Breathe

“Hello Annalise, my name is Kaitlyn Larson and I have a little mystery on my hands that I am hoping you can help me solve.

I realize that this may be a long shot, but I just had to take a chance and try to email you. Did you send a package to Bryn Mawr, PA over the holidays? I received a large box at my home from an Annalise Edwards addressed to a Zachary Vines. It has my address on it but I have only lived here for a few months, so I have been asking around and no one seems to know who he is.

If this was you, please let me know and maybe I can help. And if I reached the wrong party, please accept my apology for the intrusion.

Thank you!”

Annalise was completely nonplussed.

Zachary clearly told her that the package arrived right on time, on Christmas Eve. He said that his kids loved their gifts and that the homemade cookies Annalise had made were amazing. She already received the sweetest thank-you note from his daughter! What the hell is going on?

Annalise’s heart started beating really fast, she felt like she couldn’t breathe, and she was sweating. She had to get out of there.

She grabbed her bag and made a beeline for the elevator, mumbling a feeble “I’m not feeling well” to a wide-eyed secretary she blew past. She flopped down on a bench in the courtyard outside of the office building where she had worked for the last 11 years desperately trying to catch her breath.

Annalise realized that she was having a panic attack, her first, and that realization somehow helped her to calm down enough to get up and make her way to the subway.

The train ride was a complete blur. Her mind was meticulously going over every conversation that she ever had with Zachary. At this point, it was obvious that he had lied to her about where he lived, but why? Why would he let her go to all the trouble of shopping, packing, and shipping that huge box to the wrong address? What else has he lied to her about?

She lit a cigarette with shaking hands as she climbed the stairs to the sidewalk, oblivious to the disdainful stares from some of her fellow passengers. As she walked the three blocks to her apartment building, she started to get angry. She was angry at him, whoever he really was, and she was angry at herself for being stupid enough to open her wounded heart to a virtual stranger.

By the time she got home, she knew what she had to do.

She kicked off her shoes at the front door, put on a fresh pot of coffee, changed into sweats, and settled out on the patio with her laptop, a steaming mug of caffeine, and a fresh pack of smokes. It was time to launch a full-fledged investigation.

Annalise quickly ascertained that there was no Zachary Vines living in Bryn Mawr, or anywhere else in Pennsylvania for that matter. Red flags started waving. She remembered that she had to ask him three times to give her his address. That’s why he didn’t want her to mail that Google Play card for his daughter’s birthday!

He asked her to scratch off the numbers and send a picture of it.

Holy crap! This guy has been scamming her!

She started doing Google searches on scams and found a YouTube video that sounded like a biography of her so-called relationship with this asshole. But she hit the jackpot with the video. The guy gave his contact information at the end. Annalise emailed him immediately.

Now what? She had to keep doing something until she had some answers. 

Oh, yeah, Kaitlyn…Annalise never replied to her email. 

At first she wasn’t sure what to say. It was embarrassing, but she definitely wanted that box back. She had included an expensive bottle of cologne in there, a Christmas gift for the asshole, and she still had the receipt. She wanted that money back!

She decided to keep it brief and just ask Kaitlyn to send the box back to her in New York with a promise to reimburse her for the shipping costs. 

She opened her email and much to her amazement there was already a reply from the scammer guy! He was offering to do a free investigation and asked her to send any pictures that the asshole had sent of himself and his children. Annalise couldn’t believe her luck!

She quickly typed her reply of gratitude and attached several photos. Then she answered Kaitlyn’s email.

By this time it was almost noon, and while Annalise had no appetite for lunch, she was suddenly very tired. She went inside and collapsed on the couch.

She sharp ring of her cellphone jolted her awake several hours later. It was him. 

Annalise answered, her voice thick with sleep. “Hey baby, are you okay? You don’t sound like yourself, honey.” Annalise felt like she was about to throw up and managed to squeak out, “Stomach virus. I gotta go,” as she hung up and ran to the bathroom.

