"We interrupt today's regular schedule with breaking news," says the TV reporter.
"Awwww man!" moaned Arthur, "It was just getting to the good bit!"
"Good evening. Our top story begins tonight, continuing with the series of murders of teenagers that have been occurring for the last couple of months. 16-year-old Francine Frensky, student of Lakewood High School was found murdered in her apartment, with a knife in her head as well as other stab marks in her body. The case remains unsolved, despite details of the murder yet to come, according to investigators, a computer hacker may have been involved in the case, as each victim was found murdered in their rooms, next to their computers with a blue error screen on it,"
"That sounds absurd but scary," said DW, holding Arthur's arm.
"I don't want to die," said Kate in fear.
"Now, now, calm down," said David. "I know that we are all nervous, and as for you Arthur as several of your friends have been the victims, but at the same time we must all be extra careful, especially at night."
"Yes," said Jane, "From now on, none of you, Kate, DW or Arthur are to stay outside after 5 PM. If you need to stay go out after that time, make sure that all of you are together, or that each of you are with a group of at least two other people, or even better, let us be with you. Make sure to keep all the doors and windows and locked at night or whenever we are out. Should you encounter anyone suspicious, ignore them, and never ever tell them that you are home alone,"
"Okay," the three all agreed.
Arthur was very upset upon hearing that some of his friends were the victims, although Francine was not the first victim. Other victims have included Ladonna, who had been strangled, George, who had his antlers bashed off and had half of his head sliced off, Muffy with a pencil bored in her throat, Binky who had been hung with a rope, Brain who had his body torn open with his heart, stomach, lungs and intestines torn out, and finally Francine. But the fact that the famous blue screen of death was involved in each death made him even more suspicious.
The next day at school, as soon as Arthur ran into Buster, the first thing as usual that they would talk about was the murders.
"Arthur," said Buster, "About the murders, don't go on the computer at 4:44 AM,"
"Why not?"
"Because that's when the murders occurred,"
"So?"
"What happens is that at 4:44 AM, if a monitor is still on and a person is on the computer, the famous "You Got Mail" ringtone will sound, and if it is off the computer will vibrate, enticing the person to wake up. After that, the blue screen of death pops up, and as usual gives you options to either shut down the computer or press the Ctrl, Alt and Del keys. However, no matter which option you choose, you will still die. That's exactly what happened to six of our friends who were killed,"
"That's a whole lot of nonsense," said Arthur.
"I'm serious dude," said Buster, "As much as it sounds like a rumour everyone is talking about it. No one will stop talking about it."
"I have to investigate this,"
"Please don't. Why risk your life at a life or death moment? Just don't do it,"
"Whatever," said Arthur, "But if I find out that you are lying, you need to give me back the $15 you owe me,"
Buster shrugged and sighed. "It's your life," said Buster, "This may be the last time we ever see each other again, now that you tell me that you are going to do this. But I just want to tell you that you were more than my best friend, and that you meant so much to me since we were little,"
"I understand," said Arthur, although clearly he thought that was all a prank.
Later that night, Arthur took out his textbook whilst multitasking, listening to music on iTunes and studying for his French and Japanese tests.
"Arthur!" called Jane, "I know you are working hard but don't stay up too late,"
"Okay," called Arthur.
Somehow Arthur did not have the motivation to sleep, so he decided to stay up through the night.
12 AM came. Arthur just finished his revision and decided to watch videos on YouTube.
2 AM: Arthur was playing on RuneScape, at the same time checking people's profiles on FaceBook.
3 AM: Arthur was reading celebrity news, and checking out photographs and music videos.
4 AM: Arthur was still up. By the time half an hour passed, he looked out on the balcony to see if there was anyone outside ready to target him, but no, the neighbourhood was all quiet and it was just the lit lampposts and the darkened houses present.
Arthur stared at the clock on his screen, sweating in anticipation.
Ten minutes.
Nine minutes.
Eight minutes.
Seven minutes.
Six minutes.
Five minutes.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
Thirty seconds.
Ten seconds.
Five seconds.
4:44 AM came.
Arthur sat at the computer, waiting in patience.
He browsed on several websites, waiting for something to happen. After around a minute or two and nothing happened, Arthur finally felt tired and decided to go to bed.
"That bastard," Arthur muttered under his breath, "So it was coincidental that the murder was a computer hacker and that it was a joke played on me I guess. I can't believe I stayed up this late for nothing,"
Arthur was about to shut down the computer when he heard the famous "You got mail" ringtone come out of his laptop.
Looking at it in suspicion, he headed for it.
Clicking on it, it actually did lead him to Microsoft Outlook. He rolled his eyes.
However, after around ten seconds, the blue screen of death popped up.
Arthur gasped in horror, wondering if this was true or not.
As with most blue error screens, he was given the options.
Deciding to end this, his fingers slowly and carefully reached for the Ctrl, Alt and Del keys. He laid his fingers on them for a very long time.
Closing his eyes, he pressed them.
He opened his eyes. The screen would not go away.
However, the more he tried, the worse it became. It was not long before the blue screen began to flash into red, then black, then blue again, practically hurting Arthur's eyes. Arthur tried to turn off the computer by pressing the power icon on his monitor again and again, but nothing happened.
Before he knew it, the screen stopped flashing and paused as it returned to the regular monitor blue.
Finally the instructions cleared, and one by one a list of names appeared.
Arthur stared through the names as the screen began to scroll through the list.
He stared in horror.
Several of the names were his friends' names, who had been the victims of the murders that was being talked about on the news. But what struck him most was that Buster's name, his best friend's name was at the very end of the list.
What the hell? Arthur thought. Who is stalking all of us? What are they doing to us?
Arthur stared in horror as the screen paused for a long time. Arthur pressed random keys, but of course nothing happened. He finally unplugged the computer but it was no use. As Arthur was all alone in pitch black, a deep eerie sound rumbled throughout the entire room. He wanted to move so badly, but he was so terrified he could barely do so. Suddenly he felt hands reach upon his shoulders. Before he could think about anything to do, with a swish and a stab, everything was gone within a flash.
"We start off morning news with the murders of two other teenage boys, Buster Baxter and Arthur Read, both of who were found murdered in their homes, while lying next to their computers. However the details of the murderer have not yet been resolved. It is still however, suggested that the murderer was a computer hacker, as like all the other victims they were lying next to their computers, with blue error screens on them,"
Fern and Sue Ellen stared at the news report on their phones and gasped.
"This is getting worse," said Fern. "Did you hear that about Arthur and Buster? It may not be a murder but a suicide, but I heard that Buster was stabbed in the head with a message reading "I was next" in blood on the wall, whilst Arthur was decapitated,"
"That's sounds terrible," said Sue Ellen, cringing in a mixture of repulsion and fear. "It seems that the murders will go on, but who knows who the murderer is?"
"It seems that there will never been an end to it," sighed Fern.