Digital Mutation (Book Five)

Prologue

It's funny that the thing she loves most is often the source of all her struggles. She finds solace in her computer, in the video games she plays and the videos she creates, finding escape within the wonders of the Internet. Her life is a series of clips, filmed, pasted, trimmed, and edited, and each one is different: a different angle, a different effect, a different voice, a different girl.

In front of the camera, she's that silly, relatable girl who does gaming videos, skits about Internet culture, and more. She makes it fun, and people gravitate to her, waiting to see what she does next. She does what it takes to make her subscribers happy.

She's still amazed that there are over ten thousand of them. She started at twelve years old with videos of her ranting about her favourite cartoons while she played Skyrim. The editing was shabby, and her audio wasn't the best, but she was endearing. People watched her, and her following started to grow. Three years later, she's still here, her channel decorated with better clips and more diverse topics.

She likes imagining that her channel is a box of assorted donuts. "There's something for everyone," she says with a smile. Some people prefer sprinkles, some like chocolate, some want plain. Every donut is special.

But, for all the joy being on the Internet brings her, it can't stop her passion from fading. She wants time to design her own video games and expand her horizons, but her subscribers expect content, and without them, she'd have nothing. Her Bronze Play Button seems to mock her as she watches her statistics start to tick downwards, the comments rife with complaints about late uploads and their dislike of any new topic she tries out.

Her escape has become a prison. The red and white website that used to bring her joy now leaves a dull ache of dread in her gut. How is she supposed to keep up with the video demands when high school is only getting harder and life is just getting busier? Her channel has her in chains, unable to evolve and yet desperate to do so.

She pushes past her burnout and makes new videos to avoid hate or angry reviewers. She makes the videos because there are people who tell her all the time that her videos are the only thing that makes them happy. She cares too much to let down all those faceless people on the other side of the screen.

There is so much that she can't say, so much she has to hide away from the eyes of the outside world, but she has to stay happy and funny because that's what got her this far.

Still, there's one thing that keeps her feeling okay. It's small, just a name in the comments section, but they're always there, liking her latest video and making her day a little brighter. He's always so genuine in his comments.

PizzaNunchucker.

It's too bad that he's just a name on a screen. It's too bad that she won't ever be able to find him. The world is a big place, and one could argue that the Internet is even bigger.

As she sits down at her computer and slips her pastel pink headset on, she takes a deep breath. She'll stream LEGO Harry Potter today. That will open up discussions about houses and lore, for sure. That should keep people happy. She hopes that she can find some happiness in it, too.