Mayhem in Paradise

Chapter 1

Every night before bed he emailed her an affectionate goodnight. Secretly she awaited his message every night even though she would never answer. There was something about his attention that amused her, but she would never feed into it. Sometimes when she saw him at work she would smile and wave back, but other than that she ignored him and make it obvious that she just wasn't interested.

Although she found him cute she knew all about him, and knew that she would never fall into his trap. With the exception of her friends he had dated all of the girls in the office already, and he wasn't her type. Whenever she told her friends at lunch that he emailed her again they would tell her how dreamy he was, and that she should just go for it. Yeah right... She told them.

On the night of September 21, 1992 she was tossing the idea around in her head that what if they went on a date and he turned out to be a nice guy, and what if she was the one girl that he wouldn't hurt. She finished up her glass of wine and giggled at the thought before changing into her pajamas and finishing getting ready for bed. The sound of the rain pitter pattering outside seemed to echo outside of her bathroom window as she stared herself in the mirror thinking as she brushed her hair.

After considering answering his goodnight email for the first time for some entertainment she went and checked her computer. To her surprise there wasn't an email there from him which was unusual because he would always send it around the same time. Her heart almost sunk but instead she scoffed when she figured of his full attention was probably on someone new in the office.

"Finally," She thought aloud. So much for some nightly amusement before bed. The lonely sound of the rain outside her bedroom window kept her company and she turned on her favorite tv show. Maddie-Ann May fell asleep moments later after getting in bed, and little did she know that he had emailed her.

Chapter 2

Tuesday morning started like any other work day, and when Maddie-Ann saw him walking towards her office she glared and looked away. She tried hiding her smile as she realized he looked extra cute that day. He approached her and she was dumbfounded when he spoke. "Are we still on for dinner tonight?" He asked her. She stared back at him blankly before responding.

"What?" she asked, “Like we were meeting somewhere?" Her sarcasm coy. She fumbled the keys to her door and dropped them on the floor. He leaned over to help her pick them up when they bumped heads. Maddie-Ann tried to hide her embarrassment as he handed her the keys to the office. The already awkward exchange had turned into a tragic comedy as she could see other people from the office staring and laughing.

"Sorry miss, and what do you mean? Of course! You responded to my email last night and you even suggested drinks after I asked you to dinner." He said bluntly. Maddie-Ann gasped at his response and shook her head.

"Obviously you must have mistaken someone's' email address with mine. You didn't even email me last night-" She stopped herself from implying that she would have finally responded had he messaged her. It was all too strange, and she couldn't help but wish that she would wake up in a couple of hours and remember it as a strange dream. As he looked at her sideways he responded,

"No Maddie-Ann I am certain that it was you. Did you drink and don't remember? I can show you the emails in my office right now!” Irritated he went on-“ I stayed late last night, and you emailed me back right before I left." His voice trailed off in her thoughts as she recollected the events from the evening before. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she never saw an email from him, let alone responded.

It was almost as though he was playing mind games with her, and suddenly she had a change of heart. "Of course we're still on for dinner silly I'm just pulling your leg. What time were you picking me up again and oh yeah, I meant to ask you what should I wear?" She blurted the words out before she could stop herself. Whatever he was talking about she would play it off until she got to the bottom of it. A million thoughts raced through her mind as she considered the possibilities and without giving herself away she smiled at him and winked.

Chapter 3

When they were finished talking she went into her office and checked her personal email from her desktop. There was nothing there and for a second she thought it was a hoax and he was messing with her, but as always he seemed sincerely genuine. If there was anything that she knew was that even though he played everyone in the office he was known for being "Mr. nice guy".

She couldn't find anything in her email inbox that led her to believe that he was wasn’t lying and it puzzled her. Was he really that desperate? There was only two places that she could find answers if any and when she looked at her outgoing messages she was shocked. Maddie-Ann stared at her monitor screen with her mouth wide open. It showed the thread of three emails and to her disbelief.

Maddie-Ann knew somehow someone somewhere had gotten into her email account and messaged him back. They hadn't been smart enough not to leave a trace of the conversation except for the inbox. The young woman could feel her face get warm as she went to change the settings. The sound of her mouse scrolled down the options and hastily she clicked.

Reset Your Password.

Maddie-Ann sat in bewilderment wondering who got in her email, but no one came to mind. It had to have been someone in the office that stayed late, but how would they have? She always kept her office door locked, and there was no one else with a key. Her intuition told her that someone in the office who was jealous had somehow broke in her office or managed to have guessed her password, and this enraged her.

