Friend Me

by John Faubion

  The only Alicia he wanted to think about was the virtual one. The possibility of a real one was too frightening to consider.

  • • •

  THE PAIR OF EYES that followed him as he walked back to his car pursued him as he left the parking lot. They didn’t let go until he was completely out of sight.

  She had never been so close to him before.

  This was him. The hair, the body, the way he walked. The right age, born under the right sign. He looked just like the sketch she’d drawn when she was thirteen years old, before her world crumbled around her. Him.

  The VirtualFriendMe system had flagged him as soon as he’d appeared. There would never be another.

  I almost touched him tonight. I nearly let him see me. Too soon, too soon!

  Melissa reached into her purse and pulled out her brush. She turned the rearview mirror toward herself and imagined herself through his eyes as she ran the brush through her shoulder-length, dark-brown hair. Then, remembering where she was, she rebuttoned the top button on her blouse, started the engine of her Audi, and began the drive home.

  A tremble rippled down the skin of her arm. Melissa felt cold all over her upper body.

  I will not let him go. He’s mine now.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Great Kids

  Dan, I need to take a few days off for some personal business.” Melissa studied Dan Hammersmith, gauging his reaction to her request.

  “I don’t see any problem with that, Melissa. I can’t remember the last time you took a day off. Bob Locarno can handle whatever needs to be done while you’re gone. Take as much time as you need, but stay in touch, all right?”

  Melissa had not expected any problem from Hammersmith. He had told her on numerous occasions she had saved the company, and his job, when she stepped in after the untimely death of Aaron Getz.

  So far as anyone knew, Getz had been killed by an assailant or assailants unknown. That was all the police had ever been able to offer. A bad way to die, they’d said, and in a bad part of town.

  Melissa had stepped in on the following Monday morning ready to take the reins. She worked through Getz’s notes and code for an entire week almost without sleep. She kept Virtual FriendMe solvent in a time when the company’s major capital investors were ready to pull the plug.

  VirtualFriendMe was a success and it was primarily because of her efforts. Dan would do anything to keep her happy, and she didn’t ask much.

  “I’ve already talked with Bob and he understands what’s needed. Furthermore, I’ve asked some of our tech people to move my personal console to my house for a while, just until I come back. Whatever you need, I’ll be able to take care of from home. It’ll be just exactly the same as if I were here.”

  Dan gave her a sly grin. “So you’ll be like a virtual Melissa. You won’t really be here, but it will be just the same. You’re good, Melissa. Really, really good.”

  She returned the grin. She appreciated the kind of treatment he had given her, and the company was treating her well. She had no complaints, but there was this very personal matter to attend to. Nothing could get in the way.

  “The techs will have everything moved out this evening and set up in my home. I’ll see you again probably in about a week or so, okay? I’ll be in town most of the time and be linked up when I’m not. I’ll keep everything covered.”

  “Okay, thanks for the heads-up. You’ve got carte blanche. I’m off to meet with some investors.”

  Hammersmith started to turn off down the hallway, then turned back to Melissa. “Am I missing something? Is there anything wrong?”

  Could he be seeing something in her eyes, her actions that was giving her away? He couldn’t possibly suspect anything.

  “Nothing wrong. Just some personal affairs, like I said.”

  “If you need anything . . .” He left the words hanging in the air, turned his palms upward.

  “I know, Dan. I can call you.”

  He turned again and headed off down the hallway, looking at some notes he had in a leather portfolio.

  I’ve already gotten all I need from you, Dan. Now I just have to keep you out of the way.

  • • •

  RACHEL PULLED THE STRAPS tight on Angela’s car seat as she finished packing the kids into the car. “Is that too tight?”

  Angela’s eyes were intent on her Sleeping Beauty doll. She didn’t look up when she answered, “Not too tight. Where’s my prince?”

  Rachel heaved a sigh. “Prince Charming is still in the house. Do you need me to go get him?” Please say no.

  “No, Mommy. Because if a dragon comes while we’re gone the prince can fight him and kill him. Princes are wonderful.”

  Rachel peered across the car to the safety seat where Scotty was already buckled up. “Are you doing okay, Scotty? Ready to go to preschool and see Ms. Mandy?”

  “Ready, Mom.”

  The Great Kids Preschool was halfway between the Douglas’s home and the old junior high school where Rachel had her Hugest Loser meetings. The drive would only take eight or nine minutes. Rachel would drop Scotty off and then be on her way for her weigh-in.

  She backed the minivan out of the driveway and pulled onto the road.

  • • •

  MELISSA PARKED THE AUDI across the tree-lined street, half a block away from the old colonial-style home on Holt Road. The sign in front of the shrubs by the sidewalk read, GREAT KIDS PRESCHOOL.

  She lowered the window that faced the house and shut off the engine.

  There was still so much to learn about Scott, his two children, and his unnecessary wife.

  She picked up her tablet computer and pressed a pre-programmed link. The mini-console opened up.

  “Activate suzanne 48b7b9a6.” The noise-canceling microphone captured her speech, and a custom message box appeared on the tablet display.

  “Send e-mail colon Rachel.”

