My Neighbor Repainted My Car Pink, but I Had No Proof – Karma Struck Her the Very Next Day
"Christine, wait."
"No."
"Please."
That word stopped me for half a second.
I had never heard Denise say it to me.
She stepped closer.
"I'll pay for the car."
"You should have offered that two weeks ago."
"I was stupid."
"You were cruel."
Her face crumpled.
Not dramatically.
It happened slowly.
Like all the anger had finally run out.
"Sabrina found the pink paint on my clothes," she admitted. "She kept asking questions. I told her it was nothing."
I glanced back at the frozen security cafar footage.
"She figured it out."
Denise nodded.
"She saw your car yesterday afternoon. Then she called me last night."
"What did she say?"
Denise gave a miserable laugh.
"She said if I wanted to behave like a child, she'd make sure I understood what it felt like."
I looked toward the driveway.
Suddenly the white car made sense.
It was not random vandalism.
It was a message.
I still called the police.
Denise did not try to stop me again.
When the officer arrived, I showed him the footage.
Sabrina later admitted what she had done and accepted responsibility for damaging Denise's car.
More importantly, Denise admitted what she had done to mine.
The officers took statements from both of us.
The situation became expensive and embarrassing very quickly.
I did not enjoy that part as much as I thought I would.
For almost a year, I had imagined how satisfying it would feel to finally prove Denise was behind everything.
Instead, I mostly felt tired.
A few days later, Denise knocked on my door again.
This time, she was dressed.
She was also calm.
"I brought you something."
She handed me an envelope.
Inside was a check covering the first estimate for repairing my car.
"I'll pay anything else insurance doesn't cover," she said.
