Ardenstone - Day 2 - Page 2h
From Create Your Own Story
Deciding upon a course of action, Kas ran upstairs to get dressed. She put on an old grey, open shouldered top and a pair of denim shorts, for it was a warm day outside, and pulled on a pair of light weight shoes. There was a lot to be said about mowing the lawn. It wasn't that different to vacuum cleaning, and she didn't really enjoy that either, but at least the lawns were outside in the sun. The lawn mower its self was a large cumbersome machine, but it was fairly new and practically worked on its own. All Kas had to do was guide it around the garden, making sure she didn't bump into anything or ruin the flower beds. The garden was huge, far larger than the one at their previous house in the city. The lawns spread all the way around the old farm house, which stood on its own with only fields as neighbours. It was so big, that her father was considering having a swimming pool installed in the back. It was a great idea, but Kas thought it was a shame her mother would not be able to enjoy it, for swimming had been her favourite hobby. Kas lethargically pushed the lawn mower around the garden, starting from the far end at the back and working her way forward, one strip at a time. It was only the second time she had mown the lawn, the first had been in the week they had arrived. She had wondered then about putting patterns into the lawn, like football pitches usually have, but she couldn't be bothered to try it then, and she didn't feel like doing it this time either. She had nearly finished the back, when she heard the doorbell ring.
"Can you get that, Kas?" Her father called, as she ran through the house.
"Hello?" She said, opening the front door. It was the postman, although not the one that usually came each morning. This one was tall, bald and at least forty years old.
"Good morning." He said, with a smile. "Here is your mail, and I have a parcel in the van for your father." He said. Kas looked at him curiously, wondering why he had not carried it to the door. "It's a bit heavy, and I've got a bad back. Would you mind?" He asked.
"Oh, sure." Kas said, satisfied with his explanation, put on a pair of shoes from the rack and followed him out to his van. The parcel looked much smaller than she expected, and she could have carried it on her own, although it was quite heavy. But the postman said he couldn't lift it without hurting his back.
"You're a very pretty thing." The postman said as she bent down to lift the box. "What's your name?"
"Kas." She replied, standing back up. They held the box between them and he walked backwards as they carried it inside.
"And how old are you?" He asked, as if trying to make polite small talk.
"Erm... Fourteen" Kas answered politely in return. The parcel was not for her father at all, but for Wes, probably another of his collectors models that he kept ordering online.
"Would you like me to help you in with it?" He asked when they reached the door. Kas shook her head and told him that her father was in if she needed help. He said goodbye and departed as Kas lugged the box indoors and up the stairs. She took it straight to her brother's room, and set it down next to his desk. In doing so she knocked the mouse of his computer, and the monitor burst into life. Normally he locked the computer whenever he wasn't in, and it looked like he had meant to that morning. However, the computer had not locked, properly. Suddenly filled with curiosity, Kas slid into his chair and started browsing through his computer. Coming from a family of computer experts, she was fairly good with them herself, and quickly found what she wanted, the password to his computer. With that, she could get into his computer at any time. She considered changing it, but realised he would find out. Kas then went through his picture and music files. However, there was nothing much of interest there. Deciding that she should get on with her work, she went into the computer's history to delete any evidence that she had been on there. To her delight, Kas found something in there worth looking at. It was not exactly what she had hoped to find, but she considered opening the folder anyway. The pathway led to a well hidden folder, somewhere she wouldn't normally have looked, but Wes had obviously been into it earlier that morning because it was still in the history. The folder name was cryptic, using a mixture of letters and characters to form '+3R€e$'. Kas remembered Wes teaching her about it years ago. The word spelt backwards said 'Secret'. Opening the file was tempting, but she had work to do, and she knew Wes would be home soon.
What should Kas do?
Consequences
Computer security is extremely important, regardless of what you use your computer for, or store on it. Governments and organisations around the world worry constantly about computer security, whether it be people attempting to hack their security, cyber crimes, or trying to control the spread of pornography and so called indecent material. However, it doesn't matter how secure your computer is, if you leave it switched on, unlocked and unattended, anything can happen. Of course, the consequences of being caught hacking into someone else's computer can be just as bad.
