Beginning of the Fall

Not many people think of all the horrible things that go on here on the net. But I can tell you, from personal experience, a lot of nasty things happen every single day. They happen to kids and adults. Good people and bad people.
When I was 14 my family got our first computer. I started surfing the web instantly. It all seemed pretty neat at first but I quickly got bored with it. I was a kid so I couldn't order anything cool and I wasn't really into playing games much. But I stumbled across a site. Where I could chat with other people. Genius! It was brilliant. I am not very good at socializing so now I could do it on the computer. And if I messed up I never had to look at these people so it didn't matter. Right?
I quickly became addicted. I woke up in the morning and got online to chat. When I came home from school I got online and chatted. I soon found myself failing my classes because I was too busy for homework. I was too busy chatting with all my new friends. They were amazing. They understood me.
It wasn't that far of a leap before I started skipping school so that I could stay home and chat online. I met several people everyday. Several important, intelligent people. Why did I need school anyways? They weren't teaching me the things my new friends taught me. They couldn't teach me to fit in with my classmates. Because I couldn't fit in with my classmates. I was better than them. More mature. And I had proof. All of my friends were adults. In their 30's, 40's and some in their 50's. If I werent so mature why would so many of these adults be so kind to me and talk to me so much. They wouldn't. Right? Right. So away I went. Spening every waking moment possible talking to my new friends online.
It wasn't long before so many of them wanted to meet me. People wanted to spend time with me! It felt so nice. My family wasn't much of a family. We never spent time together. We didn't even eat together. I had no friends from school. And now all of my new friends wanted to meet me and spend time with me. It was pretty amazing.
The first friend I ever met lived several hours away in Lexington, Il. He was roughly 30 years old. I do not recall his exact age. His name was Erik. I like him a lot. He even talked about helping me get away from my horrible life. We talked a lot. He was going to meet me that next day. I would skip school. As soon as my parents left for work he would meet me at the gas station a block away...