Sakchi Bhandari
At the age of 12, when the world plunged into lockdown, Sanya, a lively sixth-grader, faced a significant change in her life. As a 12-year-old who loved being outdoors and surrounded by people, she found it rather difficult to deal with the new alteration in her life. To cope with the situation, she started experimenting with ways to keep herself entertained. She remained unaware of the digital world and its captivating allure until she stumbled upon its addictive nature. Soon enough, like most teenagers, she was captivated by the internet. For Sanya, it was an adventure. Within a week, she discovered an interesting site called Fumble, a popular platform for online interaction. Sanya eagerly joined various communities on Fumble, and before long, she found herself captivated by the vibrant world it offered.
She made plenty of friends on Fumble. She spent her time chatting, playing games, and talking to strangers whom she considered friends. Two years went by, just typing away at her keyboard. One day, as she was looking through all the communities, one called ‘Pedooowedoo’ caught her attention. At first glance, it looked like a normal community. It didn't seem to be connected to any topic, unlike other communities on Fumble. One of the members took notice of her arrival and welcomed her. The two of them got talking. Soon their conversation moved from the group to private. They shared their real names and some personal information. His name was Ivan. Coincidentally, they were in the same grade and lived nearby. As the conversation went on, they got closer and closer. They joke, saying it’s like they'd been friends for years. Very quickly a new friendship was formed.
Weeks went by, and they continued chatting. Their friendship evolved into something more-a relationship. Sanya knew that online dating, especially at her age, was not the best choice, but she believed Ivan was good for her. Their relationship progressed, and for her, everything seemed perfect. However, Ivan never agreed to video chat; instead, he requested her to keep her camera on. Sanya found it a little odd but brushed it off, thinking maybe he wasn't comfortable enough yet. Besides that, Ivan was the picture-perfect boyfriend, going out of his way to deliver flowers and gifts. Sanya had to accept the packages and hide them from her parents. She stopped interacting with her other friends and solely focused on Ivan. They were each other's everything.Two years of lockdown passed, and the world slowlyreturnedto normal. Schools, offices, and businesses started to open, although citizens were still required to social distance and wear masks. Unfortunately for Sanya and Ivan, this meant they would talk less often. Being in the ninth grade, both of them were obligated to prioritize academics. Despite that, they managed to keep their relationship going, calling each other every night.
One night, Sanya asked Ivan, "You know, my birthday is approaching, and I want to meet up with you this weekend. Consider it my birthday gift. Shall we meet up?" Ivan was caught off guard. He hesitated, but Sanya insisted. Ivan gave in, and on Saturday, they would meet for the first time. As the day approached, Sanya grew more excited. On Saturday, she spent hours getting ready and lied to her parents, saying she was going to a movie with her friends. They had agreed to meet at a park a little far from home. Sanya arrived ahead of time and sat on a bench, smiling and blushing uncontrollably.
It was 12, and she called Ivan to ask where he was. He sounded nervous. Sanya thought he was too shy to face her in real life and giggled. He said he would be there in 5 minutes. Ten minutes passed, and Sanya looked around, but Ivan was nowhere to be seen. She turned back to see a strange guy standing behind her. She backed away nervously. He approached closer and introduced himself as Ivan. The colour drained from Sanya's face. She thought it was some sick joke. There was no way Ivan could be some creepy-looking old guy. She was speechless. Ivan tried to talk to her but she wouldn't reply and just stared at him. Sanya slowly got back to her senses, backed away and sprinted. Ivan tried catching up but Sanya was on the school track team. Fortunately, she was able to get far from him. She ran into a local supermarket and called an Uber. Instead of going straight home she went to a cafe nearby and tried to rethink what had just happened.
She had received tons of texts and calls from Ivan. With tears dripping down her face, she blocked him on every social media. She wanted to go to the police and report him but she was too afraid to face her parents about it. She resorted to just blocking him and deleting every trace of him from her phone. She sat at the cafe and thought everything through before heading home.
As soon as she got home, she rushed to her room and quickly hopped into the shower. She cried but reminded herself to be strong and that it was not the end of the world. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t have friends she could go to for comfort. She cried for hours that night. The person with whom she had spent almost every night of the year, calling and laughing and crying, turned out to be a creepy man in his 40s. He knew everything about her. She had fallen into the trap of a paedophile. She had been groomed at the age of 14. She was disgusted with herself. Not only had she lost someone she thought she had an incredible bond with but also her dearest friends.
For weeks she couldn’t look at herself in the mirror. At school, she was in shambles and a loner. Sanya regretted everything. Something so innocent turned out to be so gross and the biggest mistake of her life. The incident destroyed her physically and mentally. Her parents and teachers were getting worried. Her parents asked her multiple times but she just brushed it off saying she's just stressed because of her studies. It was partially true. The teachers were putting pressure on their students. They made it seem as if academics was all that mattered and that everything came second. Sanya forced herself to focus on her studies. She ended up deleting fumble and promised herself to never look back.
Hyperfocusing on her academics was the only way to divert her mind from Ivan. It took her a while but she slowly started to heal from the trauma, but it scarred her for life. Sanya found it hard to trust men and maintained her distance.
She graduated from grade 10 and moved on to college. There she made new friends with whom she grew close and shared her experience. She found out she wasn't the only one who had been a victim of grooming. Her friends too had interacted with strangers who turned out to be completely different than they portrayed themselves to be. A friend of hers showed her a post on social media that had a similar story to Sanyas. The whole time she thought she was alone, she wasn't. Many girls have shared their stories of falling victim to pedophiles on social media.
Online predators are a huge problem in today's society and many have fallen victim to these evil creatures. Youths should be taught to speak out, not fall into the traps of such creatures, and be aware of their online presence.
