Illusion of Anonymity

            Paul Diavalos was not raised in a high stress environment.  He had very loving parents and lived in a nice area of Long Island that provided opportunities that many didn’t have.  That being said, however, it wasn’t too hard for him to stray down the wrong path.  It was a common fallacy in today’s society in which parents have stopped being an authoritative figure and tried to be their kid’s friend instead.  When a 15-year-old has grown up with no discipline from his parents, his actions are dictated by his own immature undeveloped moral compass which hardly faces north and never considers the consequences of their actions.  On a particularly cold day in New York, Paul was bored so he did what many boys his age did and decided to make phone calls.  He was emboldened by the fact that a simple dial of *67 before a phone call disabled the caller ID feature.  With this anonymity, Paul could say and do whatever he wanted with no repercussions.  He had heard and even participated in making fake twitter accounts to do this exact thing and *67 was just as secure as a bogus user name on Twitter to be deleted after unleashing a diatribe of vitriolic, egregious and disgusting obscenities at whatever is angering his young mind at the time.  Now all he needed was a victim.

 

            Spiro Annas was a well mannered boy living in Long Island.  He enjoyed reading and playing the saxophone and occasionally watching some college humor videos on youtube.  One day, he had a friend over to his house and they hung out for a while.  His parents loved hosting his friends, especially this one because he was very respectful.  After a while the boy went home and shortly thereafter Spiro received a phone call.  Spiro answered the phone and said, “Hello.”

            “Hey Spiro, is your mom home?”

            Spiro assumed that it was his friend that had just come over and didn’t find it odd that he would call and ask for his mom rather than to talk to him.  He found his mom in the house and gave her the phone introducing the speaker as the friend that had just come over.  Akrevi, Spiro’ mother, answered the phone in a cheery motherly voice, “Hey Alex”

            “Fuck you cunt.”

            “What did you say?”

            “I’m going to fucking rape you and kill you.”

            “Are you fucking kidding me, you piece of shit, I’m going to find you and I’m going to fucking kill you.”

            “You can’t find me you stupid bitch, my number is private!”

            The voice continued its vulgar blatant disrespectful manner and Akrevi’s voice got louder and louder as she scolded the caller to no avail.  A short while later, Akrevi’s husband came in from outside for he had heard Akrevi screaming and wanted to see what could possibly have caused her to become so enraged.  Eventually, Akrevi hung up the phone and yelled at Spiro for not recognizing that the voice didn’t belong to the kid that was just over her house.  When Akrevi calmed a little, she immediately thought of ways to find out who this degenerate was.  She called Verizon and informed them that she got a threatening phone call and wanted to know the origin of the person that had just called.  It didn’t take long for the phone company to give her the number that the call was placed from.  To Akrevi, the answer didn’t surprise her but it hurt her at the same time.  She was distraught because the call had come from the house of the couple that baptized her oldest daughter.  She called over to the house and her friend’s son answered the phone, “Hello.”

            “Hey, is you mother home.”

            “Oh hi Aunt Akrevi, how are you?” came the sweet innocent voice of her friend’s 15-year-old son.  This enraged Akrevi but she kept her cool for she knew that this wasn’t the first time today she was talking to this kid.  For this was the voice that had verbally assaulted her just a short while ago.  Akrevi wrestled with herself on whether to tell his mom.  On one hand, she didn’t think the mother would believe her but more importantly she didn’t want to hurt her.  She pleaded with the Verizon operator to be sure that that was the correct number and that the facts were right because she didn’t want them to be true.  Deep down though, she knew that although her friend was a great person, her parenting skills were a little lacking to Akrevi’s tastes.  She never disciplined her kid and this is where that leads to.  She certainly didn’t blame her friend for her son’s evilness but she didn’t do much to curb it.  She ended up having a superficial conversation with her friend and decided to wait a couple of days to cool down and prepare for the conversation she was about to have.  The one thing she did know though was that she wouldn’t be able to hold it in or else it would eat her up inside.

 

            A couple days after the incident, Akrevi went into work.  She worked part time at an HVAC company.  Like most work places, the office allowed her a forum to bitch about her kids and listen to other co-workers bitch about theirs.  To spice things up a little bit was a kid in his 20s that vowed he would never get married.  Akrevi liked him but knew he was being naïve.  She had seen many men claim that very thing but then a girl comes along and brings them to their knee and gets them to tap out and propose.  It was no use pointing this out to him now though.  She just chuckled to herself whenever he went on his little rants because she knew that he was just preparing the rope that would inevitably hang him.  Work passed uneventfully and she went home feeling slightly better after having vented her frustration with her daughter’s godmother’s, or as they’re called in her native Greek, “Koumbara’s” son. 

