She dropped her keys on the sidewalk. At first glance, I knew I had to get close to her. I picked up the keys and ran to give them to her. She was wearing a two-piece purple dress with long brown hair. It had a beautiful wave to it.

“Hi! Uh.. You  dropped these,” I said, handing her the keys.

“Oh, thank you so much!” Her gorgeous green eyes stared into mine while we stood in silence for a moment.

“ Do you want to go get coffee?” I asked after a minute or two of silence. Even though it was a warm day in June, she still agreed. We walked two blocks to the nearest Better Beans. She ordered a small coffee with cream and sugar, and I simply ordered a small black coffee. We waited for our drinks and then sat down at a small two person table.

“My name is Ava Sosa. What’s yours?”

“Noah. Noah Dalton. I’m a Marine Gunnery Sergeant.”

“Oh wow. I’m a designer at Magna. Where are you stationed?”

“Norfolk.”

She didn’t know that I was an ex- Gunnery Sergeant but she would soon find out what that would mean, getting close to a dishonorably discharged Marine. I walked her back to her apartment on Bean Street, then I walked down the hall to my apartment. She was in apartment 4D and I was in 9D so we weren’t very far from each other. The next week I convinced her to go on a date in the woods with me. I picked her up around 7PM and started driving. We were miles from civilization but she hadn’t noticed. I had a plan. I would have lunch with her and then make my move. I had a 9mm tucked in the waist of my belt, that I told her was for protection, and gloves in my wallet. I was ready. After we ate, I walked away for a few minutes with the excuse that I was going to find firewood. I came back roughly ten minutes later and she was asleep. It was perfect. I put on my gloves, and pulled the weapon out of my belt. With one last look at her innocent face, I pulled the trigger.  I walked back to my truck and drove home. Just like that I had started my mission. After a few weeks, I ended up at another Better Beans, a different one than Ava used to work at, of course.

“Hi, I’m Laura. Are you new around here?” A woman who I desperately wanted to know walked up to me.

“No, I live on Bean Street but I’ve never been here. My name is Noah. Noah Dalton.”

“Well, Noah, how are you?” Laura asked me before taking a seat across from me. Her blonde hair was down to the center of her stomach, her blue eyes looked into mine.

“I’m doing great now.” I said with a smile. 

Just like that, the story started all over again…