Short Stories

Predator

Mum always said to be careful when talking to people, especially strangers, on the internet. "You never know," She always used to say, "you could be talking to a 60 year old man!"

Surely I'm old enough to know right from wrong and can choose who I can talk to, right? It's not as if I'm in any danger anyway......

I feel safe when I talk to Ryan, though. He doesn't pry too much like other people have. I started talking to Ryan a few months back on a chat room kind of thing, and he seemed so friendly and genuine that we ended up talking for hours. Since then, we e-mail or text each other everyday but we have never had a phone conversation. Too complicated.

Ryan is 16, handsome and absolutely hilarious. He's always flattering me and making me giggle like a teenage girl, but we've never met face-to-face and only know what we look like based on our profile picture. As time went by, he told me that he had fallen for me and wanted to meet up.

He figured out that he's in the next town over from me and he suggested that we meet in the car park of the servo station that's in between both towns, alone, at 8:00pm in a week's time.

That's tonight.

I have butterflies in my stomach as I start to get ready. I put my thick glasses on so that I can see where I'm driving and adjust my teeth. When I'm done, I pack a bag of things I might need and drive off to the destination.

While I'm driving, I start thinking about what Ryan and I will talk about or what we might do. Before long, I've reached the servo and there is no one there except for him. He was dressed in a leather jacket and was as good looking as ever.

He grinned and waved when he saw my car, shielding his eyes from the headlights. As I turned the car to park it, the lights moved from his face and he could see me as I got out, and I saw that pretty smile fade.

"Hello young man," I say, walking towards him, "You look startled! I'm sorry if I don't look like my profile picture, I haven't updated it in a while."

Ryan started backing away slowly. He looked nervous.

He should be.

Didn't his mother warn him about people like me online?