The content of the disturbing message made Emma and Kathy stare at each other.
"What is he going to do to Roger?" Emma muttered as she looked back at the computer screen.
"What else? They're definitely going to rob that guy." Kathy said then gulped, though Emma was just muttering to herself instead of asking her. "There are remnants of the previous message. Woah.. Looks like he's been robbed like this many times." Kathy continued while pulling the scroll bar to see the contents of previous messages.
Carter 'Bring your deposit tomorrow!'
Roger 'Ok.'
Carter 'If you want to live, bring the deposit.'
Roger 'Ok.'
Carter 'The day after tomorrow with the deposit and five boxes of cigarettes.'
Roger 'Sure.'
Emma clenched her fists as she read the contents of the message from the person named Carter. Was it one of the men Emma had seen beat Roger in the warehouse back then? From the way he spoke, it seemed she wasn't wrong.
"This is crazy, Emma. Roger is in trouble," said Kathy.
Emma nodded, "I have to help him. This is too far."
"Are you kidding? How can you help him? Carter and his gang are dangerous guys. They're even crazier than Donny's. I heard they're also members of an evil group."
"What? What group?" Emma frowned.
"I don't know. And I don't care either. I really don't want to deal with guys like them. Actually, it's common knowledge that those guys often blackmail and rob weak students. But no one ever dared to act because afraid of ending up being their next target." Kathy shuddered.
"Kathy, can you find out about that guy named Carter? I'm just curious." Emma asked.
Kathy nodded, "Sure. I'll just have to log into Carter's account and the rest.. depends on his travel history on the internet."
Emma didn't expect this girl named Kathy to be so skilled. In an organization, people with abilities like Kathy are certainly needed.
From Carter's student account, Kathy could track sites and cyberspace that he had freely browsed with the email address he had connected to the account.
"The internet is like the body. It has nerves, veins, and organs that are connected. That's why digital footprints are terrifying." said Kathy.
"Look at this.. there's a website that looks suspicious. What is it? Carter logs in here a lot." She continued.
"Maybe a porn site?" said Emma.
Kathy shook her head, "No.. It's like a made-up website." She said like a Mrs Know it all, by opening the suspicious site page.
"What.. is this..?" Emma muttered.
, Welcome to The Bulls! A place for bullies and cool kids from universities and schools. Here we will share tips and tricks to earn money easily and how to make the losers more afraid of us. Here we can also exchange information, videos, and photos.'
"Damn it! I didn't know there was a site like this! Who made it?" Kathy said as she grabbed her own hair with both hands.
"Look, there are over five hundred members.." Emma pointed to the member logo at the top.
Kathy nodded and then was busy with it a bit to find out how it worked and what the site actually was.
"This site is like social media. But we can only open it if we are members. The way to become a member is to be invited by The Bulls Co-Host that totalling twenty accounts. For a cheap site, they make it difficult to track. If not for messing around with Carter's account, we'll never find this site. Because by searching the internet, we have to type a special code to bring it to the surface. Looks like the creators of this site are smart too. I'm not going to underestimate them." Kathy explained with a serious face.
Then the two girls browsed the contents of the site. The Bulls site was like a paradise for bullies. They recorded their heinous behaviour and upload it there. They also shared tips and information on the best way to earn money by extorting money from the losers. Many also shared their experiences of daily bullying. They seemed to make the site a diary, exhibition, and entertainment. If you look at it, almost all of its members were male.
Then, they saw all of Carter's posts on the site. What's even more astonishing was that this damn guy had been recording his bullying of many college geeks all this time. And there were a lot of Roger's videos.
Emma and Kathy couldn't believe their own eyes. It turned out that the torture that Carter and his friends inflicted on Roger was truly beyond comprehension. They filmed the violence they did to him, when they pranked Roger in the bathroom, in the warehouse, even.. One of the worst videos with lots of 'Likes' was when they stripped Roger and forced him to wear a girl's bikini.
Seeing that, Kathy couldn't hold her tears to flow out. She and Emma both covered their mouths with their hands in shock. This is outrageous!
'I'm really going to kill them!' Emma screamed in her heart.
"Emma.." Kathy brought Emma back from her thoughts.
