When Kate woke, she blinked her eyes. Her eyelids felt like they weighed five pounds each. It was dark in her room, and her mind was still fuzzy and mostly asleep. Kate went to reach up and rub her eyes, but couldn’t. Her hands were tied together at the wrists! Panic flooded through Kate’s body, her mind was slowly, groggily, waking up more, little by little. Kate’s mind finally noticed the tape across her mouth, muting her screams. Thrashing her legs, she discovered that those were tied as well, at the ankles. There was a rope that rubbed against her stomach holding her down, and onto, her bed. Whipping her head to look at the clock, it read 2:13am. Her room made Kate feel like she was in a big black nothingness, only her tied to her bed.

Suddenly, her desk lamp clicked on.

The light blinded her, and Kate blinked feverishly to bring her eyes into focus. There was someone sitting in her desk chair. Kate squinted, trying to get a better look in the dim light. It was a man, and he wore dark clothing --a black sweatshirt, and dark blue jeans-- but that’s all Kate could see of his attire. He had big framed glasses, like he hadn’t gotten a new pair since the big-frame style of the 80’s expired. He looked to be somewhere in his fifties. Was this ’Pete?’ she wondered in her mind. Unable to talk, she just stared at the man in her desk chair to see what he was going to do --or say-- to her. The man was picking at his fingernails, seemingly engrossed in whatever dirt or debris was underneath of them.

“Oh, Kate. I was beginning to wonder when you were going to wake up,” the man spoke, suddenly, glancing up from his inspection of the fingernails on his left hand. Unable to respond, Kate just blinked. Kate had never seen this man before in her life, at least not that she could consciously remember. But here he was, sitting in her dorm room like they were old pals. “I guess you’re wondering what my name is,” the man in her chair looked up at her. His ice blue eyes seemed to piercing through to Kate’s soul. She shrank away as much as she could, considering. She didn’t know him, but she was afraid. Very afraid.

“Hmmpfh,” Kate said through the duct tape.

“Oh, dear Katie! Don’t try talking, there’s duct tape over your mouth, silly girl!” The man laughed an maniacal laugh, although it was quiet, and brief, it terrified Kate to her core. Then he added, “There’s no reason for you to talk, anyway. I’ll be sure to explain everything to you very thoroughly. I’ve always been a stickler for details, you know,” he smiled, and then continued, “I guess you’re probably guessing that I’m this ’Pete’ character from the internet. Well, you’d be correct in a way, but wrong in so many others. My real name is Alan.”

Kate just narrowed her eyebrows in response. Alan? She didn’t know any Alan’s. Glancing at Kate for a moment and then rising from his chair, Alan walked around and stood next to the windows and down onto the street below. After what seemed like a very long time, he turned around. “You know, you’re a very smart girl. With all of the others, I’ve had my fun for quite a bit longer than I had with you. I mean, you’re the first one to notice the cameras, after all. I mean sure, new ones need to be added to the new student’s personal things, but the ones you so graciously pulled from the shower wall and door and all had been there for quite sometime.” Alan looked at Kate to see what kind of response he got from Kate’s facial expression. Kate tried to keep her face as motionless and impassive as possible.

“Huh. Well, anyways. The Facebook was a great touch, too, don’t you think? I mean, just about everyone is on the world wide web, and doing this social networking fad. It just makes it all that much easier for me to get to know people better, gather information about them, you know.”

Kate was horrified. This all started with her signing up for a Facebook account? She silently cussed Megan for suggesting it. If she hadn’t gotten a Facebook account, maybe none of this would have ever started.

Like he was reading her thoughts, Alan replied, “But there are other ways to find out information about people besides Facebook, of course. It’s just that these social networking sites people have simply scream ‘Look at me! Look at me!’ It’s like they’re asking to be watched.”

A couple silent tears escaped the corners of Kate’s eyes. “Oh, little Katie. Don’t cry. I mean, why? We’re just getting started here. No need to start the water works already. I’m just simply explaining myself. Of course you’re wondering how I did it, why I did it, and the all-important one: Why you,” Alan crinkled his nose and huffed, “’Cuz, you know, everyone wants to know ‘why me.’ Ugh. It’s frustrating sometimes, really. So self-centered, honestly. Why can’t people just ACCEPT things anymore?” Kate squinted her eyes at him. He was damn-near delusional. But, Kate remained silent and motionless. Let him give his speech, let him have his ‘shining moment’ or whatever it was.

“Mind if I smoke?” Alan asked suddenly, pulling a pack of Marlboro’s from his jean’s pocket. “Well, even if you do, I’m gonna have one anyway. Terrible habit, I tell ya. Really, it is. Killing millions of people every year with hardly any effort at all. Wish I’d had that idea. Would make my life a lot simpler. Not to mention richer,” Alan said as he pulled a cigarette from the pack, bent and slightly mashed from being in his pocket. Putting the cigarette between his lips, he pulled a lighter out of another pocket and lit the cigarette, inhaling deeply. “Ahhh… that’s better,” he smiled, exhaling the smoke from his lungs and mouth. “Such a nasty, dirty, wonderful habit,” Alan added, smiling over at Kate. He kicked back in the chair, propping his feet on Kate’s bed, and took a few silent moments to enjoy his cigarette.

Kate continued to watch in horrified silence. The smell of cigarette smoke filled her nostrils, and they flared. She hated the smell of cigarettes, but she was in no position to protest.

Stretching and leaning forward in the chair, dropping his feet back to the floor, Alan used Kate’s floor for his ashtray. “Hmmm… well, where was I? Oh, yes, all of these questions that are without a doubt circling through your head,” Alan said, scratching his chin in pretend wonder and thought. “Well, why you? It’s simple really. You had the unfortunate luck of being assigned to this dorm room. I like to think of this room as my ‘special room,’ you see,” Alan said, making quotation marks with his forefingers in the air. “Sorry about your luck,” he added, ashing his cigarette on the floor again. After another drag from the cigarette, he continued, “Anyhow, let me introduce you to a ‘helper’ of mine, if you will.”

Just then, Kate’s bathroom door opened, and Kate turned her head around and leaned it slightly backwards to get a look at who was coming from the darkened bathroom. She didn’t know this person either. Walking over to the desk chair, Kate saw that it was a female. She looked to be about Kate’s height, with short dark brown hair. She also donned a pair of glasses, although they were much more modern than Alan’s. They were small, with thin dark rims. She wasn’t thin, but not heavy, either. Just average, really. All around. She wasn’t ugly, but not necessarily pretty. She was in a gray t-shirt, and faded blue jeans. Kate was still studying her when Alan spoke again, redirecting Kate’s attention back to him.

“I’d like you to meet my niece, Michelle. But you may know her better by ‘Karen.”