Adventure of a Lifetime

Chapter 1- Online Affair

The sun was shining brightly through the pale curtains hanging in front of the balcony doors leading into Sarah's bedroom. It had been sunny every day for 3 weeks. Not a single drop of rain. That's how Sarah liked it. She loved the feeling of the sun covering her skin, making the pale hair on her arms stand up and makes a tingling sensation make its way up her arms and across her face.

Sarah was stirring from a light sleep in her memory foam king sized bed. She hasn't slept well. Her nightmares had gotten worse. It was always the same. Someone followed her everywhere she went. She didn't know who it was or what they wanted, all she knew was that they frightened her. She would often wake herself up with her loud, piercing screams of fear, sweat pouring off of her from the excessive movement during her nightmare. She would instantly start having a panic attack when she woke up because she thought the mystery man was still near. When she realises it was just a nightmare, her breathing starts to slow and her heart stops beating at a million miles an hour. Last nights nightmare was the worse to date. She could feel the guy getting closer and closer to her and that feeling scared her to the pit of her stomach. It made her feel physically sick. She woke up dazed. She looked up at the blank ceiling trying to think of the reason why this person was tormenting her unconscious hours. She couldn't think of anything. She hadn't upset anyone as far as she was aware. No one hated her so why was this guy following her every move. Was it revenge? Hated? Or something else? Sarah didn't want to think about it anymore. It was sending her head into an endless spin.

Sarah removed the duvet covers so she could get out of bed and get ready for work. She walked to the bathroom, stripped off her pyjamas and jumped into the shower to clean her body from all the sweat that was dripping down her body. Sarah had been told by a lot of people that she was overweight. The words "You're fat!" used to make her upset and burst into tears but not anymore. Sarah had realised that life was too short to worry about what people thought of you and she had realised that you couldn't make everyone happy. Sarah had grown to like her body. She wasn't fat but she was on the curvy side with ample sized breasts and long legs. To a lot of men she was seen to have a sexy and seductive figure. Although to Sarah these men were few and hard to find. She'd never had a serious relationship and she hasn't gone on a date in months. She was beginning to give up hope that the man of her dreams was still out there somewhere. She washed her hair and body and jumped out of the shower to dry herself off.

'Hmmm, what to wear?' she thought whilst mentally preparing an outfit that was suitable for work. Sarah worked at the local arts and crafts store just off highway 11 and had worked there for 2 years now. Once she had dried herself completely, she walked into the bedroom and walked towards the closet where she kept all her clothes and shoes. She opened the doors and picked out a purple long-sleeved top and a pair of black skinny jeans. She then started to browse her collection of shoes. She was stuck for choice between a pair of plain black pumps and a pair of black converses. After 5 minutes, she finally decided on the converses for comfort. She had a long shift today so she wanted her feet to be as comfortable as possible. She walked over to her vanity mirror so she could apply her make up. Not too much, plain but enough to hide the bags underneath her brown eyes. She brushed her long, straight black hair into a tight bun and walked downstairs to get a quick breakfast. She popped a couple pieces of bread into the toaster whilst she poured herself some juice from the fridge. When the toaster pinged, she buttered the toast, drank the orange juice and grabbed her keys from the counter. She then made her way down the hall and out of the front door. Once she was out the door, she nibbled on the toast as she walked to her red Chevrolet. She hopped in, started the engine and drove to work.

She got to work a few minutes early so she opened up and waited for her colleagues. They walked in a few minutes later, saying "Morning and happy birthday by the way Sarah!"
I was so confused as to why they were saying happy birthday, but then I realised what day it was....it was my 21st birthday. Inside I started freaking out. Where had the time gone? It felt like only yesterday that I had turned 20 years old! My colleagues must have realised something was wrong as they started asking me if I was alright and they were telling me to take a seat. I caught my reflection in the mirror and I saw my ghostly white face. I sat down and took deep breaths to calm myself down. My stomach flipped and I ran to the restroom to throw up. I don't know why I felt sick. Was it because I hadn't done anything but work for the last year? Was it the fact that I was getting older everyday and I couldn't do anything about it? I went with the latter as it seemed like the most reasonable explanation. I cleaned myself up and walked out of the restroom where I came face to face with my manager.

"You don't seem well Sarah, why don't you take the day off?" Bill asked.
"No sir, I can't there's so much to do! It's the busiest day of the season!" I replied desperately.

I didn't want to go home as I'd just be bored. I was used to working everyday. It kept my mind wandering to the dark places. I wouldn't be able to sleep, I get distracted too easy so watching tv wasn't an option either.

"I insist Sarah! It is your birthday after all. You've worked hard the past 2 years. The least you deserve is at least one day off" he said persuasively.
"Fine. Thank you sir" I replied reluctantly.

I grabbed my keys and made my way out of the store and to my car. I took the slower, longer drive home. It took me all of 45 minutes. On my way back I saw many happy couples, kissing and holding hands. It made me start to think why I wasn't in a relationship myself and what I was doing wrong. When I got in I threw my keys on to the counter and went to sit on the grey couch. I put my head back and close my eyes and thought about what happened at work. 5 minutes had passed when I came back to reality. I had nothing better to do, so I got up, got the laptop and sat back on the couch. I powered it up and opened the web browser. I started searching things like; why am I single, why don't guys like me? Am I attractive?; when I came across an ad for a dating site called eHarmony. I sat back and considered if this was a realistic way of finding a suitable partner. Even if it didn't lead to anything serious, she might have a few dates out of it or even make some friends. She decided it was a good idea and she clicked on the link to the website. She created herself a profile where she uploaded a new photo of herself, typed in her personal details like her name and age and wrote a brief description of herself. Once she created the profile, she waited for people to contact her. Her profile got a few views within the first half hour but there was no friend requests or messages. Nothing. She started regretting her decision, thinking that it might have been a bad idea. She walked to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea to cheer herself up at the thought of the fact she might spend the rest of her life alone. Just then she heard a beeping noise. She remembered the laptop! She ran back and saw that she had a message and a friend request from someone called Scott Lewis.

She sat down and started to type out a reply. She hesitated as she didn't want to come across as desperate. After a minute, she decided on just a simple "Hello" and "How are you?". She clicked send and waited for a reply. To her surprise he replied instantly. For the next few hours they spoke constantly without a minutes break. They spoke about their likes, dislikes, hobbies, favourite music and favourite films. They had a lot in common. She went on to his profile and looked at it closely. She looked at his profile picture. He was very attractive. She started doubting herself, thinking 'does this guy actually like me or is he just playing me?' She found herself blushing at the sight of him and what he had said to her. He has said that she was beautiful and that her brown eyes looked so innocent and pure. For the rest of the day she couldn't stop thinking about him. He was making her feel giddy and she started feeling like a little schoolgirl again. She felt a strong connection between them already and they'd only just met, but she felt like she'd known him for years. She thought, who is this Scott Lewis?