There she was, sitting in a corner, lost in her little world, her eyes which were always full of shine now a dull black orb, I sat in front of her table, waiting for her to snap out of it, somehow recognize me, I wait a few moments. It breaks my heart to see my best friend in this state. Realizing she isn't snapping out of it and that she will never recognize me, I start to speak
"Hey, my name is Eve, what's your name?" I offer a fake excited smile although inside, I am about to break down.
Shane smiles and responds "I'm Shane. Nice to meet you Eve."
she smiled, like those she'd always give when she was truly delighted and happy about something. I smile even bigger, knowing she had always been a picky person when it comes to making friends.
"How are you Shane?" I asked genuinely concerned
"I'm alright Eve, I've got an exam tomorrow, I'll be graduating in a few weeks!"
she said excitedly
"Have you been studying for it? I hope you pass Shane!"
I responded, going along her world.
"Yes, I hope so too Eve, I'm tired of studying, can't wait to graduate and get out there. You know, I have a best friend named Eve too."
she smiled at me "Really? What is she like?" I asked her
"Oh she's such a sweetheart, always there for me when no one else would, she's smart and a tough girl."
She smiled, these are things she remembers, everything else for some odd reason she had forgotten, I smile faintly at her thoughts
"My, I want to meet her sometime, she seems to be nice."
"Yeah she is, she'd love to meet you too, I am sure of it. Hey, I got to go and study again, I'll see you tomorrow I guess?" she asked me
"I was kind of hoping you join me for snacks, I have cake and coffee." I smiled faintly
"Well I..." she started to think hard "I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I stay a while longer."
She decided on staying. I took out the packaging I had with me, Two slices of Chocolate Mousse and two cups of Caramel Macchiatos from her favorite place. She smiled faintly.
We started to eat and we talked some more, all her made up stories about her day, I nearly tried to shake her out of it, but stopped myself. After our little coffee date, she thanked me and finally went to their common study area where patients are doing their activities.
I walked back to the lobby, I walked as fast as I could, rushing toward the door, once I reached the door, tears started to fall down from my eyes, I stood there a few moments letting my tears flow down, the sight of Shane breaking me into pieces.
I was breathing heavily, it took a lot of strength to put on a show like that for Shane, it simply broke my heart and today was no exception, a few more moments, I noticed I wasn't alone, standing on the other side of the building, a woman same age as I am if I am not mistaken looking on at me, I offered a half smile, carefully wiping some of the tears that started to impair my vision,
"Are you okay?" She asked appearing to be concerned about me.
"Yeah, I am." I half lied
"I know how hard it is to see people we once knew to be in this situation, truly a heartbreaking sight, I get you and it's okay to let it out."
"Thanks." I answered her and smiled
"Welcome..." the woman answered
"I'm Eve." I introduced myself
"I'm Destiny."
She smiled at me and for the first time I recognize that this woman looks like a guy, short spiked hair, wearing a black button down shirt, skin tight jeans and black leather shoes and glasses.
I also felt like I know her from somewhere but couldn't quite put a finger on it. I smiled back at her and said "Nice to meet you, sorry that you had to see me breaking down like that."
"Don't worry, I understand how it feels like. It breaks my heart to see them too.."
She smiled with a hint of bitterness in her eyes
"You know someone too?" I asked a bit surprised
"No, I work for this mental institution as a psychiatrist."
"That's nice, it's nice to meet you Destiny." I smiled.
"It's nice to meet you too Eve, so, what do you do for work?"
"I'm a Marketing Consultant for Gold Rush Media."
"That's nice, a marketing woman. Hey, I was just going to grab dinner, want to come with?"
Destiny smiled and I couldn't explain what it was with her smile, it made me at ease and I surprised my old inhibited self by agreeing, I found myself following her, Destiny reached her car, in a true gentleman's fashion, she opened the door of the front passenger's seat, proceeded to buckle me up, she smiled and I found myself blushing at the gesture, briefly feeling a sense of deja vu, I swear this was all too familiar, she closed the door gently, before going over to the driver's side and getting in herself.
She closed the door, buckled up and started the engine, she pulled away from the parking space and drove.
"Are you up for some Chinese?" She asked while she drove and tried to focus on the road ahead.
"Uhmmm, it's alright, I'm the one tagging along, I don't want to be picky." I smiled faintly. I saw a smile form in her face as she drove, the rest of the drive was a bit silent,
I am thankful that Destiny allowed me to get lost in my own thoughts, after an hour and a half of driving, we finally reached a chinese restaurant, the place looked very classy and expensive. After finding a parking spot, Destiny unbuckled herself and went down, She opened the door for me and we started to walk towards the door
"Destiny, thank you for the company, I truly appreciate it, I hope I am not being too much of a hassle."
