Joe
2015 © All Rights Reserved
It started as a joke online, but remember, there's still a person, evil and awaiting behind the screen.
It was Friday, the sun had just set and Anastasia just got home from her day at work, serving as a cashier at a popular fast food restaurant. She could feel the first week of her senior year of high school and second day on the job start to hit her, but through all of the weariness, she couldn't help but feel awake enough to open her computer.
She logged into a chat room called The Chat, one she recently started to frequent ever since she came across a few people with similar interests as her online. After a few days, they made their own private room so they could focus on the conversations with each other and no strangers. It was password protected so no curious people could join in if they wanted.
Anastasia went online under the pseudo of Ana, while the three other friends went under the usernames of Riles whose real name is Riley, the only girl in the group besides herself. The two others were Kyle and Demetri. They would spend their nights playing games or having conversation among themselves. Never had there been a dull moment or an awkward silence between the close four friends. Though they had only known each other a month, they felt as if they'd been friends for much longer.
Ana logged on. Something caught her eyes and struck her as odd when she noticed someone in the private room they created, a person who she didn't recognize. Their name was Joe.
Could it be someone one of my friends invited? She thought to herself. Not wanting to let the questions flood her mind, she decided to go get some answers for herself.
She joined the channel, expecting the person to speak, but silent they stayed. "Hello?" She spoke in a questioning manner. She waited for a few seconds. They didn't respond. Not letting the non-responsiveness from them get to her, she tried again, "Joe?" She called out his name, hoping to get his attention. But with little she could do, she gave up. As one of the admins of her channel, she right clicked on his username, looking at the options it gave her until she scrolled down to the one that seemed appealing. Kick user from channel. With that, he was kicked out of the channel she occupied.
She patiently waited for her friends to log on so they could talk and play games together as they typically did. A pinging noise filled her headphones, signaling her someone joined the channel, Ana looked at her channel, expecting to see one of her friends, but Joe appeared back in her room.
"Joe?" She called out, having very little hope that the strangely mysterious person would acknowledge her. A beeping noise echoed through her ears indicating she received a message.
Joe: Hello.
Anastasia ran her fingers across the keyboard, typing at a rapid speed, needing and wanting answers of who he was.
Ana: Who are you?
She asked the simple question, gnawing on her fingernails waiting for a reply. And a minute later, she received one.
Joe: :)
She sat there, staring at the screen not sure what to say to respond to the person. A pinging noise interrupted the silence and made Ana's heart skip. Her furiously beating heart settled once she seen the name Riles joined.
"Hey Riley!" Ana exclaimed, relieved to see someone she knew.
Riles: Hello.
"Riley, is your mic broke or something?" Ana crooked her head at her friend's message. Never once had Riley not spoken so it was strange for Ana to see her typing.
Riles: :)
Something clicked in Ana's mind and an emotion started to build up, something close to relief, but a minor sense of betrayal. "Riley, I can't believe I fell for your stupid trick. It's not funny, get off of the Joe account and just speak to me. I want to play a game already and I can't play alone." With a hint of sheer child-like joy in her voice, Ana's heart settled.
A pinging noise sounded throughout her headphones and Anastasia looked down and saw Riley had left the channel, but Joe stayed.
"It isn't funny anymore," Ana spoke into her mic. "Drop the act now, please."
Her hands ran through her hair, sliding through as smooth as silk, nails digging into her skull as she held a mild frustration in her heart.
Ping!
Her eyes averted down to the screen in front of her again to see Demetri joined. She was very cautious to answer, so she waited for him make the first move to start a conversation.
The beeping noise made her want to roll her eyes back and flop back onto her bed. She knew exactly what she would see, looking down at the message, as expected was the same exact message from Demetri.
Demetri: Hello.
"Demetri, I know you guys are all in on it so can you stop now? Not much of a joke or prank whenever the person you're doing it to figured it out already." Ana said with her irritation growing by the minute.
Demetri: :)
Ping!
Silently, she thanked whatever god there was that he had logged off so she didn't have to deal with her friends doing what they thought was funny. It's always funny when it isn't you. Ana thought to herself, knowing the statement to be very true. It was something she'd come to believe over her years of just existing in the real world. The moment she believed it was when she faced it from experience. It was in the fourth grade, wanting to be popular just like some of the other girls in her grade and willing to do anything for it. She would watch as the ringleader would pick on the girl she'd think deserved it that day. The young girls thought it was all fun and games until the day a new bully showed up and picked on the ringleader. Once the tables were turned, it wasn't funny anymore.
