Chapter 1

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It was a crisp morning of early Fall, with the sun barely coming over the horizon, casting a pinkish orange shadow through my two bedroom apartment.  The chill air was cool enough to make me stay under a blanket, holding on to every last feeling of the warm air. Knowing I had to get out of bed was a factor to want to go back to sleep, but because it was a Monday, I was determined to make an impression, get up on time, and go to work on my first day. Luckily because it was Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving were coming up. I was 23 years old and still loved to dress up for Halloween. Many people thought it was strange because I was single and had no kids, but I never cared what people thought because I always felt that no kids were the ultimate freedom after 4 years of college. 
    Praying my thanks to God that I lived alone, I took a deep breath and forced myself out from under the warm blankets. My phone buzzed as I started to get up. Rubbing my eyes from the recent slumber that had been interrupted by the alarm clock to my left, still flashing the time, I grabbed my phone off of the nightstand. Now with a rising headache, I opened the message and read it, “Hey, I had a good time last night, maybe we can do it again sometime?” Startled, I quickly typed out a response and read it over. “Who is this and what happened last night?” Before clicking send I thought of how it would sound to this random person that I was hoping was a guy.
    Cursing my drinking-induced problem the night before and the headache it caused, I put down my phone and ran across the cold floor, not waiting for a response that I knew would be waiting for me when I returned to the room.
    Finally making it to the bathroom after the confusing past ten minutes, I turned on the water to a warm-but-not-too-hot temperature and brushed my teeth. 
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    After getting out of the shower, I went to the closet that was tied off to the bathroom, sparing me from the agonizing cold, and the message I knew was waiting on my phone. Trying not to focus on the message, I tried to find something to wear. Since it was the first day, I was determined to make the best impression I could. The only problem is that most of my wardrobe was outdated because, like all of the phases that a teenager would go through, I didn’t start caring how I looked until I got this job. Probably because I had just got out of truly being a teenager and into adulthood with my first serious job. Thankfully, the day before I had gone to the store and bought a rich black skirt and a teal blouse, with flats. Allow me to explain that the last time I had worn heels, I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and fell into a man's arms. Which was good at first but then after I realized the night subsequently to our second date that he had a wife, I had the feeling of vomiting everywhere. I also soon realized that feeling would come true, as he had to buy a new shirt and explain to his wife why he just spent 90 bucks on a new dress shirt. I always assumed he probably lied about it, but I only try to think that I caused him problems after what he did to both his wife and me. 
    Snapping myself back to reality, I forced my legs to move back to my room to check my phone. As I had suspected before I sent the message, there was a response. 
“My name is Jasper Price, and last night you told me that you were out with a few friends celebrating your new job,” Well that would explain my headache as suspected, “So I offered to buy you a couple drinks. Soon enough, you were too intoxicated to drive home and I took you home. I was assuming that you would be okay and my assumption was correct in the fact that you are aware and alert proves my point. If you don’t trust me, meet me for lunch today at the cafe on Main Street and if you really don't trust me as I can probably conclude you don’t,  you can tell somebody you work with to expect you back after your lunch break, and unless you call, to call the cops and report you missing. At least consider it?” 
    He was right about me not trusting him. I started to type out a response, but before I could, my alarm that came up on my phone. Startled, I nearly threw my phone across the room. Thankful the wretched alarm had stopped me from texting anything, I went to work thinking about what I was going to do.

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I will be updating as much as possible between the next year or so. This has been my dream to write this so please let me know what you think!

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