She could feel the hunger growing as she stood in front of the restaurant window looking at the tables full of aromatic gourmet food. Her eyes darted from table to table, searching, until she found what she had come for. There he sat wearing a nice Armani suit tailored to fit his muscular frame. His thick dark hair slicked back and glistened in the candlelight. He was clean-shaven and as she already knew, he smelled the way a man looking like that should. She closed her eyes for a moment remembering that smell, that touch, that look…no.. she shook the thought out of her head.
There he sat at a beautifully laid table, with his date, a woman well past her prime with blonde hair that can only come from a bottle. She was not jealous if anything she felt sorry for the woman. She knew what was coming. Maybe not tonight but it would happen. Like the sunrise, he burns gloriously for a moment before becoming too hard on the eyes.
Her stomach was growling as she watched him touch the woman’s hand across the table. She had not eaten in days, but that didn’t matter. Being hungry was the price she paid for learning one of life’s great lessons. For every blazing brilliant sunrise, there is a dark night.
She stood there a few moments more watching as the waiter refilled the wine glasses. The woman was laughing and gently toying with a diamond necklace at her throat. Lines at the corners of her eyes and around her mouth gave away the fact that she was a smoker. She appeared to be in her mid 50’s and was tastefully dressed in last season’s Chanel and her hair was swept up in a beautiful french twist. As she reached up to tuck a stray hair behind her ear, the candlelight glinted off the large sapphire ring on her finger.
Lost in watching the scene play out in front of her, half remembering, half reliving, the sound of her stomach growling broke the spell. She pulled her tatted sweater around her shoulders to ward off the cold night air. She had once had beautiful clothing, diamond jewelry, a big house, a dream life but then she met him.
It was time, she reached into her bag and touched the gun. She smiled as a family walked by her on the sidewalk. Turning toward them, hand grasping the gun she walked slowly toward the corner. Under the streetlight, a taxi pulled up.
