Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Sarah

“ I was followed today,” I told my fiancé over supper.

The grand dining room in the opulent mansion had been silent, outside of the tings of our forks on proper china. Every tap echoed on the wood-lined walls and the chandeliers above. The rose vase in the middle of the table almost blocked my view of Ryan.

He was handsome, with a perfect smile and hazel eyes. Ryan Lakeworth had the good looks of an underwear model and the money of a pharmaceutical heir, because that’s what he had been and what he was now. I couldn’t believe my luck when I met him—I was just a barista at the café where my little sister works. There he was, a former model and heir, and he wanted me. I felt so blessed.

Until things changed.

A year later, he’d had me on so many meds, I wasn’t sure which way was up. It took another six months to get them to a point where I felt safe enough to drive. They helped me—he was right about that—yet nothing ever felt right. I was foggy or confused all the time. And I still saw the ghosts now and then.

Ryan sipped his wine and asked, “What was that?”

“Remember how I told you I was going shopping today in Charleston with the girls? Someone was following me around.”

He sighed. “Sarah, we’ve talked about this.”

His tone sank something inside of me. “I’m not lying, and it wasn’t another hallucination, Ryan. He was real.”

“What did he look like? Faint and wispy?”

“He wasn’t a ghost. He was a man. Solid.”

He sighed heavier than before. The air between us was thick with old conversations and the scars of hurt feelings. “I know you hate when I ask you this, but I need to know. Have you been taking your meds? Consistently?”

I dropped my fork on my plate and the sound was harsh, like his words. My jaw went tight as I said, “You know I have.”

“I don’t know anything at all. For all I know, you could be dropping your pills in the toilet.”

“Don’t you think I want to get better?”

“I don’t know what you want anymore, Sarah. I thought you wanted to get married—”

“I do!”

He shook his head. “Then, you know you have to take your meds.”

“I have been!” I shouted, tears filling my eyes. “I’ve been taking all of those stupid pills for months now, just like we agreed! I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me, Ryan. Everything! Why are you doubting me now, when we’re so close to the wedding?”

“You forget that I know you, Sarah. You have made self-sabotage into an artform, so as much as I love you, yes, sometimes, I doubt you.”

“Why?”

“Experience!” he barked. “Don’t you remember the first year we were together? When you took your meds for a couple of days at a time, and then you decided you were better, so you stopped and the next thing I knew, my girlfriend was at a party with my family, talking to people who weren’t in the room! I can’t go through that again! Do you know how embarrassing that was for my family? There were senators there, Sarah! You humiliated me in front of very important people!”

“Oh. Well, since there were senators at a party over a year ago, I guess that’s a good enough reason to yell at me now.” I tried to keep my voice calm, but it wobbled anyway. “I’m so sorry I embarrassed you in front of your family and the senators, Ryan.” I was shaking with anger. “I’ll be sure to send the ghosts away before the holidays.”

The tick in his jaw relaxed a fraction. “Don’t be like that, Sarah…look, I know you have a grip on reality again, and I’m glad you’re doing better—”

I stiffened. “But?”

He swallowed hard and said, “ However , you know there are certain expectations when it comes to my family, and hallucinations are not one of them. You want us to keep living the life we have, right? Here in the mansion? The shopping trips, the vacations, all that?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then we have to keep them happy. Do you think talking to your imaginary friends will make them happy?”

I crossed my arms and glared.

“Neither do I. I’m sorry—I know you don’t like the pills. But it’s necessary. They don’t want to leave their family fortune to a crazy—”

“Oh fuck you!” I jumped up from my seat and stomped out of the dining room, tears falling.

There wasn’t enough oxygen in the mansion’s halls, so I ran upstairs to our bedroom and threw the windows open wide. Long, gasping breaths filled my lungs with cool night air. October had been unseasonably warm, but the nights felt crisp, yet somehow still humid.

