• Tickety tickety tak tak tak…

    Her nimble fingers flew across the keyboard with an expertise beyond her years.
    She was a product of her times, a child of the information generation. If it couldn’t be
    done on a computer, it wasn’t worth her time. And as a very social twelve year old, she
    didn’t have much time to waste.

    She logged into the forum under her favorite handle, Little Red. The adorable
    cartoon avatar smiled up at her, displaying that she had received a private message since
    she had last logged on. She followed the link, and looked at the unfamiliar user name:
    B.B.W.

    Little Red didn’t really know this user. She had seen a few of his posts on the
    board, but he wasn’t one of the users she normally talked with. The Subject of the
    message was simply “Hi,” so Little Red’s curiosity got the better of her. She opened the
    message.

    Hi!
    I know we don’t normally talk, but I just
    Saw your pic in a thread in GD, and I
    Think you’re really cute. Can I have your
    Messenger name?

    B.B.W.

    Little Red smiled to herself. She was always very careful when she chatted
    online, to make sure that not just anyone got her messenger name. After all, there were
    perverts out there who pretended to be kids. Not that Little Red was a kid. She was too
    smart for all of that.

    She clicked on B.B.W.’s profile and read through the information listed there. He
    was eighteen, and lived just a couple of towns over. Satisfied with what she had learned,
    she quickly set about typing out a reply that provided her messenger name. She had
    thought about sending her real name, but thought that she shouldn’t rush things. After
    all, he could still be a weirdo. A few moments later, her computer chimed and a little box
    appeared on her screen. She had just been added to soccer_dude18’s user list.

    Hi. The message popped up quickly. Little Red looked at it for a minute, then decided to live up to her second favorite handle, fLuRtYgUrLiE6, and typed what she
    thought to be a playful response.

    Her parents didn’t like her using names like that. They thought it sent out a bad
    message, and attracted the wrong sorts of people. What did they know? Everyone used
    handles like that. Some people used worse! So she used what she wanted for her names.
    It wasn’t like her parents looked over her shoulder when she was online any more, any
    way. She was too old for that now, but all the same, she made sure she got most of her
    chatting done before they came home from work.

    From where she sat in the family room, she heard the front door open and close.
    She sighed, wishing once again that her parents would let her have a computer in her
    room. Her mother stepped into the room, home early from work. She leaned forward
    and kissed Little Red on the top of her head. Little Red tried to close the window
    quickly, but not quickly enough.

    Her mother frowned. “What does ‘ASL’ mean?”

    “Really Mom!” Little Red sighed with exasperation. Her mother should really
    know things like this. ‘It means “At School Late.’ It’s really no big deal.”

    Her mother regarded her suspiciously for a moment, and Little Red flared her eyes with annoyance. She adopted a posture of impatience, placing her hand on her hip and cocking her neck stiffly, as she waited for her mother to leave. Her mother ruffled her hair and gave her another quick kiss before she turned to leave the room.

    “Five more minutes, and then I want you to do your homework.”


    Three months later, Little Red was still talking with B.B.W.; in fact, her had even
    caller her a couple of times after school before her parents got home. Little Red was in
    love. They had so much in common, she couldn’t believe it! They liked the same kind of
    music, the same movies, and he even wanted to be a marine biologist, too. Her parents
    told her that she was too young to fall in love, but they were just stupid. They thought
    that she was still a child, and she was anything but a child: She was a woman now, knew
    all of the curse words, and she had a date on Saturday. A date she would go on without
    her parents knowing, as B.B.W. had suggested.

    On Saturday, Little Red got up early and took special care in getting ready. She
    put on her lipstick, foundation, eye shadow, blush and mascara, then pinned her hair back
    away from her face with butterfly clips. She put on a padded bra and matching thong, her
    favorite red skirt that was just barely long enough to cover her backside, a white baby
    doll tee with “Princess” written across the chest in sparkles, and a red zippered hoodie.
    She stepped back to admire herself in the mirror, nodding her approval. She looked like
    she was at least fourteen in this.

    Throwing her lip gloss in her purse, she ran down the stairs the slip on her shoes.
    Her father was walking out of the kitchen, carrying his coffee and reading the morning
    paper on his way to the family room, like he did on all of his days off. He looked up,
    catching a hint of movement out of the corner of his eye and frowned disapprovingly.

    “Where are you going?”

    “With Madison to visit her gramma. She hasn’t been feeling very well lately, so
    we’re going to try and cheer her up,” Little Red lied. She was really going to the mall,
    but he didn’t need to know that.

    “Do you think that’s really appropriate?” he asked, indicating the skirt with his
    paper.

    “Daddy,” Little Red sulked. “Everyone’s wearing skirts like this. It’s cool.”

