“The Cup in Her Hand”
Mar 09, 2018Alice looked into the cup in her hand. It was mostly empty. There were some bubbles left over from the smoothie. The dew of the icy drink saturated her fingers. She didn’t want to let go of that damn thing. She was scared.
Up ahead, about 300 feet in front of her, a couple of cop cars sat with their lights on. A crowd was huddled around an unidentified object. Deep in her heart, she knew it was bad news for her. She had frozen in her tracks as she walked back to where her boyfriend was waiting for her.
A siren blared off in the distance, getting closer. An ambulance pulled up beside the cop cars. Two EMTs jumped out, grabbed a stretcher from the back of the vehicle, and headed towards the crowd. Three of the cops started yelling at the crowd to get back, to make way, while a fourth cop filled the EMTs in on what happened.
Alice started walking toward the crowd, slowly at first, then picking up her pace as she got closer. She started pushing her way through.
“Let me through!”
She broke through to the front and stood frozen again. She dropped the cup and screamed.
Her boyfriend was lying in a pool of his own blood. His eyes were open, staring up at her. Rigor mortis had set in immediately. His hands were clutching a knife that was plunged into his chest.
A man grabbed Alice’s shoulder as she was screaming and she wriggled free, running to her boyfriend. She dropped down next to him, blood now splattering on her dress. Before the cops and EMTs knew what was happening, she ripped the knife from her boyfriend’s chest, his hands still attached, and shoved it straight into her heart.