(text-style: "bold") [a Choose Your Own Adventure]
You are a girl of thirteen years old and you just got on a dating site. You meet a guy your age who looks nice and you have a good conversation with him over the messaging service in the app. You've been online dating for a couple months. Around your fourth month datingHe asks you, (text-colour: "white") ["When will we meet?"] you have seen pictures from his profile, and he seems like a pretty ordinary guy.
(text-style: bold) [How do you respond?]
[["No thanks, I don't know you well enough"]]
[["Sure! When?"]]He responds with, "okay" and he leaves you alone about it for about a month, but you still talk to him. Around a month later, he asks you if you know him well enough to reconsider. You think of what you know about him, and he seems nice on his profile. You answer...
[["Sorry, I still don't know yet."]] ...or...
[["Okay, I know you well enough now!"]]When you send this text, you get a smiley emoji in return.
(text-style: "emboss") ["bing!"]
He sent you a text! It says, "8:30 at the Park?" There's a park in your neighborhood, and it's close to your house. You reply...
[["Okay!"]]
[["No, can we meet at a cafe instead?"]]He responds, "Whatever." and then, "I don't live in your neighborhood anyway." You're confused at his abrupt refusal. You...
[[Leave him on read]] ...or...
[[Decide to go out anyway]] When you send this text, you get a smiley emoji in return.
(text-style: "emboss") ["bing!"]
He sent you a text! It says, "8:30 at the Park?" There's a park in your neighborhood, and it's close to your house. You reply...
[["Okay!"]]
[["No, can we meet at a cafe instead?"]]He responds, "No," and then, "I don't live in your neighborhood anyway." You're confused at his abrupt refusal. You...
[[Leave him on read]] ...or...
[[Continue and go with him to the park anyway]]You set up a date. You tell your mom that you're going on a date, and she says, (text-style: "bold") ["I don't know if that's a good idea."] she explains that she's worried about you meeting a stranger at almost nine o'clock. You...
[[Decide to go out anyway]] ...or...
[[Text him and tell him you can't make it]]You decide to go out anyway, and the day that you meet him, you get ready and leave for the park. It's 8:15 at night, and October so it's already dark out and there are leaves blowing and a full moon in a sky crammed with stars. Despite the mystery and darkness of the night, it's a strange, romantic night.
[[Go home]]
[[Continue and go with him to the park anyway]] He responds, "Whatever." and then, "I don't live in your neighborhood anyway." You're confused at his abrupt refusal. You...
[[Leave him on read]] ...or...
[[Decide to go out anyway]]You leave him on read, and a couple days later, he announces that he's breaking up with you. You're sad that he ended your relationship, but confused at his strange, moody manner of speaking.
[[Ending 1]]You stay at home for two days (it's the weekend) and eat your favorite food. Your mom isn't surprised that your relationship didn't work out. On (text-style: "bold") [Monday], you get a selfie from your ex. He's standing outside, and behind him is a car. Your barely realize the license plate at the time, and the caption to the selfie is: (text-style: "italic") ["how r u? It's been a while. Want to meet at the park?"] You respond no, because you don't want to. After that, he cuts off all ties with you. On (text-style: "bold") [Friday], you get an AMBER Alert on your phone. It warns you of a man kidnapping girls and boys between twelve and fifteen years old. You are thirteen. But the license plate catches your eye. You go back to the selfie your ex sent you, and (text-style: "bold") [the license plate matches.] You screenshot your conversation and send it to the police, explaining the boy's actions. You cut off ties with him.
Congratulations! You outwitted a catfisher.The night is dark and scary, and leaves are beginning to fall. You look up, and the moon is but a clouded sliver in the sky. There are a few stars, and most of the light comes from the flickering streetlights that stand solemnly on every corner. Your feelings shift between mystified and creeped out, then settle on targeted. There is no turning back.
[[Continue to the Park]]You go home. You stop talking to him because he hasn't talked to you in a while.
[[Ending 1]] You continue to the park. You hear nothing but the shifting of leaves and shadows. Suddenly, you're grabbed from behind. You twist around and you see a man, his face cut by shadows, black hair and jacket. Dirty fingers in the streetlights, a smell of cologne slicing through the crisp air. He lets you fall on the ground, wind whipping your hair into your eyes, obscuring your vision. Your knees scrape the sidewalk and you hear his shoes running away. You sit for a long time, then you drag yourself to your feet, crying. When your tears stop, you grow angry. You have been violated. Ashamed, even though it isn't necessarily your fault.
[[Run Home]]You run home. Your mother is unbelievably angry that someone did this to you. She calls the police, and she decides to bring this to court. She presses you for information on who did this, and you tell her all that you know.
But two days later, you notice something you didn't recognize before. You want to tell your online *friend* what happened to you, but when you open your phone you get an AMBER Alert and it sparks a memory. You go through your text history with your *friend* and you see a picture that stuns you. It's a selfie of him, smiling outside with the caption, "What a beautiful day! In my front yard" and he's in front of his house. But behind him is a car. (text-style: "bold") [And the car description and license plate matches that of the AMBER Alert.] You realize that you were one of the girls that wasn't kidnapped. You screenshot the text conversation and print it out, then you look up the person who lives at the address in the picture the boy sent you. You find the person who lives at that address.
[[SUE HIM!!]]You file your claim and pay a filing fee of $50 to get $1,750 from the case. You WIN! He has to pay you $1,750 dollars from the claim, and he gets arrested for multiple sexual assaults that no one could find the culprit of... until now.
[[Ending]]Congradulations. You survived a catfishing, but ALWAYS REMEMBER to never trust anyone online, especially if they try to force you to do things or threaten you until you comply. It's never good to try to socialize or meet up with anyone in a secluded place late at night, *especially* if you don't even know their last name, address, or if they always deny meeting up with you during the day.
THE END.