PROLOGUE

In a courtroom filled with witnesses, lawyers, and families of the victims of this young woman's crimes, Madeline 'Maddie' Sawyer has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison due to numerous crimes such as stalking Coach Dominic, the murder of Riley Jones, the attempted arson and threats against the Halligan family. On her way to prison, she reflected on what has happened between herself and Amber Halligan in their tenure in high school together as well as the soccer team. During her time in prison, she faced regret, remorse and most of all guilt for what she had done to Amber (& her family), Riley, and Coach Dominic. In that time at least in the first couple of weeks alone in prison, Maddie hasn't eaten and barely slept in days. Her roommate in her cell named Patricia (who pulled a similar stunt by murdering a well known musician's girlfriend out of spite) stopped her from doing the deed of starving herself to death from not eating by giving her a sandwich and told her that herself and most of the inmates in there has hit rock bottom. Although Maddie told Patricia she has nothing due to her heinous actions, she told Maddie that what she needs is a friend something that she abused the privilege of years earlier. Meanwhile, she finished her studies in prison as well as taking a couple of college courses to help better herself. Furthermore, she has her life sentence to reevaluate herself of the choices and consequences she brought upon herself as well as finding religion.

5 YEARS LATER

In the years passing by, she attended anger management along with some mental health sessions to help deal with her problems. In addition, Maddie and Patricia exchanged stories verbally on how they got to prison in the first place and as she told her story to Patricia, Maddie still felt regret, remorse, and most importantly guilt for what she had done in the twilight of her high school years. Even though she won't get out of prison anytime soon, she'll use her experience to educate young potential offenders and not making the same mistake she has as part of the straight path program offered by a high school. In the program, the students would take a tour of the prison and have an opportunity to meet some of the inmates and give advice to them. Her first meeting with one of the young offenders would hit a little close to home to her...

Meet Janice Hayley. She's a 17 year old high school senior who's in a basketball team. She was poised to be a prodigy basketball player but however, she has a crush/obsessive feelings on their team's new coach William Howard. Which is one of the reasons she joined the basketball team in the first place. To cope with her loneliness as well as her lack of friends due to the loss of her father (as a result of cancer), she often watched old videos of William Howard's basketball career on the internet religiously. In addition, she has numerous pictures of him decorated all over her room and notes detailing plans for their 'relationship'. So much that she spied on Coach Howard on numerous occasions for several months. Whether it's in school, outside his home or anywhere, Hayley has her eyes set on Howard literally and figuratively. Hayley felt sad, angry, and jealous when Howard told her that he doesn't date his players and is already engaged to another woman. After reports of unwanted sexual advances from Hayley to Howard from the school as well as some violent activity to her mother whenever things don't go her way especially when she found out about her obsession with her basketball coach, Hayley's mother and her school put her to a session of the straight path program. Presumably because Mrs. Hayley read about Maddie's stalking and murder on the news website and didn't want her daughter to do similar activities that would potentially lead her into prison.

In the facility, Janice went from donning her casual wear of a shirt, jeans, and sneakers to an orange jumpsuit and was assigned two inmates: Maddie and Patricia to have some sort of 'girl talk'. Maddie asked Janice was it worth it obsessing over her basketball coach due to his looks and persona as well as watching his every move. Janice answered yes and Maddie asked her was it worth it to spy on your coach everyday during school and his private hours? Patricia asked Hayley was it worth it to do by any means necessary to reach your desired end goal? Hayley told them that she doesn't know the answer and is still kinda stunned that she's in this predicament. "Let me let you know right now that it isn't worth it and you know why Janice?" said Maddie trying to hold back her tears. "Years ago, I literally threw my life away when I pursued my former coach by any means whether by stalking, threatening, framing, and murdering civilians to get the job done. I have done some horrible and terrible things to the coach, my classmate, and his wife's family which I regret. I was a total monster to them or a supervillain for that matter. Furthermore, I have to live with the consequences of my actions for the rest of my life." Hayley asked to be curious what would life be like had Maddie didn't come across her coach in the first place. She answered that instead of pursuing the coach, she could've joined a relationship support group where she could find and make friends in that social area. In addition, she could've find a hobby to make use of her time outside of her classes like drawing or singing or something like that."When its all said and done, even with all of the 'amenities' in prison, people like you shouldn't be in prison. You're lucky that you have a proud and caring mother to take care of you and trust us, some of my family members have cut out any remaining ties we have left." said Maddie. "We're not making and asking you to decide what actions you'll take in your life. I'm sure you have a bright future on your horizons and sometime down the road, someone special would come into your life and maybe you'll have your happily ever after." said Patricia. "In addition and I should've known better at the time, its never a good idea for students to be in a relationship with coaches or teachers" said Maddie. After listening to Maddie & Partrica's advice, Janice noted the similarities between her incidents and Maddie's choices. Only that in Janice's case, she hasn't reached the levels of Maddie's previous incident and after the prison tours and meeting Maddie, she felt a sense of empathy in which she learned that its inappropriate for a student to fall in love with a teacher beyond a learning/sports environment.

