Dangerous Data

I guess you could call me a total loser. I just sit in my room, in the pitch dark, and write fan fiction all day. Well not all day, I do take bathroom breaks and other breaks to read other people's work while eating my vegan food. Yeah, I'm vegan...another reason to diagnose me with loseritis.

My room's always a clusterfuck of clothes, paper, and junk. No food though, I'm not that gross. It's a small room, no bigger than a kitchen should be. My bed takes up most of it, in fact.

Anyway, back to me. I'm the star, right? For once? The year is what...2050? Yeah last time I checked it was. Still haven't found a cure for cancer, though. Sons of bitches...but that's beside the point. My name is Dakota Farrow. Well my legal name is. I want to be Cody...I think. I'm not sure. I want to be a guy, but I don't know if it's for the right reasons. I'm just lost so I just still go by Dakota, the girl with the short hair that used to hate having short hair. Whatever, I guess. I don't care anymore. I already dropped out of high school to become a writer, look how well that turned out.

"Welp, time to get something to eat and read!" I said as I got up, but as soon as I did, I heard my mother call out to me.

"Dakota!" she yelled from the bottom of the stairs, "Dakota!"

"Whaaaaattttt??" The classic no response from the parent, "Coming!" I rush to the edge of the stairwell, "Yes?"

"What do you want for dinner?" she asked.

"Uh...food?" I retorted sarcastically, like what else do I want?

"Seriously?" Mom put her hands on her hips, that's when you knew she wasn't buying it.

I told her what I wanted and I went back upstairs completely forgetting my food for my daily read. But instead of going back downstairs, I lightly grabbed the curtain and pulled it back, "Damn, that's bright!" When my eyes adjusted, I sat on my bed and just looked outside. It was so nice out. I wish I had a better adjective, but I couldn't think of one. It just suited it so perfectly; any other word would have put too much or too little emphasis on it. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm gonna go outside..."

It wasn't a miracle. I'd been outside recently, but not by choice. My mother was surprised, though. There are not flying cars yet, unfortunately. However, we do have more renewable cars. I didn't live in the city, but classic suburbia. I wasn't too far from the city, though. Just a stone throws away, in fact.

Once I arrived by foot, you can see things would have changed from let's say fifty years ago as they should. Most people don't walk anymore, which is a shame. Even my mother wanted me to take the automated car. Oh yeah, people don't drive anymore. Turns out people suck at driving and people die way too often at it. Who knew? Turns out, everyone did.

Anyway, the buildings aren't silver as you see in the movies. They're the same colors as the past and we still do have houses from fifty years ago or more. I was just sauntering down Uganda Street in our town which has a odd need to name main streets after countries. Then a creepy, old homeless guy spoke to me, "Psst...Dakota...come here."

I did the almighty gesture of the look around and of the 'who...me?' and walked up to him, "How do you know my name?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Not important," he said while glancing around as if he was looking for police, he then grabbed a backpack and opened it. It revealed a laptop, "Take it and go. It has all you need"

I grabbed it, cause hey, free laptop! Plus, the homeless guy looked very familiar, "Ah okay...thanks?"

"Go," was all he said and I left for home, after all it could be stolen goods.

As I walked home with the laptop, I noticed it appeared a lot like my own at home. It was a Mac book. I wanted to open it, but I figured I should do it when I was alone.

At home, my mom was luckily taking a nap. I ran upstairs, shut the door and locked it. I then sat on my bed and opened the laptop where a obnoxiously pink sticky note fell out. It said, 'Your user name and password is the one you always use.'

"The one I always use?" I said to myself as I typed it in, "How does he know...." It worked, "What the..."

Suddenly I noticed the Mac didn't have the normal operating system it should have. Then there was a notification. It said, 'Congrats, Dakota. You've made it this far. It's time you've learned about your new enemy, Benjamin Kensworth.'

Benjamin Kensworth? Isn't he the best hacker in the United States? Why is he my enemy?

Another notification came up, 'You're probably wondering why he is your enemy, Dakota. It is simple. He knows about your skills and wants you dead.'

"Wants me....dead?" What is going on, I'm just a good hobbyist hacker. He went to Harvard for Information Technology and was Valedictorian in his class. I'm just a drop out who writes fan fiction...

'Here is some private information on Benjamin not found on the Internet, Dakota. You may look at this at any time. Any question may be asked to me, since I am your assistant in this matter. However, I cannot be identified because if I am, he will kill me too.' Then a text box showed up where I could type along with information on the side on this Ben who wants me burned at the stake.

I typed, 'Why are you telling me all of this? What can I do other than run?'

'You need to stop him, basically. You're the only one who can.'

I leaned back. I can't even get through high school and you think I can stop him? The hell?

'But how?' I typed.

'Well, there is no clear answer. Sorry. You'll figure it out.'

Well, shit. I might die and that's all you got?! Great. I then typed, 'How will we meet?'

'I don't know. But he is near. He knows your coordinates, Dakota. He wants you destroyed.'

'Looks like I got my work cut out for me,' I typed.

'Indeed. Now I must go. Goodbye.'

'Bye'

I sighed loudly and noticed the battery was low on the laptop. I looked at the port and realized it took the same one as my other laptop. I plugged it into my wall and shut my eyes. "I should've never went outside..."