I,  Melissa Bowel, have always found the internet an amusing place for children and adults, as it enables access to games, the latest information and it’s generally a place to discover new things.

The purpose of my going on the internet is not the same as my mum or dad's as we all have different reasons for going on the internet. Sometimes, I log on to play a few games, other times it's to do my homework or just to read my email. The internet obviously has some disadvantages as we do not know the different people who use it, say you are working on a site with a pen pal, perhaps your pen pal is a criminal, we never know, but we do know one thing, and it’s that we should be careful about the friends we make on internet.

My mum had just finished working on the internet and called me downstairs as I had told her I would love to browse on it after her. Most times, after a dreary day at school, having to face all the bullies and having no single friend to back me up, I just came back home and thought of the adventures I experienced, once I logged onto the computer.

I sat on a seat opposite from the computer and positioned myself, ready for its wonders, but when the computer screen lit up, something strange happened. I expected to like, appear at googles or the home page but I noticed, a strange green puddle appeared. I elongated my head to see what this was all about, that most certainly was not a wise decision, because before I knew what was happening, I had come into this strange world and now, I can tell you that my adventure began at this very place.

I swirled and turned as from my home I travelled into my computer, when I finally landed, I looked like a virtual 3D character. My moves were robotic and my voice was in bits. Oh no!  I was in my computer. I shouted for help but no one came to rescue me, I ran left, right, front and back but to no avail, finally, I sat down in the middle of nowhere and sobbed quietly.

At this point in time, I desperately needed my mother, father, brother and sister for I was lost in my computer with no body to help me. Suddenly, this strange girl comes out from nowhere, she looks like she’s my age, she walks to me, but I don’t know what to do, should I run or stay, finally, I decided  to just stay, perhaps she knows how to get me out of “the internet”. 

The girl scrutinizes me carefully before she says, “Hi I do not think I have seen you before, well common let me take u round, then we can consider you going back to wherever you came from,” she said in this funny voice. I followed anyway; boy this girl sure was mysterious. We bought arrived to the Google homepage and we had a lot of fun, we slid round the 2 g’s, played within the o’s. I got to know the girl’s name which was Tetrina. She took me to her home and I met her fellow Tetris relations.

I got to know that Tetrina’s family knew all about hackers. They had this defensive system on internet which tried to stop hackers from getting through. Unfortunately, sometimes, they did not succeed. If the code the hacker has typed in is absolutely correct, then the hacker succeeds. The computer assumes it is the owner of say, a website typing the code, so the Tetris’s can’t do anything about it. Tetrina goes to this fantastic school called, “the future generation.”  As computers are practically perfect in all sums they do, they are never wrong except there are technical problems.  Tetrina is probably as clever as Albert Einstein. She is probably even better than my mum in maths. Tetrina told me that we needed to go to just one more place before I went home. I had no idea where she was taking me to, but I had a feeling it was going to be good. She kind of like vanished, before my very eyes, where she had been standing was completely void, and it seemed like I’d gone with her. It’s too complicated to explain. 

When I finally saw a bare space with Tetrina in front of me, I asked her what had happened; she looked at me carefully and whispered, “That’s my little secret Melissa”. I wondered how she had sussed out my name, as I hadn’t even told her. Perhaps Tetrina must have been watching me all this time, but how?  Tetrina took me to many more sites and popular WebPages before she told me that she had something to tell me, in private. Tetrina took me to her virtual house on the internet, before we finally went to her room, a bare grey space with nothing in it except for a small green chair and a long piece of furniture which I suppose was her bed.

We both sat on a bed, before she began this weird story. “You see, Melissa, I know everything about you. I have watched you and your family day by day, I know what sites you work on and everyone you talk with on the internet. I am your family’s internet guardian, once you have a computer, our leader, Mr. Dell, assigns one of us to be that computer’s internet guardian and so, I just happen to be yours. 

Now you have seen everything I want you to see, you would now go to where you belong, soon it would be your father’s turn then the rest of your family, after that, you would see no more of me, but I would still be on your computer making sure no hackers affect you, generally, just to make sure you are internet wise. Farewell, Melissa, you have seen me and never will again, but just remember I am on your computer to make sure you are sheltered from hackers..”

With that Tetrina vanished, I became more conscious and realised, that I was in the exact room I’d been in before I had gone on this strange adventure. It was time for dinner, and I noticed I would have loved to do a whole lot more on the internet, but now, I felt much more elated. It really felt good to know you had an internet family to shelter you from hackers and other impostors on the internet. 

I had a wonderful adventure on the internet; hackers do not bother me now. I just have to be careful with who I relate with. I am not perfect at that, but with time, I’ll get to be. I have met my internet guardian, and I’ve gotten to know about them. My adventure has come and gone, and now it’s time for yours to begin, all you need is a tint of patience.