All The Men I Have Danced With Are Dead

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Again, Aurora was thrown into a pit of despair - even more so now, as she was sure all between them was done. She battled between being angry at herself for what she did and angry at Peter for giving her a reason to - and then leaving her for it.

She had called and texted and even at a point emailed - but she was blocked on all fronts.

Either way, she was alone - something she had been completely afraid of had become a reality.

To Aurora, this was it - there was no hope for happiness. She couldn't fathom the thought of ever recovering from losing Peter. It drained her sense of worth. Weeks had passed since the day - and when she could no longer focus on work so she took a leave of absence. She spent all her time in her bed. Days would go by before she would leave her room. She substituted food for alcohol on most days and when that did nothing but made her sick, she added painkillers.

On one of the nights, she tried to kill herself. With the alcohol and OxyContin in her system, the idea of her not existing became solid enough to execute. She thought it through first - how she would do it? Who would find her? Should she leave a note? With all the tasks running through her mind coupled with her inability to actually stand up - she slept off. When she woke up - the sun was up with her, and there was something about the way the day looked through her window, bright and promising, she thought - maybe not.

Regardless, Aurora was clinically depressed. She was sure she had developed a drinking problem at that point, but did little towards caring.

It wasn't until the end of the second month that she followed him to work, waited in his lobby for the entirety of his shift, followed him home, and then called it a day. At first, to her - she was helping herself- "it would help her get over him" she said to herself repeatedly. But then, she started doing this way more often, and then one particular substance infused evening, she had stayed for more than enough time for Peter to come back from work but she had not seen him leave. She waited for almost two hours in his work building before leaving and heading down to his apartment building.

She waited there for less than thirty minutes when she saw, instead of Peter, the girl in the green dress through the revolving doors. Aurora's vision hazed at the sight of her as she walked into the building with as much confidence as one would have if they had come to conduct important business.

Aurora knew the woman lived in the building and had every right to be there but nonetheless, she followed her. She got to the first of two doors before the elevator - the doors that required a fob to access - the green girl opened the door with the fob and closed it immediately after - locking her out.

More and more she had started to give no thought to acts that required consistent reasoning.

Aurora must have stayed there for more than an hour - waiting for someone else to open the door, but no one did, which was strange considering the time of the day and the general traffic of the building. But just as she was about to give up, a man with a feather hat and a strong smell walked beside her and opened the door - she went in behind him.

She entered the elevator and hit the level for Peter's floor. She walked slowly towards his door. It was left semi-open and before she could open it fully, she heard the fall of a woman's voice. Aurora's steps grew stronger as she opened the door and entered the apartment. The living area was empty, all the furniture was gone - the only thing that remained was the kitchen utensils on the counter and a few art posters. Aurora moved to the door of his bedroom - her movements were slow and quiet, as she neared the voice.

The green woman laid on the bed, her blonde hair spread on the pillows. She was naked from the waist up, the bottom half of her were in Peter's very worn-out denim jeans. She faced the windows, so that as Aurora stood by the door light headed and in disbelief, the woman didn't notice - not until Aurora said:

Liar' She said it in a very low voice, almost a whisper. But loud enough for the woman to notice.

The woman hastily stood up.

What are you doing here? She said this as if she was genuinely curious. Like she wasn't the one that was supposed to be asked that question. Like she wasn't the intruder.

Aurora moved away from the door. Too many things were spiraling in her head - most especially the fact that Peter had made her the villain when it was him all along. She had gotten on her hands and knees to beg for him. She had given up her pride and her heart for...

Aurora saw only red.

The woman behind her was still asking questions of the confused sort: " why are you here? How did you get up here?"   "look I have been meaning to talk to you'

Utterly and completely dumbfounded.

Aurora turned around. As she did, she gripped one of the knives, among others in a wooden block on the kitchen counter.

What are you doing?" - The woman said with a mix of confusion and alarm as Aurora pointed the knife in her direction.

Aurora, what are you doing? put the knife down!  This time the alarm outweighed the confusion.

What was Aurora doing? She herself didn't know - she just couldn't take anything anymore.

Aurora stabbed her. The knife fell on the ground - just as the green woman did.

Aurora had run the knife through her chest, right where the heart beats. Blood gushed and colored the wooden floors.

Aurora stared at the green woman as she bled out right in front of her. It was almost like she was watching the scene play out separate from the actual scene itself. She watched as the woman's eyes fluttered closed, as the last struggle for her life was given up. She stared at the woman for so long, the body in front of her started to change. Her blonde hair faded and then disappeared altogether, her chest flattened and defined into muscles. She watched as the woman she was sure she saw, transform through a blur to become Peter.

Aurora laughed - almost manically.

She called the police.

They came and took both the dead body and her.

>>>>>>>>>

Aurora said, "If I was a girl in a book, all will be well...."

What book are you referring to? Dr. Rice asked her?

Aurora looked up to meet the doctor's face.

She shook her head - indicating that she was not interested in completing her sentence.

On queue, a timer at the left side of the room dinged - the session was over.

The short and the long hand were both on eight.

The west door opened and a man in a police uniform came in. Aurora stood up and followed the man out of the room, down a hallway through a gate, a door, another door, and then through the metal bars of her cell.