Twenty Years - A Prologue

She opened the door to hundreds of roses. She knew they were from him; he had found her. Camille had been running from him for twenty years. She had finally began to feel as though she was safe; that he was no longer looking for her when she arrived in the town of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

She had been in the town for almost three years when the bouquet of flowers showed up. It came as a shock, knowing that he hadn’t forgotten about her; he still had her in his thoughts. When the roses arrived, Camille had come to the realization that she had to leave. She was no longer safe.

The second Camille opened her door, she slammed it shut and locked it tightly. Panic crossed through her eyes as she stumbled towards her house phone calling the one person she knew she could trust with the information of the man following her. The phone rang four times before the person on the other line picked up with Camille telling them to come over quick and make sure no one follows them.

As she waited for her friend to get to her house, Camille grabbed a suitcase from under her bed and started throwing random items of clothing into it. When a knock appeared to start on the front door, she jumped up and looked through the peephole making sure it was who she thought it was. Camille sighed a breath of relief knowing it was Raven behind the door. Camille instantly opened the barrier between the two before swiftly closing it back up.

“What’s going on,” Raven questioned knowing that something was up judging by all of the roses by the front door, the rushed call, and the face of worry on her best friend.

“There’s something I haven’t told you about my past and it’s coming back to haunt me,” The scared girl declared as her hands trembled.

“Hey, it’s okay. You can tell me whatever’s going on.”

“You might want to sit down for this, it’s a long story.” Camille states as her and Raven settle down onto the couch. “When I was thirteen years old, I watched my parents die in front of me. This man was obsessed with my mother, always sending roses to our house for her. My mom didn’t like him the way he liked her. She was in love with my father and this guy couldn’t get over this fact. When he finally came to the realization that my mother would never go out with him, he decided that nobody else could love her either. On October fourteenth, my mother’s stalker broke into my home. It was late at night so I was in my room asleep while my parents were still up watching some random show in the living room.

"I remember waking up to arguing coming from downstairs. Being the curious teenager that I was, I snuck out of my bedroom and stood on the stairs when I saw my parents with the man. He had a gun out and it was pointed at my mom. My father was screaming and she was sobbing. I can still picture everything that happened. He clicked the trigger on the gun and suddenly, it all happened so fast. My dad ran to protect my mom and he took the shot. When the man realized who he killed, he knew he messed up. My mother was weeping as she fell to the ground hugging his dead body. I was in absolute shock, I didn’t know what to do. He shot my mom right after before walking out the front door. I could hear the police sirens getting closer as someone must of heard the shots and called but that didn’t stop the man from glancing over his shoulder as he left. He made eye contact with me but knew there was no time to kill me.

“For the past twenty years, I have been on the run from the man that killed my parents. Arriving here, I finally started to feel like I was safe until today. He found me, Raven. He sent me all of those roses. I have not smiled a real smile for twenty years because of this killer. I am full of scars and broken beyond repair. I need to leave before he kills me.”

By the end of Camille’s speech, she is crying and shaking with fear. Raven holds onto her best friend, worried for her safety and what’s to come.

“Hey. Listen to me. You need to go to the police, they need to know about this creep because I’m not letting you leave this town. This is your home now. This is where you have so many friends and people who love and care for you. We aren’t going to let you leave,” Raven consoles Camille.

“I can’t go to the police, Raven! It won’t help. I need to get away from here before he kills you. Nothing will stop him from killing the people in my life. The last time he discovered where I was living, he killed my neighbor who was protecting me.”

“Running won’t stop him from killing, Cami. This man is insane. It’s better to tell the police and let them handle this than to hide for the rest of your life.”

“I’m scared. I can’t let him hurt you or Kate and especially not Ethan. None of you deserve to have to deal with this.”

“Do you really think Ethan, Kate, and I are going to let you leave? We aren’t. You are too important to us and Ethan loves you too much to let you be on your own. We are with you,” Raven states to Camille as she wipes away her tears.

“How do I even begin to tell them what I just told you? It was hard enough just mentioning it to you.”

“I’m going to call them over and we’ll tell them together, okay? We’re going to get through this. Together.”

“Okay.”