I have no idea where to start. I don't know how he found me or why he did what he did. So, I'm going to start where everything was fine, where my life was supposed to begin before the monster came to me.

On 28 August, I arrived at JFK International Airport. I'd never been in New York before. My job offer came in when I studied MBA at Wharton. Imagine a girl from a small town called Bright Lake, Wisconsin, graduated from one of the best business schools, got an offer from Clymer-Cannon Corp., the conglomerate in New York City. I was over the moon. My mother always taught me to reach for the moon. I did! Now, she wouldn't need to work two jobs anymore. Dad could get a better care and treatment for diabetes and hypertension. My little brother, Jamie could go to university. Wow, I was proud of myself. Nice! Lilibeth Langdon!

Once I got my baggage from the carousel, I took the AirTrain and subway to East Broadway where I rented a studio. If you think I would rent or buy a luxury condominium with the view of Central Park, you were wrong. Though my salary was higher than my expectation, I hadn't received it yet. A penny saved is a penny earned! I had to be careful of my expenses.

A red brick five-storey building was in my sight. Chinese letters written on banners and posters, I could only understand the telephone numbers at the bottom, and the words 'For Rent'. I hadn't seen the place beforehand. I trusted the estate agent who recommended the place with a reasonable price. It took 15 minutes by bus, or 25 minutes on foot to go to Clymer-Cannon on Wall Street.

I unlocked the front door with one of the two keys I received by mail a week ago. There was no lift. Thank goodness, my room was on the second floor. It wouldn't be much trouble carrying my baggage up the stairs. The rest of my stuff would arrive later in the evening. I managed to carry my baggage without scratching the wooden floor. Not realising how exhausted I was, my hand trembled when I turned the doorknob of room number 4.

A nicely furnished kitchen greeted me; a refrigerator on the far right, two classic counters, two wall cabinets, one sink, and one electric stove. The dining area was empty, but I already ordered dining table and 4 chairs, they would arrive tomorrow before noon. The rest of this room was empty, it would be filled with furniture after the removal truck arrived.

I walked to where my bed would be, left my baggage in a corner and lifted the two blinds, revealing the busy Chinatown. My stomach growled at the sight of the Pizza store in the opposite building. I remembered passing a burger place on my way here. My stomach agreed with my decision to get food.

After freshening up, I left the building and walked to the burger joint at the corner of East Broadway and Rutgers Street. There were a lot of Asian restaurants along the way I wanted to try them all. However, today was a beef burger and French fries kinda day.

It tasted better than it looked. I savoured them all in the blink of an eye. I would need a lot of energy for decorating my place in the evening. I ordered a scoop of Vanilla ice cream which turned out to be bland. It would be too perfect if this place served good foods and desserts.

I looked at the time on my phone, decided I should call my mother. We now lived in a different time zone. I was one hour ahead of her. She answered the phone as soon as it rang.

"Sweetheart, how's New York?"

"Hi, mom. I'm doing great. Thank you for asking."

"I know you'll be fine." Her gentle voice made me homesick already. She continued. "What about the room? Is it good? Neighbours? Have you had lunch yet?"

"Slow down, mom. The room is fine. Cozy. I don't see any other residents yet. And yes, I already had lunch. How's dad doing?"

"Oh, he's fine. He's fine. You don't have to worry. And Jamie is Jamie. He said he was glad you moved away, but I'm sure he's sad and misses his sister."

"Not at all!" My brother's voice came from somewhere far away.

"Don't mind him, sweetheart. You take care, all right."

"Of course, mom. You too. I'll try to call you as much as I could."

"I love you, Lily."

"Love you too."

My eyes were watering, I tried to hold them back. It was not the first time I'd lived away from home. I spent five years in Philadelphia, focused on my degree. Living in New York City shouldn't be much different. I patted my cheeks, reminded myself to enjoy my life, not to feel homesick.

The moving company phoned and confirmed that they would arrive at 5 p.m. I'd got two hours to kill. Exploring the neighbourhood seemed to be an excellent idea. I looked at the map on my phone. Everything has become a convenience these days when you can go everywhere you want with a smartphone. I'd changed my mind, decided to do it the old-fashioned way as I put the smartphone back in my jeans' pocket.

Walking on East Broadway, I found myself surrounded by Chinese restaurants and tourists. It seemed like I was a tourist myself I could not understand what locals were saying or what was the name of the shop I walked by. I entered one supermarket I saw on the way. There were two floors: First floor and Basement. The First floor was the groceries; snacks, drinks, instant noodles, etc. The Basement had various products, fish, meat, seafood, and frozen food. Fruits and vegetables were fresh and cheap. I left the building empty handed and continued to walk down the street. Turned out I had spent almost thirty minutes in that store. I stopped by one or two other supermarkets before I reached a park on Mulberry Street.

