Holding the blue crystal, Mary decided that today was going to be the day. She always tried telling herself that life would get better. Today, Mary decided to face the truth. Her husband would always be a violent drunk, beating on his wife whenever the mood struck him. Breathing deeply, Mary finally drawn the last bit of courage she needed, she set the crystal down on the hard cold basement floor, and swung the hammer down, smashing the crystal into a spiderweb of pieces.
She continued swinging. All she heard was the hollow sound of metal against concrete. Mary didn’t see the pieces flying, or feel the shards graze her skin. All she felt and saw was the fury of anger she felt toward her soon to be ex-husband. The jagged shards would be all that's left of her tasteless marriage.
See, the crystal represented a long, romantic walk along a beach. She could remember looking out where the sinking sun met the horizon and thinking life was never ending, just like her love for Dean. It was the promise of his tender kiss to always protect her. The stroking of her hair to always treat her like a princess.
Well that was a joke she thought, laughing to herself. How did I not see this coming? Flashes of a bruised and tattered form came sharply back at her like a thousand tiny shards of glass exploding from nowhere. Black and purple painful ovals covered her torso, bruised cheeks and five too many black eyes all staring back at her, mocking her courage. Not any more, she thought. No one is going to mock me or call me a coward again.
The crystal destroyed and anger subsiding, Mary headed upstairs. She walked into the bedroom, reached under a hidden floor panel and pulled out a colt 45 with matching ammo. Locked and loaded, she grabbed an already prepared duffel bag and walked out the door.
A man wearing a suit walks into a basement full of broken glass. He stands at the entryway and gazes over the room, taking in his surroundings. Spying a woman kneeling over broken glass, he heads over.
"What do you have for me?" He asks.
"Broken shards that may be a type of gem and a note," the woman answered handing the man the note. Looking at the note closely, the man read take that.