Chapter 2 One

Her alarm blasted through her phone. She was already awake, she let it ring a few more times. She wanted something that would fill the silence of her room. She had been dreaming again, this time he was chasing her and he caught up to her. She shuddered as she relived the part where he smothered the life out of her, that was when she opened her eyes, sweating and out of breath, she continued to lay there till her alarm rang.

She looked at her bedside clock, it read 7:05, she needed to get ready for her early morning runs. She dragged herself out of bed, made herself a cup of coffee, got dressed, and headed out.

When she got back she checked her answering machine for messages, she had only two and they were from her best friends, she played them, "Hey Stella, it's Ellie, so um, would you be available tonight?, Eloise and I wanted to come over", Stella groaned as she heard it. She loved her friends but they could be a huge pain in the ass. She was sure they just wanted to drag her to one of their silly rich people's parties.

She opened her laptop and started to work on her blog when she saw an email with an unknown ID. "And who might this be", she said as she clicked open the mail. It read:

They can't keep us apart, my peach.

M.

My Peach. She almost threw up in her mouth. The writer was the subject of her nightmares, the reason she was always looking over her shoulder whenever she was walking on the street. She knew it was him, Frederick , her boyfriend she broke up with while she was in San Francisco. She found out that he had been secretly stalking her and keeping tabs on her relationships, especially making sure she didn't keep any male friends. When she confronted him about it, he either became defensive or changed the topic.

Regardless, her complaints were like adding fuel to fire because after she complained about it, he became even worse. He became possessive and obsessed with controlling her every move. He kept telling her, "We are meant to be together forever my peach, no one can ever keep us apart".

One Sunday evening, she had enough, "I can't continue like this Frederick , I'm barely living a life, you're taking everything away from me", she was on the verge of tears.

"What are you talking about?", he asked with a bored expression on his face.

"This!", she nearly screamed, "our whole relationship Frederick , us!, don't you see?, you're suffocating me, I can't continue to live by your rules like this",

Suddenly, his face lost all its expression, "so what are you saying Stella?", he said and stood up, towering over her, in earlier times she used to look up at him and relish on how much taller than her he was. Now, all that she felt was fear.

"I'm j... Ju...just.. just saying that maybe we need to take a break", she looked up at him, "I know you say we are meant to be forever Frederick , but I don't think it's gonna work out".

"So you want to leave me, my peach?", he said as he started inching towards her slowly.

She started to back away, "honestly Frederick , I just think it's for the best, maybe we weren't meant to b-".

She was cut short by the sound of his hand hitting her across her face. Her flesh burned from the stinging sensation. Her ears were ringing. She was shocked.

"Oh no my peach, look what you made me do", Frederick said as he took her into his arms and started to comfort her, his voice had softened, it was like he took on a new personality like he was no longer the Frederick that hit her just two seconds ago.

She was stunned, she couldn't speak for some time. She just let him carry her and set her on the couch. Then she finally managed, "you hit me?", she said shakily.

"No my peach I swear I didn't mean to", he said with tears already forming in his eyes, "it's just that you wanted to leave me, peaches, that's not the plan, we are inevitable my love, don't you see?".

"You hit me Frederick ?", her tears were running freely now.

"I'll never do it again I swear it, this would be the last time I'll ever lay my hands on you my peach, I love you so much".

'The last time' happened four more times until she mustered the strength to file a restraining order. Even still, that didn't stop him. He kept leaving messages for her, some threatening, some inquiring about her well-being, and others, asking for weird photos of her feet.

After some time she made sure he got into rehab and decided to leave San Francisco because she couldn't stand to be wherever he was, no matter how far.

She decided Manhattan was far enough, so she and her best friends decided to move. It was a good decision, she thought to herself. At least she was far enough from her traumatic life, and she could apply for her dream job at Moments , Manhattan 's biggest magazine.

Thinking back to all that happened, she realized she wasn't far enough, Frederick would still haunt her dreams and keep her on her toes.

Ding!

Another email came in, from the same ID, with shaky hands, she reluctantly opened it. She froze, with her eyes almost popping out of her sockets, she couldn't believe what she was reading, "no, no, no, no, no, NO!, oh god no".

We're gonna be together again, sooner than you think. I'm coming for you, my peach.

M.

********************************

"So, what do you say, Stella, will you come with us?", Ellie asked. Stella knew it, they just wanted to invite her to a party.

"C'mon Stella, it'll be fun, and lord knows, you need to get out more, you're just always stuck in this apartment", Eloise, Ellie's twin sister said.

They were Stella's best friends since college.

"Guys, I got a lotta work to do", Stella said as she thought of what to say next, "I mean, I haven't written anything on my blog for the past few weeks, I haven't even gone on there today", she knew she was lying, but she didn't want to have the twins panicking over something that might be a prank. She silently hoped someone was playing a cruel prank on her, just for laughs.

"Oh please, your readers should get a life", Ellie scoffed, "and besides, didn't you apply for that writing job with Moments ?",

"Yeah",

"So it's settled then, you're gonna get that job and you're gonna come with us to the party to celebrate", Eloise said.

Stella laughed, "that doesn't even make any sense".

"It does to us, and besides, all the wealthy hotties are gonna be there", Ellie said gushing with excitement.

"And by wealthy hotties, she means Grayson Stone". Eloise said, giving her sister a knowing look.

"Umm... who's Grayson Stone again?", Stella asked.

Surprised, they simultaneously turned and looked at Stella with their mouths agape, "bitch you better be joking".