The Darkness - Jason Pinter [90]
she wasn't expecting the question.
"Or did he threaten you, too?"
"Pam?" Abigail said. "Pam, please tell me..."
Pamela looked at Abigail, then back at Paulina. She
composed herself, uncrossed her legs and set them on the
floor.
"He came up to me one day, after econ," Pam said, her
eyes on Abigail. "At first he was really nice and kind,
saying he was a friend of your mom's. Then he told me
he wanted a picture of you. A picture nobody else had.
Something private so that when Abby saw it, she'd know
it was special. He told me with a private photo, you'd both
know how serious he was. I still don't know how he knew
we were together..."
"Your blog," Paulina said. "He knew he could get to
me through Abigail, and he could get to Abigail through
you. You made it all public for him. You made it easy."
"He offered me ten thousand dollars!" Pamela
screamed. "I'm on financial aid. I'm going to have six
figures in debt by the time I leave this stupid place. He told
me he was going to give it to you as a present. I thought,
I don't know, that he was your boyfriend or something."
"Are you stupid," Abigail said, wiping at her nose, "or
just ignorant?"
Pam stared daggers at her, then softened. "I never
thought it would hurt you."
"You didn't think about her," Paulina said. "Only you
and that money. So don't give us the 'I never thought it
would hurt you' bull. You just pocketed the dough and
crossed your fingers."
"Pam?" Abigail said. Her face was a wreck, tears flowing down in rivulets, eyes red and devastated. Paulina
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closed her eyes for a moment, and hated herself for what
she'd done.
"What, Abby?"
"Pam, did you...did you give him that picture?"
"Abby, please, I--"
Abigail screamed, "Did you give him that picture or
not?"
Pam looked at her girlfriend, nodded once, and that
was all she had to do.
"I want you to leave," Abigail said, looking at Pam.
"Abby, I--"
"Right now. Or I call the cops."
Pam began to sob, too, but surprisingly Abigail's tears
had stopped running.
"I love you," Pam said.
"No, you don't," came Abigail's reply. "Just leave."
Pam stood up. Before leaving, she stared down Paulina, who returned the gaze.
"Don't you even think about staring me down, you
little bitch. You do this to my family and you want to hate
me? Get the hell away from here and don't ever speak to
Abigail again."
Pam looked like she'd been slapped. Before she left,
she took out her cell phone and turned back to Paulina.
"What's your phone number?" she said.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I need your cell phone number."
"I'm not giving you any..."
"I took a picture of him. With my phone camera. When
he was walking away, I took a picture of him. I don't
know why I did it, maybe I wanted to remember what he
looked like. I just wanted to send it to you. Maybe it'll
help you find him."
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Jason Pinter
Paulina's anger multiplied, and every part of her wanted
to curse this girl out and tell her to leave. But that photo
could come in handy. So she gave Pamela the number.
The girl plugged it in to her cell phone, and a moment
later Paulina's phone chirped. She opened the message,
and found a grainy photo on the screen.
It was him. No doubt about it. Paulina shivered, remembering the man's face as he tore the picture of Abby
to shreds, threatening to end her daughter's life as easily
as he defaced her image.
The picture was a profile of the man, from his left side.
She recognized the wavy blond hair, the eyes. She had to
give Pam a little credit for being smart enough to take it,
but it was far too little and way too late.
"Now go," Abigail said. So Pam turned and left.
"Baby, I'm so sorry," Paulina said. "I know this must
have been hard for you, but I'm going to get this guy."
"I want you to leave, too."
Paulina stood there for a moment, stunned.
"What did you say?"
"You heard me, Mom. I want you to leave, too. And I
don't want to speak to you again. Not for a long time."
"Abby, baby, I came here to help you. You needed to
know the truth."