Day 26/366

She parked her jade green Nissan in her designated parking spot, then trudged up the stairs to her second floor apartment.  Key inserted in the lock, Gen took a deep breath, then pushed the door open and flipped the entry lights on.

There, on her creamy tile entryway tile, was a powder blue envelope.  Standard in size, it weighed heavy in her hand.  Almost like the boulder that lodged in her chest after that solitary meeting.  She dropped her purse and keys on the beige sofa, then made her way into the kitchen.

Gen grabbed a diet cola from the fridge and placed it and the envelope on the granite counter.  She braced her hands on the counter's edge, her head hanging down.  "I can't do this...I cannot do this."  She whispered, but her words seemed to echo inside her head.

Her thoughts raced back through the events of the previous weeks, racing back to the very beginning of her waking nightmare.  When he'd swooped in and taken something that did not belong to him.  All to get her to do his bidding.

How he found her, Gen didn't know.  She was active on Facebook, but had her settings on private.  No Twitter presence, never used Craigslist.  She lived alone, but had a good security setup, and she changed her unique password on a regular basis.

Gen had even attempted to record one of the mystery man's calls to see if she could remember him by voice only.  Nothing.  She had no deep dark secrets in her past, only the most lame of skeletons in her closet.

Somehow, he'd known what was most important to her, and that was what he took.  Now, she had to do his bidding one last time--yeah, right!--and then she'd get it back.  She planned to leave and never look back.

Thinking was merely a stalling tactic at this point.  With a heavy sigh, she opened her utility drawer and withdrew a pair of scissors, then picked up the envelope.  Jaw stiff and a headache beginning behind her eyes, Gen slit the envelope open and tilted it.

Its contents slipped out onto the counter.  At first, Gen was clueless...but then the contents registered in her mind.

Her breath vanished.  "No way.  No, no, no...."

All words are property of Deena Peterson and not to be used without permission.