Talia's Torment

********* To the people who gave me the courage to actually reach for my dreams, I thank you.  You have given me the push I needed to do what I thought was impossible and make it reality.  To my teacher, you made sure to bolster my courage and I thank you for making me see that I had talent in my words and the way that I could weave them.  To my friends you told me to just do it, and with your joking manner and kind hearts I felt the ability to let my imagination free.  For my husband and my kids forever dealing with the constant  late nights and long sessions of endless typing.  I will never forget what you have done for me, and endured with me, and I will love you for it always. *********     Talia watched him from the shadows, making sure to keep to the dark and grimy recesses of alley.  She watched him toying with the young doe-eyed girl in-front of him, slowly plying her to his will as he had done so many before her.  She knew the moment that the girl had given in to his charms and he had her right where he wanted her, where he needed her to fall.  The scene was all so very familiar to Talia, she had to force herself to bite down the urge to scream at the girl, to warn her to run and never look back.  It brought a hot surge of bile along with the all too familiar rage she felt anytime she thought of that male.  His smile causing her to shudder and cringe within her own memory of when it had landed upon her so long ago.  Just wait a little longer she told herself, soon this will all be over and you can finally rest.                 He had thought that he would be able to use her, bend her.  No, not bend, break her.  That was what he thought had happened to her, that he had actually completed in breaking her once and for all.  She had been that shy, doe-eyed girl, looking at him like he was the last drink of water she would ever find in a sea of sand.  A hope had been in her eyes then that she saw now in the girl across the way.  How could she have been so blind?  It really was true that love made you lose your mind, love made you crazy.  Her fate was sealed and she hadn’t even realized it was happening.  He had been so charming, kind and caring back then.  An act, she knew this now and she wanted to rage against it.  She wanted to beat the brick wall behind her back and scream for all the world, but it would have to wait, she would have to wait.  She couldn’t ruin the surprise, not yet, the girl would have to learn just like she had all those years ago.  Hopefully, if the girl was strong she would survive it, she doubted he had changed his methods yet, why would he.                 He thought he was too good, too smart and too clean to have messed up.  Talia watched him, she stalked him through the night and into dusk as he walked his new charge home.  Home, funny, as she thought of the past and the events that brought her here she couldn’t think of his destination as home.  The word came to her all at once, not a home, more like a stage or a glorified pedestal for all the world to see.  Where he would put on his most award winning performances of the night, yeah that felt more accurate to her now, it had a ring to it that matched the burning rage she felt in her heart.  Well, he thought himself to be the star of the show, the main attraction to do as he pleased and set the pace for the events to follow.  She smiled to herself as she thought of her plans for him.  He thought that he had beaten her, had finished her off so effortlessly that he hadn’t even bothered to check and see his handy works through to completion.  Wouldn’t he be surprised to find that this wasn’t his play, it wasn't his coveted story, but hers to star in this time?  She had written it so very well, planned it all down to this exact moment in time.  He thought she was dead and gone no longer worth the worry or effort of thought, but as she stalked her prey she knew that before this was all over she would have him in her claws, she would have him and she would end him.  However, unlike his mistake she would not fail in her task, she would make sure to finish the job.  Talia smiled as the thought crossed her mind, she would have him in her grasp and give him one last smile.  The smile that he had told her had made him choose her, she would give him one more, a parting gift in their last moments together, and while she was smiling he would finally be the one that was screaming.