Followed ✓

27

I didn't know it at the time, but there was a man in my neighborhood who lived a few blocks from my house and was known for getting on the wrong side of the police a few times. Frank had been in and out of prison, and - as luck would have it - he was in need of some 'help' for a job. It promised more money than we could make in a month, so my dad volunteered. He signed away his conscience in a last-ditch effort to keep my family together.

What he didn't realize was that it would drive my family apart. My mom died two weeks after he signed up with Frank, but he was already in too deep. Debt from her medical care and funeral made it impossible to stay afloat, so he stuck with it. I think he felt guilty about everything, about losing the love of his life, and he thought he was making it up to us.

After a routine deal went south, however, a few innocent bystanders were caught in the crossfire. Two people were killed, including a fifteen-year-old kid, leaving the cops on the lookout for the men behind their deaths. Even though my dad swears he wasn't the one who pulled a trigger - he didn't even have a gun - Frank said otherwise. He claimed he has witnesses to back him up, and - after my dad said he wanted to go to the police - Frank threatened to have him silenced.

Permanently.

When we heard the news, my dad pulled my sister and I into the kitchen to talk about Frank. He made us promise not to say anything about him working with him, even urging us to lie to the police if they stopped by. We didn't realize that things had gotten so bad, but my dad told us otherwise. The police couldn't find enough evidence to pin it on him, and - with Frank's threats - we knew he couldn't step forward.

Two weeks later, I pulled out of college and made plans to move to New York. I was furious with my father - livid that he could do this to my siblings, that he could do this to me - and I wanted nothing to do with him. If he wanted me to lie for him, fine, I'd do what I had to do, but that didn't mean I could stand to see him anymore. 

Moving made sense at the time. I needed an escape from everything back home. Austin was filled to the brim with memories of my mother, from the donuts at Gourdough's to Torchy's street corn. She introduced me to so many wonderful things in the city - many of them food related - and I could feel her shadow follow me with every step I made around town. I couldn't take it anymore. I felt her loss so acutely, and my anger toward my father, unfortunately, filled the void. While the police continued their investigation, I packed my bags and fled the state. Nothing could convince me to stay - not even my little brother - and I refused to look back.

When I arrived, I decided it would be safest to keep everyone I met in New York at arm's length. I didn't want to risk the same sort of pain I'd suffered after my mother's death, but I also hated how angry I was with my father. In some deluded way, I felt that - if I didn't let anyone in - I wouldn't have to deal with that kind of loss or disappointment ever again.

Then Danielle discovered the truth about my family, and it felt like she ripped the wounds open all over again. I don't know how she found out - if I'm honest, I don't really care - but she definitely wasn't afraid to use it against me.

I explained to Val everything Danielle did to manipulate me, how she told me that I needed to help her get Andrew for herself, and she listened in horror to all of it. Danielle had planned out every last detail, starting with the job at Starbucks. She decided it would be easiest for me to introduce her to Andrew if we were colleagues, especially since it would be strange for us to suddenly be friends, so I was forced to hint at Peter during interviews that Danielle would be the best choice.

After she was hired, she spent her time observing me and mimicking everything about me. That was one of the most disturbing parts. Instead of trying to get Andrew for herself, Danielle decided that the best way to win him was to become more like me. A few days after we started working together, she showed up at Starbucks sporting a brand new hairstyle and color - matching my own - and her bootleg jeans were replaced with skinny jeans and sweaters that mimicked the ones I favored. Every day, the similarities became more and more uncanny, until she started talking to Val about "helping" me and Andrew get back together.