Esmeralda was busy washing the dishes, allowing the vast empty space of her mind to capture her, when she heard knocking. It startled her.

In the ten years she had lived in her apartment she had never had a visitor. Not once, so she looked through her window first. Slowly, in the shadows behind her curtains.

“How…strange…” she thought to herself as she opened the door and came face to face with a young, handsome police officer.

“How, how can I help you?” she stuttered,  not feeling the need to address him by his authority. Those kinds of thoughts didn’t dwell on Esmeralda’s mind. Why would they?

“We’re sorry to disturb you, miss, but I’m afraid we need to ask you some questions,” he said. He looked concerned. She didn’t.

Before she could ask what about, she saw it: two men were strolling off a familiar shape in a black body bag down the hallway, crying echoes haunting their footsteps.

Esmeralda was immediately filled with a deep, piercing grief. All the walls caved in on her as she delicately lost her balance.

“Are you okay, miss? Miss, are you okay?” the concerned officer asked her as he barely kept her standing, pulling her upwards and upright.

This was the moment. Esmeralda’s moment had come and just as sorrow had filled her, so did, for the very first time in years, a sense of unquestionable pleasure.

“We are asking all the residents to come down to the precinct to answer some questions. Will that be okay?”

Esmeralda thought about how handsome he was: caramel-colored skin, a strong, muscular build, a fresh haircut, a nicely trimmed beard, and boy-ish looks.

For a second, and only for just a second, she lamented her lonely, dismal life. All that ever was, and all that ever had been, was just her. But who would want her? And why?

“Yes. That will be okay. Can I have a moment to gather my things?” He nodded, so she closed the door as he waited outside.

Esmeralda stood there for a second, torn inside by grief and satisfaction all at once.

She wanted to drown in sorrow just as much as she wanted to run in thrill. This was new, yet so eerily familiar. She stood trapped in agony for a minute…for a lifetime.

Esmeralda cleared her head and headed towards the kitchen. She finished scrubbing and washing the knife before drying it slowly with a black towel, putting it back in its rightful home.

She grabbed her purse, tossed her keys inside, and went out the door to meet the officer. She was smiling.