Page 25 of Night So Silent
“Oh!” she chuckles. “You mean afirecracker?”
“Then what the hell are sparklers?”
“The sticks you light and sparks fly off the end.”
“Probably that, too,” I nod in agreement.
“I’ll take it,” she shrugs. “I’ve been called worse.”
“By who?”
The sharp tone of my voice makes Barrett startle, but she recovers quickly and reaches for her phone on the side table. After a few seconds, she hands it to me with the tiniest of smirks. A text thread is pulled up on the screen, and as I read it, I have to fight the urge to crush her phone in my palm.
She would never know, of course—subdued disposition and all.
CALEB (4:23PM): You can’t even respond to a text now?
CALEB (4:29PM): Let me guess, when a man calls you on your bullshit you instantly block him instead of admitting you’re wrong.
CALEB (5:18PM): Just another dumb cunt
CALEB (5:42PM): It’s a good thing I never slept with you. I’m sure it would’ve been a monumental letdown. No wonder you wanted to take things “slow”…
CALEB (5:49PM): I’m the one who should be angry at how this turned out. I had no idea you were such a fucking lib cunt. It’s just as well. Conservative women are much hotter anyway. Used up whore.
CALEB (9:32PM): I should fucking sue you for entrapment.
CALEB (12:13AM): Is your hair actually brown or is that a lie too?
CALEB (1:49AM): You might look good with dyed hair after all. Maybe red from all the blood that would come out of your skull if I used it for target practice.
CALEB (2:03AM): At least that way you wouldn’t die alone like you would otherwise.
There are two more, even more vile than the ones before. I tap the screen a few times and hand the phone back to her.
“There.”
She takes the phone and glances at the list of texts, now devoid of that fucker’s name.
“Youdeletedthem?” she asks with astonishment. “But, what if...”
“What if what?”
“I don't know, what if I need them for evidence? What if I need to know whether he's going to come after me? What if thesetexts are what will tell people what happened if this situation escalates?”
“It won’t. Besides, your silence already said everything you needed to say.”
Barrett blinks, her mouth ajar as she tries in vain to make sense of it. But I know she won’t.
“You don’t know that,” she finally says.
“Yes, I do.”
“How?” she presses, becoming more and more irate.
“Because you’re here right now,” I reply. “You already listen to people talk all day about the terrible things that happen to them, yes?”
Barrett squares her jaw. “Yes, but it’s not the same. I can compartmentalize at work. That is, if I evenhavea job once I get home.”
