door behind me suddenly closes and I don't remember anything else. When I regain my consciousness, it’s another rainy day and I'm walking through the route that I take to go to school - 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 involuntarily turn the corner to go through the lonely road leading to school, I begin to recollect some details, for some reason ignoring the sudden turn. I called up a mate and asked him to meet me up outside of school. For what reason must I have done this? I stare at the sky, wondering what the hell is going on? I look forward to focus the far, but approaching school when 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? A few minutes away from the school building, I notice that my pocket feels incredibly heavy today. I place my hand inside my trousers’ left pocket only to feel something cold and sharp. A knife? I never carry a knife! What's going on? Suddenly I remember. It was so simple. 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 if it will work, but it’s my only chance - if I don't, the thing I let out will kill me. If I do, it'll prey on the new victim instead. As I arrive towards the school building, I see no one there. What? I look around – no one anywhere. “Yo, you here?” I shout, rotating. All of a sudden, my mate reveals himself from the shadow of a nearby tree and approaches me. Weird. Abruptly, I halt to face him and my brain starts to heat up again - this time out of pure anger. I remember it all now. 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. But he never told me the name. If he hadn't told me anything, my mother wouldn't have died. Those 37 people would still be alive. No! I forgot all about what happened to mother and what I saw yesterday! My brain starts heating up even more, and this time even my heart starts to pain. But then the pain ceases. It doesn't matter, what happened to those 38 people. They deserved it. Humans need to be wiped out. We are civilised savages. Either way, the fact still stands that he led to this all. I need to save myself. He'll be the next victim. "Yo, what did you wanna discuss?" he asks - my eyebrows twitch. "Remember the Deep Web?" "Yeah, man." he replies - my breathing quickens. "Remember that 'embodiment of evil' tape you were talking about? I watched it." "For real?" he asks - my fists clench tighter. "Don't ever watch it man, what I saw in there, it changed me." I say, using reverse psychology. "What? Can't be that bad. Calm down, man." he laughs - my toes constrict. "You don't understand. You haven't seen the tape. We should all die." "All? Who? You and me? What’s happened to you? You’re acting autistic." he mocks - my teeth ram together. "No, I mean all of us. Humans. You'd think so too if you saw the tape!" "The tape is a hoax. You probably saw something else." he says - my left eyebrow raises. "It's the video they label "Deep Tape", or the "Deep-Dark Tape". I saw every single minute of it." "The Deep Tape. It's real? That good of a flick, huh?" he jokes - my expression turns dead serious. "No! The human race has committed very heinous crimes against their own. The tape is a compilation, documenting the most unspeakable acts of all." "Is it?” he pauses, “So you actually watched it." He peculiarly smiles. "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-" "Have to what? Have to get us all killed?" he shouts. "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 lay waste to a village, dance on the bodies of their victim, crushing them as they celebrate victory, chanting religious prayers? Then create countless pyramids out of their skulls? Then feeding their bodies to the crows? Have you ever seen thousands of people being pillaged to the point of starvation? Then families having to resort to cannibalism, killing and cooking their weakest child to feed the rest of the family? Have you ever seen a gigantic bomb wipe away millions who had never even picked up a weapon? A 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 a 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. And the daughter, sh-" "You think you're better than those people by judging us to be killed?" "I know I'm not! Neither are you. No human can be! What I just said is nothing compared to what I saw. That's why I killed 38 people! I even killed my own mother!" I reveal, tears streaming down my face. "Then kill yourself! All of you need to die!" Suddenly, I experience a painful headache again, ignoring his final statement. I involuntarily take out the knife in my pocket, which twinkles under the sunlight, and direct my arms forward to face the knife towards him. "What are you doing? This ain't no joke, fam!" he shouts with a stern expression, stepping backwards. "You now know about the tape, hahaha..." No matter what I do, I can't voluntarily do anything significant! Before he can react, my hand holding the knife starts to change directions, twisting towards me as I try my hardest to resist it, but to no avail. As it launches at me, I close my eyes. What did I do to deserve this? I prayed every day before this all happened, I even attended church every Sunday. What did mother do to deserve this? I picture her delicate smile, before it all crumbles away and my brain goes overdrive. My eyes open. Sweating like a starving, mad dog, I grind my teeth and push my muscles to the limit, desperate to prevent what I anticipate will happen. Not today! With luck, it momentarily works, and I manage to push my incoming arm towards him again. But then, a ‘force’ controls me, dominating my diminishing power, taking advantage of my full-powered brain to launch the knife towards me, faster than before. I close my eyes once again. I accept death. I hear a maniacal laugh as I collapse to the ground, having stabbed my own neck, which is followed by sounds of leaving footsteps. I feel the ‘force’ which possessed me slowly rising out of me. I feel very light. I don’t want to die here. All alone. “Mothe-“ Before I finish the sentence, I force my pupils upwards and thankfully glare at his back, then voluntarily smile, “One less human.” "You can't do to those that which has already experienced it, hahaha... Something you overlooked, Lupin."