Carmen

I’d always said that my crazy best friend Carmen would be the death of me, but I’d never considered that perhaps I’d meant it literally.1

It all happened like this: Carmen was over at my house one night in June. She was sleeping over, and we were celebrating the end of our last day of Grade Nine exams by staying up as late as we could. My parents weren’t home, so we’d already devoured half the contents of my fridge. At that point, we were feeling way too bloated to do anything but lie on the living room floor and stare up at the ceiling.2

“So, what do you want to do, Melanie?” Carmen asked.3

“I dunno,” I grunted.4

Carmen rolled onto her stomach, her black hair almost covering her face. “Can I use the computer?”5

I waved my hand in the air lazily, murmuring, “Go ahead.”6

She leapt up with amazing litheness, considering her full stomach. She made herself comfortable in the computer chair at the desk across the room, opened MSN Messenger, and began to type furiously.7

“Who’re you talking to?” I was curious now. It was pretty late at night, and I hadn’t expected anyone to be online.8

Carmen didn’t respond right away; she first typed at least three more sentences, then answered without looking up from the computer screen. “Oh, just some guy I met in the Chatterbox last week.”9

I got up and crossed the room. “You mean the Storywrite Chatterbox or that creepy local chatroom you used to go on all the time?” I pressed, looming over her shoulder and trying to read her conversation. 10

She minimized the window and spun around to face me. “Come ON, Mel. It doesn’t matter.”11

That confirmed it: chatroom. “Your mom banned you from that site. You’re gonna get in trouble.”12

Carmen rolled her eyes at me and turned back to the computer. “His name is Josh, in case you wanted to know. And he’s only 15. He’s not some pervy old guy. It’s not a big deal.”13

A new message from Josh brought the conversation window back to full screen view. Carmen couldn’t close it fast enough; I could see enough of the text in the split second it was visible to discover its contents.14

“CYBERSEX, Carmen?” I was horrified. “I thought you said this guy wasn’t a fuckin’ pervert!”15

“He’s not!” she protested frantically. “I— I wanted him to. I asked.”16

“My God, Carmen. Have you ever even met this guy?”17

Her jaw dropped. “Of course not! I’m not an idiot—”18

I gestured at the screen. She cleared her throat.19

“Sometimes he asks, but I always say no. Obviously, I have enough sense NOT to get raped. Okay? Is that good enough for you?”20

“Hell no! Carmen, what’s wrong with you?”21

The window appeared again, with a new message from Josh.22

JOSH SAYS: HEY BABY! U STILL THERE?23

Carmen looked up at me with guilt in her eyes. I didn’t respond out loud, so she turned back to the keyboard.24

CARMEN SAYS: YA25

JOSH SAYS: SO WE STILL ON THEN?26

Carmen hesitated before typing a reply.27

CARMEN SAYS: ACTUALLY, I THINK WE SHOULDN’T DO THIS ANYMORE.28

JOSH SAYS: THAT’S OK, I DON’T WANNA PRESSURE U29

I frowned in confusion. That didn’t sound like something a pedophile would say. Maybe he really was only 15, and a completely normal guy that wanted to have a little fun…30

CARMEN SAYS: THX. I GTG TO THE BATHROOM.31

“Do you really?” I asked my friend aloud.32

She nodded, getting out of the chair. “I think we ate too much, Mel,” she muttered as she dashed into the hallway. I waited until I heard the bathroom door slam before sitting in the computer chair. I didn’t want Carmen to be mad at me for being hypocritical because of what I was about to do.33

CARMEN SAYS: JOSH, U STILL THERE?34

My hands trembled as I waited for his reply. 35

JOSH SAYS: YA, DID U CHANGE UR MIND?36

CARMEN SAYS: UMM…37

CARMEN SAYS: YA38

JOSH SAYS: AWESOME! 39

The toilet flushed just as I received Josh’s message. It was earlier than I had expected. I panicked.40

CARMEN SAYS: WAIT, NO! I GTG.41

JOSH SAYS: SRY, BUT U ALREADY WENT BACK ON IT. I’M NOT TAKING NO FOR AN ANSWER.42

My heart was in my throat as I scrambled to close the window and get out of the chair before Carmen returned; I didn’t have time to consider the last sentence Josh had sent. As my best friend entered the room, I felt a weight being lifted off my shoulders. She didn’t suspect a thing. I suppose that it would have been a lot better if she had in the first place. Maybe I would’ve lived.43

We camped out in the backyard that night. My mom had been really excited about the start of summer holidays, and even though she wasn’t even home that night, she had to be a part of everything. We curled up in our sleeping bags and tried to get comfortable without a mattress below us.44

“I’m going inside to get some pillows!” Carmen announced. I nodded in consent; my back was throbbing from discomfort already. We crawled out of the small, cramped tent. As we dashed towards the house, I failed to notice something that I now recognize to be important in retrospect: the lights we had deliberately left on for my parents were off. In any case, when we arrived in the living room in search of pillows, we were not alone.45

“You’re exactly how you described yourself, Carmen,” a deep male voice emerged from the shadows of the front hall. We were frozen in terror, though we were both well aware of the identity of the speaker. “I never thought you’d be so honest in what you told me. You told me everything, didn’t you: your schooling, your hobbies, your feelings about your family, and even your address. And you thought it was only cybersex we talked about, didn’t you?”46

Carmen was sobbing silently, her back to the man, but I was confused. If she had told him her address, why was Josh here, at my house?47

“But what you told me most about was your appearance. I can see why you bragged about it. You don’t come across a redheaded beauty like you every day.”48

I stared at Carmen in horrified disbelief. My raven-haired friend had apologies in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything. She had forfeited the last words she could ever speak.49

“And now, Carmen,” the man called Josh whispered into my ear, and not my friend’s, “you’ll learn what happens when you say no to me one too many times.”