Diamond Solamente

Highlighted chapter from Exiled Monarca

Although exhausted, Lena had no intention of going to sleep. Her mind raced, and a sickness swirled in her stomach.

So much aggression bubbled inside of her; she didn’t know what to do. Thus she broke open a bottle of wine and drank straight from it. Turin was no longer a symbol of hope for her, no longer a symbol of freedom. She would have to leave, she thought sadly. Soon.

Lena went into her bedroom taking the bottle of wine and put on her pajamas. Then she jumped in bed. She fluffed her pillows against the headboard and reached over to grab the remote to her big screen TV. She pressed the power button and the news immediately appeared. An anchorwoman, named Magenta Woods, stood outside of an apartment building that Lena recognized.

Police are still investigating the mysterious crime….Ms. Woods was saying....

Lena tuned out the words, for she already knew them. She knew the Who, the What, the When and the Where, but only listened for whether or not the police had any leads. The anchorwoman, Magenta Woods, who wore a hot pink dress and had curly dark hair falling in waves, was also a visiting journalist, graduating from NYU with a degree in Communications. Lena wouldn’t be surprised if Ms. Woods was secretly hunting her down. She then began to brood. It was unnerving to her.

For what it seemed the police didn’t have any leads. But, that didn’t make her feel any better. Soon the police would link things together, and match the crimes to her. More than the fear of being caught, she did not want to be called a serial killer. What a stigma, she thought. At least back home, she had the cover of the "industry," or, as she called it, the "dynasty." If she had been caught back then when she lived in Miami, they would never use the word serial-killer. Killer yes, but not serial. Her old job was just business as usual.

Lena laid back against her pillow although feeling a deep tension in her neck and shoulders fighting her internal ruminations, and zeroed back into the news story..

Is this serial killer a man? Ms. Woods asked, or is this brutal murderer a woman? A seductress? Capturing her prey in a mendacious web of deceit? I’m Magenta Woods and this is Channel 87. Be vigilant everyone.