Page 50 of Kane
‘W-w-w-why are they being so mean?’ Cassie asked, her eyes filling up with tears. ‘Bouncer, who are these people? What have I ever done to them?’
At this moment, Cassie would have given anything for Bouncer to be able to talk. Or even better, she’d have done anything for Kane to be there to provide some reassurance and words of comfort.
But neither option was possible.
Cassie felt dejected.
Alone.
Attacked.
That one of the horrible comments was from a fellow comic creator just made it ten times worse. How could someone else who put their effort into making content be so cruel? It wasn’t like they didn’t understand how much it hurt.
Cassie simply didn’t understand that kind of mentality.
People really can suck sometimes…
Cassie turned the tablet face down. In truth, she wanted to pick it up and throw it out of the window. The sound of it smashing on the street beneath would have been wonderful. But, ofcourse, Cassie couldn’t do that. It wasn’t even her tablet. It was Kane’s.
Cassie also knew that getting angry wasn’t the solution.
It never was.
She felt so sad. Frustrated that people were seemingly making personal attacks on her. Cassie was okay with people not being into her comic. Everyone had things they liked and didn’t like. Cassie was no different.
But it was the vicious nature of the comments that were hurting Cassie the most. She had always been sensitive. Ever since as a kid she’d had to deal with a few difficult stepdads. Not great guys. Not particularly kind or understanding. Anddefinitelynot the type of people to hold back when it came to shouting criticisms or dealing out reprimands.
Cassie knew she shouldn’t but decided to go back online to have quick check of her emails.
That’s when it happened.
Cassie entered her login details as usual. Denied.
She tried again. Denied.
‘What… the…these are one hundred percent… my…’
Cassie was locked out of her email. She couldn’t understand it. Her email account contained so many personal details. Information about her banking. Comic book ideas. Thoughts. Screenshots. It was like her all-in-one personal diary and organizer.
This was a total disaster.
Then it dawned on her.
What if this wasn’t a system error. What if she had in fact been hacked? It would certainly make sense of the sudden barrage of negative comments online.
Surely no one would want to do that to her.
Take things that far.
But before Cassie could think another thought, a message popped up on an open tab. It was a direct message to a social media account.
LYLE: HeHe. Your email account is pretty, pretty revealing! Such a shame you won’t be able to access it again. That is, unless you meet my demands. Peace out, loser.
Cassie couldn’t believe it. Lyle was the comic book creator who had left the horrible, catty comment. And now it looked like he was the one who had also hacked Cassie’s email account.
Cassie felt a rising sense of dread.
There was so much personal stuff in her email. The kind of things that were private. Intimate. This wasn’t even taking into account all of the unused ideas that were stored in email drafts.