Technological, Tantalising Torment
Felix’s frail figure fidgeted, fingers frantically fumbling, and legs weakly wobbling as he paced back and forth within the confinements of his bedroom. How had the chain of events regarding his life lead up to this nerve-wracking, sticky situation?
He fluttered his exhausted eyes shut as he felt his body horrifically heat up, his blood boiling fervently and his stomach twisting into awfully wretched knots that caused him to feel as though he were about to pass out in a cold sweat.
Once his green eyes landed on his computer screen, he emitted a groggy groan, gripped his blonde locks of hair and ruthlessly tugged on them in aggravation. He deeply regretted his temptations which he easily gave into — they destroyed him. The internet was his demolisher.
Felix’s friends had introduced him to a website which allowed people to ask each other anonymous questions. Initially, Felix found it quite the entertainment; it was a means of killing his intolerable boredom, and it fed his gradually growing ego of knowing that there are people out there who were interested in getting to know more about him.
It sounded absolutely ridiculous and foolish to him now, but a few hours ago, Felix was shamelessly relishing in his newfound fan-base he developed for himself online. Much to his late regrets however, he allowed his ego to viciously swallow him whole and controlled his next actions for the next couple of hours.
His friends had suggested to pull a twisted prank on their classmate, Dina, where they would send her anonymous messages on that website, that consisted of uncomfortable things to say that would frighten her.
Felix assumed it would be funny, and so, he took part in this treacherous endeavour — and Dina had gotten extremely terrified of this act of cyber bullying, and ran to her mother in trepidation to show her the messages.
Neither his friends nor Felix expected Dina to confide in her mother, and none of them expected things to escalate so viciously to the point where it was reported to the police. Felix shuddered and squeezed his eyes shut, before he emitted a loud sob that racked and rattled against his ribcage, his heart clenching achingly in the process.
“What did you do?” His mother’s voice quivered, and was heard by his bedroom’s doorframe, but Felix could not bring himself to look at her face. He could not bear to see the look of disdain and disappointment on her ageing face.
“Why would you torment an innocent girl like that, Felix — why?!” Her voice slightly raised towards the end of her question, and Felix sighed deeply, his shoulders slumping and getting in line with his heavy head which was between his legs.
Finally, Felix looked up at her, confronting her broken expression towards him, the tears brimming his eyelids as he struggled to find the right words to say, but he didn’t have any.
What could he say to make it seem better than it actually was?
“You frightened a poor girl, and now you are paying the price for it. And all for what? For a good laugh? Well, you don’t see anyone laughing right now, do you?”
Felix gulped, his throbbing head threatening to explode any moment.
“You have no idea how much I regret doing what I did.”
“The internet is a dangerous creation, Felix. It can either build you or break you. You’ve abused its power and broke a person’s mental state of mind. Messing with someone’s feelings on the internet and scaring them is cyber bullying, Felix, and it is a crime. Do you even realise what psychological trauma your classmate will have to go through now because of you and your friends?” His mother lectured him as she entered his room, and kneeled down to face Felix.
Felix finally allowed the hot, salty tears to roll down his cheeks and fall to the carpeted floor.
“I have no excuse. I don’t know what came over me when I sent Dina those messages, oh God, I’m awful.” Felix sobbed as he covered his face with his hands and cried brokenly, ruthless regret ripping him apart.
“I need to apologise to her, Mum. I need to apologise to her right now. Please let me apologise right now.” He pleaded as he held his mother’s hands and stared at her desperately, hoping that she could see how horrible he felt about this whole situation.
Felix at this precise moment, did not care about what was to happen to him — his sole concern was Dina, and he needed to right his wrongs.
His mother squeezed his hands reassuringly and nodded her head. “Very well, then. We’ll drive down to the police station, and you will admit what you did, and you will apologise to her, and I’ll be with you through it all.”
Felix nodded fervently as he stood up and quickly wiped away his tears with the backs of his hands, and he weakly walked out of his room with his mother.
It is of great significance to think twice before typing something on the internet which can have an impact on others. Be mindful and thoughtful towards other people’s feelings, because you have no idea what each of us are going through. Technology is a blessing, but if abused, can morph into a curse which inflicts its wrath on countless people’s mental health. Use it wisely.
