The sun had just set and many people were retiring to their rooms for the night, but Eric was still very much awake. His hands swiftly moved across the keyboard. The screen had very disturbing content on it from drugs to cannibalisn.
Eric wasn't phased. He had long grown used to it. When you work with the Dark Web you will find disturbing stuff. After clicking the mouse a few times he had finally accessed the source code. "Alright! Now let's send this over to the guys in the I.T lab and they should be able to bring these sick freaks to justice." Eric whispered to himself. Eric used his designated secure email and sent the code to the police.
"Eric! It's time for bed!" His mother shouted.
Eric sighed and closed the programs. His mom didn't know the kind of things he has seen or worked with. He didn't want her to know he put himself in danger everyday, but the police need programmers and investigators. They were desperate and Eric was perfect for the job.
After shutting down the computer he flopped down onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. "I wonder what Dad's doing right now."
Flashback
"Listen honey, I'm only taking this job because we need the money. And I know he'll need it too." Eric's father, Alexander said to his 8 months pregnant wife, while putting his hand on her baby bump.
"I know that! But isn't there anything more local! Our boy will need his father when he grows up!" Erin, Alexander's wife pleaded.
"But he'll need the money as well. We can't live off of food stamps forever. You and I both know that jobs are hard to come by around here and this may be our only chance. Please, honey let me do this. For our family." Alexander replied.
Erin started crying and hugged her husband. "Okay, but promise me you'll call us everyday okay?"
"I will honey I promise. I'll try to find time off so I can be there at our boy's birth. Don't worry."
End Flashback
Eric pulled the covers up and tried to go to sleep, but his mind was still racing. He groaned and sat up again. He glanced at his computer remembering the day when he first found it.
Flashback
A young nine year old Eric fished through the basement bored. He was tired of playing with normal toys and his mom didn't want him to go outside because it was raining. After searching through the tenth mound of stuff he finally found something that caught his interest. An old computer monitor stood under a thick layer of dust on top of an old desk with it's CPU sitting on the floor. Eric excitedly ran over to it.
"Cool a computer! I wonder if it works." Eric wiped off the dusty screen with his hand and pushed the power button.
The CPU vibrated and whirled to life once again. The screen powered on and the traditional Windows 95 logo showed on the screen. "Wow I wonder what it can do." Eric continued cleaning off the screen and CPU until most of the dust was gone. By then the computer had finished booting up, but immediately crashed when the home screen launched. "Hm why did that happen?" Eric tried turning it off and on, but it yielded the same results.
"I wonder if there's a manual around here." He started shuffled through the mounds of old stuff again. He had started to lose hope until he saw a small white booklet. "Aha there you are!"
Eric opened the crumpled manual and looked at the glossary. "Start up issues page 15. Alright." He turned the pages until he reached page 15.
Unscrew the back panel of the CPU Tower and check for anything out of place.
Eric ran up the steps. He went to the kitchen where his mom was preparing supper. "Hey Mom do you know where I can find a screwdriver."
Erin looked up from the vegetables she was chopping and looked confused. "Um they should be the pantry. Why do you need a screwdriver?"
"I found and old computer downstairs, but it won't work. The manual said to unscrew the back panel" Eric replied.
Erin looked confused for a moment then a look of recognition dawned upon her face. "Oh that must be your dad's old computer! You can give it a shot just don't hurt yourself."
Eric ran over to the pantry and looked through all the shelves, but he couldn't seem to find a screwdriver. I wasn't until he reached the final shelf did he find a proper screwdriver. After grabbing it with his small hands he rushed back to the basement. He quickly unscrewed the back panel and a torrent of dust puffed out. After ending his coughing fit Eric quietly inspected the old technology. After 15 minutes of silent inspection Eric was stumped. Nothing looked out of place! He took the wrinkly manual and looked through page 15 again.
A common issue is a build-up of debris in the motherboard. Use an aerosol can to dislodge any debris such as dirt or dust.
Eric looked around once again and saw and old aerosol can laying on the floor. After shaking it a couple times Eric aimed it at the CPU and sprayed it down which unleashed another cloud of dust and dirt.
"Alright let's see if that worked." Eric ran around the desk and eagerly pushed the power button. It loaded up with the same traditional logo, but this time the computer loaded up the home screen! It showed a bunch of items Eric had never even heard of. He took particular interest in Minesweeper. Eric clicked on it.
The game loaded up properly and Eric swiftly learned how to play. However he was still curious and closed out of the game. He searched around a bit more and found some worthless documents about work until he found one that peaked his interest. It was called "Basic Properties of HTML" and Eric quickly became engrossed in the document and had quickly learned the bare basics of HTML.
He had found his true passion.
End Flashback
Eric smiled at the memory, but was still not tired. Once more he found himself daydreaming about his childhood.
Flashback
A 14 year old Eric was tinkering with one of his favorite video games called Welcome to the Game. He had quickly found the pattern of the kidnappers and hackers and got bored. He was now looking through the source code to try and make the game more random and harder. "Now just alter the frequency number to 12 from five and that should be it!" Eric had quickly mastered the art of coding and HTML within the past 5 years and had start modifying for his favorite games. "I wonder if the deep web is actually a thing?" He pulled up google and searched it up. "The deep web, invisible web, or hidden web are parts of the World Wide Web whose contents are not indexed by standard web search engines for any reason. Many websites are harmless. In fact you probably use it everyday to login to an account that requires a password. That content does not appear in normal search engines because it requires a password and would require the direct web address to be accessed without the password. However there is a portion of The Deep Web that is not indexed in the search engines due to criminal content. This section is called The Dark Web and is infamous for content such as The Silk Road. Accessing the Dark Web requires a specific program such as Tor." Eric continued reading the Wikipedia article and grew curious.
He searched up Tor and downloaded the program. After a few clicks he was instantly greeted with what many could call the gates of hell. Eric was exposed drugs, cannibalism and everything in between. Most normal people would be disgusted and just like them Eric was too disgusted, but instead of running away he grew determined. He was determined to bring these criminals to justice. Whether they knew it or not.
End Flashback
After his daydream ended Eric finally grew tired and passed out.
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And that is it for the first chapter of Before the Academy: Eric. I would like to extend a personal thank you to Hello 12 for letting me do this and for praising it. Anyway That is it for know. Please review and give me advice if you feel it is necessary. Thank you for reading and goodbye.