Chapter 1
My life is over… Everyone thinks I killed Mia, my best friend, and my neighbor. I don't know what to do nor where to go. All I know is that I didn't kill her. I was in her house, but I didn't do it and I didn't even see who the killer is.
The police are searching for me everywhere, and I don't know how to get them to believe me…
I need to run… I need to go away before I die for something I didn't even do… And when I come back, I will not be Sky Parker. After making a fake ID, I will come back here to search for the killer of my best friend...
~
'5 years later'
“Finally, we're here,” I said to Jenny, my roommate.
“Yeah, finally!” she sighed, stretching her body from the 15-hour trip we had. “Hey Roze, you still didn't tell me why you insisted on getting a house here in Colorado instead of just staying in Chicago…”
Jenny is my friend. I met her soon after I got to Chicago and now we are inseparable. Many people back in Chicago thought we were childhood friends, but in reality, we are not. We met five years ago, and from the first meeting, we became friends.
“I will tell you soon jenny just be patient,” I told her, and she, being such a great friend, dropped it and gave me my space to tell her when I feel like it.
We got to our little house and settled in. Then, jenny had to get out and buy us food because we were starving, and we both knew that I was too lazy to go with her. Now, I was left alone to explore the house freely. That's when I saw him...
Edward… Leaning against the door of his own house watching a dog, and playing with it.
Edward was a friend of mine. I knew him before I even knew Mia, and he was my best friend just like her. The three of us did everything together until I was framed for Mia's murder… He ditched me just like everyone else, even my family.
I didn't know anything about him from the day he told me that he was disgusted of me and how he can't even look at my face now... I heard that he moved away after a week from my disappearance, and I didn't know that he came back...
This is bad... he must not see me... Even though I did change my appearance, I must not let him see me until I prove my innocence, or he might recognize me and get me back into the troubles I once escaped.
I closed the curtains on the window facing Edward's house and proceeded to explore the house pushing his face and my past to the back of my mind for now. As if on cue, Jenny returned with the food as my stomach grumbled with hunger.
We ate, played, and sang our hearts out, but someone knocked on the door, interrupting us from our sweet time.
I opened the door and found someone I didn't expect at all smiling down at me.
Edward was here, and I was on the verge of a heart attack when he said, 'Hi, I'm Edward your neighbor. It's a pleasure to meet you.'
I controlled my thoughts and told myself to calm down in order not to make him notice that I was panicking. I can't even believe I'm about to have a panic attack again after four years of being totally fine.
“Hi, I'm Roze, and this is my best friend Jenny. Nice to meet you. Come on in.” I said, shaking his hand.
He got in and as soon as we sat down together I started thinking about all the things that could go wrong while he is here. The thoughts only made my skin crawl in fear, and I started to feel dizzy right before he started speaking to me.
“Hey, Roze are you okay? You look a little pale.” He asked.
“I'm okay, don't worry. I just need some water.” I replied and went to get the water but froze in my spot on hearing him say “you look familiar, Roze. Have I seen you before anywhere?"
“No, I don't think so,” I said almost immediately which I'm sure made him feel that I'm lying and then I walked away.
I was terrified of him recognizing who I was and didn't want to go out again now. He would see right through my façade of lies and catch my stupid act in no time.
I stayed in the kitchen for some time just thinking of my future if he recognized me, and my breath was coming in short pants now, but jenny shook me out of my trance when she came to see if there is something wrong with me and found me extremely pale and shaking. Just when Edward appeared behind her, I felt a tingling sensation all over my body and a familiar lack of air that I haven't felt for four years.
Then everything started to close in on me and I felt that I'm dying. My heart was beating so hard that I felt it almost leap out of my chest. The tears were streaming all over my face and all of a sudden I found Edward in front of me trying to calm me down and Jenny was holding a cup of water and a cup of orange juice and tried to give me the glasses one by one, but my struggling for air made me knock both of the glasses out of her hand.
It felt like eternity before my breath slowed down and I was able to recognise my surroundings once more. Everything was blurry and hazy in my mind and they managed to take me to my room before I collapsed on the bed and went into deep slumber because of the exhaustion of the panic attack.
AN: this is my first trial in writing so please bear with me, and criticize whatever you feel should be improved. Thanks a lot.