To my readers, please feel free to leave feedback for me so that I know that you liked my stories, what you would like to see, and perhaps maybe suggest one. Please also vote on how you liked it, every vote does count. If you'd like to read it over and over again, favorite it and come back to enjoy it like an old friend. I look forward to hearing from you...K'Anne
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"You invited me in Kathy, you taunted me into this, now you must pay the price" his voice haunted her through the telephone lines.
"I did no such thing" she returned angrily, shrilly, fearfully "you put that Trojan virus on Kit's computer, there is no way a child could know that a stupid game would contain something so harmful."
"All is fair in love in war Kathy, I have all your personal information now, it's just a matter of time and you will be mine!" he declared triumphantly.
Kathy was afraid, she was genuinely afraid, this man had become her nightmare, she didn't know what to do anymore, she didn't know anyone who would or could help her. The police didn't believe her, she couldn't afford to hire a private detective, he was a menace, and he had as good as threatened to enslave her.
"Think of what I could offer Kit, the toys, the benefits, and in a few years who knows how grateful she would be" he taunted.
That was it! She slammed the phone down. It immediately began to ring. She picked it up and slammed it down again and then listening for the dial tone she left it off the hook. She didn't want it to go to the answering machine; she didn't want it to be heard by her eight year old daughter, even accidentally. She knew he would keep calling, he would show up eventually, she could run, that's it! She would run! And then she realized she couldn't, she had moved once to get away from this awful man, she had hidden them away she thought in this safe little corner of the world but he had found them, he had stalked them, he was convinced they were meant to be together, forever, until death parted them. She shuddered at the thought.
Kathy had dated Eli once, and only once. He had given her the creeps immediately and all her warning signals told her to get away from him. By the end of the meal though he had been charming, informed, and congenial and she had relaxed for a moment. The ride home though he had become nasty, masterful as he put it, and demanding. He felt they had a connection, that she would make a perfect sub to his master. He wanted her to obey him, to come home with him, to do absolutely anything he commanded. He told her in no uncertain terms what he wanted her to do, to strip for him, to make herself available to him and his friends, in any way he commanded, any position, any deviant behavior he demanded. She escaped at a stop light and ran out of the car. She thought herself safe from the pervert but the calls had begun immediately. He had resources she didn't realize existed. Just from her phone number he got her address, he followed her to work, he followed Kit to school, he compiled information on her until he turned her world upside down. The thought of them being under his thumb, of what he would do to her, of what he would turn Kit into made her frightened, truly frightened.
The police didn't believe that Eli Watson was capable of this type of behavior. He was a well-respected citizen and when she made her claims it was dismissed as a lover's quarrel, no one believed her. Someone of his position would certainly not jeopardize it and she was made to feel that she was making claims against this honorable man unjustifiably.
She moved, she changed her phone numbers, she got a new job, she invested in security locks but still he found her, still he stalked her and preyed upon her. She was scared more for her daughter than for herself and she was sure that was what he counted on. She didn't know what to do.
Kathy spent an uneasy evening, jumping at every sound outside. She had to try to be normal for Kit's sake but it was difficult. Kit was a normal chatty eight year old with a sunny disposition. The move had been hard on her to start over with new friends but she had adjusted. The one phone call to an old friend had been harmless or so Kathy had thought until the envelope with the video game had arrived. It contained a Trojan virus that spread through her computer and when they went on the internet sent information to Eli Watson about every aspect of their life.
Have you ever thought of how much information you keep on your computer? What data like that could do to you in the wrong hands? Every letter, every search engine you have used, any games you have played...all could be used against you in the mind of a deviant such as Eli. And he did use every nuance, threatening dire things against her, she became paranoid, seeing things around every corner, hearing things outside that never existed or maybe they did. Kathy became haggard over the loss of sleep, over the worry, over the fear that this man was going to get a hold of her or her daughter. She walked Kit to school every day, seemingly bright and cheerful as she delivered her safely into the hands of her teacher. The school was aware that no one, and she stressed no one was to pick Kit up or take her from school for any reason. Kit's father was dead so it wasn't a matter of custody, just an overzealous parent protective of their kid and she let them believe that.
Kathy was isolated; her friends were gone or far away, her parents dead. How could she burden any of them with this? How could any of them help? No one would believe her. Eli Watson was too prominent, too rich, and too secure in his little world of deception, no one would believe that he was capable of such evil, of such despicable acts, of such terror to a woman and her child.
Kathy worked from home, transcribing medical records for doctors from various firms. She was about to lose her job over the repeated interruptions to her work. The quality of her work had suffered and not from the work she did but as she sent it out it contained viruses and suddenly became incomprehensible to those reading it. It was Kathy's work so she was responsible for it. She knew though that somehow Eli, rich and devious Eli had somehow messed with her computer. She looked around her home again that day to see if he had been in it, she already felt violated by him. She had put a string across the door but it was not disturbed and she didn't know if she could figure out something to trap him with. He was already in her computer, she had wiped it once already but still the work became suspect. One doctor's office had already told her that her work would no longer be necessary. She needed every job that came her way to support them. She was becoming frantic. She didn't know what to do, where to turn, or who to ask for help.
It was then that she thought of Constance. Connie had been a college roommate. Funny, irreverent, and beautiful in her own way, she used that beauty to lure and trap men throughout her college years. Kathy was certain she never did any of the work assigned her instead she let the men do it for her. She probably had blackmailed more than one college professor over the years. She was kind and considerate of her friends, sharing some of her surplus of men with her college roommate as well as being able to find dates for anyone in their small group of friends. But Connie had died the previous year, Kathy hadn't been able to afford a trip to attend her funeral but she had sent a loving card, remembering happier times. She vaguely remembered meeting Connie's sister once or twice, what was her name? Ali? No, Aileen? Eileen? She couldn't remember and with Eli on the brain it was making it difficult to remember.
She wasn't getting any work done so she pulled out her college yearbooks and paged through them remembering happier times, fun times, irreverent times, the dates, the pranks, the absolute solidarity of these women. They were all scattered now. Connie had married many times and to men subsequently richer than the previous ones. She had been a widow just like Kathy; the difference being that her husbands had been incredibly wealthy and Kathy's had left a pitiful life insurance policy that barely covered his death bills. She came across a picture of the five of them, five? There had been four of them in their little group, the fifth one was what drew her attention, that had to be Connie's sister! Hadn't Connie written once that her sister was a successful stock broker or something? She quickly looked for letters she had kept, the written word so much more valuable to her as computers stored things forever and these were so much more personal, valuable to her. She realized that Eli must have read all her letters on her computer by now and the intimate details she had shared with her friends were now in his decidedly dirty hands. She shuddered but kept looking for the packet of letters she had from her friends over the years.
