Daddy's Little Girl (Complete book- limited time only)

Chapter four: Broken Spirit

Brandy Page sits at home, searching for a job. Her planned temporary leave of absence from A.C.T.S. took a turn for the worse, and ended up being a permanent vacation. The worst part is, they didn't even give her a reason. All she got was a phone call, stating: effective that day, she was terminated. She didn't even argue with the management; she figured it was better off that way.

In today's economy finding work isn't easy. After months of searching she is no closer to finding a job than the moment she was relieved of her duties at the security firm. Brandy has resorted to eating only once a day, usually a piece of bread, and some soup. She is losing weight and won't be able to survive like this much longer. She walks most places, or takes a bus when she needs to go further into town. Meanwhile, her bills are piling up; every day, new late payment notices arrive in the mail. Her unemployment check barely covers the utility bills. Her chance of keeping her apartment is slim. She has used most of her savings to pay her rent. Her credit cards are maxed out, and the banks won't give her another loan.

Some good news has come in the midst of her current unemployment misfortune. It has been nearly five months, and she hasn't been harassed, no new gifts, or notes. The investigation into the stalker had been dropped, coincidently, right about the same time Brandy was dropped from her employment. The Human Resources team in charge of the investigation told her their leads had gone cold and there was not enough evidence to continue the case. They assured her, whoever was behind it, was probably just playing around.

As she shuffles through the classifieds, Brandy's stress level is at its peak. Suddenly, she hears a thump just outside her door. She quickly grabs her gun from the top drawer of the desk. She listens a moment, and hears only silence seeping under the door. Noticing the clock, it points to an obvious explanation. It's nearly noon, and right on schedule for the mailman to be delivering.

Still, not quite a trusting person, she approaches the door with her gun in hand. Slowly opening it, she sees no one is within the corridor of the small apartment building.

A small box rests on her door mat. She immediately thinks of the stalker. Her anxiety swells and forces her already high level of stress to its bursting point. Reluctantly, she picks the package up and returns to her desk.

Brandy pulls out the business card Officer Ronald Travis had given her the last time she received a gift. Her eyes jump from the box, to the business card, to the box, and back again. She hesitates opening the box because deep in her gut, she knows it was from her stalker. But, she thinks, What if it isn't from him? She can't report it to the police without opening the box first.

The sharp edge of a knife slices the brown packing tape easily. Her hands shake nervously the closer she gets to learning what mysterious contents await her discovery. Upon pulling the flaps of cardboard open, she sees bubble wrap. Pulling the loose pieces of plastic out, she unveils her A.C.T.S. security badge. It has been broken, or cut, into seven pieces. A letter sits folded at the bottom of the box.

A deep sigh prepares Brandy for what she knows will be nothing less than sickening. She unfolds the letter, and just like all the others, it is written in all capital letters, in red ink:

HELLO BRANDY, HAVE YOU MISSED ME? I BET YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SAFE. YOU'RE NOT! JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T WORK FOR A.C.T.S. ANY LONGER, DOESN'T MEAN I'M FINISHED WITH YOU.

I HOPE YOU LIKE THE GIFT. I HAVE TAKEN THE LIBERTY OF DIVIDING YOUR BADGE INTO SEVEN PIECES. THE SYMBOLIC MEANING IS SIMPLE. THE PIECES OF THE BADGE REPRESENT YOUR BROKEN SPIRIT. AND SOON, THEY WILL REPRESENT YOUR BODY, WHEN I CUT YOU INTO SEVEN PIECES. I'LL BE WATCHING YOU.

Brandy feels as if she was being watched at this very moment. Her skin crawls as the hairs on her neck stand to attention.

She quickly dials the number on Ronald Travis's business card.