PROLOGUE:
Jogging down the streets at 10pm, Sarah joyfully absorbed the lights, cool air and peaceful atmosphere of empty streets of Berkeley. Her life, at the moment, was finally going her way. She'd finally moved out of her parent's guest house and into a new apartment. While it wasn't anything to write home about, it was her own space free of the constant presence and observation of her parents and it kept her busy enough organizing, maintaining and liaising with the tenants that she didn't have a lot of time to dwell on any negative thoughts. She'd found a job that she was good at; something that could really inspire her and help her realize her potential. For a while, she'd thought it would be play-writing, and while her play was still in production, she'd needed something creative that she could earn a living from. And photography had been the answer.
Since working with Hank, she'd learned an incredible amount about the business and had discovered her very own voice, style and passion for the art. Her name had been passed around quite a lot and her career as a photographer was taking off, nevertheless, she tried not to focus on the fact that her clients were pets. She hoped to transition into human subjects soon, and had already done a few portraits, but the majority of her income came from pet portraits.
While her career had started to take off, her personal life left something to be desired. Since Hank had moved to Minnesota and she'd broken up with Mark, Sarah hadn't really found anyone she considered worth dating. Carl, the new tenant in her apartment building had been a breath of fresh air at first, and while he was charming and fun to be around, his increasing attentions had begun to grate on her nerves.
Lastly, her thoughts turned to the topic she had been trying to avoid thinking about; her children. While they were both doing exceptionally well career or academically wise, their personal lives also left something to be desired. Amber and Ryan had been engaged for ten days before Ryan had been recalled to duty and sent back to Afghanistan. They hadn't really had time to celebrate their engagement, so they'd vowed to celebrate it properly when he returned home. He had returned last week and Amber was ecstatic. Drew had been doing well at Berkeley, his grades were fantastic and he seemed to be really enjoying his classes, but unfortunately, he'd been stuck with a horrible roommate who partied all night, slept around and generally made his life awful. With all this drama, she desperately missed her kids; especially Drew who she hadn't seen in almost a month.
As Sarah turned around the corner into dark alley a few streets down from her building, she was so caught up in her thoughts that she failed to notice the distinct rustle of someone following her, quickly succeeded by fast approaching footsteps. All at once, someone had slammed her into the wall of the alley, her phone and keys stabbed her legs from within her pockets and a hand was roughly and tightly placed over her mouth.
Thinking quickly, she attempted to bite the hand muzzling her, but was unable to do anything more than nibble the palm of her attacker's hand. As she felt the other hand of her attacker make its way into her pants, she struggled, screamed and twisted frantically trying to release herself or gain enough leverage to incapacitate her attacker.
"Stop or I'll kill you!" her attacked whispered harshly in her ear after a particularly violent kick to the shins. She felt the cool blade of a knife at her neck and faintly registered the trickle of blood from the cut it made as she slowly stopped struggling.
As she felt her attacker push into her and her mind leave; her last thought was 'I should have been more careful'.