The Virgin vs the Axeman

Chapter Seven

Trudy was curious to find out why Lisa had called her in such an alarming tone. She wondered if it was related to Gina’s disappearance. “Hey what’s up?” Trudy asked as she emerged into the living room. “The Tech guy is here, so the WI-FI is up.”  “And that’s why you called me in such a distressing tone?” Trudy looked at her in disbelief. “Oh, sorry about that. But anyways I thought you should see this.” She held up her phone to Trudy’s face. “Why are you showing me Gina’s Instagram page?” “Check out this live feed. It was posted six hours ago!” “But all of our network signals went out during the storm. How could she have posted this?”
“I don’t know. But when my cousins and I used to come here, they always told me the best network signal always came from the basement. So, we used to hang out down there most of the time.” Trudy took the phone and watched the two-minute-long video. In the video, Gina was sitting on the floor in the basement, drinking and talking about how men were cheats and liars. She was obviously drunk. She also mentioned Max and Theresa. At the end of the video, Trudy could swear she saw a shadow pass behind Gina in the background. This startled her. “Hey, take it easy, you almost dropped my phone!” Lisa said as she grabbed the phone from her hands.

Was it my imagination, or did I see another shadow in the room? It happened so fast, though. I would have to re-watch the video. Lisa is going to find it weird that I want to watch the video again.

Before she could open her mouth to ask to see the video again, Lisa spoke “See I told you she is messing with us. This video proves it. She is obviously mad at Max, and this is her way of revenge. She deliberately hid herself away so he could feel guilty that something had happened to her. Then, when she thinks he has suffered enough, she will resurface. Typical Gina. Always vindictive.” Lisa scoffed and threw herself down on the couch. “Yea but she would have at least messaged us by now, so we know not to worry about her.” “And by message ‘us’ I am sure you mean ‘you’ since you two are way closer, right?” Trudy opened her mouth to respond, but Lisa cut her off “Don’t worry I’m not jealous that she shares most of her secrets with you first. But I doubt she would text you after what she knows.” Lisa laughed cynically. “What are you talking about? “Trudy asked as she joined her on the couch. “Gina knows that you found out about Theresa and didn’t tell her---” Trudy’s heart began to race as shock filled her face. “Wh--? How---? I--?” Trudy stuttered. “Okay let me start from the beginning. When she searched Max’s phone and found the text, they started arguing. I tried to be the peacemaker, but unfortunately, my comment offended Gina—" “What comment?” Trudy asked “I told her that she should stop pretending she doesn’t keep secrets too. Instead of letting me finish what I meant by it, she started talking about how she should be like me and Josh, the perfect couple. She went as far as saying that when I stopped keeping secrets from Josh about my abortion, I could point fingers.” “OMG, all of this happened in that short space of time! Where was Josh in all of this?” “Luckily, he had taken Max into the study so he could calm down. Anyways I got really mad and told her that’s why people kept secrets from her. Because of her anger issues. And that’s when I blurted out that you and I both knew about Theresa, and we didn’t tell her. She was shocked and speechless for a moment. By the time I realized what I had said, it was too late. That’s when Max and Josh came back, and she took off to the basement crying. Max went after her.” Trudy sat in shock and disbelief as she tried to process everything Lisa had just said.

So, I am definitely one of the reasons Gina locked herself away. The betrayal and hurt she must have felt.

“How could you do that to our friend Lisa? You made things worse with those comments.” “I said I was sorry. I didn’t mean it. But she got me so angry! What if Josh heard when she talked about the abortion. I would be ruined right now.”
Trudy also knew about the abortion. It happened in high school, senior year, and near graduation. She was pregnant for Josh, but her parents were strict. If they had found out about her pregnancy, they were spiteful enough to withdraw their financial support for her law school. Gina and Trudy accompanied her to the doctor to do the abortion. It was a secret they kept for years among themselves. “How did you know about Theresa?”
“I was at a party off campus one night. It was getting late, so I decided to leave. While I was in the parking lot, I saw a red-headed girl looking drunk standing by herself. I was a bit concerned, so I went to her and offered her a ride. She declined, saying her boyfriend was coming to get her. So, I went in my car and as I was about to leave, I saw Max’s car pull up to her. He carried her in the car. I was so shocked that I decided to follow them.”