بقلم:احمد بن يمان
### Text Translation to English: My name is Salem, I am 19 years old, and I don’t have many friends. I suffer from many problems in love and friendship, as social relationships are a major obstacle for me. I always feel different from those around me and find it hard to talk to others easily. Most of my attempts end with either abandoning communication or losing touch entirely. I spend most of my time at home, and sometimes I go to the basketball court near my house. But even there, I find myself alone. The only thing that used to help me a little was social media. I would log in and talk to some people. However, any relationship I started ended quickly because I would often cut off communication before it could develop. One day, while browsing social media, I stumbled upon a video talking about the deep web. The clip piqued my curiosity a bit, but I didn’t watch it at the time. Honestly, my life was completely empty—just a boring routine: waking up in the morning, going to school, coming back home, playing basketball, then returning home again to browse my phone until it was time to sleep. I repeated this routine day after day until I began to hate my life and feel mentally exhausted. What made things worse was that I wasn’t talking to anyone. My parents had separated years ago, and I lived with my father, who spent most of his time at work. When he returned home, we barely exchanged a few words. Days continued like this until I came across another video about the deep web. This time, I decided to dive in. I had no idea back then that this world could hold such horrifying things. I initially visited just one website to chat with a group of people. Five months passed, and I was talking to them daily. Among them, there was one person who became very close to me. We would talk almost all the time, before school, after it, and sometimes during breaks. The reason I felt comfortable with him was that he was incredibly kind and always sent me funny clips that made me forget my loneliness. But everything changed one day when he sent me a message saying, "Hi." I replied, "Hi." Then he said, "I found something amazing," and attached a message with a link. When I opened the link, I found a live stream. There was a woman tied by her hands, her mouth taped shut, her face covered in bruises and wounds. She was trying to scream from under the tape, but her voice was muffled. The moment I saw this scene, I felt my heart stop. I immediately closed the stream, but I could no longer control anything on my computer. The cursor began moving on its own and reopened the link. The stream resumed, showing the same scene. Suddenly, a mysterious person appeared, wearing a paper bag over his head with a single hole at eye level. He turned the camera to reveal a table with four tools: a saw, a gun, scissors, and a small knife. That person spoke in a calm and eerie voice, asking viewers to choose a tool. Comments flooded in, and most people chose the scissors and the knife. He grabbed the scissors and began cutting the woman’s hair in front of the camera. After finishing, he asked the viewers to choose again. This time, everyone chose the gun. He picked it up and pointed it at the woman’s head. Her expressions reflected immense fear. Her eyes filled with tears, and her muffled cries echoed. At that very moment, I managed to control the mouse and closed the stream. But what happened next was even worse. The cursor moved on its own again, reopening the stream. The same man reappeared on camera, but this time, there was a large metal tank filled with water behind him. I heard the sound of a young girl crying bitterly. Her voice was different from the first woman’s; it sounded like a little girl. The man asked viewers to choose between three options: the water tank, a loaded gun, or a baseball bat. Opinions were divided between the water and the gun. He said in a cold voice, "Alright, I’ll use both." He heated the water until it began boiling. Then, he summoned another person, dressed similarly, who carried the first woman and threw her into the tank. The room plunged into complete darkness, and all that could be heard was her screaming—a scream that lasted for two whole minutes until it abruptly stopped. When the lights came back on, I saw her burnt hand stretched out of the tank, and the two men standing there indifferently. I finally managed to turn off my computer, but something inside me had changed. Do you know what the true horror of the deep web is? It’s not the terrifying scenes or the depression I felt afterward. It’s that strange sensation that overtook me. I felt pleasure. Yes, I felt a strange, sick enjoyment so much that I returned the next day, and every day after that, to watch more. I became addicted to these broadcasts, to the scenes of torture and violence. Over time, a strange voice echoed in my head: "If you were in their place, you’d enjoy it even more." I started responding to it. I would gather animals from the streets, torture them, and relish their screams. But it didn’t stop there. I always wanted more—more pain, more screams. Until those ideas came—horrifying thoughts I don’t dare to mention. My advice to you is this: Never enter the deep web. Don’t let it open that dark door inside you, because you might never be able to close it again.
English 
Arabic