 

            The weekend was over, and Paul was returning to school.  He had a smile on his face because he was very proud that he had called his Aunt Akrevi and bitched her out.  It was weird when she called back a short while later but he played it cool.  He turned on his charm and his aunt didn’t suspect a thing.  He was way to smart to be caught by an adult.  While walking through the halls from class to class in his high school, he had a swagger about him.  Not many people had the guts to call someone and bitch them out over the phone, but he did.  He hardly paid attention in class; all he could do was just replay the conversation in his head and smile at how helpless she was.  All those threats, he knew better, there was no way he’d be caught.  In the particular area of Long Island that he lived, there were a lot of woods.  In the summer time, many kids would wander through them looking for critters and slippery animals to touch.  This being January, the woods were usually covered in a layer of snow and desolate.  He got off the bus and headed toward his house.  He had had his headphones in as he listened to music from his I-phone.  Kids these days had no awareness of their surroundings; they’re always preoccupied with texting, facebook, twitter, posting every detail of their lives on a forum that anyone with half a brain could read.  Privacy was a thing of the past, which made it much easier for people to stalk them.  If Paul wasn’t one of these boys, perhaps he would have noticed a man in a ski mask in his vicinity.  Sure it was cold, but not many people wear ski masks when they’re walking around.  Since he lived in a nice neighborhood, he didn’t worry about being jumped or abducted.  After all, how many middle class kids really worry about that?  That was something that happened in the ghetto.  No, Paul didn’t even notice the masked man, let alone label him as a threat or a friend.  Paul didn’t realize something was a matter until he felt a shoulder into his solar plexus and experienced being bent over a larger man’s shoulders and rushed off to the woods.  Paul started to struggle just as he was entering the woods.  He didn’t last long before his upper body snapped backwards and he hit the back of his head and neck on the hard frozen ground.  He hissed in pain but it didn’t last long before a foot slammed against his ribs on his right side.  He tried to scream but was silenced by a stomp on his stomach.  He curled in the fetal position and moaned in pain.  The masked man said, “So, you like making prank phone calls huh?

            Paul’s eyes widened.  The masked man sternly stepped onto Paul’s chest flattening him onto his back.  The masked man applied just enough pressure to keep Paul in place as he leaned toward him.  He playfully slapped Paul in the face and said, “You want to say anything now? Cat got your tongue?  I thought you were some big bad rapist, what’s wrong?  Where’s the tough guy now?”

            Paul screamed, “I’m sorry!”

            “No you’re not you little shit.”

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

            He couldn’t be sure because he didn’t see his face but Paul could have sworn he heard a chuckle.  Suddenly the man grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled him up.  Paul thought that he was going to let him go.  He believed that the masked man thought he had the wrong guy.  In fact, Paul believed he had the wrong guy, after all, he had said those things to his Aunt Akrevi, not a man.  Unfortunately for Paul, he found himself bent over with an arm tightly around his neck and his head pressed against the side of the masked man’s body.  The man fell back and smashed the top of Paul’s head into the ground.  He held the position and said, “Don’t you lie to be again boy!”

            Paul was crying now, “Please stop, I’m sorry.”

            “For what?”
            “For pranking you, it was only a joke.”

            “Didn’t Aunt Akrevi tell you she was going to find you?  Did you really think that *67 was fool proof?  Are you that much of an idiot?”

            Paul said nothing, he was confused.  The man grabbed Paul’s right arm and placed it in between his knees.  The man interlocked his ankles holding Paul’s arm still.  The masked man wrapped his arms around the back of Paul’s head and locked them under his chin just where the neck meets the head and yanked up.  This causes immense pressure on the neck, head, and shoulder primarily the shoulder.  It gives the recipient the feeling that his shoulder is being ripped from its socket but also instills the fear of being choked since arms are in close proximity to his neck.  This, however, is an illusion, there is no danger of being choked to death in this maneuver but Paul doesn’t know that.  The masked man said, “I think Aunt Akrevi also told you she would kill you right?”

            Paul started squirming but it was no use the man was way to strong for him.  “Please, don’t hurt me”

            “Don’t worry Paul, I’m just joking.  Why do you got to take things so seriously, it’s only a joke right?”

            “You’re hurting me.”

            “Oh please, if someone is joking they can’t actually hurt someone, just like what you said on the phone right?”

            “I’m sorry, okay, it was just a jo….”

            The masked man pulled harder and Paul hissed in pain.  Tears started streaming down his cheeks for he was completely helpless and in a lot of pain with no means to call for help since the man’s arms were inhibiting his jaw to open wide enough for a yell.  Paul said, “What do you want?”