Oh, this jerk was going to pay!

Annalise rinsed out her mouth, grabbed a box of saltines, flopped back down on the couch, and promptly lit a cigarette. She didn’t normally smoke inside the apartment, but today she simply didn’t give a shit.

She immediately checked her email. Kaitlyn’s reply was very kind. She didn’t ask any questions and refused any reimbursement for shipping the box back to Annalise. It briefly restored Annalise’s faith in humanity.

Next was the reply from the scammer guy. Annalise was nervous. She hesitated for a few moments as her finger danced over the link. There was no going back after this. She took a deep breath and clicked.

“Hello Annalise, the man in the pictures is a working actor from Canada. All of the pictures are from his Instagram page. This is a common ploy among scammers. I couldn’t find out who you have actually been communicating with however. These people are very good at keeping their real identities a secret and dropping out of sight when their game is discovered. I hope this helps. Sorry I wasn’t able to find out more. Be safe, Ray.”

It felt like her heart literally dropped from her chest to her stomach. How could he do this to her? She lit another cigarette and cried. 

Then she picked her head up and vowed that paybacks are a bitch.

She awoke the next morning to a text message from the asshole. She had decided that this was the most appropriate way to refer to him since she didn't know what his real name was. And in an odd way, it made her feel better. She reluctantly picked up the phone and read, “I hope you are feeling better today, my love. I’ll call you on my way home from work. I love you, honey.”

Ugh. She forced herself to text him back as she normally would. Then she called in sick at work. She had a brand new agenda today.

Today, Annalise was taking charge of this situation. She was going to scam the scammer.

She remembered that the asshole had told her about a recent investment he made. He had texted her some paperwork, that she now realized was fake, showing an amazing return. He said he wanted to help her invest some money when she got paid. She was supposed to send him $500 to invest in something called Bitcoin.

It was time to learn about Bitcoin.

After a shower and a fresh pot of coffee, Annalise dug in. She was on a mission.

As a copywriter, Annalise was an experienced researcher and a quick study. Soon she had a thorough understanding of how Bitcoin worked and even set up her own wallet. It was obvious that she didn’t need to send money to the asshole to do it for her. She couldn’t wait to hear his reaction to this.

He had an excuse, of course. He claimed that he had a really good broker and that’s why he made so much money so quickly. Then he said that Annalise works so hard for so little, and that he was tired of seeing her living paycheck to paycheck. He wanted her to be financially independent.

The nerve of this guy!

Annalise kept her cool though, played her part, and began formulating Plan B.

The hardest part was reading all of his lovey-dovey messages every morning and acting all light and cheery on the phone with him at night when what she really wanted to do was reach through the phone and strangle him.

On top of all that, Annalise had to go back to work, put a smile on her face, and pretend that everything was fine while seething with anger inside and obsessed with avenging herself.

Finally Friday came. It was the day for Plan B to go into action!

He called as she was getting off the train. This was the easy part. She could finally let all of her hurt and anger come to the surface, in the name of sweet revenge.

She told him to hold on, lit a cigarette, and started the show. 

Annalise turned on the distress in her voice as she told him that her bank account was hacked, that all she had was the $8.00 in her purse, and that she had no idea what she was going to do.

Two could play at this game.

She was met with momentary silence and a “this was not what I was expecting.”

Annalise was incensed! She went off. “Not what YOUR expecting?? Are you kidding me right now?”

He quickly recovered and went into supportive mode, but it was another reminder of his actual agenda. It stung for a moment, but then a strange thing happened. It made her more determined than ever to make him squirm.

She put the next part of her plan into action. She asked him to loan her some money until things got straightened out and he hung up on her. He didn’t even say anything. Just click. He had no idea what to do now. Annalise was absolutely delighted.

He called back a few minutes later and made up an excuse he thought Annalise would buy. Annalise lit into him saying, “I thought you LOVED me! You’re working on this huge contract making all of this money and you are actually telling me that you can’t help me? And you expect me to believe that?” 

