I never should have bought that laptop.
For context, I’m a student currently enrolled in a photography course just trying to survive her second year of college. My computer decided to break down on me the week before an important project was due, so I had no choice but to buy myself a new one. I’m not rich, and as I said, I’m a college student, so I’m running on a very tight budget. I was debating on having someone look at my computer, but figured it wouldn’t be fixed in time. So, I did what anyone would do and looked on eBay for a new laptop.
And, God, I wish I hadn’t.
I was able to get in touch with an anonymous seller selling his old MacBook Air for a fairly reasonable price. We didn’t talk much. I just PayPal-ed him and he sent it over in two days. Upon receiving the computer, I noticed it was in perfect shape. It looked almost entirely brand new. I had a hard drive filled with all the things I needed for this project, so I hooked it up and started getting to work. A few days of working went by and nothing out of the ordinary happened.
I wish I could say that everything went fine and I ended up getting a good grade on my project, but if that were the case I wouldn’t be writing this post. One night, I was laying in bed unable to sleep. I decided to just finish up the project and call it a night, but I got a message notification on the laptop through a messenger app. Whoever previously owned the computer forgot to log out – but that wasn’t the scary part. The unsettling part was the contents of the message itself:
“Did you remove the files?”
I should have left it alone, but my curiosity got the best of me. I tapped on the message and was thrust into a texting thread with someone by the user “@deepsleep13.” The more I read up, the more frightened I became. I started at the top and read down.
“I’m going to sell the computer.”
“Why? It has all the stuff on it. Where will you store it?”
“I don’t know. I’ll just store it on a hard drive. This is evidence.”
“You said you weren’t scared of being caught.”
“I know what I said. I’m just being smart. I have to go. Will talk to you later.”
And that was that. I should have closed the computer and gotten rid of it, but I couldn’t stop. I scrolled to the Files app and clicked on it. Besides my project’s materials, everything looked fine – that was, at least, until I reached the bottom. There was a folder titled “0” and like the dumbass I was, I clicked on it.
I wish I hadn’t watched those videos. They included the previous owner of the laptop and who I can guess was deepsleep13. There were videos of them going around and robbing, mugging, and even killing innocent people. They had some sort of motive, but I couldn’t figure out what. There were videos of them planning their kills so they wouldn’t forget, distorted videos and audios of threats begging for money, and more. I knew what I had to do with this information, so I grabbed my phone and started to dial 911.
But something stopped me before I could press the call button.. Another message came through on the screen:
“What’s your idea?”
I clicked on it. The previous owner of the laptop responded to the other text by saying “I have a better idea,” meaning they didn’t remove any of the files. That’s when I noticed the green light flashing above my screen. My camera was on. I must have been added into some kind of call, because there was noise on the other end of the screen.
“Go on,” said the voice that came through it. “Call the police. Tell them how you just randomly bought a computer full of incriminating evidence on it. How will you prove it’s not you in those videos? We both have masks on and our voices are edited.”
I felt my heart still. I didn’t say anything back. I wanted to pretend that this wasn’t happening at all.
“We can do this two ways,” they continued, “you keep quiet about what we’re doing, and we let you live. You snitch, well, I don’t have to fill in those blanks for you.”
I knew what they meant. I didn’t respond, but the green light went out. I just slammed my computer shut and decided to call it a night. I didn’t sleep, though. I kept watching and rewatching the videos. Some part of me hoped this was all a joke, some kind of setup. I had completely forgotten about my stupid project by that point. There was a whole computer full of criminal activity sitting in my lap and there was nothing I could do about it. Who knew what they’d do to me if I went to the police? Then there was the risk of the police not believing me. It seemed like either way, no matter what choice I made, I’d end up in prison.
The next morning, however, I awoke to a text from an unknown number:
“You have 24 hours to make a decision.”
Please help me. I have no idea what to do. Either I get charged for harboring evidence, or I get stalked and possibly even killed. I don’t know what to do. I’ve been sitting in bed weighing my options and none of them sound favorable. I can’t afford to throw my whole life away now. I’ve worked so hard to get where I am. Even posting this is a risk, but I can’t tell anyone and I fear this is the safest option. All I can do is hope they don’t find me by the time this is posted.