There's this woman.
There's this woman named Maria, she lives across the hall from me. I see her on occasion when entering or leaving the building and we've been cordial if not friendly. She's older than me, about 45 I'd guess and lives alone. I'm not sure what she does for a living, some kind of office work I think based on the hours I've seen her and the clothes she wears when leaving for work in the mornings. Sometimes I'll pass her in the hall and just say "hi" or make some comment about the weather. You know the usual polite talk. She always smells nice. She has a pet dog a small schnauzer type thing I think. Lots of fur. It doesn't bark much. So today I'm on my way out and I encounter Maria at the front door. It's the cliched scene right out of a silly movie. She has 2 bags of groceries and is struggling to get in. I do the polite thing and offer to help to which she accepts. She hands me a bag of groceries and we walk back up to her apartment.
That was ten minutes ago. Now I find myself in her kitchen holding her hand. I'm not sure how it came to this as I never imagined a situation like this before. The problem is that while I'm holding her hand, I can see her body lying about 3 feet away. Most of her head is missing, I think, it's hard to tell. The hand I'm holding has been cut off above the wrist with something dull and jagged. I can see ripped skin and muscle. Her body. Her body has parts of the innards pulled out through a tear in her stomach. I can see the dog, it's been beaten nearly flat by something.
I have to go.