Another ping ripped her out of the memory, bringing her back to reality. She wanted to groan and rip her hair out, having a feeling for what was about to happen.
"Ana," the voice of her friend Kyle spoke into the mic, making her jump slightly, going from complete silence to the sounds of familiar voice which was comforting for the moment. Her thoughts occupied with annoyance, she thought nothing of his tone seeming more depressed than usual.
"What you guys are doing can stop now, Kyle." Ana abruptly said.
There was silence for a moment then a small sniffle, barely audible, "What are you talking about?"
You've got to be kidding me. Ana screamed inside of her head. "So you're still pretending you don't know about it? What are you guys getting out of this?"
"Ana, can you just tell me what's going on?" That's when she noticed he was oblivious to whatever it was she was going on about.
"You don't know?" Ana questioned him, wanting to confirm he didn't know what was going on.
He sighed, "Does it seem like I know?"
Suddenly, she started to feel apologetic, "I'm sorry. I just thought you, Riley and Demetri were playing a joke on me. Apparently it's only them two. Messing with me."
"Ana, what the fuck are you going on about?" The confusion in him grew more and more each time she spoke.
"Riley and Demetri are pretending to be some Joe guy and messing with me. They even got on their accounts and tried messing with-"
Kyle cut her off abruptly after listening to her start to ramble on, "Ana shut up right now." Taken aback by his bold statement, she did exactly as asked and stayed silent as it was his turn to speak, "I don't know what you're going on exactly about, but you need to know the accusations you're making isn't true about Demetri and Riley."
"But, I saw-" she tried to speak, but was cut off once again.
"I didn't say I was done speaking. Please just listen to me. I came on here to tell you that Demetri and Riley are dead." His voice turned sad once again, the tone in it proved well enough to make Anastasia believe him. "They were murdered." His voice choked on the last word.
"What.." She could even hear the disbelief hidden in her voice, lacing her words like venom. "They died? No, that can't be possible, we talked to Riley yesterday and Demetri the other day." Ana thought about how Demetri had been gone for a couple days, "I just thought he was busy." She trailed off, her words becoming a subtle whisper.
"I'll show you something, I found it posted on both of their Facebook pages when trying to friend them." He said. Then Ana heard a beep and stared at the link he sent her. "Before they both," he paused for a slight second to take in a breath, "died, they told me about a Joe guy messaging them. Now they're gone." His voice faded, "If someone named Joe is messaging you, you have to call the cops. Now." She could hear the concern in his voice. "I'll be right back, someone's knocking on the door."
With that, Ana was left in an almost unbearable silence about to click the link, thinking about what she would see upon clicking and wondering if she could live in an oblivious state, not believing what she was about to read. Ana wanted to remember them for their joyous laughs and jokes, not for the horrible tragedy they must have gone through.
Ana clicked the link then closed her eyes, not wanting to believe what was on the article. After composing herself for a bit, she decided to open her eyes. The light blinding for a few seconds, waiting for them to adjust as she squinted at the screen.
She looked at the words in bold black lettering. Her head crooked slightly to the right at the sight of it. There were no words, no pictures, no article. Just two words. I'm here.
An arm snaked around her neck, constricting her from breathing. Ana grabbed at the muscular arms, tugging and pulling to get in small breaths, even started to yank at the hair on his arms. The man whispered into her ear, "Hello." She could hear the smile in Kyle's voice.
~
Articles and newspapers went around reading off headlines such Another murder in what police assume to be a serial killer or Serial Killings flooding America. Kyle sat there, tacking up another newspaper of them talking about the murders he's committed.
No connections yet in the cases except for the method of strangulation and the removal of the lips. A quote taken straight from one of the articles a reporter had written.
Kyle logged onto the The Chat, lurking, waiting to make a new friend. He stayed in a channel, silent and alone until a person joined his channel. It was a girl with the name of Autumn. "Hey!" She said with a chipper voice.
He clicked on her profile, studying her features and his eyes lingering on her lips. "Hello." He smiled.
Author's Note: Thank you all for dealing with my slow updating, but I am trying! :) Hope you all enjoy this story! You fans all are amazing. <3