The Sweetest Morsel

Abraham paces in his small home office. He seems nervous, which is different than his usual calm demeanor. Abraham isn’t the type of person to display his emotions but, in his solitude, it is clearly plastered on his face. 

When the door opens, Abraham nearly attacks the new occupant.

“Juliet, what’s going on? Your text, it said...is it true then. Where did it come from?”

Juliet tries to reassure him with her smile. It doesn’t work. “I currently have a team working on it. Don’t worry about that now, I have it handled and will continue to monitor the problem. Everyone is waiting for you outside now.”

“Ok. Good, thank you Juliet.” Abraham combs down his hair, breathes in deeply, and walks out with Juliet on his heels.

The crowd outside of his house nears the hundreds. They crowd under tents and around cocktails tables. When Abraham reaches the podium facing the crowd he taps the mic to get their attention.

“If I can have your ears and eyes now, my friends. Thank you all so much for being here. It’s great to see so many new faces in here. Benji,” he points to a face in the crowd, “you sly dog, who invented you here. We need to catch up later, find me after this. So, back to the program. Our followers have increased and it seems we’re really gaining traction in the science community…” He continues on for a little longer, talking about numbers and followers and ways to push his, their, agenda on to more people. He talks about money and power until a question cuts him off. 

“Are the rumors true?” The crowd starts to murmur and wait for his answer. Abraham looks to his advisor, Henry, who only shrugs. 

“The rumors you have heard about me are, in fact, false. Tell me, do I strike you as violent? I would never hit anyone, let alone a girl. The person who spread the rumor is trying to disrupt our work here and to see me fail. I should be flattered.” Once again, he has the crowd.

The meeting ends with plans for the next month and the crowd starts to disperse. Abraham releases a tense sigh once the last guest leaves and holds a short meeting with Henry and Juliet.

-

Within the span of a week, the rumors had begun to die down. The internet was already canceling the next person. But, whoever spread those rumors was not done yet. 21 days after the meeting, a popular social media news reporter posted a video to his new story: Exposing Abraham. The video shows the reporter, Lenny, revisiting the rumor of Abraham’s violent past. He talks about how Abraham was covering up the facts and how the Vineyard was a power hungry cult with a sketchy agenda. Then, the video ends with a 15 second clip of Abraham on a bridge dumping a women’s handbag into the river below. “How well do you know Abraham? Is he the savvy entrepreneur you love to worship, or a violent man with an even more violent past? Stay tuned for more updates.”

-

“Can you call the site and have them take it down. This is harassment, it has to go against their policy or something.” Abraham is panicking in his office with Henry and Juliet as witnesses.

“I tried. But the ratings are too good for them to pass on this opportunity. The best thing we can do is ignore it and move forward. Henry do you know if w-” 

Henry cuts her off, clearly not interested, “What were you doing with that bag Abraham?”

Abraham is stunned, “What does it matter? Clearly you think the worse of me Henry, but it wasn’t what that Lenny guy was implying.” He waves his finger at Henry, “Plus, that was from a long time ago, it shouldn’t matter what I was doing.”

“Yet it does. I’m sorry Abraham but I can’t be your advisor if you continue to keep your secrets. I will not go down with your ship.” Henry crosses his arms.

“Well, I guess you're done here Henry. It was a pleasure working with you.” Abraham looks to Juliet, “From now on, you will be doing Henry’s job too. Are you capable?”

Juliet looks from Abraham to Henry and then back again. “Yes sir, I am more than capable.” Henry storms out, slamming the door behind him. Henry and Juliet go over plans in a different room.

-

On his long awaited live, Lenny adjusts the camera and scoots his chair back. “Thanks for tuning in. Today,” he breathes out, “we got a big story here folks. A few weeks ago pictures were circulating of Abraham disposing of a woman’s bag. Well, it has come to my attention that the story goes a lot deeper than I first expected. The picture was clearly taken a long time ago. The bridge looks different and the street camera there hasn’t been in operation for some time. Using this information, a rough time estimate for that day would be around eight, maybe nine, years ago. Thanks to the wonders of social media, I was able to stalk his page. His account is mostly blank during this time. So, I had a friend go through his archives and we discovered something that may shock you. Abraham was in a deeply committed relationship with this girl, Elanor, who is now in prison for third degree murder.”

He goes into depth about the murder and pieces together different theories. But, the story is simple. Elanor and Abraham got into a heated argument and he hit her. Then he hit her again and then again and then again. Her left eye was bruised and her jaw was dislocated. Her sister and Abraham’s best friend, Charles, were upset about it. Supposedly Charles confronted him about it and not too long later he went missing. 

Life got harder for Elanor, she felt guilty and was still under Abraham's dangerous spell. One thing led to another and almost a year later she confessed to the murder. 

A few more years later, Abraham started the Vineyard and was able to bury the past with his new found success. 

Now he sits somewhere in his house angrily discussing his plans with Juliet. Outside, a small group of 15 associates eagerly wait for him. Once he storms out, the group tries not to gasp. Abraham, calm and orderly, is a mess. His hair is long and uncombed. His eyes are bloodshot and his suit is rumpled. There are bags under his eyes and hair sprouting on his chin. The news must have hit him harder than expected. Whoever did this must be smiling now.

“Quit staring at me and tell me something good. Benji, anything good to share. You have that stupid grin on your face, so you must have something.”

Benji takes a minute to regroup his thoughts after the insult, “No, Abraham, I don’t have any good news for you.”

“I never liked you Benji.” He points to the person next to Benji, “Or you. Or you-”

“Abraham, did you really call us here to be bitter. We can leave if you want to recollect yourself for another day.” Abraham stares daggers at Benji.

“You know what Benji-”

“Abraham please” Juliet speaks up from behind, startling him.

“Don’t even get me started on you. Did daddy not love you? I see the way you look at me, the way you looked at Henry. You two were going behind my back weren’t you. You’re dirty, just a little girl with abandonment issues. You dirty bit-”

He can’t finish the sentence from the slap Juliet delivers. 

“How dare you strike me?” He turns at the gaping group, “How dare you all stare at me, throwing stones? I know all your secrets, yet you judge me. I did not kill him, I did not hit her, I am a good person.” His eyes scan the small group, “You were supposed to be my 14 closest associates, maybe even friends. But, someone is spreading these lies to hurt me because I am becoming too successful and you turn on me. They want to hurt me, to make me suffer. To take everything from me. I will not stand for this. I. AM. INNOCENT. Someone is going to pay for this. ”

His eyes stop on the last person in the group. On the person in the back clearly trying to avoid eye contact. 

His eyes go wide as he realizes he doesn’t recognize me. I smile and meet his eyes. He points at me and the group’s gaze follows his direction.

He asks with a shocked, shaky voice “Who are you?”