"How are you holding up, Jules?" Stacie asked as I shook my head, focusing on the silverware I was polishing.
"I'm not." I said honestly. The world has felt like it was ending every day I was away from my family.
The lonliness was eating me alive and the guilt made me feel sick 24/7. It was like I was a shell of a human.
Mike didn't make the situation any easier. He kept trying to come around but would always ruin every interaction.
He would assault me and try to give me alcohol to 'cope'. It was a really fucked up situation and I knew I needed to leave him but I needed someone.
I couldn't spend too much time alone at the house because my thoughts would get dangerous and the depression would swallow me whole.
I was just so miserable.
"I'm so sorry this is happening to you. You really don't deserve it." Stacie said as I sniffled. I could feel the tears starting but I was at work.
I couldn't cry here. If I lost my job because I was unprofessional, I didn't know if I would survive it.
"It's okay, Jules." Stacie said and hugged me. "I'm sorry." I whimpered, hugging her back.
"It's okay. Hey, it's really slow and you've been through a lot. Why don't you head home. Maybe stop and get yourself a little treat on me." She said and pulled out a twenty dollar bill from her purse.
"I couldn't do that." I said as she shook her head. "I insist." She said and held out the money a little more.
"Okay. Thanks." I said and untied my apron, grabbing my wallet and clocking out.
I hated that I was being sent home early because home was the worst place to be.
It once was a place filled with love and comfort, but now it left me feeling empty.
When I got to my car, I rested my head on the steering wheel and cried. It had been a long day of holding it in so it felt good to let it out.
I ended up crying for a while before I wiped my tears and started the car. I decided I was going to get myself a milkshake since I rarely ever got stuff like that.
I was almost home when Stacie called me. "Hello?" I asked with concern. "Are you home?" She asked as my stomach dropped.
"Pulling in now. What's going on?" I asked shakily. "You need to turn your TV on the news when you get inside. It's urgent." She said as my blood ran cold.
"Are you okay?" I asked as she gasped. "What happened?" I asked then frantically made my way inside.
"Just hurry." She said as I nodded and made my way to the living room. "I'm hurrying." I said then turned the TV on.
On the screen was a picture of a police officer that looked somewhat like Mike. It wasn't him but it looked like they could be brothers.
The title on the bottom said 'police officer Michael Octavia, found dead.'
"Holy shit." I whispered and turned the volume up.
"Police have suspected that the killer has been pretending to be Octavia for some time. Jeremiah is at the scene." The news anchor said before the screen cut to a guy interviewing what looked like the police chief.
"Thank you Corina. Yes, I am here with Officer Daniels. You discovered his body, correct?" Jeremiah said as the officer nodded.
"I've worked with Michael for years but recently he's seemed off. Last night he messaged me some cryptic stuff so I decided to come check on him. I found his body mostly decomposed, which means that Michael has been dead for weeks." The officer said as my blood ran cold.
"We suspect that the man who has killed Officer Octavia is the one who was impersonating him." The officer said as I gasped.
"Julia. You aren't staying in that house by yourself. Come back to work and you'll stay with me." Stacie said as I nodded.
"Leaving now." I said shakily then hung up. I wanted to get some clothes packed but I didn't have time.
This murderer knew where I lived.
I got in the car and started driving back to the restaurant. I was only half way there though when I noticed a white van following very closely behind me.
An uneasiness filled my stomach as I tried to look into the van to see what the person looked like.
I was probably just being paranoid but the fact I've been dating a murderer wasn't giving me the most comforting feeling.
I needed to test it before I led them to the restaurant.
I turned left, getting me off the main road. The van followed.
I sped up, going well above the speed limit. The van followed suit, getting so close that they were almost hitting me.
I took a couple more turns, trying to lose them but it wasn't working.
This van was clearly following me.
I felt my heart speed up as anxiety flooded my body. My hands started shaking and my head started to go foggy.
"No, Jules. Not now." I mumbled to myself, shakily grabbing my phone.
I didn't want to do this at all, but if this wasn't an emergency then I didn't know what was.
I scrolled through my contacts until I got to Colby's name, clicking it.
It only rang a couple times before the familiar deep voice came through my car speakers.
"Hello?" He asked with confusion and with an intense tone.
