Draiks and Angels: Deity

6 - Khait

Khait was a good student, smart, and rather awkward around people he didn't know well. His father wanted him to gain some confidence, and so the summer he was 17, he worked at a reptile farm, where he learned how to wrestle crocodiles. This did not help his propensity to be awkward, but it was a great conversation starter.

He had always dreamed of being able to fly. Seeing the Draiks and the Angels soar through the sky, it was all he had ever wanted in life. He never got to see any Draiks or Angels up close when he was younger, though, because his father was incredibly racist toward the flying people. He would switch Khait's classes if he was in one with a winged person, take him off the playground when they would come, and yell at him whenever he was seen too close to one. There weren't a lot of Draiks or Angels mixing with the regular populace where he lived, so it was possible for his father to keep him away from them.

He couldn't afford to go to college when he graduated from High School, so he looked for a job. He found work repairing and building computers in a little shop owned by a fellow named Taarush. There were three other men working there, and they took Khait in like a little brother. They taught him how to work with software and how to do a little coding. One of them knew how to pick locks, and showed him how one summer. Khait kept at it until he could pick most locks, though he knew it was just for fun. Taarush knew how to solve a Rubik's cube, and eventually Khait convinced the man to teach him.

After five years, Khait had moved up to third-in-command, though his duties were mostly unchanged. He interacted with customers more now, calling them to let them know their computers were ready to be picked up, and ordered parts. He had moved out of his parents' home several years earlier, when his salary could support him, and he had a little apartment not far from the shop. It was convenient when he was late for work.

One day, while preparing a customer's computer to be returned, he noticed something hidden on the operating system. It was a program he didn't recognize. Curious, he looked it up on the internet, and discovered that it was a keylogger and screen scraper! This was the kind of program hackers and scammers used to steal information and passwords from people. If someone logged into their online bank account while a keylogger was active, it could steal their username and password, making it that much easier for someone to steal their money.

Strictly speaking, their shop wasn't supposed to uninstall any program from a customer's computer without getting permission first, so Khait left the program there and went to find Taarush.

"Hey, Taarush, I've got a user's computer here, and it looks like they've been hacked."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, they've got a keylogger on their machine. Should I call them and warn them their passwords could have been compromised for who-knows-how-long? Ask if I should remove it?"

"Show me," Taarush said, draping his arm over Khait's shoulder and steering him toward the back where the computers were worked on.

As they walked through the maze of broken computers and racks of parts, Taarush suddenly steered Khait to the right. They stopped in front of the storage room, and Taarush pulled out his keys with one hand to unlock the deadbolt.

"Uh, the computer is over there," Khait said, gesturing over his shoulder.

Taarush didn't say anything, he just opened the door to the back room. With sudden force, he threw Khait inside. Khait stumbled in surprise, then leapt at the door, but Taarush had already locked the deadbolt again. It was the kind that needed a key from either side. Khait struggled with the door, but it wouldn't open.