( DISCLAIMER: mild sexual innuendos )

Hampstead Heath, England
May 28th, 1990
8:54 P.M.
Steph's POV

"Since I have a day off of the schedule, you free to go shopping with me tomorrow morning?" the middle-aged woman spoke into the phone with a grin on her face, quickly glancing down the hallway from the living room of the mansion she was at to see if he would come out of his office soon. But that door was closed and had been that way for three hours, which made her heart sink a little bit and she even sighed to herself, twirling a strand of her dark blonde hair around her left index finger.

"Yeah, of course I'll tag along," her friend, Audra Phillips, replied on the other end, a smile obviously in her voice.

"Let me guess, you'll be going after the designer purses and jewelry," Stephanie Palmer-Denbrough said teasingly, her manicured right hand gripping the receiver more tightly for a second. Her fingernails were painted with dark maroon polish.

"Ha ha, very funny," Audra responded sarcastically before both women giggled at the joke. "Hey, I've got to go. A new airing of Family Feud will be on soon and I'm gonna rest after that. I'll see you tomorrow, though?"

Steph chuckled at this, shrugging her shoulders. "Yeah, of course," she mumbled almost timidly, her reserved attitude having not vanished even in her adult years. "Call me in the morning, okay? Or... I'll call you... It doesn't matter."

"Bye-bye, Steph!"

Silently hanging up the phone, Steph felt a gust of wind coming from the open window of the living room, and she shivered lightly; she had completely forgotten that she had left it raised up earlier that day since it was stiflingly hot outside. Now, though, it wasn't any higher than fifty-three degrees in England, which counted as freezing to her. So, not wanting to get too cold, as she was only wearing a black tank top and white silk pajama pants, she crossed the room to shut the window.

Afterwards, she stared out into the night for a brief amount of time, noting how the bright moon illuminated the mansion that she and her husband had rented for the entirety of the film schedule. They had an actual home in Los Angeles that they had lived in for ten of the eighteen years of their marriage, and it was perfect for what they had.

Stephanie was a forty-two-year-old woman who, despite the huge amount of success and fame that she had gained over a dozen years prior, lived a comfortable and peaceful life whenever she wasn't in front of the camera on film sets. And, despite her having what seemed to be a huge amount of confidence whenever the director of a movie she starred in yelled "ACTION!" she was actually a very shy person that was soft-spoken and extremely introverted.

Even around her husband, who was very loving and supportive of her, she was terrified to speak her mind about anything despite him assuring her countless times that she could deliver brutal honesty towards him without consequence. He very rarely got angry with her and, whenever he did, he would instantly regret it and apologize to her.

The angriest William Denbrough would ever be was towards himself; a week ago, he was convinced that he had lost his car keys when he was going to get takeout for the two of them. He vented his frustration out on himself until Steph shouted over to him that the keys were under some items of his in the top drawer of his nightstand. The weirdest part was that she hadn't even checked in there. She just seemed to magically know where he had last put them....

Bill was completely aware of his wife's ability to know everything, either when it came to how he was feeling at the moment (right now, she could sense it was deeply concentrated on revising the screenplay for the film they were working on) or when he had forgotten where something was. When they were a much younger couple, it only freaked him out slightly but he had gotten used to it and saw it as much more normal now.

Steph had always been that way, especially throughout college whenever a classmate of hers would ask for her help since they knew of her being one of the highest ranked students of NYU. And she would often answer their questions in less than five seconds because it seemed as though she had memorized every bit of the problem every time. In fact, the lowest grade she had ever received in her school days was a B- since she was always an A student.

Staring out into the pitch black night filled Steph with the slightest amount of dread that she used to feel whenever she studied for an exam, but she tried to relinquish it, not wanting to get too anxious and worked up right now. Besides, she had something far greater to worry about at the moment.

Locking the now closed window, Steph made her way out of the living room and down the hallway, her arms crossed over her chest to shield herself from any further coldness that could enter the huge house. She could feel her long hair (although part of it was tied up into a ponytail) bouncing against her back as she journeyed towards the door at the very end of said hallway.

Taking a deep breath and trying not to let her hands tremble, she raised her left hand and knocked on the office door. Instantly afterwards, she could hear the repetitive sound of fingers meticulously slamming down against a keyboard as more text was typed across her husband's computer. Steph sighed quietly as she shook her head, knowing he would work himself to death if he kept going on like this.

"Bill?!" she called out gently with a nervous edge to her voice, rapping on the door once again. "Dinner's been ready for an hour and a half now."

"Okay," came Bill's voice from his desk on the other side of the door. "I'll be out there in a minute."

Steph cleared her throat and prepared herself for her reply to that. "You, um... You said that a half hour ago..." she gently countered, feeling ashamed of herself for saying that. "And a half hour before that..."

The sounds of fingers against the keyboard came to a halt and Steph briefly looked into her husband's mind. He was glancing at the clock on the other side of the office and she could hear him sigh with frustration.

