Leaving

It had drizzled all day and a layer of clouds lay low between mountains and mesas, covering the city. The red glow of the urban sprawl reflected off the sky, a sickly aurora on a rainy night. The yellow glow of the streetlights shone off the wet pavement like the amber fires of the underworld burning through the ground.
My breath fogged slightly as I stood on the curb, watching the empty parking lot. She slipped out of the wet darkness to stand next to me, staring out. Pale skin, wrapped in a heavy black coat, a beautiful sprite cum wraith of the night standing there, breathing in time with the city around us.
She shifted slightly on her feet her look growing more worried with each foggy breath, a chink in the heavy armor of this vixen of the night. Looking outward across the lot, rain soaked pavement and cars being lit and unlit by a flickering light above, waiting for someone. A familiar traveler in the night, offering warmth and shelter, even the bewitching need a safe haven. A soft moan of fear slips through her lips, an unconscious slip of the tongue, as she keeps trying a phone that no one will answer.
I would speak, offer a kind word on this cold night, but my own traveling companion approaches, slipping silently through the rain wet dark. I leave her standing there, staring fearfully into the empty darkness.

The gas station lot is dark too, and the smell of gasoline and grime never washed away by the rain assaults the nostrils. The old machine keeps time to the silent music of the streets, making desperate thumping sounds as it slowly pumps the fuel.
People moving about on the sidewalks and down the middle of the streets like ghosts in the night. Drunks passing their bottle as they stumble back into the shadows, kids on scooters out for a ride in the cool air free of their dark lives, men leaving the porn shop across the way with furtive glances and dirty leers at the whores.
One girl crosses the street and moves slowly down the sidewalk, looking toward the station for her man. He comes across the lot, baggy clothes rippling in the sharp breeze, and demands the money she’s made for the night. I can hear him yelling when she tells him there isn’t any, “Lying puta!” he rages.
The gas pump clanks to a stop, and I replace the nozzle into its slot. The pooled water beneath my feet splashes as I step back to close the tank-cap. I watch the pimp and his whore as I get back into the truck, slamming the door behind me, sealing out the cold and the stink of the stains never washed from the city.
I drive out of the parking lot as the first blow lands, an open hand slap that knocks her staggering on her high heels. I look back once, his fist balled up to take the wind out of her, and then I’m on the street, moving into the dark… leaving.