SHE

6. You Have A New Message From

ONE NEW MESSAGE

Katerina wasn't usually nervous when it came to messaging people on Tinder, but this time she was. She had been doing a little bit of light Instagram stalking before she had sent her first message to Adelaide. There was something about her that was just mesmerizing and she wasn't sure how to explain it. She just knew that she needed to know more about who she was so that Adelaide would bite. She had a tendency to do this with her victims as well, but she was trying to tone it down because she was actually interested in getting to know this girl. She sent the first message.

It read as follows:

Katerina

Hi, I hope that I'm not bothering you right now. I just noticed that we matched and I hadn't gotten around to talking to you yet. I saw that you wrote thriller? That's so cool! I'm a personal fan of thriller and horror, and I can never find anyone who shares that interest besides me beyond like--reading some Stephen King Novels.

She didn't want to come off like she had looked her up besides just paying attention and actually reading her bio. She turned off her phone and waited.

This was not the time to seem desperate.

She had work that she had to do on one of her paintings for class, anyways. So, she worked on that instead.

It needed one last layer to add some extra texture and some varnish. It was nothing too deep or soulful, just one of those AP paintings that you made to reassure the professor that you actually knew the basic rules of the medium that you were working in.

Katerina worked in acrylics and oils. She painted a dark and barren landscape with a woman walking through it, gnarled windblown trees curled in surreal ways and reached out to grab her but never completely got to her.

It wasn't one of the pieces that she was particularly proud of, but she thought that she had done a pretty good job on it. She took some pictures on it after she had applied the varnish on her DSLR camera. She would work on uploading them to her Instagram later.

After she was done, she stretched her arms and her wrists, wincing after she heard a couple of pops. She couldn't wait any longer.

She had to look at her messages. She turned on her phone again.

ONE NEW MESSAGE

Adelaide

Ah, yay! Another horror/thriller fan. I'm glad. I'm also not quite the fan of Stephen King either. Nothing personal to him, I just don't like horror or thrillers written by men. It's just not my cup of tea. Also, don't worry about the fact that you didn't text me. I've been super busy lately so I haven't been on Tinder.

Part of Katerina felt a little relief when she read that. She wasn't being ghosted. Now, she just wanted to make sure that she kept Adelaide interested. Something that was a lot easier when you were communicating with men, but she could do it.