The Country Club Read Free

and walked the laptop over to her desk and plugged it in. “Besides. Macs are all hype anyway.”
         “Mine never goes dead after an hour.”
         “You barely use yours.”
         “Whatever. Besides, don’t big shot journalists use Macs?” Sophie asked.
         “ I’m a blogger, hardly a big shot journalist.”
         “Not a big demand for writers on mythical Country Clubs either probably.”
         “Whatever. I’m gonna find this thing. I’m telling you, one of the missing girls from my freshman year. I talked to her parents. She thinks they took her. She had dated some guy from UT. His family had all kinds of money. He was the biggest suspect, but they didn’t have anything on him,” Crystal said.
         “ They never found a body, right?”
         “Nope, no trace of her.”
         “How do you know she didn’t just take off?” Sophie asked. “Maybe ran off with some other guy.”
         “Why the fuck would she do that? She had everything going for her. I mean, she wasn’t rich, but she was a good student, pretty, and smart. She could’ve done anything. Doesn’t make any sense she’d just vanish. Besides, I’m not the only one who believes this place exists. I have over five-thousand subscribers on my blog and ten thousand on my Facebook page.”
         “Oh, well be careful. Maybe they’ll come for you next!”
         “I doubt it ,” Crystal said. “Not much demand for a frizzy haired nerd with glasses and a big nose.”
         “Your nose is not big. It’s distinguished.”
         “It’s a fucking beak. Anyway, not that worried about it. I doubt those rich assholes give a shit what I am up to.” Crystal turned her laptop back on and waited for Windows to reload and go through ‘your-computer-did-not-shut-down-properly bullshit.’ Once it started up, she pulled up her browser and saw she had a new email through her website.
         She clicked on it, and it filled her screen.
               “Dear stupid whore,
    Or should I say Crystal Ray at 4472 South 5 th St apt 221, Austin, TX. We are sick and tired of reading about The Country Club and other bullshit stories. You seem to have grown quite the following, a following that seems to listen to you. We think it’s time you took down this blog and other stupid sites. Nothing good will come of them. No one believes you nor will they ever. Everyone already thinks you’re crazy, but it can and will get worse. Unless you take it down. Consider this your first and only warning.
    Cuntbooger and friends. ”
         “What the fuck?” Crystal said as she pushed away from the desk. “Look at this shit.”
         Sophie sat down and read the screen.
         “ So someone is fucking with you,” she said.
         “I see that. But they know my name, my address? How would they know that?”
         “It’s probably someone you know trying to scare you. And it’s working. Just delete that shit,” Sophie said.
         “I can’t just delete it. It’s a fucking Yahoo account too. Could be anyone. What if it really is them?”
         “Who? The Club or whatever? Why the fuck would they send you this? Say ‘ Hey! It’s us, but we don’t exist!’ I think you’ve been at this for too long. Maybe you need a break.”
         “Shut up. I’m gonna show this to Joel. Maybe he can see where it came from.”
         “Joel? Not that dork,” Sophie said.
         “Yes that dork. He’s the smartest computer guy I know. Let’s go.”
         “I’m not going anywhere.”
         “Yes you are. This shit is freaking me the fuck out and I’m not leaving you here alone until I’m sure this is bullshit.” Crystal grabbed her hand and dragged her out the door. They walked down the stairs and got into Crystal’s car, a 2010 Toyota Prius and headed to Joel’s.
         “I think you are way overreacting,” Sophie said.
         “I’m not.