Spanish moss drifted on the breeze as it dangled from the ancient oak trees that made up Lakeworth Forest—what Ryan called our backyard. A full moon lit the treetops, but the light barely touched the ground. Something at the base of the trees caught my eye. I wasn’t sure, not at first. But then I realized someone was down there.

Ice shot up my back as I studied him. He stared right back at me. Not a ghost—he was solid. He was tall, thickly built, and wore a black hood over black pants. I couldn’t see his face. But he saw mine. I wanted to scream or shout at him or call for Ryan, and I couldn’t. If I called for Ryan, the man would disappear—I knew it. Something in my gut told me so. If the stranger disappeared, then I would never know who he was or why he was outside my house.

I tried to call down to him, but he stepped into a pool of moonlight and my voice failed me. The stranger pulled his hood from his head. Definitely the same man from the shops in Charleston . He had a strong jaw and a shaved head. He appeared white in the moonlight, but I wasn’t sure.

Our bedroom door opened and startled me. I spun around and saw Ryan. Gruffly, he said, “We weren’t done talking.”

“I was.” I turned back around to the window, and the man was gone. “Dammit.”

“What?”

“The man who followed me in Charleston—he was outside, just now.”

He huffed. “Just stop, Sarah. There’s no one outside, just like there was no one following you in Charleston. Stop.”

My blood boiled as I stared into the forest. The moonlight shifted in the trees. When I looked up, a black cloud had shaded it out. I gritted my teeth and said, “You owe me an apology.”

“Because I want you to live up to your end of the bargain?” he asked sarcastically.

“You called me crazy.”

“If you don’t like it, then don’t be crazy.”

He walked into the en suite bathroom and shut the door. The sink ran. His nightly routine before bed—brush his teeth, use tooth whitening strips, and perform his mini-facial. Ryan lived by his routines and had tried to get me to follow suit, but regiment was not in my vocabulary.

I had never lived a scheduled, rigid life. It was not in me to do something that tedious. Maybe that’s the real reason we’re not a good fit?

I sighed deeply and stared out the window again. Such a quiet night to be thinking about breaking up with Ryan. Not that I actually planned to. He was a catch—both of my sisters envied what I had with him. Engaged to a millionaire and future billionaire, most women envied me. But did I still love him anymore? It was hard to say. Our relationship had long been tainted by my hallucinations.

I tried to put it all out of my mind. I had gone over the details countless times—the pluses and minuses of leaving him—and there was no point in going over it all again. I always came to the same conclusion. He would be a wonderful provider for our children.

I focused on the night instead. Moonlight poured over the trees once more. The black cloud had moved, this time it was over the house. I saw only the edge of it above. It struck me as odd. Clouds aren’t black. Not even at night. They’re grayish at night. Is that smoke?

Suddenly, I couldn’t move, and everything went silent. Bright white light flooded the window, surrounding me like a bubble. I tried to scream or breathe or blink, and I couldn’t. I was frozen.

Is this a stroke? Some strong bastard of a ghost? The fuck is happening? All I could do was watch helplessly. I couldn’t feel the floor beneath my feet anymore. I had begun to float in my bedroom.

Panic washed over me as I passed through the open window frame. I’m hallucinating. That’s all this is. Just another hallucination. A bad one. It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real!

I floated upward, toward the edge of the roof, beneath the black cloud. As I came closer to the cloud, it reflected the moonlight the way a black car did—shining yet dim. Part of the black cloud slid away from the rest of it, and the light bubble I was inside of stretched and extended into the opening of the cloud.

It was like being sucked upward.

As my bubble entered the cloud, a familiar humming overtook my ears. Bees. Why would bees kidnap me? It was a ridiculous thought, and I would have laughed at it, if I could have laughed. I still couldn’t do anything. I worried I would suffocate, but I didn’t feel like I was. Outside of absolute terror and the gallows humor I got from my now deceased mom, I didn’t feel anything at all.

Until I saw my captors. Upon seeing them, I wished I couldn’t see anything at all.