The Apartment_(0)

It’s a quiet night. I sit in the dark apartment waiting, watching the
traffic on the street below. I smile at how easy this has been.

I’ve watched the girl for a couple of days, she seems oblivious to my
presence. Maybe she hasn’t seen me or maybe she’s used to people
watching her, dancers are like that I suppose. Her routine is the same
every day. She goes to work at about eight o’clock every night, and
comes home at three o’clock in the morning.

I look at my watch. 2:58am. Almost time.

The apartment was a breeze to break into. I just climbed right up the
wooden cage surrounding the lower apartment’s patio and over the low
wooden fence surrounding the upper patio. The sliding glass door was
unlocked, I just let myself in.

Footfalls on the stairs outside. She’s coming. I get up from the
chair and hide behind the curtains that normally cover the patio door.
I’ve found this hiding place when I came in and I’ve cut a small slit
in the fabric so I can watch her come in.

She opens the door and I can see her illuminated by the porch light.
She’s a vision as always. Tall, with the slender graceful figure of a
dancer. She has long dark hair tied up in a bun, little streams of it
drop down over the fine angular features of her beautiful face. She’s
perfect.

She comes in closing the door behind her, drops her bags down next to
the door and turns on the lights. I watch her body move under the
flowery cotton sun dress she’s wearing as she kneels down to pet her
cat. A cat, by the way, that ran up to me when I came in like I was
part of the family. I think I like cats.

She stands and walks past my hiding place to the kitchen. I hold my
breath as she walks by, it’s too early for her to see me, it would
complicate things. I hear the sound of her sandals against the tile
floor of the kitchen, it appears that she didn’t see me. I’m lucky
tonight. I slowly release my grip on the long silk scarf wrapped around
my left hand. The sounds from the kitchen tell me she’s feeding the
cat.

I watch as she walks back into my field of view then turns and walks
directly away from me down the hall toward the bathroom. I must act
now! I quietly (oh so quietly) move out from behind the curtain and
silently wrap the other end of the scarf around my right hand. She’s
still unaware of my approach as I lift the scarf over her head and
tighten it down around her pretty neck. I pull the ends of the scarf,
hard.

She tries to scream, I think. But all that comes out is a gurgling
sound. She begins to struggle and kick. I stand sideways to protect
my groin and pull the scarf tighter. I take a few shots in the ribs
from her elbows. It hurts but I can’t let up now. I pull her body a
little closer as she twists and turns.

Thirty seconds pass. Her face becomes beat-red, her eye’s are wide
with fear and her tongue sticks out of her open mouth as she gasps for
air. Her struggling reaches it’s peak then I start to feel her
weakening.

One minute. She continues to pull at the scarf with her hands and kick
with her sandaled feet but I already know that I’ve won.