One Killer Writer

Georgina's writing was finally taking off and she was the feature poet at the annual Colorful Creator's Art Festival. Georgina had coveted the opportunity to participate ever since she was just thirteen. Now she had finally made it, and Vince was nowhere to be found.

Vince didn't realize the magnitude of what was happening. The Colorful Creator's Festival was an opportunity for people of color to share their creations in all different art forms. It was a chance for creatives who are often overlooked and ignored to finally be recognized. The festival had been growing each year, allowing untapped talent to shine, and providing steady work for once starving artists. This was how Georgina got her first book published. She was able to network with publishers who were looking for new talent, and Georgina was more than willing to show off what she could do. Now that Georgina's novels had gained attention, she was ready to dabble in poetry.

Georgina's poetry read was uneventful. Her audience was attentive and polite, but they didn't seem particularly moved by her delivery. Georgina blamed herself for putting so much thought into having Vince's support. Maybe if his presence there didn't matter so much to her, she would have been able to focus and carry on without him. Instead, her mind was cluttered with thoughts of why he wasn't there.

Later that night, after several missed phone calls, Vince came home. He dropped his gym bag down on the floor, took off his shirt, tossed it on the couch, and gave Georgina a sweaty hug. He immediately started telling her about his day and went into the kitchen.

"Babe, you gotta keep some Gatorade on deck. There's nothing in here but water and wine," Vince said as he closed the refrigerator with disappointment. He looked at Georgina who just stared at him, waiting for him to realize his error. "What did I do now?" Georgina remained silent. She tilted her head and leaned against the kitchen doorframe with her arms folded. Vince looked at Georgina. She was wearing makeup, something she seldom did. Her hair was no longer in the cornrows she had been wearing the past few days, but instead it was a glorious braid out with perfect crinkles. On her curvy frame, Georgina wore a navy-blue sun dress, littered with radiant marigolds.

"Oh, the thing! The little artsy writer thing." Vince said as his face went from confused to enlightened. Georgina snatched her laptop off the kitchen counter and walked out the room. Vince followed behind her, offering a thousand apologies and excuses, but Georgina's ears had grown dull of his speech. His words faded into the background with the sound of the refrigerator and the air conditioner running.

This was routine with Georgina and Vince. Their relationship had recently slipped from romance and attentive affection into inconsistency and forgetfulness. Georgina wasn't angry and she didn't want to waste her time arguing. She had a novel to finish and a deadline to meet. Georgina opened her laptop, cracked her knuckles, and began to write.

Meanwhile, Olivia and Adrian celebrated their two-year anniversary. Adrian was everything that Olivia had ever wished for. He was every girl's Disney dream come true. He treated Olivia like royalty, and his romantic gestures were always elaborate and heartfelt. Even now, Adrian surprised Olivia with a room filled with fragrant orchids and rose petals that led to a table for two. At that table, Adrian served Olivia a delicious homecooked meal that not only filled her belly but stimulated her senses.

After Olivia finished eating, Adrian complained that the table was a bit wobbly. Olivia wasn't sure what Adrian meant. It seemed pretty sturdy to her, but Adrian insisted that there was a problem and decided to check it out. Adrian got down on one knee to examine the table, but just as Olivia looked down to see what Adrian was doing, he pulled out a ring box instead. Olivia squealed through her joyful tears and released a resounding "YES!" before Adrian could even propose. The night ended with passionate lovemaking, the two lovers lying in each other's arms as their souls seemed to glow and hover over their bodies.

The next morning, Georgina woke up and rolled over to an empty space next to her in bed. Vince had gotten up before her and left for the gym. He's such a gym rat, she thought, as she got up to shower. Although Vince had just been at the gym the evening before and missed her poetry read, he still had to wake up early and go right back. It used to bother her when she would wake up all alone without a note or message telling her where he was, but she was used to it now. This was Vince; this is who she had chosen.

As time went by, Georgina realized that she was beginning to envy happy romantic relationships, especially Adrian and Olivia's. What was so special about Olivia that Adrian put her above everything in the world? Olivia wasn't much different from Georgina. As a matter of fact, Georgina made Olivia into the person she is today. If it wasn't for Georgina's guiding hand, Olivia would have never met Adrian in the first place. Georgina had set the whole thing up. Now that these two were destined to live happily ever after, Georgina couldn't help but wonder why she couldn't craft a bit of fairytale happiness for herself.

Georgina opened her laptop and checked her email before she got started with her writing for the day. She had an email from her boss. She had recently sent him a few chapters of her work in progress and asked if this could potentially become a manuscript worth publishing. Georgina was disappointed to find that he wasn’t too impressed with her work.

