Page 8 of Fight or Flight

Bigfan216: Maybe a veterinarian? No $$$, but there’s always school loans!

Where had that come from? Possibly her earlier dealings with Doc Baker?

klcLUV/007: Wow! A doctor. You must be super smart. Any pets?

Bigfan216: LOL, still trying to figure that out! I have two dogs.

She didn’t see any harm in telling her she had two dogs. She didn’t have to reveal what breed of dog or their names.

klcLUV/007: Dad won’t let me have a pet.

Bigfan216: What a jerk!

klcLUV/007: Right! He’s not a nice guy. Really. If you only knew.

Bigfan216: What are you saying?

klcLUV/007: Just that he’s super mean to me, more since Mom died.

Fearing this young girl might be in a bad situation that technically was none of her business, Katherine decided she would keep up with her on Friendlink. One never knew what went on behind closed doors. She’d experienced it herself, though never any physical abuse. But she’d been mentally and emotionally abused as a child. Katherine often wondered if that was worse.

She wanted to end the conversation and tell klcLUV/007 she was tired. It was after one in the morning. But she held back, because she needed to ensure the girl wasn’t in actual danger. How she planned to do this, she hadn’t a clue.

Bigfan216: Are you, like, safe?

klcLUV/007: I think so! He’s strict as hell. He only gets mad when I don’t follow his rules.

Bigfan216: Does he hurt you?

It took so long for her to respond that Katherine thought she wouldn’t answer her question at all.

klcLUV/007: Sometimes.

Bigfan216: He hits you?

klcLUV/007: It’s not that bad. He’s just a jerk sometimes.

Bigfan216: Jerk or not, it’s against the law!

Katherine waited for a reply. Nothing. Five minutes later, she saw klcLUV/007—Karrie—had logged off. Fearing Karrie’s father had somehow read the comments about him and taken his anger out on her, Katherine quickly scanned klcLUV/007’s profile information. She hoped she’d broken the rules and included her phone number. But there was only an email address. Before she changed her mind, Katherine typed an email to Karrie.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

It’s me, Bigfan216. Darby. Are you okay? I think I scared you

off. Sorry. Just concerned.

XOXO,

Darby

It had been an eventful night. Katherine was about to close her laptop when her computer pinged, letting her know she’d received a new email. She logged back into her email account and saw she had a reply from Karrie.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

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