(A) Prologue: Never EndingThat's it. Is this how I will die? At the hands of a psychopath? Truly? Couldn't I just die an old woman in my sleep? Couldn't I leave peacefully? Of course not. My life doesn't work like that. The worst things imaginable appear and leave scars that will never heal. Even with time. They might be easier to deal with, but they never heal. And I will never be able to forget it. It is imprinted in the memory. Forever. I guess with what's going to happen to me I don't have to worry about the scars this will leave behind. Because I'll be dead. God, I don't want to die, Have I survived this long only to be beaten by a psychopath with a knife? From the other side of the stone wall a piercing scream is heard. It echoes inside me making me shiver with terror. I can't be here. This can't be true, but I knew who was next. I. Out of everyone in California, he chooses me as one of his pawns. I don't understand what you find so attractive about me. God, I can never catch a break. Another shriek from his new victim echoes through this cold, damp, miserable hell. Soon I will be the one making those sounds. Those pleas for mercy. Feeling the unbearable pain that will never end. I clap my hand over my mouth to keep the whimpering at bay. Tears fill the edges of my eyes and threaten to spill. I was a dam ready to burst. A slight disturbance and the water came pouring out. My walls would come crashing down along with every emotion I'm trying to suppress will come flooding out. Breathe. Just breathe. Don't let *him* see your fear, that's his whole modus operandi. That's what turns him on. Don't let him win. He *can't* see you like this. He can't know that fear exists... in the middle of the paper... and on and on. I've had enough. I slide out of bed and turn on the lamp on the bedside table next to me. I dragged myself into the bathroom and turned on that light too. I start running cold water and splash myself in the face several times. I put my nervous and trembling hands on the counter, gripping it tightly. My knuckles start to turn white. I take another deep breath, inhale and exhale. I look in the mirror and see how big of a mess I looked. My brown locks in frizzy tufts. Makeup smeared under the eyes. I looked like something from Night of the Living Dead. Ugh, this nightmare has to end, but it never ends and every time I close my eyes I see those deep green eyes staring back at me. I know I shouldn't be afraid, it was just a dream, but it seems so real and something in those eyes is very familiar to me. Like it was someone I knew...