Page 11 of Vows From Hell

I was an adult, yet they continued to treat me like a child. Of course, in their eyes, I’d gone through a traumatic event and they wanted to show their support. But the line between support and suffocation was thin, and they seemed to use that line as a jump rope.

Much to my surprise, the door wasn’t locked.

I peeked outside, only to see a poorly lit hallway. At the end of the hall, there was a staircase leading up. Not a single window.

So it was a basement.

With shaky hands, I started walking toward the stairs, until I found myself staring at a door.

Reluctantly, my hand reached for the knob and the door swung open swiftly.

Now this was something I didn’t expect.

Something I never would’ve expected.

The room itself was small. It was supposed to be a living room with a kitchen on the side, but that wasn’t what caught my eye.

The walls were filled with me.

As in, with pictures of me.

They went back to my kindergarten years, to quite literally yesterday. Some were taken with a good quality camera, whereas others seemed to be screenshots of street security footage.

There were even pictures of me asleep in the comfort of my home.

All my accomplishments were on full display. A copy of my master’s degree, a picture of me at a signing event, from the numerous interviews I had — all of it was there.

On the right side was a bookshelf.

The upper side held all my books. From my debut to my recent release, signed copies, limited editions, and even multiple copies of each novel.

The lower side had binders titled with every bit of research I had done since starting to teach at the university. The prettiest binder was the one I did on Micah, and that made me chuckle.

I didn’t realize that I approached the shelf until the binder was in my hands, opened, with me sitting on the marble tiles.

This research wasn’t publicly available. I did it to help my students. It was a project. I gave each of them a copy and their assignment was to find something new, to give me their theories.

Of course, it was just a cover up to see if I’d missed anything.

However, I was yet to get their assignments back. The deadline was December first, which meant that Micah either bribed one of the students and took it, or he was present while I was spreading the sheets.

There was no way I would’ve missed him in the amphitheater, right?

Right?

I closed the binder and returned it to where it was, before taking a small stroll around the room.

It was a little creepy that he had this entire room dedicated to me, but on the other hand, I was overjoyed by the fact he hadn’t forgotten about me. He kept a close watch on me at all times, and soon enough, the happiness turned into anger.

Why the fuck didn’t he come to me, then?

Evidently, he was everywhere. He had access to my apartment, despite me living in a high-security building. It wasn’t just one picture of me sleeping, it was multiple, taken on different occasions.

Some were even from my classroom.

The asshole was right under my nose this whole time, yet I didn’t notice him.

He didn’t want to be noticed.