“Where’s the conflict, Georgina?” These were the words that would invade Georgina’s mind for the remainder of the day. She had focused so much on developing her characters that she didn’t really have much of a story. She had created a perfect world for these characters that she adored, but that only made her story seem unrealistic.

Just as Georgina had finished making herself a sandwich, Vince returned from the gym. This time he didn’t say anything to her. He immediately showered so that he could get dressed and rush back out the door. It was like he didn’t even see her. Her thoughts wandered to Olivia and Adrian. Adrian wouldn’t have done something like that. He adores Olivia. She could never be invisible to him.

As Georgina stewed in her jealousy, a dark thought entered her mind. The thought initially frightened her. She never thought that she would be capable of imagining something like this, but she did. “I have to kill Olivia.” Georgina gasped and covered her mouth. Hearing the words out loud sounded repulsive. After all, Georgina had always loved Olivia and wanted the best for her; that was why she put her and Adrian together in the first place. Now, however, Olivia was simply a reminder of what Georgina would never accomplish with Vince. Georgina shook her head, already beginning to grieve the loss of Georgina. She shakily sat down at her laptop and began to write.

Adrian reached across the café table, holding Olivia’s delicate hand in his. Olivia’s engagement ring radiantly sparkled in the sunlight, casting flashes of rainbow prisms about the room. They gazed into each other’s eyes and the rest of the world seemed to fade away. They were so captivated by one another, that they didn’t hear the shouts of warning coming from the other customers. Before they could look up or run away, a car came crashing through the café window. Dust filled the air as brick and glass littered the ground. There in the rubble lay Adrian and Olivia, still holding one another’s hand as their joined souls escaped their bodies to enter the afterlife together. It was tragic and beautiful how a love so passionate and pure was cut off just as there was so much hope for their future together.

Vince later returned home, noticeably intoxicated. “Seriously? It’s barely afternoon!” Georgina shouted. Vince flashed her his middle finger and giggled, “It’s Quan’s birthday. Chill!” Vince staggered to the bedroom where he threw himself on the bed to sleep it off. Georgina didn’t understand why Vince never invited her to outings with his friends and their girlfriends. She never knew anything about Quan’s birthday. She and Vince were living two separate lives in one apartment. That got her to thinking about Olivia and Adrian. Georgina sat down at her laptop and began to write.

There was a bright white light that felt like warmth and love, drawing Adrian and Olivia closer to it, but before they could get there, something grabbed Olivia. It tugged at her violently. Adrian tried desperately to keep his grip on her, but she slipped and plummeted to the earth. Just as she was about to hit the ground, the eyes of her body flicked open and she gasped as if she were breathing for the first time. “Adrian! Adrian!” she shouted. Her shouts alerted a firefighter to her location, and he pulled her from the wreckage. She struggled to reach for Adrian’s hand, but she couldn’t see him. There was only a pile of stone and brick next to the place where her body had been.

Olivia was taken to the emergency room to be treated for her injuries. She was bruised and had a few superficial wounds, but nothing life threatening. She complained about pain in her abdomen where some of the rubble had fallen on her, which lead to more tests. “Olivia, you’re pregnant,” the nurse later informed her. Olivia lay on the examining table and wept. Adrian was gone and would never meet the child that they had created in love, but still she was grateful to have a piece of him with her.

Months later Georgina arrived at a local bookstore. It was her first book signing for a recent novel she had completed. She was quite fond of this novel and proud of herself for completing it despite the internal struggle it had put her through. She was also proud that she was at her book signing alone. She didn’t search for Vince’s face in the crowd as she read an excerpt from her book. She knew he wouldn’t be there. He was gone from her life for good.

When Georgina finished reading, she was met with enthusiastic praise, applause, and questions from her fans. “It wasn’t easy for me to kill Adrian. He’s the perfect man, right, but I realized that men are seldom that perfect. I didn’t want Georgina’s perfect romance to one day become some boring routine as some relationships tend to do. And can you believe that I wanted to kill Olivia at the start? But I loved Olivia. She was too much like me. She deserved to live and tell her child what an awesome man her father was, long before he could ever let them both down.”

Next a fan asked where Georgina got the inspiration for her tragic love story. Georgina replied, “Sometimes the downfall and glory of a writer is her ability to create. When love is lacking in a relationship, she'll imagine the love she wants and fabricate it herself with her own well-crafted words. She'll replay those words in her mind until she's memorized them and convinced herself that what was birthed out of her mind and nurtured with her words is reality. She'll create an entire paradise where she and her man rule as king and queen when she’s barely noticed or seen. Being a writer is almost a mental illness. We can paint fantasy lands with our prose and choose to dwell there and deny the world we truly live in.”