            “A real apology.”

            “I’m sorry; it was a very stupid thing to do. You win; please let me go, I swear, I’ll never do it again.”

            “Tell me you’re my bitch.”

            “I’m your bitch.”

            “Tell me you’re a little girl.”

            “I’m a little pussy faggot girl, you happy?  Let me go.”

            The man dropped Paul’s head and then pressed on the back of his head squashing his face into the cold hardened dirt.  Paul couldn’t decide which part of his body to grab first.  His midsection hurt from being kicked and stomped, his head and neck hurt from the hold and he could barely lift his right arm because of a sharp pain in his shoulder.  He forced himself up to all fours before he felt a foot on his butt flattening him back down. He pleaded, “Please no more, I’ll do anything, Please! I won’t do it again, I’m really sorry, I get the point.  I don’t know what else I can do, I can’t change what happened, I can only promise not to do it again.  I’ll call Aunt Akrevi and I’ll apologize.”

            “You’re going to have to make it up to her.”

            “I will, I swear”

            “You’re going to have to be her little bitch and do chores around her house.”

            “That’s fine, that’s fair.”

            “One more thing though Paul.”

            “What’s that?” he said as he struggled to his feet.

            “Do you think your Aunt Akrevi is a liar?”

            “Ummm no, why?”

            “Well she did tell you she was going to kill you didn’t she?

            “ummmm….well…..no…I mean yes, but she was just mad right?”

            The masked man reached down to his waist and unclipped a metallic object.  To Paul’s horror a four inch blade sprung from the middle of it and locked into place.   Paul just stared in horror at the blade, he was absolutely speechless.  The masked man grabbed Paul’s bad arm and tugged him toward him twisting Paul’s body around.  Paul’s back was against the masked man’s chest, the masked man’s left arm was gently tucked under Paul’s chin.  His right hand, baring the knife came across.  Paul felt the cold steel and the fine blade against his neck.  He started choking sobs as his lip quivered.  All he could manage to say was, “Please don’t kill me.”

            “Sorry Paul, I believe you really would have repented, I believe that you got the point.  But, Akrevi sent me here to kill you.  I’m a man of my word and I don’t want to make a liar out of Akrevi.  I just want to know one thing.  Why her?  Was she mean to you?”

            “No, I just thought it would be funny but I know it’s not.  I also didn’t think she’d get so mad.  She’s a nice lady; I didn’t think she would do something like this. My mom and her are really good friends.”

            “I know they are Paul, they’re koumbari, that’s why it hurt her so much to ask me to do this.  But you’ve been very bad to her friend, your mom.  You make her look bad by being so bad.  She couldn’t bring herself to tell your mom what you did, so she had to just eliminate the problem, which is you.  Sure, your mom will be sad for a little while but eventually she’ll get over your death and she’ll be better off not having to deal with a degenerate, spoiled, evil little brat like you.”

            Paul closed his eyes and cried hysterically.  He both heard and felt the masked man take a deep breath as the man’s chest expanded and contracted as he inhaled and exhaled.  Paul’s neck was pressed in by a blade and he experienced the next split second in agonizing fear.  Paul’s heart was pumping extremely too fast and the next split second felt like minutes as cold steel traveled from one end of his neck to the other.  Paul’s life flashed before his eyes and he felt a warm sensation stream down his leg.  Suddenly he felt a shove in his back as he collapsed down to his knees and tumbled onto his face for his final resting place just a few yards from his house.  Everything seemed to go silent.

 

            The masked man could feel Paul’s body tense against him.  The man extended his blade arm ever so slightly and twisted the knife so that the blunt, non sharp end was facing Paul.  He then shoved it against Paul’s neck and violently pulled it across his throat knowing that the blade wouldn’t cut considering it was the wrong end of the knife.  He felt Paul hold his breath and knew that he hadn’t noticed his slight flick of the wrist that turned the knife into a safe position.  The masked man shoved Paul to the ground and slowly backed away and out of the woods. 

 

            Paul lied on the ground for a few moments before bringing his hand to his neck.  He pressed his hand against his throat and didn’t seem to feel any liquid.  He pulled his hand in front of him but all he saw was pale apricot skin.  He blinked his eyes a couple of times and then rolled over forgetting the pain for a split second.  He stared up at trees and snow; the masked man was gone.  He wondered if this is what heaven felt like.  As he looked around, it all seemed very familiar.  Then the pain from the assault came back to him and he didn’t think there would be this much pain if he were dead.  He got up and clutched his arm and hunched over as he carried himself toward his house.  When he got home he went to his room and lied down.  It was hard to find a comfortable position with his midsection hurting and he gave up on trying to sleep.  He walked into the bathroom, took off his clothes and showered for he felt disgusting after having urinated on himself.  He didn’t know how he was going to explain this to his mother.  He decided to just throw his boxers and his pants into the shower with him.  After an abnormally long shower he dried off and took a deep breath. As he put on new clothes and took out his cell phone.  He called his Aunt Akrevi’s cell phone.  She picked up quickly.  “Hello” with an edge in her voice.