The round green-eyed girl looked at Emma sadly, "I know you must be very angry seeing this. I feel the same way. But you have to keep your mouth shut about the information on this site and everything on it. It would be very dangerous if we found out about this site."
Emma was silent "I see." she answered.
***
"Wednesdays at five o'clock. I'll finish them there." Emma muttered as she stared at her reflection in the large mirror of her practice room.
She looked down at the large boxing bag she had bought online a few days ago, "I'm going to kill you jerks!" she shouted as she punched the bag with her hand wrapped in a special cloth to protect her skin from getting scratched by the bumps.
As soon as she finished practising, Emma went to take a warm shower. As the water hit her head and ran down the drain, Emma was lost in her thoughts.
"How can I help Roger without getting caught? Do I need to tell Calvin about this? No. This is my business. Roger is my friend. Besides, if Calvin finds out, maybe he'll track down the site and things could fall apart." Emma thought.
"Ugh.. Roger.. How can I help you?" Emma rubbed her face.
***
For the past few months, Emma had chosen to use public transportation to go to campus. She will only drive a car if she wants to go somewhere after coming home from college, such as shopping.
Because the weather was good, today Emma chose to use the bus to go to campus. She was trying to organize her messy mind because she saw the bullying that involved the person who had always been her seatmate when they were in the same class.
Although Roger is often silent and seemed indifferent, Emma knew that the guy secretly cares for her. Roger always kept double stationeries with him secretly, because Emma often lost her own. And, when that happened, Roger would lend his. When Emma forgot to bring her notebooks, Roger always shared them with her. Even, that guy always indirectly lends his very neat and detailed notebook to Emma.
Emma knew that Roger actually wanted to be friends with her. But it seemed that he felt inferior if he was friends with a popular girl like Emma. He was also worried that Emma would get into trouble if she befriended a loser like him.
Emma herself finally made up her mind after seeing The Bulls website yesterday. If she were in Roger's position, Emma would also be reluctant to make friends with anyone, because it would end up causing trouble for her own friends.
Without realizing it, Emma had arrived at the campus gate. The long road leading to the building that used to give colourful views of tree leaves was now starting to turn white because it was covered in snow which had been falling quite heavily recently.
Brum!
Emma turned her head when she heard the sound of the engine roaring behind her. She stopped in her track and stepped back when she found the motorcyclist had stopped and stared at her.
Even though Emma hadn't asked the rider what he needed, he had already taken off his full-face red helmet.
Then Emma smiled and chuckled, "You were startled me, Calvin."
Calvin chuckled, causing a puff of steam to show in front of his mouth "Sorry. I forgot you don't know my new style motorbike."
"Did you paint it another colour?" Emma looked at the motorbike. She remembered it was a motorbike that was destroyed by gangsters when she met Calvin in a battered state in front of the supermarket.
Calvin nodded, "To avoid any new problems. I painted it red. Not many people recognize my bike in this colour yet." He said. Then he prepared to put on his helmet again. "I stopped because I wanted to offer you a ride. Would you like it?"
Emma thought for a moment then nodded. Even though the sky was clear, the temperature was quite cold. It felt like her feet would freeze if she had to walk any further.
"Okay. Come on up." Calvin helped the girl into the back of his motorbike. "Hold tightly. The asphalt is a bit slippery."
"Okay." Answered Emma.
Then Calvin put on his helmet and started the motorbike. Calvin deliberately drove his motorbike a bit slowly because he knew the wind would be very cold for Emma if he went at his usual speed.
As soon as Calvin put on his shiny helmet, Emma could immediately see the reflection of her own face on the back of the helmet. Emma was silent at her reflection until her eyes narrowed.
When Calvin approached her wearing a helmet earlier, Emma was quite surprised because she couldn't see the man's face. Emma thought he wasn't Calvin, but some other playboy trying to seduce her. The red helmet covered Calvin's face.
Yes, the red helmet covered Calvin's identity.
That gave Emma a brilliant idea. An idea that would help her save Roger on Wednesday. Why didn't Emma think of that? She just has to wear a similar helmet to cover her identity as Emma Hillland. No one will know who he is. Not even Roger.
"The important thing is not getting caught. Of course, I won't be caught." Emma muttered to herself with a smile.