This Is Why I Hate You Too

18. Patterns, Patterns, Patterns

Ashley's voice cracked at that last sentence. She took a deep breath. "I thought I could humor him for a while so he wouldn't kill me. I was wrong. I should've left his email unread."

"Hey. At least you're still here."

"I guess so."

*********************

Corey was up next. She sat in front of Matt as Ivy started recording her testimony.

"State your name, age, date of birth and affiliation with Mr. Lindfelt," Matt began.

"I'm Corey Jeffries, I'm twenty-three," Corey said, "I was born on May 15th, 1995 and I was stationed in Texas, Oklahoma and South Korea alongside Arthur Lindfelt. I knew him for the bigger part of my service, and. . I wish I didn't."

"How did you meet Mr. Lindfelt?"

"Uh, I sat next to him at lunch once, but I never really said anything to him. The first time I actually had to talk to the guy was during a suicide prevention drill we had to do in basic training."

"On the topic of that suicide prevention drill—Mr. Lindfelt says that you two were the only ones who passed this drill. In his journal, during the drill, he apparently said, "You have so much to live for. This situation is temporary. Don't make this mistake." and that was enough for him to pass."

Corey shook her head. "He didn't do shit. I carried the whole drill on my back and he just stood there, bullying a man on a computer screen. The suicide or homicide prevention drill we went through is on a computer. Every scenario in it is prerecorded. . It's kinda like an arcade game. So when Arthur and I got to the part where we had to talk this guy out of killing himself, Arthur was just acting like a little shit the whole time. He was all like, "Just pull the trigger already!". I had to fuckin' teach this man basic etiquette mid-drill! I passed the drill! No thanks to him!"

"Can you describe your relationship with him?"

"Our relationship was a friendship. Nothing more than that. He did want to date me, but I guess he gave up on that when he found out I'm a lesbian, so. . ."

Rachel raised her hand. "What?" Corey asked her.

"He wrote that he was jerking off to you in his journal, too," Rachel responded.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Of course. Fuckin' creep."

Matt cleared his throat, trying to gain Corey's attention.

"Oh—sorry, Agent Tyler," she said to him.

"It's alright, anyway," Matt resumed, "Did you know about Mr. Lindfelt's background when you two were friends?"

"I only knew his side of everything. He would always tell me about how his father disowned him for no reason and how his girlfriend doesn't want him anymore, but he could never tell me why that was. I didn't even know he abused Ashley until I met her. All I knew was that he got into a couple of fights in high school and got here because he wanted to get away from his hometown. He did the same thing to Rachel, too. We were like his two girlfriends—well, his girlfriend and her partner. He was a giant baby too. He never liked losing to anyone, especially losing to a girl."

"Why did you stay friends with him, though?"

"Because I didn't want him to out me. Even though at that point, the whole 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy had been dead for four years, I was certain that someone might hurt me for being out, so. . I never told anyone about it. He and Rachel were the only two people that knew I was a lesbian—until the men started spreading rumors about me seducing other women."