Locals were playing basketball on the court. The children were playing on the playground while the adults sat and chatted. Five older men were gathering around a table; two of them were sitting, played chess where the other three watched. Another table with six men gave the same vibe. I almost held my breath when I walked past them.

I rested at the park, absorbing my new surroundings. The neighbourhood seemed nice. The weather was nice. I enjoyed the sun while went through the list on my phone. Since it was the first time in New York City, I planned to visit as many attractions as I could tomorrow before work on Monday. I would go to Central Park, rent a bicycle, grab lunch in the park, later I would explore the Midtown. Next weekend I would ride a ferry to Staten Island then come back and walk around the Lower Manhattan. Just the thought of them made my heart pounding so hard. I loved this place!

When I got back to my building, the moving truck had arrived. The man was calling my phone as I speeded up my pace to greet him.

"Ms Langdon," The man introduced himself as Paul, then handed me lots of paperwork. "Where should we put them?"

"Second floor. Room 4." I unlocked the front door. Another guy who was also a driver carrying two boxes at a time, walked to the stairs. "Upstairs on the left."

I opened the door of my studio and let them do their job while putting the furniture into places. The two guys worked miraculously, unloaded, and delivered everything less than an hour. I forgot to buy drinks, and I had no idea which box contained drinking glasses, so I gave them an extra cash to get something to drink and bade them farewell.

An empty room became messy with boxes and furniture. I unpacked the kitchenware, put them on the wall cabinet, arranged my books on the bookshelf, placed an LED desk lamp next to my bed. Bit by bit, I turned the studio to my room. After taking a shower and having dinner, I called it a day.

When I sent my selfie at the observatory decks of the Empire State Building on the family group chat the next afternoon, my mother went crazy. She always wanted to come to New York. I felt like I was her avatar, travelling around the city.

You can come and visit me anytime. I told her on our group chat.

We will, Lily. Christmas?

I thought you were going to say tmr or something. XD Yes! Christmas. I'll buy plane tickets for you. Don't worry. That includes you, Jamie.

My brother sent a sticker; a bear making a heart sign with its hand.

I chatted with them while I admired the magnificent view at Bryant Park; the blue sky contrasted with green trees and surrounded by skyscrapers. My phone camera could not do them justice. Walking around the Midtown, taking photos of landmarks and myself, I felt like living in a dream. It was like I was in one of the movies I'd seen when I was young. However, what they didn't show on the screen was how dirty the subway was. Rats. YES. R-A-T-S! Thank goodness, I didn't need to travel by subway to work; otherwise, it would be a nightmare! I saw one while waiting for the train to Wall Street and I was sure there would be plenty of them.

After an unexpected encounter with the rat, I was amazed by an international style, 35 storey building called Gomer Building, owned by Clymer-Cannon. The exterior was made by glass and bronze, designed by German architect whose name I couldn't remember. The lower floors were rented by other companies, restaurants, and plaza, the CCC occupied from 20th floor to top.

Looking up to the building, I felt so small. I had to pinch myself to make sure it was real. I spent my evening surveying the Wall Street, couldn't wait for tomorrow to come.

On 30 August, I started working as financial risk analyst at Clymer-Cannon. My first impression of my colleagues and my department was disappointing. I might have watched too many movies and raised my expectation too high while reality wasn't that great. They welcomed me with a nod or simply hi and went back to whatever task they had in hands.

My cubicle contained a chair and white desk with a personal computer, one plastic desktop filing drawers, three black ballpoint pens, one blue stapler, a pack of sticky notes, a pack of index stickers, an A4 notepad, and a small tub of multi-colour paper clips.

Seeing how dull and boring my desk was, I planned to decorate my space with a family photo and a desk plant.

Once I settled in, I went through files on the computer working on my daily tasks. Working differed from what you'd heard from your lecturers, they put dreams in your head, made you think you were the best and capable of everything. The truth was you were just an employee who could be replaced anytime.

Working at the conglomerate in New York City wasn't that special as I thought I was, except the significantly increasing of my stress and exhaustion.

It was only the first day and I was already swarmed by workload.

"Lilibeth, we're gonna grab some drinks. Would you like to join us?"

I looked up and saw a twenty-something woman who sat opposite my cubicle. She reached over the partition to shake my hand.

"I'm Phoebe." She smiled, showing her white teeth. Her orange-red lipstick matched with her long blonde hair and white outfits.

"Lily."

"So, Lily, wanna join us?"

"Yes. Of course."

I turned off my PC, grabbed my bag, more than ready to leave this place. Most of the employees on this floor already left. She said 'we' but it was only the two of us who took a lift.

