19. Psycho Stalker

After walking for hours, Rose picked up the envelope and tore it off, she was standing in the middle of her room when Rose saw the photographs, they slipped from her trembling fingers, scattering across the floor like fallen leaves. Her breath caught in her throat, her chest tightening with a crushing wave of pain and grief. Her vision blurred, and dizziness threatened to pull her under as she staggered backward, her knees nearly giving way beneath her. The weight of the images she had just witnessed was too much to bear. Jayden sat frozen in his own room, his face pale and his hands clenched into fists. Neither he nor Rose were strong enough to see this, the air grew heavy with dread. The photographs lay where they had fallen, their dark truths exposed to the rooms, but neither had the courage to pick them up again. The letters that were in the packages remained untouched on their tables, its contents an enigma that none of them had the strength to confront—not tonight. Sleep eluded t