Kate left the diner without hardly touching her salad. Out of partial embarrassment, Kate left the waitress a ten dollar tip, which was almost twice as much as her entire bill had been.

Heavy feet trudged their way back to the dorms. Kate didn’t particularly want to be their, and especially not alone, but her dorm room was as good of a place as any. ‘Pete’ seemed to be everywhere, and anywhere. Now he had her cell number, and somehow had fixed it to where she couldn’t call or text anyone. Only he could text her.

Fear and misery overwhelmed Kate as she unlocked the door to her room and collapsed on her bed. Why her? What had she done? Kate didn’t know the answers to these questions, or the others that ran through her head. Burying her face in a pillow, she started to sob. There were tears of worry, fear, mental pain, and exhaustion.

Finally sitting up, Kate looked out her window. The sun was still shining, birds chirping, a noisy bustling street could be heard down below. But Kate’s day had turned dark and gloomy. She had thought --assumed-- that ‘Pete’ had grown tired of bothering her. That he had moved on, finished with his mind games on Kate. But, alas, that was certainly not the case. He seemed more determined than ever.

A shimmer of hope suddenly flared in Kate’s eye. Her laptop! Why hadn’t she thought of this before? Quickly, she sat down in her chair and flipped it open, and typed in Facebook.com. Kate would send a message to Megan and tell her everything that had happened, maybe she could help her somehow. Or at least inform Kate’s parents.

Once on Facebook’s log-in screen, Kate punched in her email address and password to log into her account. After a brief moment, the screen switched, but not to Kate’s home page. Reading the words displayed in front of her aloud, tears began to flow down her cheeks once more:

“Email/username does not exist. Please try logging in again using a different email address.”

The pink box outlined in red taunted her, sneered at her.

‘Well, maybe I just typed it in wrong.’ Kate thought, hopefully. Returning to the log-in screen, she re-entered her email address and password, this time going slow and diligently. Once again, the pink box with a red outline popped up.

“Son of a---” Kate began. Sighing with irritation pumping through her veins, Kate decided to create an altogether new Facebook account. Oh, ‘Pete’ thought he was so slick! Kate would be getting the last laugh this time around.

After going through all the steps to create another new Facebook account, Kate clicked on the ‘Create Now’ link at the bottom of the sign-up page. Sitting back in her chair with a satisfied smile, Kate waited for her new home page to appear before her.

When the screen switched over, it wasn’t Kate’s newly created home page. Now with a frown on her face, Kate leaned forward in her chair towards the laptop screen, narrowed eyebrows, squinted, concentrated eyes, and a scowl displayed on her face now, instead of the satisfied smile from a few minutes prior.

“The email address you have entered does not exist. Please enter a valid email address and try again. Thank you, The Facebook Team.” Kate whispered. Straightening up in her chair, confusion made its way onto Kate’s lightly freckled face.

Typing in the address her email was through, hotmail.com, Kate typed in her information into the username and password boxes. After a moment:

“Sorry. The email and/or username you have entered either does not exist, or has been entered incorrectly. Please try again, or create a new account now.” Kate read, in utter disbelief. “Bastard!” she shouted at the laptop, slamming it shut.

Just then, as if it had been waiting for its cue, her phone started buzzing. A new text message. Kate didn’t have to wonder or guess at who it was from; she already knew. ‘Pete.’

‘Having trouble with your accounts? Lol. --Pete’

Anger overtaking her body, Kate launched her phone at the wall across the room. The phone shattered into several pieces, each dropping softly onto the carpet below.

“Try and play your damn mind games now, you piece of shit!!” Kate screamed at the broken phone lying in scattered pieces on her carpet. Kate couldn’t take any more. She just wanted to be left alone. She just wanted to live a normal, college student life. Once again Kate had to wonder: why her?

Tears soaking her face and her pillowcase, Kate cried until she was in a uneasy, restless sleep.

****