Snap

Part 1

So I was about 15 when this happened to me and to this day I'm still freaked the hell out. I was in 9th grade when my friends asked me if I had snapchat. I said no because I wasn't the type of person to use social media but my friends urged me to get it, I eventually gave in. As we sat together, we would exchange information and text each other. My friend also showed me this handy feature where you could scan people's unique snap codes and add them as a friend. This was really handy because I had seen people leave their codes around the street but it kinda felt like i was stalking people. One night whiles I was walking home I was still messaging and messing around on snapchat when I saw a code on a lamp-post. I decided it would be funny to add the person so I scanned their code. I didn't get a reply for a few hours so I decided to carry on like normal. All of a sudden, my phone went off while I was studying. I thought it might have been my friend messaging me so I looked but it was from a person with a bunch of numbers and symbols as their name. I opened the text, curious, and found that it just said "Hello". I replied with a quick with a "Hi" and thought nothing of it until my phone went off again. I tried to ignore it but my curiosity got the better of me, i open the message. What I saw made my heart drop, further and further with each incoming message. The pictures were of a body which looked like it had been beaten to death, covered in blood and bruises. The man in the picture was unrecognisable. My blood went cold as my body shook. A video was sent, the beaten man was on the floor, screaming, begging for the other man to stop while the other man stood over him, laughing and beating the man even closer to death. I was shocked to the point of speechlessness. I collapsed into my chair, trying to get a grip on the situation. I replied to the sick video "I'm calling the police right now!". He just sent me another video of him laughing a dark, his evil laugh menacing leaving a dent of what i saw. What happened next shocked me the most. He sent a picture of a street, my street. I gasped and replied "Stay the hell away from me you creep!". As soon as I sent the message, I saw a flash from outside. I slowly turn my head as My hands trembling, I opened yet another message, a picture of my bedroom window. I threw my phone to the ground and sprinted downstairs, locking all of the windows and the doors. My mum stopped me, and asked "What the hell are you doing?" I told her all about the code I had found on the way home and the pictures I had been sent and how I was being followed . She told me to calm down and she quickly called the police. After around 10 minutes I saw the blue flashing lights of multiple police cars and i instantly felt safer. They stepped out of the cars and that's when I noticed they were armed with automatic machine guns and full riot gear. Whoever this creep was, he was dangerous. They came into my house and explained everything to me. The man who I had added on snapchat was a serial killer who was on the loose who used Snapchat to target his victims. There had been 15 murders so far and the officers told me how lucky I was to be alive. After that, the police never came back and the situation was never discussed again. A few days later, I saw the killer being sentenced to life imprisonment on the news. After that day, I've always been careful as to who I add on social media.