5
484words
Chloe's crying voice came through:
“Mom! It's… It's Luna… She threatened me… Made me take out a loan for her abortion… I had no choice… Sob…”
“Please help me! We have to pay it back, or my credit will be ruined!”
Hearing her daughter cry set her off even more.
“Oh, sweetie, I know you've been wronged. Tell me where you are. I'll have your dad pick you up.”
“N-No… Don't…” She panicked at the idea of someone coming.
“I'm just really scared, Mom. The calls and texts won't stop. I'm too scared to even go to class. Please just pay back the loan. I'll go back to school on my own.”
Chloe's mom glared hatefully at me. “It's all that trash Luna's fault! I told you she was no good! You never listened! You ending up at a community college—that's her doing too!”
Chloe pretended to be heartbroken. “Mom, I had no idea Luna would do something like this…”
“Don't worry, I'm at her school now! She ruined your future—I won't let her graduate! The police are here. I'm making her pay!”
Hearing the police were involved, Chloe panicked:
“Mom, why did you call the police?! Just come home! I can handle this!”
Realizing she sounded too anxious, she backtracked:
“Luna's still my best friend… I don't want to make things ugly. I'll talk her into returning the money. Just come home, okay?”
Chloe's mom bought it, thinking her daughter was just being soft-hearted. After a few more words, she hung up.
“See? My Chloe is so kind and loyal! But this isn't over! I'm getting justice for my girl!”
Because of all the yelling and disruption, the police took us all to the station to sort things out.
Chloe was waiting outside the station.
As soon as she saw us, even before we got out of the car, she ran over, crying, and grabbed her mom's arm.
“Mom, just drop it, please! Luna's had a hard life too. She's my best friend—I can't let her go to jail and ruin her future.”
Her mom, thinking she had the upper hand, dragged Chloe toward the station.
“Are you stupid? Why should she get away with ruining your life? You're at a community college because of her! I want her to have a record—I want her expelled!”
“And all that money you took from us for her? I want it back! Plus compensation for your trauma!”
Having lived through this before, I knew—every cent she'd asked for had been for herself.
When her parents stopped giving her money, she'd started stealing cash from their pockets.
Once, they caught her, and she said it was for me.
After that, they switched to using a card and kept almost no cash at home.
That was why Chloe had to turn to online loans.
