Chapter 1
What is with me today? I'm so distracted. I can't get anything done, I'm staring off into space constantly, what is going on? I gave up on homework a couple hours ago, and now I'm getting distracted while watching my favourite TV show? There must be something in the air.
I guess I'll practice my piano. I turn off my TV, and head up to my living room. I sit down at my piano, lift my books out from under the bench, and start playing. At first it sounds beautiful, flawless. My fingers drift across the keys with ease and I don't miss a single note.
But then something goes wrong.
My fingers are just not going where I want them to. What happened? This is my favourite song. This is the song I play more often then anything. This is the song I have worked on for months, the song I have perfected. So why can't I play it properly now?
I think for a minute, see where I went wrong, start at the beginning again, and the same thing happens. At first my playing is perfect, and I stumble on that same note.
I forget how many times I start over, but it was definitely a lot, and it seems like I'm getting worse and worse every time. My frustration with myself is growing. I feel like all that time I spent practicing this song was a waste. I feel like ripping out my hair. Can I just not do anything right today?
"That's fine," I finally mumble to myself, "I didn't really want to play piano anyway."
Although I'm screaming inside, I calmly pack up my books and stumble up the stairs to my bedroom. As always, when all else fails, watch YouTube videos. There's no doubt it will cheer me up, like it always does. Maybe I just need a break, and I can start fresh with the piano or the homework in a bit.
I walk across my small bedroom and grab my iPad. I look at the screen, and see that I have ninety nine percent battery. Perfect.
I climb the ladder up to my bed, and sit up against my pillow. As I open YouTube, I think to myself, "Who will I watch today?" I debate this for a while and finally decide I will watch Tobuscus play Minecraft for a bit.
I check my history and see that I left off on Part Two Hundred Eight One, so I find two eighty two and press it. I expect the video to start playing, but instead a message comes up on my screen informing me that, "This video is no longer available." And I notice in the corner of the screen that the view count is at zero.
"What?" I say to myself quietly, "This can't be right."
I click to go to the TobyGames channel, and it there is two big zeros staring me in the face. Zero subscribers, and zero videos.
"Must be a glitch," I say thoughtfully, "That's okay. I'll just watch-" I think for a second, "-Joey Graceffa. Yeah, I'll watch Joey."
I go to the search bar and search for Joey's channel, but I'm not finding any results.
"That's fine, I'll just watch iJustine for a bit," I quickly decide. "What's with all these glitched channels today?"
I go into my list of subscriptions and scroll down until I find Justine's channel, so I press it, and the result is shocking.
She, like TobyGames, has no subscribers, and no videos. But the real shocking part was that her picture has been changed. As I study the picture, I see that it's a black square, with one red word diagonal across it, in all capitals.
"HACKED."
"WHAT?" I scream to myself. "No, no, no, NO."
I frantically close YouTube, climb down the ladder from my bed, and out of my room. I run for a phone, iPad still in hand, and dial my best friends number. Thankfully, she answered after three rings. If it had gone to voicemail, I have no idea what I would have done.
"Hello? Maddie?!" I practically yell into the phone.
"Laura?" she replies, "What's up? Why do you sound so worried? Is something wrong?
I answer her question as quick as possible, eager to cut to the chase. "Like hell something is wrong! How fast can you get over here?"
"Well I can bike to your place in about ten minutes," she answers calmly. "But you still haven't told me what's wrong."
"It's YouTube." I say, hyperventilating, "Just get over here. I'd rather show you because I'm having a hard time talking at the moment."
"Fair enough, I'll be there in ten," she says with a sigh, and hangs up.
