Can't Trust Yourself
She was bored. Another Saturday night and she was sitting at home doing absolutely nothing. All that was on the television were re-runs or news television. Oh how tired she was of the news! There is never any good news on anymore. Each channel uses their presumed legitimacy to spew their ideological rhetoric. And of course the public just takes it all in as fact, after all, journalism used to mean fair and honest reporting of the facts. Now it is a forum for all the editorializing that anyone could handle—and then some.
She had heard of these online dating sites. Maybe one of them would be able to hand her an entertaining weekend? Heck, it was worth a shot. She wasn’t doing anything else, anyway! So, she turned on her laptop, got a nice cup of tea, it was pretty cold outside, and sat down to do some searching. She found Match.com reviews, and a Lavalife review. There were so many dating sites that she was astounded! Which one should she choose?
She had heard some negative reviews and positive reviews of many of these online dating services and was also warned by friends, family, and the infamous ‘news’ channels about the dangers of picking up a mate online. You don’t know who you are going to get.
She shrugged and figured that it was worth a go. She logged onto one of the sites and they asked so many personal questions that she decided that would not be the best place to start. So, she clicked on the second one on her Google search list. It was not much better. The site looked shady and the people all looked like they were looking for a one-night-stand (in home, not out). Didn’t sound too much like a safe option.
After searching for about a half an hour she came across a site that looked promising. She put her name and gender, birth date and region. That was all that the site asked for. She was relieved that she didn’t have to put an entire address, but just that she lived in Southeast Texas. It seemed like a pretty secure choice. The site had chat rooms and private chatting areas. There were profile pages with photographs and she was relieved to find out that the people who were on the site’s photo gallery were clothed! That was another thing she kept finding; obscene photographs of women and men. Clearly these people have an agenda that does not involve dancing and dining!
As she was perusing the web site a little box popped up. It was a small white box, no bigger than 2” x 2”. In the little white box was one word: “Hi”. She saw that she could type in the box, too, and she replied back: “Howdy”. Then there were more simple questions which she did not feel uncomfortable answering.
After a minute or two, both chatters were talking about whatever came to mind. It sure is easy to talk to strangers online when you don’t even speak this much to your friends face-to-face. The anonymous format makes people lose themselves, or at least feel more comfortable. I wonder why that is. Perfect strangers should not know more than your closest friends.
This guy was slick. He kept holding her attention even though she could not see his face. So she asked if she could see a picture of him, and that she would oblige. This is how it starts: each person now has a face to go with the words on the screen.
Before she knew it, she had been online chatting with this guy for three hours! She wondered how the time could have gone so quickly then scrolled back down through the chats. After she saw how much they had said she understood. She mentioned this to him, and he just put ha ha on the screen. That made her smile.
She said that next time they “got together” that she would like to talk to him on the phone. She was wise though to not give him her phone number. Instead she got his. In that way she was safe from harassment. It is so easy to just give out a phone number; so innocent, until the phone calls begin coming in.
They made a ‘date’ to get back together the next Thursday at 7:00. He said that he liked how she was so ready and open to talk to him, and she told him that she appreciated the calm and non-offensive conversation. They bid each other good-night.
Thursday came and she was so excited that she jumped on her computer at 6:00 and logged into the web site, just in case. She was thrilled to see that he was also online. They made casual comments about being on too early, and she found out that he had also just logged in. It was kismet! It was fate? No, likely just two people who were excited to talk to each other again and coincidentally logged in at the same time.
They chatted for about an hour on the computer then he asked her to call him. She hesitated. That was a new step. There was nothing anonymous about a phone call. She checked her cell phone and ensured that her phone number would come across as unavailable and then rang him. He picked up the phone on his end before she even heard a single ring. She remarked that he answered awfully quickly. He just laughed again. They spent the next two hours talking on the phone before she realized it. Time still flying for both of them… so she thinks.
They decided to meet up for lunch the next day. She suggested a very busy lunch spot that they could visit where safety could be maintained by the numbers. He agreed, saying that he understood her concerns. After all, they were pretty much strangers, although they knew what each other looked like.
