Chapter 4
So far, it seemed as if life was going on as before; there had been no threats, strange messages, or anything else.
Beth, who had been co-running one of several of my sites, did contact me over the weekend to inform that the man in question was indeed still visiting a daily basis, it appeared, sometimes multiple times a day. What was he looking for anyway?
Way back in the beginning, I had been flattered. When all this craziness began, it unnerved me a little, especially when I’d see him quoting things to other people on friends’ profiles on social network pages. Now, it both quizzed and amused me.
I remember telling both Christine and Felicia in my regular communications with them that I didn't know if this guy was finally getting some smarts or got the message I wasn't taking his crap or backing down, but I haven't heard anything about him talking shit to my friends about me, no hate groups, nothing.
It was almost as if it stopped as suddenly as it had begun.
I did bust him online one evening while I logged on to send Neil a message and to see if another friend from Canada happened to be online as well, so I could say hello to her. I stood invisible until I passed Neil the message that I needed him to have, and then logged off. No incidents had resulted there either.
Sunday had been basically mediocre; I had cleaned the house, did two loads of laundry, answered emails, updated the site since Beth would be busy, got some writing done. It was as if the turblence of the last week or so hadn’t existed at all. If it still did, I knew nothing of it; at least none of my friends had reported anything unsual to me anyway.
Nevertless, I did ask Neil if it was unusual for things to quiet down all of the sudden..
“Maybe so,” he answered. “Like you said, either he finally got the message, or you making your personal sites private prevents him from getting any new material. Then again, he may have found someone else that doesn’t know any better to scam into his game, though I can’t think of many people that aren’t wised up to it by now, thanks to you.”
“Beth says he’s still hitting our site, though.”
“I guess he’s still curious to a point,” Neil laughed. “So much for letting you go completely. But there’s been no strange messages or threats left on there, has there?”
“No,” I said. “I think he just pops in to see the updates or something and then leaves.”
“I guess there’s no harm in that. I haven’t met anyone yet that doesn’t like reading about themselves now and again.”
“Even I do,” I chuckled in agreement. “How do you think I found out about a lot of things once this bullshit started?”
“That and you are one smart, resourceful woman, Faith. Even though there are still people out there–especially young girls, which concerns as much the hell out of me as it does you–that are still falling for this phony and his schtick, there’s more people now that sees through all of it, perhaps more than both you and I know.
“Well, I know another girl that has had her suspicions for a long time, but didn’t really raise much of a stink about it,” I replied. “Melody’s a smart cookie herself and now that she has a new boyfriend herself, she doesn’t bother much with that crowd anymore. And of course, I filled in Ayleah about a week ago when she wondered why everyone was disappearing off her page. She was pretty heartbroken, but now that she knows the truth, that’s yet one less person this crackpot guy will be conning with his lines and fallacies.”
“Good for you. Looks like you’re getting more kudos and backlash,” Neil said.
“Yeah, one of the things I was least expecting besides the whole thing from Mr. Loose Screw and Company.”
“Faith,” he began, “have you ever thought about telling your story?”
“About what?” I asked. “This whole thing?”
“Yeah. Think about it; you have not only experienced it firsthand, albeit it being only a short time, but you’ve also educated yourself in this whole thing, you’ve taken notes, saved things, and really studied this kind of behavior. You’d even make a hell of an advocate for someone else that ever got into this situation.”
“I don’t know, Neil; my case is still open. Advocate places usually want you to wait until your own case is resolved, but I can see why that would be done.”
“Still, why not try to educate others in the meanwhile? A fiction piece; you’re great at that. You don’t even have to mention names. I know how you’re waffling through this whole thing, how you both want this guy to pay for what he’s done, but at the same time, you have sympathy for him.”
“Which doesn’t make sense to anyone, I know.”
“It does to me a bit, but then again, I know what kind of person you are.”
“A fiction work, though. You know, I never even considered that. And yes, I won’t use any names of anyone involved in this; hell, I’ll even change the names of the people I’ve talked to in order to protect them too.”
“And at the same time, you’ll both tell your story and get the message out there. I say go for it.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “Consider that project being started later today, since I already wrapped up the other two serials.”
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