Her hair was red in the tones that light shone through stained glass. Her hair fell behind her shoulders, but a stray bang curved around her forehead and eye socket, stuck in place by sweat. From the neck down her body rose and fell with her heavy breaths, steady and deep. Her head stayed still, as transfixed as her eyes.
She didn’t notice the blood at first, just the body, then the blood accented it. She stayed transfixed when she realized she dropped what was in her hand, she never looked at it, and she didn’t remember what it was, but she was sure it was used to make this. Her breathing slowed and adrenalin cleared out of her mind and allowed for thoughts. She looked around the apartment for anything she’d touched. The towel she grabbed to wipe everything down only succeeded to smear blood she realized was on her hands. Heart beats were tiny explosions like pistons firing in her chest. She had to leave, now. She grabbed her power walk to the door, it spilled on the floor. She franticly grabbed all the items, never checking if she got everything.
While kneeling she saw a twitch and froze. Another twitch and her eyes widened. She franticly made for the door. If his med cybernetics were trying to resuscitate him, they had already called EMS.
She took another look at his body while in the doorway, holding the door like a shield between her and the room. She should feel bad. She should feel guilty. A stronger twitch happened, the cybernetics trying in vain, there wasn’t enough left to revive.
The second she felt the door lock she moved down the hall, heels clicking too quickly, her heart rate wouldn’t let her slow down. The elevator moved to slow, she tensed too much when the middle aged couple and their five year old got on, she had too much sweat on her, and the red fingerprint on the floor level button was just slightly too obvious. The parents looked at her with the combination of fear and judgment that affirmed the police would be called soon. The little girl smiled at her with equal parts ignorance and innocents.
She nearly sprinted when the doors opened. She checked her flight itinerary on her phone, then ditched it in front of an oncoming ground car. Its crunching the first comforting sound she heard. She bought water from a vending machine and a cab to the space port, then ditched her credit cards. The terminal at the port scanned her identification car and called a shuttle to bring her to her ship. She threw the card out of the shuttle as the doors closed. The shuttle gave a view of her star liner as it approached the landing area.
On board, she was stopped at a bright screen at a fork in the corridor, the line to the screen shortened to her, directing passengers to their lodgings, her eyes dotted both ways.
“Vanesssa Channel.” The screen went mostly back while it loaded her information. The blank screen left her starring in her own eyes in the reflection.
“Thank you for flying with us Vanessa, please follow the lit pathway to your room.” Vannessa avoided eye contact with everyone as she walked, wondering if she could ever afford to use that name again.
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