After the straight path session is completed, Janice was allowed to go home and having some newfound wisdom to go with her travels. Before Janice leaves the facility with her family she apologizes for her behavior to both the coach and her mother. Shortly after, she asked what's next for Maddie. Maddie told her that she's going to have to have a lot to answer for when her time comes. But she knew that whenever people like herself and Janice shows up in the facility, there's at least some good in them and even though their decisions are theirs and theirs alone, she would provide some good advice. Afterwards, Maddie and Janice embraced by giving a group hug between the family and Maddie with tears flowing from her eyes in a heartwarming moment. Mrs. Hayley told her that she helped to make a difference in Janice's life by reminding her of the consequences of her actions. As a last word of advice from the Hayley family, Mrs. Hayley advises Maddie when she's ready to forgive herself of her wrongdoings. As they departed, Mrs. Hayley sang 'Amazing Grace' to her daughter while they were walking to their car. Which consequently brought some attention to Maddie's ears.

A couple of years later, it was time for the release of Maddie's cellmate Patricia. Her brother blogger Richard came in to pick her up and meanwhile, he's writing a blog about how inmates can turn their lives around and make a difference in the world. He asked Maddie if she would like to contribute to the project. Maddie showed him her letter she's written to her victims:

Dear, Coach Dominic, the family of Riley Jones, and the Halligan family,

I decided to write this letter to share with you what's been on my mind and my heart for quite a long while. I just couldn't find how to show that I am remorseful for causing much calamity in all of your lives. Saying that I'm sorry for stalking, killing, threatning you all would be too small of a gesture in my mind. Each day when I look back at what I've done in my last high school years, I asked myself "Why didn't I respect Coach Dominic's wishes to not have a relationship with me even though I'm a fan of him?". I thought that having a relationship with him would lead to my happily after ever but in reality, it was just a sick fantasy I perpetuated in my head to compensate for my lack of friends and familial support after I lost my parents in the house fire. I let myself believe that he was the one for me in my life and in doing so, I became a monster, a bully, a resentful, and bitter woman. During that time, I blamed Riley and the Halligans for getting in the way of my obsession with Coach Dominic and in doing so, I killed him and made both Amber and her aunt Kelly feel unsafe. Although I had pleaded guilty in the courtroom and received my deserved sentence for my actions, it took me at least five years in my sentence that I began to take responsibility for both the stalking and the murder. When I volunteered for the straight path program, I met a young basketball player from a high school named Janice who faced similar challenges in her life and it gave me a wake up call to face the fact that it was my self deluded fantasy that caused the mess I've made and serving a number of years in prison. Whenever I look back, I wish I could change what has happened several years ago. I wish that instead of my obsession with Coach Dominic, I would sought out relationship supports and find some friends to keep me company and finding a good hobby. I wish I could bring Riley back to life so that his family can see him graduate and witness him accomplish his hopes and dreams in the world. I know that apologizing won't restore your lives to the status quo prior to the incident. However, I use my the experiences to atone for my wrongdoings and for past couple of years have taken responsibility for stalking Coach Dominic, harassing/threatening the Halligans, and killing Riley by dedicating the rest my life to redemption. I've been involved in the straight path program for high schoolers, anti-bullying/harassment organizations among others. I will use my new gifts of empathy and writing to share my story and hopefully prevent teenagers from making the same mistakes and failures I did years ago. At some point, I hope that you guys can find it in your heart and spirit to forgive me. During my prison stay later on, Riley's mother wrote to me asking why did I murder her son in the campus in cold blood. I knew that I owed his family some sort of closure and I detailed everything that has happened and it was in her right and the family's right to be angry with me for my actions. In addition, while I said my goodbyes to Janice as she was headed out of the facility with her mother, Mrs. Howard encouraged me to seek God's forgiveness and to forgive myself when I'm ready. Even though it took me a number of years before forgiving myself, I took her words as well as the song 'Amazing Grace' to heart and I'm committed to spend the rest of my life trying to make a difference for the community. In closing, there's a saying that you either die and rot a villain or live to see yourself make up, turn your life around to be a superhero.

Sincerely,

Madeline Elizabeth Sawyer

"You did a great job on the letter Ms. Sawyer and I know I'm pressed for time but I want to say thank you for taking care of my sister and helping each other out. I'm hoping that she learns a valuable lesson in all of this" said Richard thankfully "Thanks for everything Madeline, and remember there's always light at the end of the tunnel of darkness. I know its corny but its true" said Patricia while giving Maddie a hug "Just remember my friends call me Maddie but Madeline is fine as well Patricia and thanks for being my friend" said Maddie with a smile along with tears in her eyes flowing down her cheeks.

AFTERMATH

Janice Hayley later graduated from her high school with honors and received an athletic scholarship her family is proud of her accomplishments. She later visited Maddie and Maddie was so proud of Janice and happy for her as well.

To be continued...