Natasha Moore—Late January (a few days before her disappearance)
The lights were off as she waited. That was to make sure there was no warning.
It had been a shitty, stressful few months, and Natasha had taken all she was going to.
She’d spent the leave period in Rio with Mark and it’d been amazing. She’d known that everyone would realize they were together, but everyone seemed to know what they’d done, too.
They talked about it behind her back, whispering all the time, and worse.
One of the girls was shagging a marine in the phone booth, leaving their bloody condoms lying around, and that was just funny.
Natasha has a boyfriend, a proper exclusive relationship, and she’s a slut.
She’d had a great time with Mark, finally understood what all the fuss was about surrounding sex. She’d never wanted it with Jason, and she could see now that her relationship with him had been wrong in many ways, not founded on the right feelings; with Mark, it was different.
He couldn’t keep his hands off her, and she loved it. But someone was out to get them.
She’d had sex with him on the beach in Rio and everyone knew, but that wasn’t the real problem.
Someone had followed them, and there were rumors of some video footage that some of the other junior rates had watched.
Someone was going out of their way to make Natasha’s life miserable, and she’d had enough.
Mark had flown off the ship to go on some rugby tour and they’d agreed she’d just tough it out till he got back, but sleepless nights, no appetite, and the word “SLUT” written next to her bed in permanent marker meant that the waiting was over.
She looked at the door.
It was bright, like a portal to another dimension, as she sat quietly and watched it, planning what she might say, how she might say it.
The doorway darkened just for an instant, and then Gary entered, flicking on the lights. He immediately jumped back.
“Nat,” he said, recovering quickly. “What are you doing in the dark?”
She watched him, probably three times her size, but she felt no fear, just rage.
“I really thought you were my friend,” she said, shaking her head. “I honestly thought we could be friends. You were a bit controlling sometimes, but I put that down to you caring, looking out for me. Then the pictures, and you keeping all my notes…”
“No, Nat—”
“Don’t, Gary, please, don’t. If you’d done nothing wrong, then why did you change what was in your filing cabinet?”
“I…” his words trailed off.
“What I really can’t understand is why you couldn’t just back off. Even if you’d followed me to the park in Naples to see if I was okay, why stay and watch? Why follow me and Mark in Rio, too? I didn’t see you, but I knew you were there.”
“No, Nat…”
“Why videotape me? You’re a filthy, disgusting pervert. And even if you’d watched, which is vile…” Natasha felt her voice start to break. “Why did you have to tell everyone? Why would you let people have the video?”
The first tears rolled down Natasha’s cheek.
“I’ve been called a slut, a whore, a slag. I’ve been asked how much I enjoyed the ‘cock.’ I’ve been asked if I took it in the ass and how much I liked it. I’ve had ‘back door Moore’ scrawled on my stuff, and my locker and bed are full of Cherry Poppers, those chew bars from the naffi, because everyone knows Mark popped my cherry. I’ve been asked if I’ll do more videos and how much I charge. Someone filled out the application paperwork for my ankles to qualify for separation pay. Do you know what I did to deserve all of that?”
“I didn’t do it, Nat, I promise.”
“All I did was have sex with someone I really like, on a night I was a bit tipsy and I wanted to.”
“Nat, I—”
“Stop lying!” Natasha shouted now, standing up, her fists clenched. “Well, I wanted to do you the courtesy that you couldn’t do me. I wanted to tell you straight to your stupid, sick, lying face that I’m going to Cox and then I’m going straight to Commander Ward, and I won’t stop until I’ve done as much damage to your life as you’ve done to mine.”
“Nat, I didn’t—”
“You’re the only one who had my password. You’re the only one who could’ve accessed Jason’s e-mail address. I saw the pictures in your drawers, I saw that you kept all that stuff of mine. I know how you touch me whenever you get the chance. I thought it was by accident, but it isn’t, you’re sick and you make my fucking skin crawl!”
“No…”
Natasha stood up and made for the door.
“Don’t, Nat.” He grabbed for her, gripping her upper arm.
Natasha tried to pull away, but she had no chance.
“I’m going to see Cox to get a meeting with the commanding officer, then I’m going to tell Commander Ward everything. You’re done, don’t make it any worse.”
“No, Nat, don’t go up there, don’t go to see Cox. Please.”
“Get off!” Natasha turned and scratched at his face, drawing blood just below his hairline.
He didn’t even flinch. He just looked at her, gripping her arm so hard that she thought she might cry out, and then he began to sob.
“Don’t go up there,” he said. “Please, Nat, don’t. I’ll tell you everything, all of it, but don’t go up there.”
“Let go!” said Natasha again, the pain of his grip making her wince and bend over as she dug her nails into his hand.
He did, finally. He let go of her, stepping away toward the door, closing it and leaning back against it, his huge shoulders wider than the frame as he blocked her exit.
“I’ll tell you everything, just don’t go up there alone, please,” he begged. “I’ll tell you about her, and then we can go up together, okay? Once you hear, we’ll go together.”