The Internet provides a wonderful sense of anonymity for those who seek it.

But anonymity can also be highly deceptive.

Nathan and Jeffrey, two Internet geeks, both have something to hide but also much to give, though neither of them realizes just how significant those qualities are – they live in their respective worlds, unsure of how to bridge the gap between them and seemingly unwilling to do so. But when an emergency forces the two together in the real world, the result is shockingly different than either of them could have ever imagined.

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Customer Review:

This short story deals with many issues on multiple levels, yet manages the “suspension of disbelief” in a story ultimately dealing with an alien. Not fond of this genre, I found myself becoming engrossed in this story of “alienation vs. aliens“ with a protagonist who has totally disengaged from society because of disfiguring scars and early bullying, other than to communicate through media and masks. He labels himself a freak, and his view is that “reality is nothing but what other people tell you it is.” Unfortunately, his interaction with a cyber-friend leads to a confrontation, ironic since both have been similarly bullied by children on a playground, only now the children are all grown up. The consequences are dire. I suggest you read the story to discover its unexpected, yet not implausible, conclusion!

— Sherrill S Cannon, Award-Winning Author