CHAPTER ONE
Tonight was the night. She wasn't sure how she knew it to be true, only that she did. A small eternity passed as Tenten stood looking in the mirror. The reflection that gazed back at her was a shell of her former self. When at once she was beautiful and confident, with a future as bright as she had once been credited as being, she had now waxed dull and uncertain. Her beauty was faded, her complexion now a blotched, sallow discoloration. But that's what happened when you lived a hard life, she thought to herself. A life of drugs, of alcohol, a life riddled through with regret. And oh, the regrets she had. But she had to pay. In the end, she always knew she would. It was only fair. It was right.
Tenten drunkenly stumbled into the kitchen, knocking into furniture along the way. She yanked open the door of the fridge and blindly selected yet another of the bottles of beer. She couldn't remember which number this one made tonight, nor did she care. Besides, she was already drunk so it really didn't matter. The damage was already done. She popped the cap where she stood. Her head dipped back as she turned the bottle up to her lips and greedily gulped the bitter liquid down. She drained the bottle completely before allowing it to fall to the floor to be forgotten.
She reached out a hand to steady herself against the fridge when she swayed. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and pressed a hand to her head. Her breath came in deep, ragged breaths. Releasing her hold on the fridge, she stumbled back into her living room and collapsed in an ungraceful heap on the floor next to her glass coffee table. She smirked as she gazed at small white, powdered substance heaped on a long and slender piece of mirrored trinket. With a thin razor blade, she carefully separated the powder into two long and thin rows. She thinly rolled a single hundred dollar bill into a cylindrical shape when she detected a presence behind her.
Tenten's eyes pooled with fresh tears that slid silently over her cheeks. She sniffed once.
"Would you believe me if I told you I've been expecting you?" she asked in a hushed slur. She continued to sit with her back facing her uninvited guest. She didn't bother turning to acknowledge who she already knew it was, her murderer come to claim her life.
But she had to pay. In the end, she always knew she would. It was only fair. It was right.
Tenten hastily swiped her tears away with the back of her hand. "I'm just surprised it took you this fucking long." She scoffed. "Did you get lost on the way?" She grinned pitifully. Yes, it had been too damned long. She heaved a sigh. But she was ready.
Pressing the palms of her hands on the table top, Tenten clumsily stood and turned to face her murderer head on. She stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes grew fearfully wide in her face.
"Who…who are you?" she whispered shakily. For the assailant's identity had been concealed with a ski mask. And they were the last words she'd ever utter again when, with a single motion so fluid, so lightning fast, Tenten's murderer produced a knife and instantly buried it deep within the stunned woman's abdomen.
The murderer quickly covered Tenten's mouth with a gloved hand to smother her scream and gently eased the woman's already collapsing body to the floor. One of Tenten's hands suddenly shot up to grab the ski mask in a stern grip and forcefully yanked it off. But it was no matter, the assailant thought, as Tenten was as good as dead. The assailant even managed a gloating smile in the face of the rapidly dying woman, whose own expression was one of shock before she succumbed to the darkness. Death claimed her within a stern grip of its own.
The assailant stood and gazed on Tenten's wide eyed expression. The assailant then produced a small piece of mint green stationary that was shaped into a four-leafed clover and, stooping, placed it gently on the corpse. And it was all so fitting, because in the end, Tenten knew she would have to pay eventually. It was only fair. It was right.