Chapter 01

"www."

Written by: Blk Sapphire

The internet. It was made for the sake of people to connect with anyone anywhere around the world at any time. It's a powerful tool that can be used for just pure amusement.

Nina remembered when her and her family went to Fry’s electronics in Burbank to purchase her family's very first computer -- she was six years of age. Her eldest brother, Pete, was sixteen and had a heart for the revolutionary technological device and being in high school, it was going to be a nice compliment for projects instead of having to drive to the library. Her other older brother, Calvin, was thirteen and wasn't as into technology but still thought it would be cool to have a computer at home so he could brag about it to his friends. Nina admired her eldest brother and thus shared his interest greatly just for the sake of it more so than her actually being technologically inclined. She wanted to be capable of using the computer like him.

When Nina's mother and step-father purchased the computer along with a desk – getting a discount a discount because her uncle was the manager there –the little family drove back home to set it up. Her brothers and step-father bickered a little about how the desk should be set up and the computer, but eventually by the end of the evening it was all set up. Pete was elated and was of course, the first one to use it since he knew what he was doing. Everyone watched in awe. Pete knew it wasn't complete though -- it needed the internet. He urged his parents for what was known as the World Wide Web and they thought about it. It took a little while longer before the family finally purchased AOL and Nina constantly watched her brother at how he used it.

One day, he asked her if she wanted to learn how to type. Of course, Nina wanted to.

It was a few weeks later that once again, her brother asked her a question. This time, it was if she wanted to make her own AOL account. "Do you want to?" Pete asked. His lanky, basketball form loomed over his little sister who sat in the desk chair. "Yeah! How do I do it? Show me, I wanna know!" Nina smiled up at him with big white teeth. Her dark brown eyes were sparkling.

With his help, Nina made her own AOL account and it was called SailorJupiter because that was her favorite animated character off of the hit Japanese anime series Sailor Moon. The internet didn't really appeal to her very much, only for the sake of playing Nickelodeon games on it up until the family moved. Nina was seven years old, going onto eight and wasn't happy. She had lived in the same house her entire life and went to the same elementary school since Kindergarten up until second grade. She knew at a young age she wasn't going to see the same friends anymore even though she wasn't moving that far away. She wanted to make new friends and since adjusting at her new school became a little wary for her, she turned to another source to make friends.

The internet. It’s an amazing way to retrieve information, but nothing is all around benign. Listen to your mother when she tells you that there are predators on-line... because it's true.