The sound of the subway was drowning out her thoughts. As she sauntered ahead to the staircase, she could see the black coat running in her vicinity. Running for a purpose like her, she mused. As the steps descended with every climb, she realised how much she hated the broad daylight. Spreading over the horizon, drenching everyone. She had always liked the darkness. The alleys, the subway staircases, the bathrooms. The bathrooms.
The stairs led her to the 34th Street, bustling with life, bustling with humans, bustling with women. As her hair billowed in the icy Manhattan wind, hair as red as the tongues of a flame, with the black silk scarf tied a bit too tight around her neck, she thought about The Woman. She heard her laughter. Suddenly The Woman's silk scarf was gagging her six year old self till she floated, unconscious. Till the darkness took her, but only gave her a small respite.
And then she saw one in the crowd. A red head, with flowing sunburned hair. She was alone. Her stars were in line today, it seemed. She followed her from 34th on a bus. It was easy for her to reflect in her prey's silhouette, her mother, The Woman’s face. The eyes that crinkled with a smile while she was being buried neck deep in sand with the hands. The lips that parted into a grin while the palm pressed her head into water until she turned red and her lungs almost burst. The mouth that pouted in a whistle while digging a knife from her thigh to her ankle, just for amusement.
Alas, the train of thought had to be halted. The red head was getting off. Of course. She had a purpose to fulfil, she thought. She got into a big glass building on the twelfth, clueless of the clack silk scarf that followed her. She went into the ladies room, and that had sealed her fate. That had ensured her death. She was to go in the clothes that she was wearing that day, accessorised only by a black silk scarf put around her neck; a treasure to be held. Her desire to look desirable had done the deed. And you could see the smile if you ascended from the silk. Ear to ear. End to end.
Story