(i lost track of time what's wrong with me)

"Damn it..." he murmured to himself. "I'll be out there now, I promise. Sorry, honey..."

Steph just nodded to herself before making her way back to the dining room as fast as she could, wishing she could present herself as being in a happy mood in front of him when he followed her in here. She even glanced to her right and glimpsed the cover page for the original copy of the movie script she was set to finish filming in the next month: Attic Room. Bill had written the main role with her in mind, and it would be her official return to the horror genre after starring as the title character in the movie adaptations of the Misery novels by Paul Sheldon.

As a result of her performance of Misery Chastain in Misery's Quest, which was released in 1982, Steph had been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress the following year. She had lost to Meryl Streep for her performance in Sophie's Choice.

However, Paul Sheldon had been so impressed with Steph's interpretation of the character that he had written more Misery novels so she could be in more adaptations, having said she was the perfect person for the role. That was until his supposed last installment titled Misery's Child, where the titular character died towards the very end. But, when his story of him being held captive by a fanatic nurse named Annie Wilkes was made public in late 1987, Steph became aware of Misery's Return.

Having written Paul a letter expressing sympathy for his tragic experience, Steph and Paul had become good friends that often discussed cinema.

Steph was broken out of her thoughts by a gentle hand being placed on her left, and she flinched a little before looking up at her husband. She tenderly took his hand and squeezed it carefully, smiling timidly at him. "Hey..." she whispered.

"Hey," Bill replied, leaning down and kissing Steph on the forehead and making her blush lightly. "Sorry for losing track of time. You okay...?"

Steph nodded lightly before dropping her gaze briefly. "Yeah, I'm alright..." she said. "Sorry for bothering you, but your food got cold so I had to let you know."

"It's okay, don't apologize, hun," he mumbled, interlocking his fingers with hers. "I should have checked the time a while ago and I should have listened to you. Just... next time, don't just knock on the door. If I'm not coming out of the office, break the door down."

Steph couldn't help but giggle quietly as her head bobbed up and down again. "You wouldn't be mad at me if I did that?" she asked jokingly, her eyebrows raised in what seemed to be pretend concern.

But Bill could see the genuine worry in her dark blue eyes, and his heart broke at that. "I could never be mad at my adorable wife..." he told her, his spirits uplifting when he saw a true smile on her face. "I won't be mad at you for that, sweetheart..." He then leaned down and pecked her on the lips for just a moment before pulling away, placing a hand on her cheek. "Don't be afraid to boss me around if you have to. You don't have to be so quiet all the time."

The blonde woman thought about it for a moment before standing up to look directly at Bill for the first time during the entire conversation. "Okay..." she said. "Well, how about this? We're going out tomorrow. I don't want you working yourself to death..." She noticed that Bill was about to speak up but she shook her head at him. "Freddie can live without the revision for a day or two. We just don't get to spend time together anymore, you know?"

Bill placed his hands on his wife's waist as he eventually nodded. "Okay, alright..." he said with a smile, giving in. "Whatever you want. You're right, Freddie will live. We'll go out for dinner wherever you want to go, I promise."

Steph's face turned a little bit red but she chose to keep her head up and stay confident like she was on all of those movie sets. "Thank you," she muttered with a smile on her face. "Really, thank you... You can go back to writing after tomorrow, don't worry."

Bill laughed a little bit before reluctantly nodding at the last sentence she said. "Alright..." he whispered before looking at her again. "You look beautiful tonight, by the way."

The blonde could feel her heart leaping for a moment, and she grinned sheepishly as she was reminded of their younger days. This was something Bill would always tell her in order to keep her spirits lifted, since she was often very insecure of how she looked despite him saying that she was and always had been angelic every day. "Oh, this...?" she said softly, referring to her nightclothes. "It's nothing, really..."

"You still look beautiful to me," Bill reassured her, placing a delicate kiss on his love's forehead. He then pulled her closer and relaxed when Steph finally returned the embrace and hugged him; he felt so lucky to be able to hold someone so breathtaking in his arms, and more guilt consumed him because of the expression in her eyes earlier. That facial expression always shattered his heart since he hardly got to spend time with her anymore, and he knew he had to make it up to her somehow.

Hoping he could cheer her up more, Bill then placed a few kisses on Steph's cheek, and he could hear her giggling and his heart warmed back up. "I was thinking..." he mumbled, holding her even closer now. "After I eat dinner, which I appreciate you making... you and I could go to the bedroom... if you want to, of course."

Steph got the message right away and she even smirked up at Bill, her face blood red now. "Okay..." she whispered coyly, her eyes brighter now. "After you eat your dinner, though..."

Bill could hear the allurance in her voice and felt his stomach flipping at the confidence that emanated from her for a moment. "Alright, I'll eat dinner," he told her. "Really, though, thank you for making it. I'll make dinner tomorrow night."

