The Catch

"It's the newest craze on Facebook, man! You got to try it out!", said, my friend, Abhishek.

But like everything else he says I took it with a pinch of salt.
The guy is a Facebook addict. Any new application that even remotely appeals to something inside of him happens to be the coolest thing ever.
So was this.

"Its called the Click Of Death. It's really simple, dude! All you do is click a button and someone you know just gets wiped off the face of the earth. Just like that!", he said, snapping his fingers.

"And they say you get a hefty amount of money for - ".

"OK, stop that now. You know that stuff doesn't work. It must be like one of those 'read-this-and-die-in-a-week' scams the net pulls of on no-gooders like you", I interjected.

"But that is the best thing. There is no catch involved in this! Except for the fact that it is invite only", he continued excitedly
.
"Aaha! I knew there would be a catch. They send you an invite and you have to fork up a sum to get in. And then some idiot in Nigeria will probably get high on that cash!", I shot back.

"Aww, Common man! Don't be such a wet blanket. At least you got the mail, bro!"

This brought us back to where we were in the beginning. I had the mail. He didn't.

So, now he wanted me to try it out. The sender and the application creator was some guy in America called Milton.
It just gave you a link to the application.

Now I am not naturally inquisitive, but my so-called friend is. So, despite my protestations he had clicked on the link.

The result was an unnaturally spartan web page. Devoid of any flashing banners and porn site adverts, it had only one single RED button.

The button, itself, was plain and without any label.
The rules were simple. You click the button.

The application selects any random user on Facebook and pulls the plug on that person.
And IT takes care to select a person whom you don't know. AT ALL.
Just a random stranger.

And 'It' has been staring at me for the past two hours. My friend refused to budge till I did it.

In the end, I snapped and did it.
Maybe my unstable financial state had something to do with it.
Maybe it was the economic recession
I just clicked the goddamn BUTTON.

Nothing happened. I laughed hard, swore at my friend and kicked him out.

Five minutes later, I got another mail saying 1 million $ had been deposited into my bank account. I did not believe it for even one moment as they had not asked for any sort of financial details.

But I still called the bank. (I was that desperate!)
A minute later, I was ready to go into a madhouse.
Delirious with happiness, I called up Abhishek and told him the GREAT news.
It had really happened!

I don't know when I crossed back into reality.
But I think it was due to the presence of another new mail in my inbox that shook me.

From Milton.
It was short and simple.

"Congratulations on your win. Use the money well and wisely.
Most importantly, use it fast. Because I am sending out another invite.
And I will make sure I will send it to someone You Don't Even Know."

I knew there would be some catch.