Unknown Sender

“I got your email,” Annie told Steve with a catch in her voice. 

“What email?” Steve asked her. He sent out a lot of emails in a day, but he never sent emails to Annie. He always liked to talk to her face-to-face.

“The one you sent last night,” she replied. “Don’t play dumb with me.”

“No, seriously, I did not send you an email. I don’t know what you are talking about.” Steve shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other. He knew Annie had been upset after their argument the night before, and he was upset too. But he was going to talk to her about it today.

“If you were ready to break up with me, you should have been a man and told me to my face," Annie sniffled as a tear rolled down her cheek.

“Wait! What?! Who said anything about breaking up?”

"You did. In the email you sent me at 2am.”

Steve continued to shift his weight, getting more and more uncomfortable. “Annie,” he said, reaching for her hand, “I didn’t send you an email.”

“Then how do you explain this?” she asked, opening her Gmail app and showing him the evidence.

“Look, Annie. I didn’t write that. I don’t know how to explain it, but I have to work in an hour. Can we talk about this later?”

"Text me when you get off, and I will let you know," Annie said as she lifted her arm to wipe the tear from her cheek.”

Steve didn’t want to leave things that way, but he had to get to work. He had a presentation to give, and his boss was counting on him to get the account for their advertising firm. He grabbed his keys from the entryway table and left. Annie sat down at the kitchen table and wrapped her hands around her warm cup of coffee. She had no idea what she should think about the interaction that just transpired.

Steve arrived at work and hustled to his office to get everything he needed to take to the conference room. When he got there, his boss was waiting for him, and he looked furious! Steve walked into the room apprehensively and wondered where everyone else was. He hesitated before approaching Richard.

“What exactly do you think you are trying to pull?” Richard asked him.

“I’m sorry, sir. I’m not sure what you mean.”

“The CEO of TrueTech called this morning and said they were pulling all accounts from the firm.”

“What? I don’t understand,” Steve stuttered. “And how does that have anything to do with me? I’m ready for the presentation and expected the team to be here.”

“He said he got the email you sent last night. He was not impressed with your sarcastic humor and the smut you added into the campaign.”

Steve was getting that uncomfortable feeling again and began his habit of shifting his weight from side to side. “I didn’t send him anything about the campaign last night. And what I have prepared is certainly not sarcastic or smutty!”

“Tell that to your next boss,” Richard replied, “because your time at this firm is done.” Steve could not believe what he was hearing. He started to feel dizzy and needed to sit down. “You can see yourself out when you can collect yourself enough to move,” Richard intoned, “I’m going to sort this mess out."

Steve went home and called for Annie. He couldn’t believe what had happened. He had to talk to her and find out what was going on. He lost his job, but hopefully, he could salvage his relationship. He walked through the apartment but could not find her. She had not left a note. Perhaps she went for groceries or to meet a friend for coffee, Steve thought to himself.

He went and retrieved his laptop from the bedroom and sat down at the kitchen table. He logged into his email and took a look in the "Sent" folder. Sure enough, there was an email he had sent to Annie and one that he had sent to TrueTech. Confused, he closed the computer and sat staring at it. He opened it up again and began to type a new email to Annie. He didn’t know what to tell her, but he had to say something. He had no recollection of the email he supposedly sent the previous night, and he needed to make things right.

As he sat staring at the computer, his phone rang, breaking his reverie. He looked at the call display. It was his mother. There was no way he could handle her right now, so he turned his phone to silent and went to rest in bed until he could figure out how he was going to get out of this mess.

When he woke up, the apartment was dark, and he was still alone. He looked at his phone and saw that his mom had left a message, so he checked his voicemail. As he listened, all color drained from his face, and he ran for his car keys.

On the way to his mom’s place, he was trying to sort out what she had told him. She said she had got his email. When he arrived, she was waiting on the front step and in hysterics, pacing back and forth. Steve walked up to her, and she began beating her fists against his chest. “Why,” she cried, “Why would you send me that email?” Steve held her tight until she calmed down enough to tell him what was going on. 

“Mom, slow down and explain the email to me. I did not send it.”

“Your brother is not dead. He can’t be dead,” she sobbed. And then she showed him the email.

“Mom, I don’t know who sent that, but it wasn’t me. Have you called Sean?”

“Yes, there was no answer,” she wept.

“Let me try him,” Steve offered. They moved into the house, where Steve took out his phone and dialed his brother. No answer. “He’s not answering. I’ll drive to Ohio in the morning and see where he is.”

“It may be too late,” Steve’s mom sobbed.

“Okay, I’ll leave now.”

Steve had no idea what was going on. Yesterday everything was great. Now his life seemed to be falling apart around him. He went back to the apartment to pack an overnight bag for his drive. He grabbed underwear, socks, an extra set of clothes, a few toiletries, and his laptop. With his bag in the car, he left for Ohio to find out why Sean was not answering his phone. 

At 3am he had to pull over. Steve could not keep his eyes open, so driving was too dangerous. He stopped at a roadside motel and checked into a room for the night. Everything was closed but thank God there was a minibar. Steve poured himself a whisky and sat down at the desk with his laptop. Again, he opened his email and checked the “sent” folder. He saw the message that had been sent to his mother from his account. Steve had no idea what was going on. He just knew that he had not been sending out emails.

When he woke up in the morning, he checked his email again. There was nothing new in the sent box. As he was closing his computer, the phone rang and showed up as an unknown caller. He answered the phone and sank onto the bed as the person on the other end relayed the news. Sean's house had been broken into, and the perpetrators were surprised when they discovered he was home. Sean had been shot and declared dead at the scene.

Steve did not know if he should continue to Ohio or go home to his mother. As he sat there, numb, deciding what to do, a text came in from Annie. She mentioned something about another email, but he could not make sense of the words. He made the decision to go back home and deal with the situation from there.

Steve arrived at the apartment and brought his things in from the car. He wanted to throw his laptop in the garbage, but instead, he slid it across the table to Annie. “Look at it,” he said. “I don’t even know what is on there anymore.” And then he began to wonder if it was Annie who had sent the emails. Was she trying to destroy him? He grabbed his laptop back and went to the bedroom.

Steve started to question everything that had transpired in the last three days. Why would Annie want to ruin him? He thought they were in love. And most of all, why would she send an email to herself? Did she want out of the relationship, and she thought that was the only way to do it?

In the middle of Steve's thoughts, though, Annie walked into the room. “What’s going on?" she asked in a monotone voice. 

“I don’t know,” Steve sighed. I think my laptop is trying to destroy me.

Annie laughed. “Get ahold of yourself, Steve. That’s ridiculous.” Steve tried to explain that Annie was not the only one who had received an email from him. His boss, his mother…who knows who else. “So, now this is your laptop's fault?" Annie questioned.

Just then, they both heard a ping. Incoming mail. This time it was to Steve instead of from Steve.

Annie and Steve both stared, wide-eyed, as they read what was on the screen.