I_Am_Nobody
Supernova
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2011
Ten years ago...
Matt Walden was not a particularly complicated man. Nor was he a particularly intelligent one. His days at school came to an early end when his future wife became pregnant with their first child, and as his ambitions never went too far beyond getting drunk at the bar with his mates he didn't consider it a significant loss. A brief foray into the working world revealed that he was incapable of following more than the most basic instructions, though if nothing else he followed such orders to the letter. Unfortunately a genetic predisposition towards alcoholism and the natural aggression of a man trying to control something in a life of uncontrollable failure made it difficult for him to keep a job beyond six months. Left to his own devices, the arc of Matt's life that peaked so briefly in high school would soon have taken a sharp, devastating decline.
Luckily for Matt, there were always those in need of individuals clever enough to follow orders yet stupid enough to never question or wonder about those orders. On an otherwise normal spring day, a small package was delivered to Matt's doorstep. The simple brown package had no return address, and might have been thrown away or otherwise ignored were it not for the unsigned letter attached to the outside.
Mr. Matthew Walden,
This is an offer of employment. The package you are holding contains five hundred USD and a list of instructions. If you successfully complete those instructions exactly as they are written, you will be hired. The position pays fifty two thousand USD a year, paid weekly. Every week your pay will be delivered through the mail along with another list of instructions. So long as you carry out your assigned tasks, the money will continue to come.
I look forward to a long working relationship with you.
Matt's mind was nasty enough to immediately suspect the worst. Even the simplest things could be key to a terrorist plot or some other criminal endeavor, and the last thing he wanted was to spend any more time in jail then the occasional visit to the drunk tank. But large stacks of cash tend to remove such cerebral obstacles, and the instructions seemed harmless enough. It was mostly just doing some grocery shopping and dropping the items off at a specified post office, or hand-delivering other messages to people. By the time the next, significantly larger package arrived a week later, Matt was happily employed.
Two days ago...
Life was quite good for Matt these days. The money from his employer, an individual he knew only as 'Boss,' made sure he didn't need to work a boring regular job, and the weekly tasks could usually be knocked out in a few hours. There were occasional orders during the week via email and the money was directly deposited into a bank account, but in the end the result was the same.
This week the package came with a small collection of letters, all sealed in individual, labeled envelopes. The instructions were clear; send on the first of the letters, then send the others when he was told to by email. Easy, and Matt was so well trained he didn't even question what was in the letter as he dropped it in the post office's mailbox.
Today...
The letter was delivered to Randy Simmons, a college student that was barely managing to keep up with his tuition payments. The return address on the letter he received was meaningless to him, but the hundred dollar bill within certainly was not. A note within requested only a small favor in return; take the separate envelope within the letter, take it to a certain apartment building in the city and tape it to a certain mailbox during a certain timeframe. It wasn't the first time he'd done a similar favor, and as long as the cash kept coming he was perfectly willing to do it once again.
At nine AM that day, Randy took the bus into the city and eventually arrived at the Victorian Suites apartment building. It was a rather humble establishment for such a grand name, but it suited the residents just fine and was a far sight better than living in the college dorms. It was child's play to slip inside when another resident left, giving him the chance to obediently tape the envelope, bearing no markings but the name 'Charlotte,' to the mailbox of room 214. With his job done he left, giving no more thought to the matter then he would to taking out the trash.
The letter would remain untouched until the intended recipient arrived back to her apartment, typically in the early afternoon or perhaps not until that evening. When it was eventually opened she would discover a small SD card, and a letter sealed with tape and a written request on the outside. Please watch the video on the card before reading this letter. Eventually the letter would be opened, the handwriting within a neat, precise hand in immaculate cursive.
Miss Charlotte DeWitt,
If you followed my instruction, then you have already seen the video. I am not one to judge what a young lady does in the privacy of her home, but it seems that perhaps you should have delayed that particular performance. Removing one's clothes for an anonymous Internet audience is one thing, and not an activity with anything other than purely social penalties. Doing so while technically underage, even if only a few weeks from your birthday, is another matter entirely.
Certainly you are of more than legal age now, but I'm certain there are still parties who would be quite interested to learn of this particular moment in your past. Your parents, for one, followed closely by the police, the dean of your college, your friends, your extended family, the press, your pastor...I could go on, but I believe the point has been made. Even if you manage to explain the original video as a foolish mistake of youth, the various transcripts, additional videos and screen-caps also upon the card will be more difficult. You have been quite busy in certain online communities, even if you've yet to physically do anything more than occasionally spread your legs before a camera. Frankly I would have expected a young lady of your intelligence to be more careful if you were so concerned about discovery, but the deed is done.
The only question that remains is what you are prepared to do about it now.
This letter should have been delivered on Monday, October 10. On the SD card there is an executable file named Acceptance.exe. Place it on the desktop of your computer and run it. It will provide you with an address for you to send your reply to this letter. If I do not receive a reply postmarked on or before Wednesday, October 12, I will assume that you have no interest in concealing your activities and act accordingly. If I do receive such a letter, we will proceed from there. Your secrets will remain hidden.
Should you doubt that I intend to carry out my implied actions, a censored version of one of your latest shows has already been emailed to your friend, Samantha Cooper. It has been scrubbed of anything she might use to identify the young woman in the video as you. Future emails will not have the same courtesy extended.
