Serena yawned as she logged and shut down the computer. Tomorrow was another day, hopefully one that drew close to the end.
It was late in the evening; a half-moon was already hanging in the midnight rafters. She had been on the phone, chatting gaily as she painted her fingernails. Candy apple red, just a few shades lighter than blood. She'd remembered, because she had never worn that shade again since that, shuddering every time she saw it on someone else's fingers and in the drugstore.
She had changed so much since that night.
Back then, her hair had been silver-blond and curly, to her mother's great delight. "My Pearl," she'd say. Her eyes had been different then too, an amber almost as warm as her smile. They were her father's eye, that's what everyone used to say.
Now that was all over, but the girl on the phone hadn't known it then.
The window opened and she'd started, turning around. Looming fearsomely over her, he'd knocked the phone out of her hand. "What are you doing here" She'd asked terrified.
Red. Candy apple Red. Just a few shades lighter than blood.
The man snarled. "The question is, what are you doing here, bitch?"