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The smell of coffee filled Uno’s nose. She watched the entrance, waiting. Her friend should be here any minute now. She tapped her fingers on the table impatiently. Uno needed this to happen. She had been waiting two years to see her friend again, but of course her friend had been much too busy with university to pay her any thought. Uno shoved her hands in her pockets, her hand wrapped around the glass vial. This was going to work. Her so-called friend deserved this. This was her fate.
The café she picked was somewhat busy. Which was unfortunate, it was usually quieter. Uno picked a back corner to sit in, away from everyone else. The building had minimal decorations and the atmosphere was much darker today, either from the rain pouring down outside or the nature of what Uno was planning to do. Possibly both. She picked this café in particular because she and her friend came here a lot as kids.
A familiar figure entered the café, her friend had finally arrived. When she noticed Uno she waved and started walking over to her. Uno gave her friend a smile, it felt bitter on her mouth. When she sat down Uno immediately spoke.
“Hi Nancy,” Uno said. Nancy pulled her hood down, revealing long blonde hair. She seemed extremely nervous. Uno was nervous herself, for different reasons of course.
“Uno… It’s been a while,” Nancy said. She fidgeted with the clasp on her cloak. Uno nodded in response. She thought about the vial again. It was deadly. It would only take 2 minutes after it was ingested for it to start working.
“How are you?” Nancy asked.
“I’m fine,” Uno said. “Would you like me to get you some coffee?” She asked. Uno watched Nancy hesitate.
“Yeah, sure,” Nancy responded. She quickly dug out some change from her pockets and passed it to Uno. Uno stood up and walked to the front counter. She ordered two black coffees. While she was waiting her mind started to wander. How did it turn out like this? Nancy took an opportunity that Uno deserved. Uno deserved to go to that university. But Nancy took her place, and left her. Uno's only friend left her alone for 2 years, never making an attempt to speak to her, while Uno had to struggle to even survive. She was snapped out of her thoughts when a barista placed two coffee cups on the counter.
“Thanks,” Uno mumbled. She picked them up and walked a few tables away from the counter. She pried the cover off of one cup, she pulled the glass vial out of her pocket. The deadly liquid was a light blue colour. She unscrewed the top and poured two drops in. That should be enough. She put the cover back on and hid the poison in her pocket again. Uno stepped over to the table Nancy inhabited. She forced a smile and placed the coffee in front of Nancy. Uno plopped into the chair across from her.
“How's university?” Uno asked as she took a sip from her coffee.
“It’s been fine,” Nancy said. “I’m studying graphic design now, it's been going pretty good so far,” she explained. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “How have you been? Did you get into a good university?” She asked nervously. She sounded just as shy as she always did. Uno just shrugged in response.
“I went to community college,” She said. She was getting impatient. Nancy hadn’t drank any of her coffee yet, the sooner she did that the sooner this was over and Uno’s life improved exponentially.
“Oh- well, that’s nice,” Nancy nodded. “I’m glad you aren’t too upset about getting rejected,” Uno smiled in response and gave a small nod. She was mad. But bringing that up now was probably not the smartest idea ever. She could not screw this up.
“Right,” She said. The conversation turned quiet. Uno watched Nancy and all of her nervous little habits. She was twisting her hair around one finger, her ocean blue eyes never staying in one spot for too long; and the way she made a lot of gestures with her hands when she spoke. Uno caught herself getting distracted by her for a minute. She stopped herself. She was here for a reason she couldn’t change this. Not now. Uno took a deep breath.
“Your coffee is getting cold,” She reminded, breaking the tense silence.
“What?” Nancy’s eyes snapped up. “Oh… yeah, right sorry,” She immediately lifted the cup to her lips, taking a big sip. Uno watched silently in satisfaction. This whole thing would be over in a few minutes and Uno could just forget about Nancy and live a much better life. The cup tapped audibly against the table as Nancy placed it down. She stared into the cup, clearly contemplating something.
“Uno?” Nancy asked nervously before looking up.
“What?” Uno snapped. She winced, regretting that tone immediately. Nancy frowned. Uno could see her hesitate before she spoke.
“Uno,” She started. “Can we try to stay in touch?” She paused and looked down again. She took a breath. “I know you were very, very upset that I got accepted and you did not; but… I miss you, and I would really like to catch up and be your friend again, if you’d let me,” Nancy explained. Uno was silent. She did not know what she was supposed to say to that. There was never going to be a chance to catch up. This was the last time they would ever see each other. Uno was the last person Nancy was going to see ever. She hesitated.
“Yeah, that would be nice,” Uno lied. This whole interaction just kept getting worse. A wave of guilt covered her. Why was Uno feeling guilty now? Nancy abandoned her. Nancy left Uno alone, when Nancy knew she was her only friend and made no attempt to stay in contact during university. She left her alone after she had a horrible year and then got rejected from Uno’s and Nancy’s dream university across the country. Nancy left her alone for 2 years to just figure things out by herself.
Nancy coughed, snapping Uno out of her thoughts. Finally, she thought. The poison was actually starting to do its job. She coughed again and took another sip of her poisoned coffee.
“Sorry,” Nancy said before continuing to cough. Her coughs were getting more violent by the second. Uno just watched her. Nancy tried to speak, tried to express the obvious problem. But nothing was coherent. As far as Uno was concerned it was just random gibberish. Uno ignored it completely. Nancy was clearly struggling to breathe. Nancy’s hand was at her neck. She looked up at Uno. Her eyes were terrified and desperate, begging for Uno to do something. Uno clenched her jaw and just watched her, she crossed her arms as she barely repressed her smile. Nancy’s eyes widened, realizing this wasn’t an accident. This was Uno’s doing. She tried to say something, probably to say something about how this wasn’t fair and how she deserved better. But it was impossible to tell what she said and anything about how she didn’t deserve this was a blatant lie. Nancy fell out of her chair. She only struggled for about a minute or so after that before all the life left her eyes and her body laid lifeless on the floor of the café. Uno smirked. She had finally got her revenge. Nancy was gone and finally got the karma she deserved. Uno didn’t have to think about her ever again. She looked up at the café. They were sitting in a back corner of the café; Nancy was nice enough to be pretty quiet, so no one had noticed yet. That was good. That made getting out of this and looking innocent a lot easier. She was just trying to reconnect with her friend. She had no intent to poison her and she had no idea who would want to do something like this to Nancy. Looking down at her friend's dead body, Uno felt that weird sense of guilt creep up on her again. She frowned. She shouldn’t be feeling guilty. She had planned this a while ago. She knew this was going to happen. She tried her best to shake off the guilt. Time to enact her escape plan. She pretended to look terrified. She quickened her breath, tried to form some tears and just tried to make herself look as scared and confused as possible. She looked up, made sure one more time that no one was watching. No one saw. She took a deep breath, and as loudly as she could, she screamed.