Lilly turned into a small dark street to the right of her road, pretty sure she had been followed. The dark night sky had a shimmer to it as she slipped down the back ally ways and through a door she had no idea where it led to. The noise of her heels seemed to echo painfully as she scuttled into a corner trying hard to be quiet. She huddled down, clutching her bag tightly, one gloved hand in her pocket as she shivered in the cold night air, her heart beating so loudly she thought it would be heard
She heard footsteps behind her, through the alley which had stopped just about the same time as she held her breath.
'I know you're there' said the deep voice. Lilly could smell the smoke coming from the cigarette which was promptly extinguished under foot with a twist of a shiny brogue.
'It's only a matter of time before you come running back to me, I told you I'm sorry' He paused, 'I love you so much Lilly - I made a mistake' He pulled his collar up around his face and began to walk away.
She began to breath as normal and stood up, still listening for his footsteps. She had no idea he would follow her. Had he seen? Did he know?
He had left. Leaving the smell of Marlborough Lights and cheap perfume hanging in the air. She was pretty sure that he hadn't been back to the flat yet, that place where he had spent hours of fun, laughing behind her back with the cheap scented woman. If it hadn't been for that hair clip in her bed, she would never had known. How she had kept it this quiet up until now was beyond her, how she hadn't thrown him out, screamed and cried and told him how much he had broken her heart. Maybe it was the pain she felt deep inside her that silenced her, that pain of betrayal that made her keep her silence until now.
Lilly stood up and pulled her gloved hand out from inside her pocket and opened the palm of her hand. The poison bottle was empty. She didn't want to be there when he arrived back at the flat, so she just had to wait just a little bit longer in the cold. She knew the first thing he would do was to open the fridge door, break open a Bud and sit on the table edge listening to Dean Martin.
As he sipped and listened, it wouldn't take long. Just as quick as his lover pleading for her life as she clutched the neckline of her pale blue nylon négligée. Lilly opened her clutch, threw the bottle in it and rummaged through. Pushing the gun to one side, she pulled out the Valentines card he had given her this morning, a tear rolled down Lilly's face as she remembered how he had told her she was the only one. Then from beneath her card, with its blood red roses pictured and its empty sentiment wrapped in gold scripted letters she pulled an identical one and inside that card the name of his lover with the same words he had written to her.
Tonight, will be their last Valentines night. Lilly had made it her promise to herself and to them. She smiled.
'The Angry Wife made sure she left her mark' she Whispered to herself trying hard to stay upright, half scraping against the wall as her legs began to feel weak and her eyes blurry. She ripped into both cards and kept tearing them until flutters of tiny pieces were left scattered around her in the midnight air, gracefully settling on the wet ground close to where her body finally slumped. Valentines day was finally over.
A PhatGrrl Pulp





