How To Disappear
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A teenage girl is followed on her walk home by a group of boys from school. They corner her in a park, behind some trees, and they gang rape her after warming her up with a little teasing, the usual stuff like “what a fucking dog, I’ve never seen such an ugly bitch”. This is captured by a few of the boys on their mobile phones, and shared with the world later, on You Tube.
A girl-child of about five years of age is trapped in a cage. Her father has locked her in there, and is broadcasting images of her being tortured on YouTube, and sexually defiled for a private network of paedophiles. Those who investigate crimes against children look on in horror, desperately attempting to locate the girl, who they name “Jessica”, in order to rescue her. Jessica has been online, for all to see, for a few years. Her father takes money from the paedophile punters.
Five prostitutes are murdered in quick succession in a town in England. One of the suspects has his own My Space page. He is later exonerated of the crime, but My Space has already closed down his account.
There is a website dedicated to missing people. Run by someone who wants to remember those who simply disappear for no apparent reason. If you log on to the page, you will see a photograph, and read the story of who they were, and the last known contact anybody had.
There is a website which is an alphabetical catalogue of victims of serial killers. You click on a letter, pick a name, and find a head shot of a smiling face, with the story of the victim was, and who they belong to, as in which serial killer they belong to.
I logged onto a dating website the other day, and cruised through fifty profiles of men all looking for a soul mate. Someone to share the good times and bad with. I looked at the faces of all the lonely people pretending that they aren’t lonely, just thought they’d see what happens. I looked into the eyes of all the lonely people who are trying to reach out to another, who might or might not exist.