Steph just nodded meekly as she smiled, going back to sitting down at the dining table across from Bill. "Thank you," she mumbled. "By the way, I can't wait to look over the revision. I'm sure it's great."

"Let's hope Freddie agrees with you this time," Bill said jokingly as he began to eat his cold spaghetti. It was still delicious, however.

Steph smirked sarcastically this time as she shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, let's hope –" she began but was cut off.

The telephone in the living room rang loudly once again, making both of them flinch out of startlement. They then chuckled when they figured out how on edge they really were tonight; the reason was unknown but the paranoia they felt was made aware.

Trying to shake that away, though, Steph just gave Bill a tight smile of slight annoyance. "If that's Freddie, tell him I'm out," she told him. "If it's Paul or Audra, hand the phone to me."

"Gotcha," Bill said before standing up and leaving the dining room to grab the receiver in order to answer the phone. Steph just lowered her head and grabbed her glass of water to take a sip from it, shaking her head to herself as she watched the interaction her husband had on the house telephone.

With the glass still raised to her lips, Steph suddenly froze a little bit and looked into Bill's mind as she heard him talking to someone, just having the sudden instinct to do so. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing up straight as goosebumps erupted on her arms and legs, and her eyes flickered just a bit as she tried to concentrate.

(bill, is that you?)

(you didn't know who i was)

Steph desperately tried to connect the dots of what was going on but, because of her rising anxiety, she couldn't figure anything out at the moment. "Bill, who is that on the phone?" she quietly called into the living room, gnawing at her bottom lip for a long moment. "Is it anyone we know?"

In a matter of seconds, she could tell Bill had hung up the phone, plunging the entire mansion into silence. She glanced up and saw him standing in the dining room doorway with a stunned expression on his face, and that only caused her worry to rise drastically as her heartbeat quickened its speed.

"Who was that on the phone, honey?" she demanded, nearly standing up to go comfort him because of the look in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

Bill opened his mouth to speak, clearly shaking from head to toe. "Um... Steph..." he started. "It was from someone named –"

The telephone then rang once again, making them both jump about a foot into the air this time. Steph was now staring into the living room with what seemed to be dread in her eyes, and she could barely move. For just a moment, a vision plagued her mind that she would never get out of her head: in it, she saw a fortune cookie on a white tablecloth shattering on its own and making her future self scream. And slithering out of it was something slimy and scaly but she couldn't quite describe what it was.

"Hello?" came Bill's voice from the living room as he had picked the phone back up after setting it down just a minute prior.

Steph hugged her arms to herself as she felt a sudden chill travel down the length of her spine, and she suddenly had an impulse to figure out who this was. She was just about to ask Bill about the identity of the caller before she heard something else.

"Yeah, she's right here, I'll hand the phone to her," Bill said before offering Steph the telephone. "It's for you, hun..."

Steph stepped forward and gently took the phone from her husband's hand, placing it to her right ear. "Yes?" she spoke up almost inaudibly, her hand clenching the receiver extremely tightly to the point that she could have crushed it in her grip.

"Is this Stephanie Denbrough?" a female voice replied with what seemed to be a hopeful tone.

"Yes, this is me," Steph said a little louder now, clearing her throat. "Um... Stephanie Palmer-Denbrough, but you've got the right person. May I ask who's calling, please?"

"Steph, this is Amber O'Connor..." the voice on the other end replied. "The young girl you used to babysit in Derry, Maine..."

Steph's blue eyes brightened majorly at the very familiar name filling her eardrums; it was a person she hadn't spoken to in twenty-four years, not since she had left for college in New York City. Surprisingly, she still remembered who this was, despite most of her past memories having faded majorly from her mind. She supposed that it was due to how busy she was with focusing on her career, but something deep down inside her told her it was something more than that.

"Amber O'Connor?" she mumbled almost excitedly, sitting down on the sofa to her left. "Oh, hi there! How's it going, kiddo? It's been ages!"

"You still remember who I am?" Amber said in a much happier voice for just a moment.

"Only a little bit," Steph admitted guiltily. "It's just been so long, but I haven't forgotten you, not completely."

"Well, that's good," Amber replied. "Listen, are you sitting down right now?"

"Yeah, I am," Steph said. "What is it? Why have you called?"

"Um... Steph..." Amber began hesitantly, not wanting to have to tell her former babysitter and closest friend the brutal and honest truth but she knew she absolutely had to in order to convince her. "I don't know how to say this but... It's back."

Steph's heart plummeted to the floor.

A/N: so, i know this prologue is very short, but i hope it was an enjoyable part to this book.

anyways, what did you guys think of the prologue? did you like the introduction to steph's character and her relationship with bill?

what was your favorite moment?

did you like how steph constantly felt paranoid because of her shining?

yes, just like in my 2017 story, steph has a telepathic ability known as the Shining, based off of the book "The Shining" by Stephen King.

did you like how i ended it on a cliffhanger?

predictions for the actual first chapter?

be looking forward to the first chapter!

-denbroughswife