Prologue
Victoria Harker had never been a pessimistic kind of person. Not that she was an optimistic one either, but, until very recently, she thought that each problem had a solution. It was until she graduated from college, after five years of hard work and strenuous living, only to realize that it was time to settle for a career. It was until she discovered that her boyfriend had been cheating on her with the girl next-door for the past six months. It was until she punched that back-stabbing whore in the face, resulting in a broken nose and a non less-injured ego. To top it off, the sneaky slut happened to be the daughter of Victoria's landlord… Well, let's just say that was quite a busy Sunday, between a break-up, a (well deserved) assault and an unexpected relocation.
Of course, she had tried to stay at her parents' house for a couple of weeks, but could not stand their constant criticism. They constantly blamed her for dumping her ex ("We were quite fond of him !") and for her school choices ("Classics? Who speaks latin anyway?"), two decisions which -according to them- had led Victoria to her downfall.
Luckily, thanks to the death of a childless and remote aunt, Mr and Mrs Harker had just inherited a house, in a small town, hundreds of miles away. Victoria, who was not usually a superstitious kind of girl, could not help from seeing this glorious coincidence as a sign of destiny. It was just the breath of fresh air she desperately needed.
As she was reminiscing the series of unfortunate events her life had turned into, the bus she had been sitting in for the past six hours stopped at the terminal. She grabbed her small suitcase, got out of her seat, and took a glance by the window. The first thing she saw was a huge, white, rather shrill billboard.
DENTON
THE HOME OF HAPPINESS