Content Warning: This section discusses kidnapping, sexual and physical abuse, murder, drugging someone without their consent, trauma, and mental illness, including PTSD. This section also contains brief references to drug overdoses and death by suicide.

The story begins with a Prologue that is narrated from the third-person perspective of Nicole Cutty. She is fascinated by the darker side of life, enjoys gothic aesthetics, and consumes macabre media such as horror movies and black metal music. While Nicole enjoys dark hobbies, she is frightened by true evil in the real world. As the novel opens, she is being chased by an unseen, dangerous man and is running for her life. Nicole flees to her car and drives recklessly toward the highway, hoping that she can outrun her attacker. As she drives, she makes a mental list of the people she can call for support. She feels unable to call her parents or the police, and it is implied that neither would help her, no matter how desperate she is. Nicole decides to call her older sister, Livia, and she cries while her call goes unanswered.