"Hey, you're not, I invited you because I want to do this. Otherwise I would have never asked."
She smiled and we entered the door, we found a secluded table and sat ourselves down, the wait staff trailing behind us. After sitting we ordered and made ourselves comfortable.
"So, who were you visiting today?"
"I visited my best friend, Shane."
"I see, so you guys known each other for a long time?"
"Yeah, I met her at Kindergarten, since then we've been inseparable." I said
"I see now, you two come a long way, I understand how hard it is, seeing Shane that way, I can only imagine." she said emphatically
"It is, every visit is heart breaking, in my mind, we should be going through life right now, working for the same company and reaching our dreams."
"I agree, I've read her file and case, it was a mystery as to what drove her to lose it, she's a rare case, as she hasn't manifested any tendencies during her lifetime, she coped and adapted well until one event lead her here."
She said sounding genuinely puzzled about Shane
"She's naturally a jolly person, she can make fun out of everything, that's how I know her to be, in fact, this, all of this feels like one of her pretend acts and that she's just keeping it up to mess with us, maybe still in denial after all this time." I said with a bit of sadness
"Hey, we're hanging out because I wanted to cheer you up, so let's not talk about this if it's making you feel sad." I gave Destiny a weak smile and nodded, we talked for the next 35 minutes, opening up other topics we could talk about, until our orders were served.
We ate heartily, engaging in small talks every after few bites, we were enjoying our meal when all of a sudden, a waiter approaches our table and places a small plate of their most expensive dimsum, Destiny and I eyed the waiter and we both said in chorus
"We didn't order that."
"Yes, Miss this is a gift courtesy of that man three tables away to the left, he says it's on him, but wanted to get your name Miss."
addressing me I looked over the man and smiled, I mouthed thank you and took out my calling card to hand over to the waiter. The waiter walked away and left us to enjoy our meal
"Oh my God, what did just happen?"
said Destiny evidently amazed about what just happened
"That's an invitation to flirt or date." I laughed sheepishly
"And why did you give your calling card? I mean do you even like that man?"
"Nope." I said and smiled
"Then why did you give your calling card?"
"For courtesy, he bought me these dimsums, I don't want to embarrass him in front of these people."
"Oh wow, that's nice of you." Destiny responded with a hint of annoyance, I looked at Destiny, when I was sure she's looking me in the eye, I smiled and reached over the table to pinch her cheek
"You're awfully cute, you know that?"
then I continued eating, not removing my eye contact on Destiny, for the first time in an hour that we have been together, this is the only time that I really paid attention on Destiny --- Finding myself drawn to her smile, her eyes that betrayed all of her emotions, very expressive and a deep black color, small chinky eyes. As if I've lost my mind, I suddenly asked out loud
"Are you Lesbian?"
Destiny smiled sweetly at me and said
"I don't look like one?"
she feigns surprise and then laughed, oddly, I found the sound of her laugh comforting and beautiful.
"Yes, I am lesbian, funny how you'd ask that now that we are having dinner, are you worried I'm hitting on you?"
She smiled at me and waited for an answer while she take another bite of her stuffed tofu "No and even if you were, I think I'd like that."
I paused and let that sink in before I speak again
"I've been meaning to ask, because I don't want to assume that because of your looks, you are a lesbian, for all I know you might be just a crossdresser."
"I'm relieved to know you're not some stuck up bitch." Destiny laughed at her own statement.
"Hey, I'm most certainly not." she nodded and continued to eat
"And that calling card is a bogus card, the numbers don't exist. I don't give out my details unless I'm interested." I laughed,
Destiny looked at me and shook her head
"That, that was clever."
we enjoyed dinner and talked some more we've had fun and after dinner we both parted ways.
*********************************************************
Eve's POV:
I was waiting to catch a cab, a car pulls up in front of me and rolls down their window, I looked into the man's eyes and I recognize him to be the same man from the restaurant that gave us the dimsums, I smiled at him and he said
"Do you need a ride home?"
he flashed his smile to me, I looked at him and smiled, I noticed the wedding band in his left which he tried to cover from my view, I smiled and opened the door and said
"Thanks." while I make myself comfortable in the passenger seat
"My name is Martin." he smiled as if sensing I was going to ask for his name
"Thanks Martin." I smiled back at him
"So, where are we off to?" he asked me
"I got no plans for tonight." I said
"You want to go some place we can get to know each other? I have a place 15 minutes away from here." he offered, I looked at him and smiled sweetly and said
"That sounds like a plan as long as no one's going to get mad with me for going, I suppose that's fine."