  The prompt in the message box turned green with the word READY.

  Melissa spoke distinctly into the microphone, “Good morning, Rachel! I know you’re probably already on your way to preschool, but I want to say have a great day. Let’s talk later. Love you, Suzanne.”

  Melissa touched the DONE button and the message box cleared.

  She turned her head and looked up and down the street. There was no traffic yet, but Rachel was surely on her way. Melissa was finally going to get a really good look at Scott’s current wife without having to use a webcam.

  “Clear console. Activate alicia 48r3y7y2.”

  When the prompt appeared on the tablet she said, “Send e-mail colon Scott.”

  There was a momentary pause while the data packets containing her digitized voice passed back and forth across the wide area network. The trip from the tablet, then to her home console, to the company server room, and back again took less than a second.

  “How’s my hero this morning? Are you at work yet? I’m looking forward to our lunch date today. Hope you can make it. Answer me if you can, otherwise I’ll talk with you at lunch. I love you.”

  The message disappeared, on its way to Scott’s mailbox.

  Melissa caught some movement in her peripheral vision. She turned her head slightly and saw three cars already lined up at Great Kids dropping off children.

  Pay attention, she scolded herself. You’ll miss what you came for.

  None of the vehicles matched the description Rachel had given Suzanne of their minivan. Good, she wasn’t here yet. She settled back in the smooth leather seat and brushed her long, dark hair back over her ear so it wouldn’t be in the way.

  She glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Scott likes my hair this way. I’ll never change it as long as this is what he wants. Were those sad eyes in the mirror hers? An emptiness suffused her heart for a brief moment. She fought it down. Yes, he was with someone else for now, but that would change. Oh, yes. That would definitely change and very soon.

  The minivan approached from in front of her, recogni
zable immediately by its dark yellow color. Using the Bushnell field glasses, she was able to pick out Rachel’s features as she drove toward the preschool.

  Melissa held up her tablet in front of her face and pointed the rearview camera on the little computer toward Rachel as she maneuvered the minivan into a parking place. The flat black tablet case hid her face and movements as she focused her attention on the activity across the road.

  Ms. Mandy’s teenage helper came out the front door when she saw Rachel arrive, then trotted quickly to the car to help the young mother unbuckle her son from his car seat.

  Melissa increased the digital zoom until she could make out Scotty’s features, then raised the lens slightly to watch Rachel. When this surveillance was complete, she would have a complete photographic record of the features of both individuals. Something to look at and study when she got home.

  Rachel stood facing Melissa. The teenager held Scotty. They were discussing something Melissa couldn’t make out. Perhaps she could use some lip-reading software later on this evening if it seemed important. It probably wasn’t, though. She’d bring a parabolic microphone the next time. In the interim she was getting the kind of video images that she wanted. Full motion, normal actions.

  That should be my son.

  Rachel bent down and gave Scotty a kiss and a hug. The little boy was holding something, a sandwich bag full of some kind of snack. Their talking concluded, the teenager took Scotty by the hand and led him through the wide front door of the old home. Rachel waved, still standing next to the open door of the minivan, where Angela played with some kind of little doll.

  Resentment flared in Melissa’s mind. Rachel was fat, lazy. She watched her bend over, revealing the white flesh of her back above her belt line. Disgusting. Scott deserved so much more than the overweight woman he was married to.

  She couldn’t even walk in a straight line. Why didn’t she do something about her appearance? Did she even own a hairbrush?

  Scott deserves me.

  Rachel dug into her jacket pocket and pulled something out. It was her cell phone; the e-mail was probably arriving. Rachel looked at the phone for a moment, then closed the sliding door next to Angela. She went around to the driver’s seat and sat down, then closed the door. Melissa could still make her out through the tinted glass of the passenger window.

  There was a soft ding from the tablet. An answer from Rachel.

  Suzanne, thank you for your e-mail. I just dropped Scotty off at preschool and now I’m on my way to exercise at the junior high. Got to lose that weight LOL. I’ll talk to you online after lunch. Bye for now.

  Melissa watched as Rachel deposited the cell phone somewhere out of her sight and then drove off in the minivan. Melissa would not follow her today. Not today. Today was a school day. She laughed softly at her own wry humor.

  Yes, I have a lot to learn. A lot to learn about children, especially these children.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  He Loves Me

  Melissa imagined the children that might have been. Her children. But she was a barren tree that would never bear fruit.

  The memories came unbidden, unwanted. She’d tried many times to drive them back down into the dark pit where they belonged, but it never lasted. They always came creeping up, back out of the abyss where she had commanded them, and more so today as she watched Scotty across the street.

  Uncle Tony had ignored her after that time. He treated her like a piece of rotten fruit, left too long on the kitchen counter, avoided by everyone in the house. When she missed her first menstrual cycle she took her mother’s car downtown, where no one knew her, and bought a pregnancy test kit. She hid herself in the back restroom of a JCPenney store, all alone in a dirty stall, and administered the test. She wanted children of her own, but not this way. Not where the child could never know his father’s name or the circumstances of his conception.