    Her father looked her over with disapproval. Her had never liked this skirt; he
    had been against buying it from the beginning, thinking that it was a waste of fabric. For
    what little fabric was in it. But nothing would do, Little Red had to have it. A great,
    pleated hankerchief was what it reminded him of, and the knee high vinyl boots reminded
    him of a hooker. A cheap, trashy hooker.

    “Cool? It’s down right cold for this time of year!” He sighed, shaking his head,
    knowing he had already lost the battle. “What time will you be home?”

    He was aware of his weakness at this particular moment. His father would have
    made her march upstairs and change into something more appropriate. Something that
    fell to at least her knees, but preferably her ankles. But he wasn’t his father, and how
    could he fight fashion? She’d wear it any way. She’d just either put it on at home, or do
    put it on somewhere else.

    Little Red brightened up. “Later. I have my cell, so I’ll call you when I know
    more.” She thought for a minute, then added, “We might be going to the mall, too.”

    There. Her bases were covered in case someone saw her at the mall. With a
    quick kiss, Little Red scampered out of the house and started off down the street. At the
    corner, she stopped to wait for Madison, applying a layer of her favorite cherry lip gloss
    with a practiced hand. As she spied Madison, she dropped the tube back into her purse
    and jogged up to meet her friend. With one hand, she held onto the purse that was trying
    to slide down her shoulder, and with the other, she held the back of her skirt down.

    “Damn, girl you look hot!” Madison beamed. “He’s not going to be able to resist
    you!”

    “You really think?” Little Red giggled, striking a pose to show off endowments
    she didn’t really have.

    Both girls laughed and started off down the street, talking excitedly. Little Red
    had told Madison about B.B.W. from the beginning. After all, what were best friends
    for? It had been Madison’s idea to use the grandmother cover story so that Little Red
    could go meet him.

    “You’re sure you don’t want me to come with you? Just in case he tries
    something?” Madison asked as they reached the intersection that marked where they
    would part ways.

    “I’ll be fine!” Little Red laughed. “I know how to defend myself, and I’ve got my
    cell with me. It’s cool. I’ll meet you back here at six?” Madison nodded, and Little Red
    started off to the mall.

    At the mall, Little Red stopped briefly at the food court and bought a small Pepsi.
    She was early, so she needed to kill some time before she went to the music store to wait.
    Her drink in hand, she lost herself amid the sea of bodies, window shopping and hurrying
    from store to store.

    As she wandered, Little Red began to think of the news stories and episodes of
    Oprah and Maury that talked about child abductions. Had she set herself up for a fall?
    She dismissed the thought almost as quickly as it occurred. She wasn’t like those other
    kids, she could defend herself. She knew martial arts from Watching Buffy, and all of
    those stupid Jackie Chan movies that her brother liked so much. And if that failed, she
    had her hand modern marvel with her, unlike the others. If things got bad, she could call
    the police for help, and she’d be saved. Then everyone would be so proud of her for
    being so brave, and then she’d be on all kinds of talk shows to tell about how she helped
    to catch the bad guy.

    Her confidence restored, Little Red sauntered her way to the music store,
    checking her watch. She was a few minutes early, so she stood off to the side to wait.
    She watched the people as they passed by, thinking that even though she didn’t know
    what B.B.W. looked like, but she’s know him because he would be waiting like she was.

    She hoped he was cute. She was going to be very upset if he wasn’t. He had
    never said he was ugly or geeky, so she was hopeful. If he was, she’d find a way to avoid
    him, probably just walk away with one of the many groups that were passing by. She
    didn’t see anyone his age hanging around yet, so she didn’t have to worry about ditching
    him just yet. The only other person who seemed to be waiting was a scruffy looking,
    overweight man who looked to be about her father’s age. Why he kept staring at her,
    though, Little Red couldn’t figure out. But she knew that it made her very uneasy.


    Little Red got her fifteen minutes of fame. Her website, littlered.com, was a huge
    hit until the police raid. B.B.W. had put a lot of time and effort into setting it up, picking
    just the right pictures for it. His favorites were from before he drugged her, when she
    was wide eyed and fearful, and she screamed and fought against him, but it was easier to
    pose her, to do things to her, when she didn’t fight back. There was something appealing,
    he thought now, about the vacant look the tranquilizers caused in her eyes. He was even
    able to show off his tattoo in some of the pictures: the large, snarling wolf’s head he had
    tattooed on his chest.

    Dirty little whore… He had given her what she had wanted. What were these
    parents thinking, dressing their kids like this? Prosti-tots, that’s what they were. Jail
    bait, wanna be prostitutes. He couldn’t understand why their were laws against having
    pictures of them, or having his way with them if they were allowed to dress like this. He
    enjoyed wrapping that flimsy little thing she called a skirt around her neck and pulling it
    tight. She had recover from the drugs her had slipped her by then, and fought back,
    clawing pitifully at him with her manicured nails. He had dumped her body in a ditch,
    but he had told the police about that in exchange for a reduced sentence.

    Lucky little b***h. She made the news, too.