"Colby." I said frantically. "Julia? What's going on?" He asked as I looked in the rear view mirror.
The van was still hot on my trail causing me to panic a little.
"Someone is following me." I said, trying to keep my voice level. "What do you mean?" He asked as I turned sharply, trying again to lose the van.
"I mean that someone is following me! Please tell me it's someone you know." I said, sounding more scared than I was hoping for.
"It's not. Where are you?" He asked intensely. "I'm driving! I don't know!" I whimpered as he groaned.
"What do you see, Julia? You have to work with me here." Colby said as I looked around.
"Uh...Market Street. I'm on Market Street and there's a..oh fuck!" I said as the van rammed into me.
"Keep talking to me, Jules. What's going on?" Colby asked as I struggled to keep my car under control.
"They hit me. Where are you?" I asked shakily. "I'm in Wilbur. Do you know how to get there?" He asked as I shook my head, feeling my hands and arms shake.
"No! Colby, I'm about to have a seizure." I said and swallowed hard.
"Shit." Colby hissed as the van rammed into me again.
"Where's Michael? Did you even try to call the police?" Colby asked as a chill ran down my spine.
"He's a murderer, Colby!" I said frantically. "The man I've been seeing killed the actual Michael and he's after- Ah!" I gasped as the van hit me harder, causing my head to jolt forwards.
"Adam." Colby said as I scrunched my brow. "Who's Adam?" I asked as my stomach ached with fear.
"Don't worry about it right now. Just keep fucking driving Julia. Don't stop for anything." He said as I held onto the steering wheel tighter.
"I'm scared." I whispered almost inaudibly.
"I know, whatever you do don't go home. Do you understand me, Julia?" Colby asked as I nodded.
"How do I lose them?" I asked, feeling myself slowly starting to black out from the stress.
"Keep driving. Which way are you going?" He asked with intensity. "North I th-think." I said, holding off the seizure as best as I could.
The thing about seizures was you couldn't fucking control them no matter how hard you tried.
"Try to go west. Lead them my way." He said as my body jerked.
"I can't lose them." I said and tried one last time to speed up and turn to lose them.
"Just keep driving, Julia." Colby said with slight annoyance.
I nodded and kept my eyes straight ahead, trying to keep myself calm enough to not have a fucking seizure in the middle of this.
I drove for a while before I noticed the van was no longer behind me.
I went to tell Colby this information but before I could, the van was swerving in front of me, causing me to crash the car into them.
I screamed as my car flipped, barreling down the road.
"Julia?!" Colby asked frantically as I gasped for air, adrenaline coursing through my veins.
We were in the middle of nowhere so nobody would be able to help me.
"I-I-I cr-crashed." I said shakily as I looked down at my body.
I didn't seem to be too injured but I was very clearly shaken up.
"Are you okay?" He asked as I shook my head. I was going to tell him that I was far from okay but before I could do that my door was being yanked open.
I gasped as a large man yanked me out of my seat.
"Stop!!" I screamed in fear, trying to hold onto my car so he couldn't pull me out.
"Jules! Tell me what's going on!" Colby yelled as the guy successfully pulled me out of the car.
I noticed the white van that had been following me was parked in the middle of the road, almost completely in tact.
"Colby!!!" I screamed as tears flooded my eyes. I was really being taken after all these years of being out of that life.
The guy got me to the van then threw me in the back. I was in so much pain and my body was weak but I couldn't let this happen to me once again.
I had to try and fight.
I scooted towards the door quickly, trying to get there before he closed it.
I was able to stop him from closing the door by stopping it with my leg.
"Ah!" I gasped at the pain as the man laughed. "That wasn't very smart." He said as I clenched my jaw.
"Let me go." I growled and looked up at him. "Oh relax. We're just going for a ride." He said as I shook my head.
"Not with me you're not." I said then went to kick him in the balls.
Before I could do that he was grabbing my leg and throwing it to the side so that I would fall.
When I did this I cracked my head onto the metal floor causing my vision to blur.
"Just relax, Julia. We'll be at our destination soon." The guy said then closed the door.
His voice was surprisingly soothing and it didn't seem like he really wanted to hurt me.
I knew that seemed a little dumb considering how he got me into the van but maybe I was just hallucinating.
Maybe I just wanted to believe he wouldn't hurt me.