"No one's ever going to be mad baby." he said
"Liar!" I thought to myself, I smiled at him sweetly, he drove quickly, making the 15 minute travel time seem like it was just a minute. We reached his apartment door, he opened the door and ushered me in, the place looked so masculine, a nice leather couch, pillows, bean bags, lounge chairs, carpeted living room, a state of the art entertainment system, a big flat screen TV, speakers surrounding the place strategically. It was a Bachelor's Haven so to speak "Go make yourself comfortable."
He said, I took a seat at the leather couch, Martin walked towards the stereo system, pushed a couple of buttons came on soft saxophone music, he then walked over to his bar and said over the music
"Do you want anything to drink?" I smiled and said
"An Apple Martini will do."
He smiled and started to mix the drinks up. A few minutes later, he emerged from the bar and took a seat beside me, handing me my drink, he took a sip of his drink and I did to.
We set our glasses down on the table, he pulled me in and started to kiss my neck and my shoulder, I urged him to slow down, he obliged and kissed me slowly and sensually, I caressed the back of Martin's head, encouraging him to continue kissing my neck, I moaned softly. He started to kiss my lips and I reciprocated, his tongue running along my lower lip, begging interaction with mine, I let my mouth open slightly, allowing his tongue to dance with mine, I caressed his face, as he caressed my leg and my thigh, we kissed for what seems like a long time, intensifying our kiss as each minute passes by, caressing each other more frantically and rough by the minute.
Then it happens, amid the soft jazz music playing, all the caressing and kissing we were doing, I looked deeply into his eyes, full of lust, quickly turning into rage, I put my arms around his neck, he was so engaged on the make out session we were having that he didn't notice me unraveling a coil of steel wire that doubled as my bracelet and at this time it was already around his neck, I let him kiss me and caress me, I smiled into the kiss and proceeded to kiss him harder and at the same time tightening the steel wire around his neck, effectively asphyxiating him as we kiss, he looked into my eyes visibly confused and is by now putting up a struggle I smiled sweetly at him as blood started to spurt out his throat, the steel wire cutting through his neck, his eyes now in panic, those beautiful brown eyes of his, now reduced to a look of sheer panic, I tightened the wire some more around his neck, draining his strength and consciousness leaving his body, I waited another minute before removing the steel wire, I stood from the couch and got to his kitchen, finding a chef's knife, I took it and went back to the living room where his lifeless body now lies, jazz still playing in the background, I approached the couch and stabbed Martin's chest, my favorite jazz song of all time comes on, 'The way you look tonight' by John Coltrane, out of bliss and sheer excitement, I must have lost myself, I forcefully hacked through his chest, stabbing as the music plays on, vigorous and simultaneous chops, like how one would do with a piece of meat, I make an incision down his torso, alternating between vigorous chops and stabbing, I took his heart out and minced it to pieces, feeling immense satisfaction with every slice I make out of his heart, with every spurt of blood from Martin's body there was a tingling sensation of excitement that ran through my body, once the song ended, I snap back into consciousness, I bit on the blade of the chef's knife, while I bare handedly arrange the chopped up pieces of his heart into a heart shape, placing it beside his body, right next to his face. I admired my handiwork for a few moments, mesmerized by my own work, another jazz song comes on, I daintily cleaned myself up, and the chef's knife, placing it back to the rack of knives he had in the kitchen. I went back to the living room, I reached for my purse and got an apple I was carrying, I placed it beside the heart.
I smiled at my clever handiwork, I put on some leather gloves and proceeded to get out of his place. I walked leisurely that night for a block before deciding it was best to hail a cab and get myself home. After 30 minutes, I got to my apartment, I paid the cab driver and thanked him and bid him goodbye. I walked up my driveway, I fished my keys out of my purse and inserted the key to the keyhole, I opened the door and got myself in. I headed immediately to my room, and set my bag down the couch near the door of my room, I went to my cabinet to get myself a change of clothes and hopped into the shower. I turned the hot shower on and dialled the knobs to get the temperature I wanted. I stepped under the shower and proceeded to let the water drip all over my body, my mind drifted to Destiny, I swear I know her from somewhere and I just couldn't quite put a finger on it, after a few minutes, I proceeded to grab my bath sponge and poured shower cream on it, I lathered myself up, inhaling the scent of caramel, I scrubbed my body down and once I felt clean, I washed myself off and dried myself. I proceeded to do my night rituals, brushing my teeth, gargling and putting on a face cream and re-hydrating my skin with moisturizer, I laid myself to bed, recounting how this day went, I fell asleep with a satisfied smile on my face.
I woke up 7 hours later, feeling refreshed, I turned my alarm off and got up from bed. I prepared myself breakfast and a cup of coffee. I psyched myself up for the day while enjoying my breakfast, I've watched the news and seen that they've already found Martin's body, the news made me smile and there was a sense of accomplishment I felt, an adrenaline rush flowing through every inch of my body and making me blissful. I continued to get ready for the day, I took a shower and got myself dressed.