Friday came and lunch at Casa Ole’ was on! They met out front of the restaurant. She told him she would be wearing a blue skirt and a white shirt with her hair in a pony tail. He noticed her right away. She kind of looked like a mature school girl in those clothes. He greeted her by name and she knew who he was by his face. He had a very handsome face. He thought she was beautiful when she let him see her picture, but it was nothing compared to what she looks like in person.
She was still cautious. She told a friend of hers to call her to be sure everything was safe. Thirty minutes after they were seated, like clockwork, her friend called. She told them that she was at lunch and that she was having a good time. That was true for the moment. She said she would call them back later, at 2:30. That was her way of telling the friend that if she did not call at 2:30 that she should be called as another safety net.
They enjoyed themselves at lunch. He was funny and kept her laughing the entire meal. He mentioned how refreshing it was to see a woman who would actually eat instead of picking at her food. She smiled and was a little embarrassed, but he told her that he liked that she was for real.
He, on the other hand, was not for real. He was not the funny guy that he was pretending to be. He was a frightening statistic, and she was about to become one. He ‘accidentally’ spilled tea on her skirt and jumped up apologetically to help her clean it up. She was fine with it she believed it was truly an accident. She grabbed several napkins and the attentive waitress brought her a stack to help soak up the liquid. He kept saying he was sorry, but the waitress was very attentive. She did not like the man, although she had no reason why she felt that way.
After most of the tea was soaked off her skirt and blouse, he offered to take her someplace to change. Since she took a cab to Casa Ole’ she was grateful. Without thinking she got into his car and told him where she lived. He took her home and she was in her room changing her clothes. She grabbed a T-shirt and some jeans. Just as she took off her blouse he came into the room. She shouted at him and hid behind her closet door, but he kept coming. She had no weapons and was half naked standing there. She started to scream. He did not listen, but rather rushed over to her and cupped his massive hand over her mouth while grabbing her hair with his other hand. She struggled to get loose but he was much larger and stronger than she was. The handsome man’s face was now contorted with an insane look of lustful desire. Her eyes opened wide as he yanked her out of the corner and threw her on the bed. He jumped on top of her, straddling her narrow hips with his thighs, and tightening his knees to hold her in place, her arms pinned under her back. She was terrified.
He began to remove his belt and ripped her skirt right off her body. Then he worked his jeans off and was going to do the unthinkable.
Just as he leaned forward to kiss her with his disgusting mouth, there was a loud bang on the door. Her neighbor heard her scream and came over to make sure everything was alright. Of course it was not. She cried out once more and the man holding her down slugged her hard on the left side of her face, rendering her half unconscious. She barely knew what happened after that but she knew that she heard a loud bang and a shout, then the man was being pulled off of her and thrown to the floor. Her neighbor was a police officer who was working the night shift. He broke down her door and had his cuffs on the assailant so quickly that he had no idea he was tied up until it was done.
The officer threw a robe over the girl who was still trying to regain her consciousness. Then he grabbed the man off the floor and took him to his own apartment. After he had him safely secured in his own abode, he called in some friends who were on duty and went back to the girl’s apartment. By now she had come-to enough to put the clothes on that she pulled out and was sitting Indian-style in the middle of her floor. She had her arms wrapped around her body and was rocking. She was not hysterical, just shocked. He grabbed the comforter from her bed and wrapped it around her shoulders, then helped her stand up and walk to the sofa in the living room. There, he heard noise in the hallway, it was his friends. They came and talked to the officer for a minute and then took the assailant away. He was shouting and cursing the entire walk down the hallway. When they got to the stairwell his voice reverberated up the corridor until the neighbor officer and girl heard a loud thump and some stumbling footsteps. Apparently the on-duty officers were tired of hearing him and allowed him to trip.
The girl fell into the officer’s lap when he sat down on the couch beside her. She was crying uncontrollably. She thought she was being so careful and yet she was almost assaulted. Thank goodness for the police officer who lived next door. She always thought she’d picked the right apartment to live in, and now she knew it for sure. This man was always so nice, so cordial, so polite. She should have paid better attention to him. Maybe she would not have been bored on Saturday night.
