Untitled
by:  Spooky

The cursor blinked maddeningly from the screen. Maria stared at the computer trying to think. She reread what she had so far.

"Swish, it disappears,
In front of your face,
Amazement and awe,
Sweeps over the place,
When they do their tricks,
They don't look that hard"

"I just need that last line!!!" Maria thought, agitated at the fact that she had been trying to think for 5 minutes and still couldn't come up with anything. She tried all sorts of lines, but none of them worked. Maria sighed heavily. She was never going to get this done. The doorbell rang loudly. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Maria yelled bitterly. She looked out the window. It was Antonio. She walked to the door and opened it. "You're just the person I wanted to see!" she said sarcastically.

Antonio sighed. "I know you're trying to write, but I thought you might need a little break," he said, smiling sweetly. Maria smiled for the first time that day. She looked at Antonio's honey brown eyes, tan skin, and black hair.

"What kind of break?" she asked, tempted to take one in spite of herself.

Antonio laughed. "I thought you were too busy for a break." 

"Tell me!!!!!!!!" Maria begged.

"All right, all right, I got us both tickets to Penn & Teller tonight!" Antonio waved the tickets in front of Maria. Maria laughed and hugged Antonio. "Thank you soooooo much!" she cried. Antonio sighed happily. Maria was going to get more than just Penn & Teller that night.       

Later on that evening, Maria was searching for her favorite pair of jeans. She found them, shook out the wrinkles and slipped them on. They were still wrinkly, and looked a little dirty, but it didn't bother her. She picked up a red shirt off of the floor and looked it over. It was clean enough for her. Slipping it on she went to the mirror. Looking in it, she started to brush her long brown hair. Then she realized something. "My eyes are green?? I thought they were brown." She shrugged and ran to the door. Antonio was waiting outside.

At the theater, Maria and Antonio were sitting waiting for the show to begin. When it did, Maria was amazed. The tricks they did were astonishing. She was on the edge of her seat. Then, Penn chose her to come on stage for the next trick. It was Water Tank. Maria laughed when Penn pointed out that Teller had beaten Houdini's record. Penn finished the trick revealing the Three of Clubs to be her card. Then, Antonio ran onstage. He kneeled down before Maria. "Will you marry me?" he asked, nervously. Maria was shocked.

Penn turned to the audience and said, "This is sooo sweet. Don't you just wanna hurl?" Maria laughed nervously, and told Antonio she would think about it. Maria couldn't concentrate on the rest of the show. She was thinking about Antonio's question. She couldn't marry him; she felt she barely knew him. She wondered how he would take the news.       

After the show, they went to Maria's apartment and sat on the couch. "Antonio," she began nervously, "I can't marry you. I feel like I don't know you well enough, and I'm not ready. Plus, there's my career, and college, and..."

Antonio interrupted her. "You love someone else, don't you? I bet it's that Penn character, isn't it? I bet he's the one! You little tramp! You cheated on me! Didn't you? Didn't you?!" he yelled angrily.

"No!" Maria yelled back. "I wouldn't do something like that, and it's not like we were even going together anyways!" 

Antonio glared at her. "You'll be sorry," he said harshly. "You'll be sorry you ever cheated on me. You'll be sorry you ever laid eyes on Penn & Teller!!!!!" He stormed out.       

Maria was shocked for the second time that night. She had thought Antonio was so sweet. She never knew he had such a temper. She went to her computer and looked at her poem. She had plenty to write now. When she finally finished, this is what it read: 

"Swish, it disappears,
in front of your face,
Amazement and awe,
Sweeps over the place,
When they do their tricks,
They don't look that hard,
The Three of Clubs,
Is that your card?
But, wait!
A question is asked,
An answer given,
A threat made,
A girl, stricken,
What will this man do?
For he thinks himself betrayed,
To the girl who he thinks,
away from him has strayed."

Maria liked it, but she still didn't have a title. "You should call it 'Lies of Mine'," said Antonio.

Maria whirled around. "How did you get in?" she asked, angry at him for trespassing. Antonio only smiled and swung at her with a knife. Maria screamed and ran to the phone, dialing 911 and not managing to get out her address before Antonio cut the phone line.       

Maria tried to run outside to get to the neighbors house, but the door wouldn't open. It had been locked from the outside. She tried all the windows, but none of them would budge. Desperate, she wrapped a scarf around her hand and broke the window, trying to make the hole big enough to get out. Antonio grabbed her from behind. "Breaking windows is a no-no, baby." Maria kicked him and ran back to the window. Breaking it out of the frame, she tried to climb through, and saw the police coming down the road. She ran to the street, but they didn't see her and drove by.       

Antonio came up behind her and dragged her back into the house. Tying her to a chair, he pulled up the poem, and made her read it out loud. "Tsk tsk. Lying is so wrong." Then he stabbed her in the chest with the knife, and for Maria, everything went black, and she could hear the words "Three of clubs" ringing in her head. Those three words had been the last words she heard before her life changed. She wished she had never heard those words, then, maybe, none of this would have happened. Then, Maria couldn't hear them anymore, and she wouldn't hear them ever again.       

It looked like Maria's poem would forever remain untitled.