06/ The ledge

Her toes floating above the abyss her feet felt heavy. Doubt creeping up her spine. Were she to take another step, just inching forward the tiniest bit, she would lose her balance and fall, fall, fall into a stream of events she would not have any control over.

She had travelled here unnoticed. Not because she hadn't been noticed for her fiery hair and roguish black apparel but because people actively decided not to notice and to willingly forget her passing by, intimidated into blissful amnesia by the silent stare and the more than obvious silhouette of a knife not meant for cutting onions under her coat. She was the person you felt better seeing them leave unnoticed, rather than attracting their attention to what riches may hide in your pouch or your home.

Were she to set foot in this sorry excuse for a drinking house she would concede control to someone who had seen in her in her most vulnerable moment and, instead of using her weakness, decided to smile, pull her back and leave.