She knew what she had to do, and a surge of adrenaline raced through her veins. Restlessly she got up and paced back and forth thinking hard. Going out with her coworker was one thing, but she had to do it in such a way she could find out who hacked her email without giving herself away right away. Whoever had set up the dinner with her coworker was not about to fall through the cracks.

Eagerly she accepted the challenge that she was given, and started mentally putting together what she was going to wear that night for dinner. Her plan was subtle, but the more she thought about it the less that she was sure that it would work. It was inevitable that they would find out that she knew, but the least that she could do was expose them and embarrass them. Calling the cops crossed her mind, but first she would need them there in action to show her coworker.

Scrolling through the rest of her emails she saw one that had been open that she didn’t open. It was an advertisement for a vacation package deal and she could feel the blood rushing to her face. How could this be happening? She wondered, but it didn’t stop her from brainstorming. Whoever had hacked in her email had done more than just messaged her hot coworker, but whatever they had done they weren’t going to get away with it on her watch.

Chapter 4

By the time the workday was done she got up and stormed out of her office. She was furious, but despite the distraction still got everything done in time to go home to get ready for her email hacker fated dinner. Staying overtime and ordering dinner from the office was the last thing that she wanted to do, and luckily that night she didn't have to. Her plan was to do more digging as soon as she got home,

She slammed her car door and before she turned it on she stopped for a moment and took a deep breath so she didn't drive off upset. Whatever it was and whoever was behind it wasn't worth getting so mad about it that it clouded her from thinking clearly. She had to find out more about the other emails before she called the cops but she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was going to jail whoever hacked into her email happily.

Pulling up to her house she got back to find that her front door was ajar. Outloud she whispered, "I'm not surprised." Whoever had been snooping through her email and setting themselves up with her coworker who she would have never considered going on a date with had also been snooping in her house. Fearlessly she walked in her home, but saw no sign that anyone had been there.

The alarm system that she set every morning before work was still on, and when she scanned her thumb there was no alerts. Nothing was adding up, but she vividly remembered shutting the door behind her when she left for work that morning. The adrenaline overwhelmed her as she thought about what to do. She grabbed a knife from the kitchen drawer and looked around. If someone had been there it would have triggered the alarm and no one could have possibly been there.

Standing in bewilderment holding her knife she felt silly and put it down. "You're jut paranoid", She told herself. Maddie took her jacket off and hung it on her chair so that she could go get herself ready. While walking up her carpeted stairs she noticed that there was a light imprint and at that very moment she knew someone had been there. She ran up the stairs to go check her bedroom but was rudely met with a blunt hit to the forehead from a bench that knocked her out.

Chapter 5

Early the next morning Maddie woke up in her bed with a splitting headache. It was almost as though she had had a really bad dream, but as soon she turned to look at the time on the clock she automatically remembered what had happened. She pulled her arms feeling them both tied down to her bed post and screamed as loudly as she could. Trembling with anxiety she wondered "who could possibly be doing this, and why?" No one came to mind and it was all just an unanswered question.

She laid there quietly and thought about the possibilities and wondered about her coworker. What kind of night did they have was all she could think. Certainly had her hacker showed up to the dinner he would have known that it wasn't her, but I mean how wouldn't he have? He saw her every day, and not even a twin could have looked like her. Not to mention that she didn't even have one because she was the only child born to her father and mother.

Instead of letting it scare her she thought about how she could get out of the situation and said a silent prayer to whatever higher power that there was. Feeling a wave of relief she remembered the pocket knife that she always kept underneath her pillow. Instead of having a handgun there she had always chose a knife instead. Her handgun was in a hollow book in her nightstand, or at least she hoped it still was.

Struggling to get even a single hand free so that she could cut the ropes on her other hand and feet finally she wiggled one loose. As she got the rest of herself freed she realized that of course her phone and her purse were no where in store and trying not to panic she burst out in tears. "What did I do to deserve this? " She asked herself, but could giver herself no answer. Her alarm clock struck midnight and she could hear the grandfather clock from downstairs in the living room.

When she got up she ran downstairs with her pocket knife in hand and luckily to her advantage all of her stuff was on the counter. Her phone battery was almost dead and she could see missed calls by an unknown number and before calling the police called the first number back. It went straight to his voicemail. Her coworker had called her but now his phone was off.

There was no voicemail, text message, or email that she could see from him and she called the cops. When they answered she told them a very detailed description of what happened and they said that they would send someone over immediately. She hung her cell phone up and continued trying to call the last number to no avail for herself. Sighing she put the phone down and went to sit on her couch as she waited for the police to show up.

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