I can confidently say that I was taken aback by this new and incredible world of information. Within days I was using the internet for anything and everything, however it was not until April that I actually started using chat. I found that most of the people that I met over chat only wanted one thing.. SEX! I tried to ignore these people and I started concentrating on finding people that I could relate to. However this came to no avail as people either wanted sex or nothing...

In early May, one Saturday evening I connected to the internet like per usual, and entered a yahoo chat room.

I was making general conversation with the entire room when I was pm'd by a guy under the name of Pratt (his real name is remaining anonymous). Pratt and I started talking and after exchanging the basics (age/ sex/ location etc... He said he was 22/m/kansas) he asked me what I wanted to chat about.
I told him that I didn't really care as long as it was interesting.. He then told me outright that he wasn't interested in sex. I told him that I was glad to hear this because neither was I. He then suggested that we play chess or something. I said that this sounded like a good idea. However it wasn't as easy as it sounded as I had never used yahoo games before, and neither of us could find each other for a long while. I was just about to give up when I realised that we had both managed to find the same room finally. Before I had time to say anything he told me that he loved me and that he would marry me.. Then we both cracked up laughing.. During the game of chess we talked about all sorts of things.. And when we finished we said good bye and that was that!

I didn't hear from Pratt again for nearly three weeks. I completely forgot about him. However when I became sick, and I was stranded at home with nothing to do I started to experiment with the internet. It was during my explorations that I came across a thing called yahoo pager. This was a mechanism that was meant to let you know when your friends were on line. I decided to take the plunge and download it, hoping like hell that it wouldn't crash the computer.

Luckily for me pager downloaded nice and smoothly and before I knew it I had logged in to yahoo pager. As soon as my password was verified I was bombarded with 'off line' messages from Pratt.. As I read through the messages I couldn't help but laugh. This guy really had understood me when we had played chess.. It was after reading these messages that I added Pratt to my friends list.

The following day I was on the internet at about Midday when I suddenly got a message saying 'hi'. Pratt was online. We spent the entire afternoon talking (despite it was 3 am where he was). From this day onwards we have become very close friends. We have been through so much together.. He was there for me when I was ready to commit suicide and I was there when he swallowed his guitar pick. We have e-mailed, chatted, pm'd, voice chatted, exchanged photographs, and just recently talked over the phone. For some time now I have been feeling very strong feelings for him, however I will not let myself believe these feelings as he is 6 1/2 years older than me...

About three weeks ago we started talking about love and somehow the conversation started to reflect on the two of us. Pratt admitted that he was in love with me, however because I was under 18, he couldn't let himself believe that he was in love with me. After he told me this I felt safe in telling him how I felt. I admitted to him that I can't see it possible to love someone you have never met, but I was in love with him, but I wouldn't let myself believe this either because I can't trust my feelings. This was when he turned to me and said that he hopes that in 14 months time I can trust my feelings because, the day I turn 18 he is going to be so ecstatic about it that he knows that he can't hold back his love..

I never thought I could feel this way about anyone ever, but I do. I know this is true love I just have to trust my feelings and see what happens..

"Victoria"