  She waited a full minute for the test stick to change color, but fifteen seconds into the wait she could tell what the result would be. It had already turned pink and just got pinker from there. The word YES stood out starkly in bold letters.

  She wanted to die. She wanted to run away somewhere, find a spot where no one would ever discover her, and take her own life. But she hadn’t had the nerve, and her Catholic upbringing had taught her suicide was a mortal sin. She could not bring herself to make it worse than it already was by killing herself.

  Instead, after a long period of cold resolution, she had known what she would do.

  Finally, she had gone to Uncle Tony to tell him about her condition. He told her two things.

  The first was a threat. If she ever told anyone about his part he would deny everything and ruin her life. He didn’t want some stupid teenage girl, especially one for whom he had done a favor, making trouble for him.

  The second was an attempt at his own perverted version of kindness. He would take her to the Central Women’s Clinic for an abortion. He would pay for everything, just so long as she kept her mouth shut.

  She did as he said. On a cold, rainy Tuesday morning he drove her to the door of the abortion clinic. With the engine running, he put the cash in her hand and told her he would be back in three hours to pick her up.

  He never came back. Melissa, with no cash in her pocket and in great pain, walked the seven miles back to her home alone.

  By the time she got home she was hemorrhaging, her socks and shoes full of cold, slurping blood. Her mother came into her room as she cried in her agony, alone on her bed. That image of her mother standing over her came back again and again in the dark hours of the night. Had she known what had happened?

  An ambulance took her to the hospital emergency room, where they kept her overnight. The doctor never spoke to her directly, but instead told her mother the damage that had been done to her meant she could never have children.

  Neither her mother nor father ever spoke to her again about that day. She had no way of knowing if they had ever known the truth or if they were even interested. The one thing she did notice was they quit inviting Uncle Tony and Rose, his wife, over for gatherings with the rest of the family. Melissa was left to fend for herself both psychologically and emotionally.

  Well, that was about to end.

  She had found her man, the only man she would ever want, and she was going to have him no matter what.

  Was it a problem he was already married?

  Call it a complication.

  • • •

  AT 11:23 A.M., Melissa’s tablet dinged again. An e-mail from Scott.

  I’ll be at McDonald’s in five minutes. I’ll log on and meet you then. Your e-mail made my day. Love you too, Scott.

  Melissa smiled. He does love me. He loves me and he’s about to be mine.

  Across the street, the children played outside in the big yard next to the house. It was surrounded by a four-foot chain-link fence and the teenage gatekeeper was keeping a close eye on the children’s security.

  Scotty was there, tugging on a circle of rope with two other little boys. They all pulled in different directions. When adults were pulled in too many directions at once it was a problem. For kids, it was a game. She and Rachel were both pulling on Scott right now, but not much longer.

  She wished the two children no harm. Indeed, when Rachel was out of the picture she and Scott could raise them as their own.

  Everything would be new, different. When the time came, Scott would come to regard her as the mother of the two little ones. Rachel, whoever she was, or used to be, would soon be forgotten.

  How many times had Melissa considered adoption? She yearned to feel the warmth of a little body against hers as she held it close to her heart. Why had things worked out like this for her? Why did that woman have the place she deserved, that she was entitled to? It wasn’t right.

  She heard feet scuffling in gravel and looked up to see some of the boys playing in the school yard.

  Scotty had been pulled across some imaginary line against
his will. Despite his best efforts, he had lost the tug-of-war game.

  He was a handsome little boy. Scott’s own features were in his face. She hoped he didn’t have to die.

  Scott would be logging on soon. Melissa reviewed the changes she had made to her Alicia image. As usual, the change was as subtle as she could make it without being too obvious.

  She looked at the cropped image of her own face in the rearview mirror and pulled the hair back away from her right ear. There, right in front of the ear, was a small mole. Not the kind of physical characteristic people paid much attention to, but noticeable nonetheless. She twisted her fingertips on the tablet’s touch-sensitive screen. The Alicia image wire-framed and turned until she had a three-quarter, right-hand view of the face. There, right in front of the ear, was an identical small mole. Thirty minutes of work last night had made that small detail a reality.

  In terms of likeness to herself the image was now better than an 80 percent level. Scott was falling in love with her and he didn’t even realize it. It was such a perfect plan. Surely he was already wondering what it would have been like if he had met someone like Alicia in person. Very, very soon he would have the opportunity. By the time that happened he would have already made the choice in his heart.

  She laid her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes, imagining what his embrace would be like. Will be like. Through half-raised eyelids she looked across the road at their son playing in the yard.

  I’ve waited so long.

  The tablet chirped. An image session had been initiated. The Expressive Images Module she had coded into the system picked up and assimilated the new Alicia modification. Scott would already be seeing it on his display.

  Melissa slipped the headset on, ready to begin their session together.

  The text of Scott’s spoken speech began scrolling in the message box:

  Hi, Alicia.

  Hi, Scott. I’ve been waiting for you.

  I’ve been thinking about you all day. It’s kind of hard to concentrate on work when there’s someone like you to talk to.

  I’ll always be here for you. You know that by now, don’t you?