Closing Books

Chapter 1 - Part 1

Evelyn stared at the phone number displayed on the screen of her vibrating cell phone. The originally unfamiliar number had become a source of fear and was probably the cause of the migraine she'd been suffering from.

She buried her face in her hands and let the phone vibrate a few more times before sighing and picking it up.

"I thought you were going to ignore my call," the monotonous voice said.

Tightening her grip on the phone, Evelyn clenched her jaws. She took a deep breath and quietly cleared her throat of the frustration that had lodged itself there before replying. "What do you want?"

"Money, of course. I've run out."

"I'm not your bank."

"You can always say no. But I can't say you'll like what follows."

Evelyn shut her eyes and reminded herself to take slow, deep breaths. All she wanted to do was to smash her phone into the wall and leave, to disappear to a place where no one knew her.

If only life was that easy.

"How much do you want?"

"Three thousand. Six o'clock, same place."

Evelyn ended the call without another word. Leaning back against the chair, she shut her eyes and swallowed hard. Crying wouldn't solve the problem. She needed a solution; she needed to think.

She had contemplated on making a police report, but that meant revealing the secret she'd so adamantly refused to speak of. She had thought of changing her phone number so she could live in denial. Perhaps things would simply return to normal as long as she could no longer be reached.

But as much as she tried to convince herself, she knew things wouldn't just vanish by feigning ignorance.

Since receiving the first call less than a month ago, Evelyn's bank account had been set back by over six thousand dollars, and there didn't seem to be an end to it.

Straightening herself, she stared at the photos playing as the default screensaver on her laptop, photos taken on her best friend's wedding. She stared blankly at the pictures from Kate's wedding, seeing smile after smile until a photo of her and Dan appeared.

Evelyn tilted her head back and took a deep breath, but tears still went tumbling down her cheeks. Tears stemmed from the nostalgia of joy she'd felt in the picture; a joy that seemed so far away and unattainable at the moment.

Life had been good since she got out of the foster system. She had worked hard, and now she had a successful career and a great life.

She had thought that if she were to keep her past a secret, she could bury it deep enough that someday she'd completely forget about it.

Thus far, time had proven her theory to be entirely wrong. Ghosts of the past had a way of haunting one no matter how much one had changed.

After so many years, Evelyn thought her past was so far behind that the only remnant of it was in her mind.

Again, she was wrong.

She was beginning to doubt if she would ever be free from the past she couldn't shake.

There was a simple solution, and she knew it.

All she had to do was to spill the beans. If everyone knew what had happened, the blackmailer wouldn't have anything to threaten her with.

It should have been an easy thing to do.

All those things happened so many years ago. But even after a decade, it was difficult for her to open up and talk about what had happened to her or what she had done.

Kate was the only one who knew her secret, and Evelyn was sure that Kate would never reveal it to anyone unless she allowed it.

Before, she had kept it a secret because she didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to discuss it with anyone and relive her nightmare.

Now, even though she didn't want to admit it, the truth behind her silence was her hope to keep Dan from ever finding out what she'd done.

She'd battled with the decision of telling Dan in order to end everything once and for all, but the resolve to do so always disappeared before it ever took root in her heart.

Each time she made up her mind to tell Dan, fear would creep in.

Fear, with its sneaky little voice, would tell her that Dan would never accept her after what she'd done and that he would be disgusted with her.

The little voice, which seemed ridiculous in the beginning, began to grow louder until she could no longer ignore it.

Soon, the voice in her mind dropped into her heart, and she was convinced that Dan would scorn her when he found out what had happened.

Though she was no longer seeing Dan, though they were never officially dating, she couldn't bear the thought of Dan finding out her past. She couldn't bear to see his reaction.

It didn't take much for the fear to convince her that she was alone in this matter. No one, not Dan, not Kate, would want to be involved with her shady past.

Brusquely, she wiped the tears on the back of her hand and picked up her bag by the side of the table. Another trip to the bank was necessary.

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I'm sorry I took so long to get to this! I've been so busy working on my new series that I completely forgot. SORRY! 😅 I've added reminders to my calendar so I'll be publishing new parts regularly!

New part will be uploaded every week! Do vote and add to your reading list if you enjoyed this!