My eyes never leave the screen. I feel my fingers typing without guidance like feet that bring us to walk. Within my pocket, an almost imperceptible buzz vibrates alerting me of the next text. The beeps of a social media messenger ring against my ear. Day by day, we consume our time with meaningless browsing and lightning speed Google searches. Knowledge comes with the press of a button. The uneducated knowledge of the everyman merges with the knowledge of a trained professional. Information keeps spreading and we think nothing of it. Convenience becomes relaxation. My eyes move from the computer screen to the VHS lying on the floor. Few remember the pain of rewinding a tape. Even fewer remember the horrendous picture quality. My lips curve upwards as I lightly chuckle to myself, “Cutting edge, they said.”

A world of blissful distraction keeps my fingers moving. The pixels on a computer icon dissipate one by one. “That’s strange.” The icon pixels quickly reform as if nothing changed. I virus check the computer to reassure myself. No spyware. No viruses. Everything checks out as I finish my work. Another day comes to a close, so I decide to relax and play a video game as I wind down. The clicks of a mouse are instantaneous. I open up my Steam account. The password or email is incorrect. I try to use the forgot password function, but it requires an old email. I no longer remember the email. I look up customer service and find that they have no phone number. I have to contact them by email and wait. My fingers keep typing away while awaiting a response. Meanwhile, the clock ticks incessantly. My flesh will decay by the time they respond. My eyes grow weary. I have to sleep. After a week I send another email. Another week passes and I frantically look for another way to contact customer service. Despite the speed of my fingertips, I find nothing. Email is the only option. Two months later, they respond allowing me to reset my password.

The horror of digital service never ends. Apparently, every trace of that game has evaporated. A quick online search reveals the truth. I learn that the company’s rights to distribute the game ended in the United States. My sixty dollars fades into the wind. My hard earned coin remains lost forevermore. I bought this game and paid for it. My legal right to ownership is forfeit due to region codes. I am powerless. Nothing I do will get that money back. I buy something only to lose it just as quickly. The blood within me swells up. My frustration leaves me feeling heated. A deep breath escapes my lips as I surf the web to calm the nerves. The clicks keep sounding off as I browse mindlessly through the video world of YouTube.

Petty squabbles fill the comment sections. A masquerade ball where everyone shows their true colors. A racist man expresses his hatred with the vilest of the English language. Every user has the same avatar. I see through the portrait that hides their shame. The despicable are free from prosecution. No ax will fall on the head of a masked man. The anonymity emboldens the faceless users of YouTube. The sickest of all society are free to prey on the naive. A game of hide and seek where seek is not an option. A perfect hiding place. Still, at least I forgot about the sixty dollars I wasted. I feel my eyelids closing, so I log off YouTube. My cursor moves across the screen effortlessly. I click over to another tab. Quickly, I check my bank statement. The numbers are what I expect. I prepare to shut the computer down for the night until something inconceivable occurs...

The once vanished icon has changed pictures. A smiling emoji with black holes in place of eyes takes its place. An absence of light appears around the emoji that has replaced my icon. Something unnerves me when I stare at this emoji. I decide to change the icon’s picture back to its default settings. Within seconds, the icon vanishes into the empty spaces of my desktop. Again, the emoji resurfaces replacing the icon I just changed. I lightly growl frustrated by the icon. I reset it to its defaults. Maddeningly, the process repeats all over. The icon keeps changing to that lightless emoji every time I try to set it back. Without warning, half the icons on my desktop disperse into the background. A moment later, blackened emojis replace all of the dispersed icons as the icons move to the center of my screen. The emojis replace the icons for Google Chrome, Firefox, Snapchat, Steam, Anti-Malware Bytes, AVG, and Facebook to name a few. I feel a sense of dread consuming me. Without hesitation, I move the mouse downward to turn the computer off. My fingers roughly click the mouse to no avail. The clicking of my mouse remains ineffective. Nothing happens. I’m starting to worry that something is seriously wrong...

Suddenly, the browser pops back up. My fingers repeatedly push the left mouse button while hovering over the x on my browser. Nothing happens. My internet history gets accessed without the click of a button. My bank statement flashes onto the screen. The numbers are what I expect... but I can guess what happens next. With haste, I push my back against the computer chair exiting the seat. I grab at the cord plugged into the wall. I vigorously try to pry it from the outlet in the wall. Sparks fly from the outlet causing my hand to fly back due to the violent sting. The numbers on the screen start decreasing rapidly. Thousands become hundreds in seconds. The numbers keep plummeting into negative territory. Thousands become negative thousands and counting. A debilitating pain spreads in the pit of my stomach...

A faceless symbol burns through my retina overtaking my computer screen. All the electronic devices surrounding me lose power instantaneously. The smoldering sunlight no longer shines, for my house blends into the falling night. A rumbling shakes the ground beneath my feet as the generator kicks on. The generator does not power anything back on. I hear a crash as the wood varnish of a shed ignites. My feet push against the ground scrambling through the house. I gaze through the window and see only the blackened visage of night. No light. No contact. Batteries die. An uncontrolled drone implodes within taking an innocent live to the grave. We become faceless leaving our identity trapped in a spider’s web, and this web spans the entire globe. A society without electricity. All of us staring cluelessly into the abyss. An EMP may cause it. Maybe, the technology of the next war. Military, police, governments, and ordinary citizens falter in a world where the faceless reside. The ease of the digital world can take everything mankind owns in an instant. No one warns of the danger of advancement. It might be too late when you finally pay the price.