Tomorrow - Midnight

Beady eyes drop into slits, raising his lips into a crooked smile.  Pallid crooked fingers grasp one another as if desperate for each other's company.  He is sure he can smell it.  Smell the blood as it floats to the surface.  His eyes widen as he considers the impossible.  Could this dream actually be coming true?

Before his hopeful improbability morphs into a definite reality, he turns his head away, afraid to look.  Something inside tells him he will not like what he sees, even after assurances from others he is sure are smarter than he is.  His insecurities, all of them, flash through his mind as he attempts to muster up the strength to caste them aside and face his dream come true or his nightmare created in the bowels of Hell.

As he cowers with his back turned, he wonders why he has so much invested in something he has no control over or for that matter even understands completely.   His body begins to quiver and then shake as he purges the pent up emotions two years in the making.  Finally a deep guttural sigh escapes his lips and his shoulders slump in resignation.

He turns to face his destiny ..................................................

Meanwhile on the other side of the tracks.

Another set of beady eyes does not turn away.  These eyes have been here before.  They have witnessed 30 years of disappointments and triumphs.  Those eyes are used to this moment.  Her face hardens as she sees results trickle in.  Her face shows no emotion, her true feelings buried deep by years of practice.  Yet, behind her blank stare and calm demeanor, her insecurities, all of them, tumble through her mind.   She has the strength to caste them aside, but cannot at the moment find the key.  She closes her eyes and consciously slows her breathing.  She seeks that center where equilibrium will once again find a home.

Instead, a bead of sweat runs down the middle of her strong time tested spine.  It finds the small of her back, causing a shiver of sorts.  She knows she has to face her new reality.  There are no nightmares in her life, just another disappointment or triumph.  She is sure she will go on.

She opens her cold calculating eyes .........................................