I hope you are as clever as you appear to be, Charlotte.
Matt Walden was not a particularly complicated man. Nor was he a particularly intelligent one. His days at school came to an early end when his future wife became pregnant with their first child, and as his ambitions never went too far beyond getting drunk at the bar with his mates he didn't consider it a significant loss. A brief foray into the working world revealed that he was incapable of following more than the most basic instructions, though if nothing else he followed such orders to the letter. Unfortunately a genetic predisposition towards alcoholism and the natural aggression of a man trying to control something in a life of uncontrollable failure made it difficult for him to keep a job beyond six months. Left to his own devices, the arc of Matt's life that peaked so briefly in high school would soon have taken a sharp, devastating decline.
Luckily for Matt, there were always those in need of individuals clever enough to follow orders yet stupid enough to never question or wonder about those orders. On an otherwise normal spring day, a small package was delivered to Matt's doorstep. The simple brown package had no return address, and might have been thrown away or otherwise ignored were it not for the unsigned letter attached to the outside.
Mr. Matthew Walden,
This is an offer of employment. The package you are holding contains five hundred USD and a list of instructions. If you successfully complete those instructions exactly as they are written, you will be hired. The position pays fifty two thousand USD a year, paid weekly. Every week your pay will be delivered through the mail along with another list of instructions. So long as you carry out your assigned tasks, the money will continue to come.
I look forward to a long working relationship with you.
Matt's mind was nasty enough to immediately suspect the worst. Even the simplest things could be key to a terrorist plot or some other criminal endeavor, and the last thing he wanted was to spend any more time in jail then the occasional visit to the drunk tank. But large stacks of cash tend to remove such cerebral obstacles, and the instructions seemed harmless enough. It was mostly just doing some grocery shopping and dropping the items off at a specified post office, or hand-delivering other messages to people. By the time the next, significantly larger package arrived a week later, Matt was happily employed.
Two days ago...
Life was quite good for Matt these days. The money from his employer, an individual he knew only as 'Boss,' made sure he didn't need to work a boring regular job, and the weekly tasks could usually be knocked out in a few hours. There were occasional orders during the week via email and the money was directly deposited into a bank account, but in the end the result was the same.
This week the package came with a small collection of letters, all sealed in individual, labeled envelopes. The instructions were clear; send on the first of the letters, then send the others when he was told to by email. Easy, and Matt was so well trained he didn't even question what was in the letter as he dropped it in the post office's mailbox.
Today...
The letter was delivered to Randy Simmons, a college student that was barely managing to keep up with his tuition payments. The return address on the letter he received was meaningless to him, but the hundred dollar bill within certainly was not. A note within requested only a small favor in return; take the separate envelope within the letter, take it to a certain apartment building in the city and tape it to a certain mailbox during a certain timeframe. It wasn't the first time he'd done a similar favor, and as long as the cash kept coming he was perfectly willing to do it once again.
At nine AM that day, Randy took the bus into the city and eventually arrived at the Victorian Suites apartment building. It was a rather humble establishment for such a grand name, but it suited the residents just fine and was a far sight better than living in the college dorms. It was child's play to slip inside when another resident left, giving him the chance to obediently tape the envelope, bearing no markings but the name 'Charlotte,' to the mailbox of room 214. With his job done he left, giving no more thought to the matter then he would to taking out the trash.
The letter would remain untouched until the intended recipient arrived back to her apartment, typically in the early afternoon or perhaps not until that evening. When it was eventually opened she would discover a small SD card, and a letter sealed with tape and a written request on the outside. Please watch the video on the card before reading this letter. Eventually the letter would be opened, the handwriting within a neat, precise hand in immaculate cursive.
Miss Charlotte DeWitt,
If you followed my instruction, then you have already seen the video. I am not one to judge what a young lady does in the privacy of her home, but it seems that perhaps you should have delayed that particular performance. Removing one's clothes for an anonymous Internet audience is one thing, and not an activity with anything other than purely social penalties. Doing so while technically underage, even if only a few weeks from your birthday, is another matter entirely.
Certainly you are of more than legal age now, but I'm certain there are still parties who would be quite interested to learn of this particular moment in your past. Your parents, for one, followed closely by the police, the dean of your college, your friends, your extended family, the press, your pastor...I could go on, but I believe the point has been made. Even if you manage to explain the original video as a foolish mistake of youth, the various transcripts, additional videos and screen-caps also upon the card will be more difficult. You have been quite busy in certain online communities, even if you've yet to physically do anything more than occasionally spread your legs before a camera. Frankly I would have expected a young lady of your intelligence to be more careful if you were so concerned about discovery, but the deed is done.
The only question that remains is what you are prepared to do about it now.
This letter should have been delivered on Monday, October 10. On the SD card there is an executable file named Acceptance.exe. Place it on the desktop of your computer and run it. It will provide you with an address for you to send your reply to this letter. If I do not receive a reply postmarked on or before Wednesday, October 12, I will assume that you have no interest in concealing your activities and act accordingly. If I do receive such a letter, we will proceed from there. Your secrets will remain hidden.
Should you doubt that I intend to carry out my implied actions, a censored version of one of your latest shows has already been emailed to your friend, Samantha Cooper. It has been scrubbed of anything she might use to identify the young woman in the video as you. Future emails will not have the same courtesy extended.
I hope you are as clever as you appear to be, Charlotte.