chapter 1

When life gives you an egg, make omelettes. Make the best of what you have ." Lisa recites this mantra to herself every morning as part of her daily routine. You may think it lame, but as the saying goes "Don't judge me unless you've walked a day in my shoes." A day in Lisa's shoes usually involves waking up at the crack of dawn, which for Lisa is 5am, doing her ablutions while listening to some pep talk on her terribly outdated telephone which fortunately for her still works. After which she recites the above mantra. Cooks breakfast for some extremely ungrateful aunt and her bratty sons. She then leaves for work. And by work I mean 4 part time jobs which she does back to back. She can only get home at 6pm if she's lucky. And then she'll have to again prepare dinner. After which she can finally take her online college courses. Lisa keeps good cheer despite all the horrible things she's had to put up with throughout her life. It seems her mantra really does keep her going. Not that she hasn't contemplated suicide before, as a matter of fact she tried to "put the nail in" 5 times in a row. Fortunately or unfortunately she was saved by some kind words from a gentle looking elderly lady who gave her her dearly beloved mantra on her fifth try. Lisa decided then that life was a bitch, but life too was hope. And for as long as there was breath in her body she'd scale whatever high walls life put in her path. She was making progress one day at a time. Then again, life always has the most unexpected surprises to throw your way, just when you start to think you've seen it all.

Lisa wakes up at 5am as usual, on what appears to be just another Tuesday morning in the spring. It was drizzling which is not uncommon, so she carries on with her morning routine and leaves home as early as 6:30 am. She always gives herself a fifteen minutes head start inorder that she may be able to deal with any unforseen circumstances and still be early for work. She puts on her hoodie, skinny jeans and tennis shoes. She likes to remain inconspicuous and to remain beneath the radar for reasons best known to herself. She walks with her ear buds plugged in seemingly unaware of her surroundings. Key word "seemingly". You don't go through so much hardship in life without gaining a few tricks up your sleeve. Lisa had since learned never to hand the element of surprise to the other party, and to always be a few steps ahead keeping the other party unsuspecting.

Once again "Mr. Gentleman Stalker" as she'd so aptly named him stood across the street watching her as discreetly as he could manage which wasn't much by Lisa's standards. Well dressed in a black shirt and coat pants, with well polished probably new shoes of some designer brand. She didn't care much for his appearance, all she cared about was that for the second day in a row he appeared across the street, in thesame spot or maybe 2 paces away from the spot where he stood the day before watching her. There was nothing remotely remarkable about her, to her way of thinking anyway. She dressed very inconspicuously just to obtain that effect. She walks on ahead leaving Mr. Gentleman Stalker unknowing that he had been caught. Her first job is a few blocks from her home or more aptly put the closest thing to home she's had since she was 9. And with Lisa having recently turned 23, that was saying something. There was no noticeable change in her physical countenance that could possibly alert Mr. Gentleman Stalker. Once she got to the door of the convenience store at which she worked as the sales person, she stepped in and shutting the door turned over the sign indicating "closed". So passers by on the outside could see that they're open for business. She keeps her pepper spray close at hand behind the counter as a precaution. To Lisa danger lurks around every corner and one can never be too sure. Lisa expected Mr. Gentleman Stalker to walk in one of these days and state his business. She didn't like that cloud of uncertainty hovering about her. She made up her mind to confront him as soon as she completed her hours at the convenience store. The day went on as it usually does. Customers stepping in and out, yet not once did Mr. Gentleman Stalker leave his self assigned post across the street. Lisa wondered what she had done or perhaps not done to attract his attention to herself. She wracked her brain countless times and came up empty, so she decided to let it go for She'd know soon enough. Fifteen minutes to the end of her shift Mr. Gentleman Stalker started to move towards the store. Lisa notices this and went directly for her pepper spray and held it below the counter top. He entered the store not pretending to look at any of the items on the shelves. As Lisa would receive any normal client. She smiled and asked him "How can I help you sir?" But it seemed Mr Gentleman Stalker had decided to be uncooperative. He didn't reply just continued to stare at her in a contemplating manner. Lisa then asked " What do you want?" It was then that Mr. gentleman Stalker deemed it reasonable to reply. He said " I want you, or more precisely a minute of your time."