Quitter

I gave Bruno my two weeks’ notice today and I feel GREAT!

After discussing it with Dr. Sheehan, I agreed that I didn’t need to keep working there and that it was possible I was delaying quitting because I wasn’t really ready to start working on my career. So I quit earlier than I had planned to. Bruno tried to guilt me into staying but I didn’t feel too bad considering that I wasn’t even supposed to be working the job I had been since he’d never found a replacement for me after I declined the promotion he offered me.

The 29^th is my last day. I walked out of Bruno’s office with a weight lifted off of me.

I also went to meet with Detective Geordi yesterday along with Adam and Molly. The case has been closed on Amber since there is no one to put on trial. All of the arsons she committed have been closed as well. A lot of answers to the questions that have been plaguing me since she died were finally answered, too.

Apparently, Amber (whose real name was Patricia) was a freshman at the same college as I was when I was a senior. She’d seen me around campus and basically developed an obsession with me and the reason I didn’t recognize her was because she looked very different back then.

“We think she’d done several things to make herself look more like you, including losing a significant amount of weight, dying her hair, and getting a nose job.”

“But she didn’t really look like me.” I said confused.

“Her family said that she had several more surgeries planned but she told them she was getting them because she hated the way she looked.”

Amber had created a completely fake friendship between us and had been stalking me since college. Her family had no idea that we weren't actually friends; they thought I was her best friend and the reason we had never met was because of poor timing. Every time Amber would tell her family that I was coming over to meet them, Amber would come up with an excuse at the last minute for why I wasn't there.

She followed where I worked, what guys I dated, where I lived, everything. They had found evidence of all the fires she set hidden in a storage unit she’d rented in her real name. One of the things they found was my purse. It was the one I’d complimented her on and mentioned losing in the fire.

Finding that out gave me the heebie-jeebies.

In therapy Dr. Sheehan brought up some fairly good points.

“In a way, this is a great opportunity for you to get closure. Many stalking victims never get closure.”

Because Amber died, I’ll never have to worry about the fact that she could get out of jail and start stalking me again, which is something a lot of victims of stalking have weighing over them, according to the research I've done. The news that the case has been closed lets me move on, too, and I think it’ll help my mom, especially, move on.

Anyway, with the case being closed, Dr. Sheehan is right. I do feel a sense of closure that lets me feel like I can move on. And Molly and Adam both do too since I talked to them about it.

I can’t go home for Christmas this year because I have to work at Bruno’s on Christmas Eve (which is actually a fairly busy night for us) and I wanted to leave there on good terms in case I ever needed to go back. I didn’t think taking a bunch of time off right before my last day was a professional thing to do so I decided to stay here for the holiday.

To be honest, I’m kind of relieved. My mom and I are still not speaking. My dad has called me a few times asking me to apologize to her which just made me even angrier. I don't feel like I'm the one who should apologize in this situation and I'm not going to. I had a really hard time with what happened during Thanksgiving; dealing with her was very taxing for me. I feel bad saying that because I know she’s worried and concerned and scared about my safety and that it’s difficult because I live so far away, but I’m having a hard enough time working on my own stuff, I don’t want the burden of hers on top of it all. I’m relieved that I won’t have to deal with her like I did on Thanksgiving. I’m just going to be alone and have a quiet night in and open the gifts my parents will send to me and my friends will give to me. Plus, I won’t have to worry about arranging for pet care (Molly took care of Murphy and Sasha over Thanksgiving since she stayed here and she’s leaving for Christmas). I’m not feeling all that festive anyway.