It was Annalise’s turn to hang up. Then she walked in the front door of her apartment, went straight to the kitchen, and opened a bottle of wine to celebrate.

Plan C was the box, but she was holding onto that for a little while. She was going to drag out Plan B as long as possible before she dropped the box on him. She envisioned literally smashing it over his head and smiled.

He was calling and messaging more often now, asking lots questions about the situation with the bank. Annalise was always one step ahead of him with one plausible explanation after another as to why her account was still frozen.

He was getting nervous now. She could hear it in his voice. He was no longer in control, and she was starting to feel powerful.

But this game was changing her. She was liking the power and control a little too much and developing a callus attitude. She wondered if it had been like that for him, or if it was just about the money.

She wondered how many other women he was scamming while making a fool out of her. She wished she could warn them. Oh, how she hated him!

Her coworkers started calling her out on her attitude, she almost lost an important client, and when a man who got off the train with her chastised her for lighting a cigarette in the stairwell, she told him to fuck off.

She strung the asshole along for two weeks, then decided it was time to execute Plan C. She lit a cigarette, then messaged him to call her immediately saying it was urgent. He called right away. 

He probably thought she finally had the $500 he'd been waiting for. Sucker!

Her voice was as cold as ice. “I received a very interesting package in the mail today, a very large box from Bryn Mawr.” Then she paused for dramatic effect.

He finally said, “Oh, really? What was it?”

“The Christmas box I sent to you. It was returned to sender, UNOPENED.”

“That’s impossible. I got that box…”

Annalise cut him off, “Stop lying! The gig is up, you scammer! How DARE you do this to me? You know I don’t have any money and yet you tried to take the little bit I work my ass off for!”

Then he stunned her by starting cry, “No, no, no…you don’t understand…”

She told herself to ignore his tears.

“Oh, I understand perfectly, you lying son of a bitch. All those pictures you sent me belong to some actor on Instagram. I saw his page. You know, YOU should have been actor. You are quite good at it. You would have been better off, too, because you just picked the wrong girl to lie to.”

“It started out that way, but…”

“But what? What are you going to say? That somewhere along the line you fell in love with me? Don’t even THINK about pulling that shit!”

“Oh my God, oh my God…I have to call you back.”

She knew he wasn't going to call her back. For what? He was totally busted. She hoped that he was really pissed about all of the time he wasted on her only to end up with absolutely nothing.

Her victory felt a little hollow, though. She thought she would feel incredible, but she didn't. She wasn't sure how she felt. She lit another cigarette and just sat there, lost in thought.

Her ringing cellphone cut sharply through her thoughts. It was him! This guy must really be a glutton for punishment. 

Ah, what the hell, she didn't have anything better to do…

“Thank you for answering.”

“What do you want, whatever your name is?”

“I want to be honest with you. I want to tell you everything.”

“Why?”

“Because you are the first person who ever made me feel like you really cared about me.”

They talked for over an hour. It was the longest phone conversation they ever had, and the first honest one. He revealed that his real name is Darius, that he is 17 years old, and that he lives in a housing project in West Philadelphia. 

Annalise’s heart started to soften. He was just a scared kid who didn’t see any other options.

He apologized profusely, and as he began to feel more at ease, he said he was actually relieved that the truth was out. As he got to know Annalise, he started feeling guilty about the whole thing. At the same time, he didn’t want to give up the feeling of being truly cared for.

Annalise let out a huge sigh and literally felt the weight of all the anger and bitterness she had stubbornly held onto quietly lift off of her heart. As crazy as it sounded in her head, she didn't want to let go either. Her heart wanted to help this boy.

“Okay, Darius. Let’s start over.”

When the door closed on Zachary, a window opened. The air was fresh and sweet, and she could breathe. At that moment, Annalise learned that forgiving someone one is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. She was happy to accept.