Double Whammy

Julie’s initial rush of rebellion had long since disappeared. She parked the car in front of her parent’s garage and headed in the back door. The walk down the hallway might as well have been a walk to the gallows, the **** connection of laptop to Internet the fitting of noose on neck. With a heavy heart Julie clicked into her e-mail. Surprisingly there were only a couple of spam messages.

A stay of execution! Perhaps she had called his bluff after all. It couldn’t be that easy. Could it? Her mind swirled with the possibilities. What might be going on? What if nothing was? Maybe he was not going to risk being caught. But what if he was going to send the pictures? To one person, he had said. Who?

Julie’s cell phone went off, vibrating that nasty rumbling sound it makes when it vibrates on her dresser. She did not recognize the number displayed. She came back to reality and felt the noose tighten on her neck.

“Hello?”

“Hello? Julie? Uh, this is Mark. From next door? Uh, listen, uh, I got this e-mail. From you I guess. I, ah, your note said I should call you….”

The trapdoor opened and her stomach plummeted.

“Uh, hi Mark. Um, what e-mail is that?” Oh, God. Mark from next door. Nice guy. Not very ‘in’. Why was he calling her now? There seemed to be only one likely explanation.

“This one. With the picture. Uh, what’s going on?”

“Picture?”

“Yes, of you…. Well….you know.”

“Oh, God.” This time she said it out loud. “Uh, Mark, Oh God! Mark, you weren’t supposed to see that! It’s a prank. It isn’t really me.”

“Oh. Well, it is you. It’s pretty clear. And, uh, I recognize your room. Uh, Julie, what’s going on? Are you ok?”

In the midst of his sentence Julie heard the familiar sound of new mail. And there it was. A new message.

“Uh, Mark, I’m right in the middle of something. Can I call you back? What’s your number? Oh, I’ll get it off the phone. Never mind. I need to go right now. I’ll call you, ok?”

“Ok.”

“bye.” Click.

Julie turned to the computer and opened the new e-mail.

"Subject:You have a picture that you didn’t earn
As promised I expect that you will be hearing from someone that you know, probably quite soon. After you do reply back to me and let me know how you want to proceed. I’ll hold off sending the rest of these pictures for a day or two but no longer. But be forewarned, I actually have a list much longer than just your parents and I'm not too happy right now.”

Julie stared at the message. How could she have been so stupid! She sat, paralyzed by indecision for several minutes. She thought about how wrenching the call from Mark had been. A childhood friend but someone she no longer knew that well. And she still had to call him back. Had to figure out some story, some explanation. How would she be able to do that with her parents, grandparents, all the people that the blackmailer had threatened to send pictures to? No, it was not indecision that kept her paralyzed. It was the certain knowledge that whatever he asked next, she would do. To begin to move from this spot was to put that certainty into motion. Julie took a deep breath and began typing.

“I’m sorry. I should have done what you said. I’ll do it tomorrow. My final class tomorrow is European History. It will be harder to leave the bra there since it is a small class but I will. Sorry.”

Three minutes later her computer signaled a reply.