"Where're the others?"

"Oh," she typed something on her phone then turned back to me. "There're Michelle and Lin from Customer Service, Steve from Legal department, they're already at the bar, and Gary from IT, he'll join us later."

Fresh air and busy Wall Street greeted me when we left the building, I took a deep breath in like I'd never had fresh air before.

"How's your first day? Fun?"

"Fun would be the last thing on my mind."

Phoebe laughed.

"You'll get used to it," she said. "You might have noticed we work like a robot but after hours we've fun. You're gonna love this bar."

We arrived at Jerry's on Cedar Street. Behind a long black counter and chairs, a man was serving a drink to a customer. The orange lights gave a warm vibe and welcome and made all those bottles of booze on the shelves behind bar sparkle.

"There they are!"

Phoebe grabbed my hand and walked to the booth at the corner where two women and a man were drinking. She introduced me to her friends. Michelle was wearing a purple dress. She was the oldest in the group at the age of thirty-three. Lin was a Chinese American woman with long black hair. Her skin shone luminous, and she wore natural look makeup. Steve was a thirty-year-old, stern-looking man with glasses. They already had one bottle of beer each and ordered for more.

"It's only Monday." I spoke.

"Yes. The longer you've been working here, the more you'll drink." Said Michelle. "Look at Steve. He has the most hideous job ever."

"You're a lawyer?"

"No. An assistant." He turned to Michelle and Lin. "You two are not different, you deal with hundreds or thousands of people every day, hence I'm better. I only deal with one person."

Steve gulped down his beer. At that time, another man had joined us. Gary was a good-looking young man with the greatest smile I'd ever see. He sat beside me; his arm brushed mine lightly made my heart skip a beat.

Oh… not a good sign.

"How did you find New York?" Gary asked.

"Fascinating. The multicultural here is amazing. I feel out of place and ignorant when I can't communicate with locals, but they can speak English to me." I recalled a conversation with a shop's owner I visited yesterday, she spoke Chinese to other customers. I thought I was doomed because I couldn't find the noodles I wanted, turned out she spoke fluent English.

"Happens all the time," said Lin. "Did you go to Coney Island?"

"No. Not yet. Today is my third day in the city."

"I live in Brooklyn. If you want to hang out, call me anytime."

We exchanged our phone numbers. Phoebe invited me to their group chat. Everyone welcomed me with a sticker. I'd thought today was disappointing and miserable, now I'd changed my mind. Though the work was difficult, I needed time to learn and understand them, I found nice colleagues and made me felt better.

We ordered foods and more drinks. We chatted, laughed, shared our work experiences, and our personal stuff like dates and lifestyles. Except Michelle, the rest of us was single. I didn't know why my heart fluttered when I heard Gary was single. My gaze kept turning back at him every time someone else was talking. He had silky brown hair, I hadn't touched them, but I knew it would be smooth. His blue eyes were gentle, his smile was warm and friendly.

Our eyes met, and I awkwardly turned away.

Lilibeth!

After two bottles of beer and one shot of tequila, I knew I had enough if I wanted to keep my job. The ladies were finishing their desserts. The two men were having a deep conversation about stock and investment.

"Look at the time." Phoebe looked at her smartphone. "We should go. Where do you live, Lily?"

"Chinatown. It's only twenty minutes away."

"It's quite late. You should get a cab." Said Lin.

"Think I'm all right."

"Well, see you tomorrow." Phoebe gave me a big hug.

Phoebe, Lin, and Steve walked to Wall Street station. Michelle's husband would pick her up at a nearby park, left Gary and I on Broadway.

"I'm going that way."

"I'll walk with you."

He didn't wait for my response. We walked along Broadway in silence. I kept myself busy on the road, couldn't come up with a conversation nor looked at his direction. He, on the other hand, looked calm and relaxed.

We reached the City Hall in a beat.

"Where do you live?"

"Hell's Kitchen. It's in Midtown."

"You're not going to walk, right?"

"No, of course not. I'll take the train at East Broadway."

"You don't have to walk me home. I walk fast, you know. I'll be home in just the blink of an eye."

He chuckled.

"I'm serious, you know."

"I know." His eyes met mine. This time I tried not to turn away. "See you tomorrow then."

I waved him goodbye and headed on my way back to the apartment.

Whatever happened next could be my fault, my reckless. Walking alone on the street in the middle of the night wasn't a smart choice. I was too naïve thinking that I'd lived in a nice and safety neighbourhood. So many things went wrong on that night. I should have accepted Gary's company or took a cab. I should have run faster. I should have fought for my life.

I didn't deserve this.

On 1 September, a dead body of a woman was found floating in the East River, near Manhattan Bridge.

Her name, Lilibeth Mary Langdon.