Fear

Prologue

My name is Emily Parker, and this is my story.

A story of kidnapping. Torture. Loneliness. Guilt. Survival. And, most of all — Fear.

It's been almost five years since the night I was taken.

Five years since I met him.

Five years since everything I thought I knew about the world — about safety, about control — was ripped away from me.

He found me in a club. I didn't know him then. But I remember him. I remember the way he watched me. The way he spoke to me, the way something inside me recoiled before I even understood why.

I remember everything — too well.

Some memories fade over time. But the worst ones? The ones that cut deepest?

They never leave you. They live in your bones. Behind your eyes. In the silence between your heartbeats.

He turned out to be a monster.

When I was five years old, I thought monsters lived under the bed. I used to check for them every night. Now I know better.

Monsters don't hide under your bed.

They stand beside you at bars. They smile at you on buses. They hold the door open for you, ask you questions, and listen to your answers.

They can be charming. Kind. They can make you feel seen. They can whisper cruel taunts or soft promises, and make you question everything you once knew about right and wrong.

They can be inside your home. In your bed. They can touch you with hands that once hurt you, and speak to you in a voice that sounds like comfort, even when it's full of lies.

Monsters wear masks. And the most dangerous ones make you forget they're wearing one at all.

People like to believe they'd never fall for it. That they'd never be the one. That they're too smart, too strong, or too careful.

I thought that too.

Until I wasn't.

For five years, I've carried the weight of what happened like a constant pain in my chest. I buried the memories as deep as I could, locked them away, told myself it was over. That I'd survived, and that surviving was enough.

But survival isn't the end of the story.

It's only the beginning.

Three weeks ago, I asked him for a journal. He gave it to me — curious, maybe even amused — probably expecting me to use it like a diary. To scribble down the thoughts of my day. He never asked what I planned to write.

Truth is, I didn't know either. I thought I'd jot down the usual things. Small observations. Passing moments. But the second my pen hit the page, I wasn't here anymore.

I was back in that club. Back in that moment. Back in that night when everything went dark.

So this journal will be more than a diary. It will be my reckoning.

He thinks I won't publish it. Maybe he's right. But I want to. Someday.

Because this story isn't just mine.

This story belongs to every girl who was told to smile when she was afraid. To every person who ignored the red flags. To every voice that was silenced too soon.

I need to tell it. All of it. Because keeping it buried has become unbearable.

Maybe writing it down will set it free. Maybe it'll set me free, too.

So I'll start at the very beginning.

The night I met him.

The night I lost everything I thought I knew about the world.

The night I met the man who would ruin me in every way a person can be ruined...

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