Catfished: Part 1: Christine
This will be a series where the POV characters are the catfish
I bit the side of my lip as I looked through my daughter’s Facebook. I couldn’t believe she would create an account behind my back. I also couldn’t believe she would connect with strangers behind my back. She doesn’t know what she’s getting into. Isn’t she aware of what girls her age have gone through when it comes to social media? I have tried telling her time and time again about the dangers of the Internet, but she wouldn’t listen. So, as a punishment, I decided to create a fake account to teach her a lesson. Call it bad parenting, but I don’t care.
I tried getting a therapist to help her, but not even that would work. So far, nothing worked. So creating a fake account seemed to be my only option at this point.
Jac Short was born. I decided to find a young male model for a profile picture. I made sure to find a boy with a mop of blonde hair. Megan seemed to go crazy with boys like that and I don’t know why.
Alright, back to the account. Megan decided to create an account on Plenty of Fish. So I used the Jac profile to reach out to her. Here is the biography for the profile:
People usually notice my charming personality and my awesome hair first. My friends say that I have great hair and big abs, but what would I know? I just live in this heap of junk they call my body.
This allows me to work out more.
My life goals include: Be in the next Star Wars film.
Become worthy of you
If you’re the right woman for me, you’ll be giving and considerate. You won’t be afraid to laugh and will have a healthy aspect of life.
My ideal date would involve football in Australia with a pretty woman by my side.
I’m just a humble dude trying to make my way in the world. I cannot imagine why you’d want to date little old me. But if you think you might grow to love an ordinary, nice guy, don’t be scared to hit me up.
May the force be with you.
Yours hopefully
Jac Short
Probably not the best-looking message, but I would try to perfect it later.
Within just an hour of joining the account, young women had already messaged me.
“You’re so hot”
“I want to kiss you already!”
“Hey babe! Wanna hang with me?”
Others were too sexual to mention.
I decided to ignore the messages and go straight to Megan’s account. I sent her a message with this:
Hey, How ya doin’?
I read your profile and you seem thoughtful.
Do you like hiking? It’s one of my favorite things to do. If you’ve seen my profile, you’ll notice my noodly arms. I hope that won’t be a problem for you.
Looking through your photos, you look very charming and pretty.
I’ve been down lately. I had to put my dog down. Rover was getting too old and heavy. I’ll miss her.
I hope we can talk soon! See ya around!
Love
Jac Short
Hopefully, that message was convincing enough. Not too long after that, Megan responded with this:
“Hi, Jac!
Nice to meet you. You seem really sweet. I can tell by your photos that you’re a nice guy. Your arms aren’t noodly at all. They seem toned and hot. I’m sorry about your dog. I hope you find a new one that fills you with joy.
And no I’m not tactless! Hope to talk to you soon!
May the force be with you!
Xoxo Megan
I closed my laptop and took a deep breath. Am I doing the right thing? Is all of this worth hurting my daughter?
“What’cha doin’?” A familiar deep voice made me jump.
I turned around to face my husband, Harrison. “Geez! You scared me!”
“Sorry, hon.” He leaned in to kiss my lips. “I’m just wondering what you’re doin’.”
“Oh, just work.” I laughed.
“Oh, really?” he asked, suspicious, trying to look over my shoulder at my laptop. “It’s almost midnight. You’re usually done with work by eight.”
“How do you know my schedule?”
“You tell me the schedule every week.” He gave me a smirk. “Now, tell me what you’re up to, missy.” He looked over at my laptop and picked it up.
“No, Harrison! Wait!”
His eyes widened as he saw my profile. “Christine,” he started. “What is this?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. I couldn’t just explain to him what this was.
“Chris? What’s going on?”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. “I created a fake profile.” I whispered it.
“What?” he asked.
I finally faced him. “I created a fake profile. Okay?”
“W-why?”
“To spy on our daughter. She’s here talking to some guys online. So, I’m going to put a stop to it.”
“Oh, honey.” He facepalmed himself. “That’s not going to work. Why don’t you talk to her?”
“Like, where have you been? I have talked to her. But she won’t listen!”
“And you think creating a fake profile will get her to listen?”
“Well, what else can I do? I’ve tried everything!”
He pulled up a chair and sat down. “How about I talk to her?”
“Please. She won’t listen to you, either. And this fake account thing is working so far. She seems to be buying it.”
“Honey, I don’t like that you’re tricking our daughter. Why not just take the laptop away from her?”
“I should be trusting her enough for that. I talked to her about this. So, since she’s decided to disobey me, I’m going to have to teach her a lesson.”
He sighed. “Remind me again why I married you.”
I gave him my best doe-eyed face. “Because you love me?” I leaned on his shoulder.
“Sure,” he said sourly. “Seriously, honey. You need to shut this account down. I’ll talk to her about this.”
“And if she doesn’t listen?”
“Let her figure things out on her own. She’s a big girl, now.”
I sighed and closed my eyes. “Fine. I guess you’re right.”
“I am. Just let our little girl grow. Okay, honey? I’ll wait for you in bed.” He got up and kissed me on the top of my head. As he left, I opened the laptop back up. Megan sent me another message.
“Going to bed. Talk to you tomorrow?”
I hesitated. Should I keep doing this?
I guess one little message wouldn’t hurt.
I typed back.
“Sure. Good night gorgeous! ❤”
I closed the laptop and went to bed.
Thanks for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed it! Don’t forget to leave a comment and if you want, you can add a few tips on how to improve this.
This will be a series. Stay tuned for part 2!
Again, thank you! :)
Catfishing refers to the creation of a fictitious online persona or fake identity (typically on social networking platforms), commonly with malicious intent.[1] The “catfisher” usually presents themselves as a generally more attractive individual or as more attractive to a particular victim. This type of deception may serve various purposes, including financial gain, personal compromise, evasion of legal consequences, or trolling. Public awareness surrounding this practice has increased in recent years, which can be partially attributed to it becoming more common and as multiple celebrities have fallen victim to the practice.[2][3][4][5]