            “Hi Aunt Akrevi.”

            “Hi Paul, why are you calling me?”

            “I just wanted to apologize for what I did,”

            Akrevi was astonished.  Not in a million years did she expect this phone call. Her voice softened and she took the tone of a mother again, “What do you mean honey?  What did you do?” taking a mental note if she had seen her kids recently then noticing that her daughter was in a different state in college and Spiro was home and safe.

            Paul was silent, he felt a tinge of anger that his Aunt Akrevi was playing dumb but remembered the masked man and realized he would do anything and put up with Aunt Akrevi playing dumb all day every day than to ever see that man again.  He took another deep breath and said, “For the phone call.”

            Akrevi knew what he meant but was still shocked this was coming.  She blurted out, “What phone call?”

            This time Paul was ready.  “The one where I said all those hurtful and mean things and thought I was being funny when really I was being hurtful.”

            “Yea, those words hurt Paul.  You should never use them.”

            “I know, I’m really sorry.”

            “I’m afraid sorry isn’t really enough Paul, that was very bad what you did.  I didn’t tell your mother, but I feel like I should.  Did you tell her?”

            “No!” Paul started then remembered that he wasn’t in a position to refuse, “Do you want me to?”

            “I think it means more coming from you. I appreciate you calling to apologize but I’m still disappointed in you and I don’t know how long it will take to forgive you.”

            “Well, I could do chores at your house.” Directly quoting the masked man.

            Akrevi was speechless.  What had gotten into this kid?  She was almost ready to forgive him but then she remembered that he did say some disgustingly vile things and decided to take him up on this.  She said, “Well, that’s for your mother to decide.  Tell your mom what you did and that you want to make it up to me by helping me around my house.”

            Paul dreaded that conversation but agreed because he felt obligated.  He said bye and Akrevi hung up the phone baffled at what just happened.  She yelled, “SPIRO!!!”

            Spiro came running and said, “What mom”

            “Did you say something to Paul about that phone call?”

            “No, why?”

            “He just called to apologize”

            “Well that’s good isn’t it?”

            “Yea…Yea, I guess it is, I’m just not really sure why.”

            A short time later, Akrevi received a phone call from her koumbara and found herself being apologized to again.  Akrevi said all the right things and said she wrote it off as boys being boys and kids doing stupid things but she wished that her koumbara would punish him but knew deep down that she simply didn’t know how.  Her koumbara told her that she was going to let Paul do chores at her house and Akrevi took it as a way for her to discipline Paul herself.  Paul came over and took orders surprisingly well; Akrevi was going to draw this out as long as possible.  After about a week of having a little slave around the house, Paul said, “Aunt Akrevi do you mind if I ask you something?”

            “Sure Paul, what is it?”

            “Did you really need to do that?  Did I really deserve that”

            “Deserve what Paul?  The chores? This is nothing compared to what I would have done to you if you were my kid.”

            Paul sighed, “No, not the chores, the chores are fine, I mean that makes sense, but….well….you know what I mean”

            “No Paul, I don’t”

            Paul shook his head in defeat.  He got the point; he was never to mention what happened.  He thought for a second of threatening his Aunt Akrevi of telling his mom what she did to him but decided against it.  After all, it was pretty easy for the masked man to get to him.  What’s to stop him from coming again and finishing the job?  No, Paul would never bring it up again.  He said, “Never mind, sorry I mentioned anything.”

            “No, Paul I’m confused what do you mean? Did something happen to you?”

            “No, it’s nothing; sorry, just please forget I said anything.”

            “Okay, but if you ever feel like you want to talk about it, you can let me know.”

            Paul glared at Akrevi before shielding his eyes.  She really was playing this cold.  He started getting a little afraid of his Aunt Akrevi at how she could be so calm and nonchalant about this.  He set to his chores without a word of rebellion and took his punishment.  Eventually, Akrevi said that he had sufficiently made it up to her and he could stop.  Akrevi put the whole incident behind her but Paul always maintained a respectful decorum around his Aunt Akrevi for he vowed that he never wanted to see that masked man ever again for as long as he lived…and figured he would live longer if he made sure that was true.