Thirteen: 13 Tales of Horror by 13 Masters of Horror

Author:T. Pines [Pines, T.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: American, Horror tales
ISBN: 9780590452564
Amazon: 0590452568
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Published: 2004-09-01T18:30:00+00:00

HACKER

Sinclair Smitii

Every time I get near one of these things, something goes wrong, Violet wailed inwardly as she stared at the computer monitor. ERROR ERROR ERROR flashed over and over again, demanding her attention. Nothing she did seemed to help, though, and Violet was getting discouraged and exasperated.

She ruffled her short black hair and turned to peer out the classroom window. Rain was coming down in slanted sheets, splattering against the glass.

There are a lot of other places I'd rather be on a night like this than a computer class at a broken-down community college.

Still, her father had insisted. He thought it was important to learn about computers while you were still in high school.

But at least there was one good thing about the class ... there was Mr. Umberto, the teacher. Even though Mr. Umberto was too old for her -- he'd probably been out of college for at least a year, she thought -- he was fascinating.

She gazed at the teacher standing in front of the room and sighed. He was absorbed in pruning a plant

he had brought into the classroom. Mr. Umberto had told the class how much he loved flowers and indoor gardening -- that plants had a special meaning for him. He even wore a rose in the buttonhole of his jacket every day. Violet thought this made him seem quite romantic -- and sensitive.

She sighed again. If only the high school guys she knew were sophisticated like Mr. Umberto.

Too bad, though; thinking the computer teacher is fascinating isn't the same as thinking computers are. She looked at her Walkman with longing. Why not? she thought, glancing around the room. Everyone else was absorbed in practicing programming. Smiling, she slipped on the headphones and switched on some music.

Violet kept her eyes glued to the computer screen as she tapped her fingers in time with the beat. Suddenly an announcer broke in and interrupted the song with a special bulletin.

"Mr. Arthur Perez becomes the fourth victim missing and presumed dead in the ongoing series of bizarre disappearances that are leaving citizens terrified. Detectives on the scene believe the tragedy is once again the work of the serial killer whom newspapers are calhng Hacker."

Violet sat up straighter. She had been following the case from the beginning, devouring every bit of information: mysterious disappearances, hardly any clues, and always a strange message found on the victim's home computer. Violet listened with rapt attention to the latest:

ROSES ARE RED

VIOLETS ARE BLUE

SUGAR IS SWEET

.. . TOODLEOOOO!

This time the message had been signed EVERY-BODTS FAVORITE CUT-UP, Violet shuddered. She didn't like having her name used in the killer's message. Killer ... if they hadn't found the bodies, what grisly clues were the detectives refusing to divulge that made them believe the victims had been murdered? And why did the killer choose only victims with home computers, and leave a message?

Imagine, the victims' computers had stored the death threat messages -- for who knows how long. Maybe long after the victims themselves were gone.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.