Removal

The woman and her friend had waited to get into The Livery for three weeks. It had only opened those three weeks ago, and evidently was quite popular with critics and lay folk alike. Neither of them were particularly excited about the food being served, they were more interested with the aesthetic experience of a new restaurant at which to take pictures and indulge in well plated meals and coffee in unusual cups. The Livery was the kind of place that traffics in the very hip and the very fun alike.

When they arrived they were welcomed with exposed beams, string lights with Edison-style bulbs, and ambient music that sounded like electronic crunching bass strings. Both women reveled in the novelty of it all, and neither quite felt like they really fit the style of patrons the Livery should have. They were both rather non-descript, wearing jeans, mid length hair, leather purses, and one of them even had glasses. Nevertheless, the hostess was happy to seat them in the middle of the place, which was perfect for taking in the sights and sounds, and of course, taking pictures.

The woman had only been reading her menu for a brief moment when a flash of color caught her periphery, and redirected her attention- a bright pink jacket being worn by a man who just stepped into the foyer. It didn't seem too out of place to see such a garish garment in such a hip place, it's just the sheer brightness of the jacket was hard to ignore when the man moved. "Hey, check out that hot pink jacket on that guy behind you", the women instructed. The man wasn't visible to her friend, as she had her back to the foyer. When she turned around, he was gone. The woman did not think this too curious; he probably was placed at a table. "Keep your eye out", she said to her friend, "this jacket is wild!"

The waitress came and gone, the two friends chatted. But the woman could not help craning her neck occasionally to try and locate the man in the bright pink jacket. She couldn't pinpoint why she was so intrigued, but she couldn't stop thinking about it. When the waitress came to the table to drop their coffees, the woman finally caught a glimpse of the man, sitting across the restaurant; she pointed him out quickly to her friend- but her view was blocked by the waitress. Once the waitress left, to her dismay, the women saw the man in the bright pink jacket was no longer there. "Ah, we must have just missed him, be probably got up to go to the bathroom."

"Maybe you're just imagining a jacket you saw another time, it's a sign you should go buy it" the friend poked fun at the seeming lack of physical evidence. The woman laughed, but she was sure she saw the jacket, and now she felt more determined than ever to show her friend. She took several sips of her coffee, and the man was back at this table, she quickly got her friends' attention- there was no way to miss him now, he was sitting there in clear view. But when the friend looked up, the man was nowhere to be seen.

"Okay, I think this is a bit much, this has gone on long enough, stop playing with me". It was clear the friend was not impressed, nor did she believe the woman.

"I'm not fooling you, I promise. This guy is in here somewhere. Unless he left in the last 30 seconds, he's in here and you'll see his crazy jacket." The friend rolled her eyes and let out a scoff.

The woman, feeling scorned and a little irritated, turned to the table next to them and tapped it, "excuse me, have you guys seen a man in here with a pink jacket?" The other patrons, looking noticeably confused just shook their heads no.

"Please, the friend said, just drop it."

​

Half an hour passed, and the woman did leave it. The friends went about their meal delighting in conversation and laughter, the woman almost forgetting about the man in the pink jacket. They were talking about a mutual friend, when the woman saw him again. She stood up, shot her hand out and loudly exclaimed, "THERE HE IS!" When she realized the scene she made and the people looking at her, the friend looked to where she was pointing, and there was **no one there**. The woman slowly sank back into her seat, her friend's embarrassment palpable.

"Look", said the friend, "I'm going to the washroom to freshen up, I think you need to take a moment and relax." And with that she departed the table and made away. The woman whipped her head to the other table and gave it a small shake "please tell me you saw that man!"

"Please!" The couple at the table said, "We're trying to eat our meal, leave us alone for god's sake." She felt not only their gazes, but the gazes of all the other tables surrounding her. Her shoulders dropped in her disappointment, she let out a sigh.

This is enough, the woman thought; I'm going to make sure someone else can see this guy and this fucking jacket. The woman marched up to the hostess stand with a plan- ask the hostess to inform her when she saw the man in the pink jacket. "He's a dear old friend, and I've already got a table, I'm afraid we've missed each other for our date. If you see him, direct him to me. I'm expecting him and I can't afford to miss him." And with a smile and a nod, the hostess obliged.

When she returned to the table, she turned to the couple and gave a similar story, "I'm sorry to have bothered you, I'm just looking for our friend who's going to join us. He's in a pink jacket so we could recognize him, and I think we just keep missing each other!" The couple begrudgingly nodded, and the woman's phone lit up. It was a text from her friend; she had received an important call and took it; so it may be a while before she would return to the table. With this news, the woman simply waited at the table and picked away at her food. Her demeanor was dimming as this meal, her friend's embarrassment and departure, and the man in the stupid pink jacket had served to sour her mood.

And there, in the smallest corner of her vision, she saw it. The man in the pink jacket, but this time he caught her gaze, and was walking over to her. "I heard you've been looking for me?"

She froze, she supposed she *had* been looking for him, but she didn't have this part of her plan fleshed out. Her friend wasn't here to see the man, and now she was going to be stuck trying to explain this to a stranger. Before she could even muster out a thought, he had pulled up a chair beside her. This bold act by the man in the pink jacket made the woman nervous and she quickly turned to glance at the table beside her. The couple simply gave her a wave, a smile, and thumbs up.

Before she could speak up the man put a hand on her collarbone, he leaned in a whispered to her "we're leaving." When she struggled and tried to speak, he moved his hand up to the back of her neck and gripped with pressure. "**Now.**" He kept his hand on her and slowly his fingernails dug into her skin, and with that hand he guided her up from her seat. Her mouth was dry and her breathing shallow. When she tried to speak, she could not utter a sound, and when she struggled under his grasp he pushed harder on her neck. With a whip like crack he turned to the couple beside them and brightly thanked them for helping him find his friend. They smiled and waved, and the man in the pink jacket slowly walked the women under his power. He quickly moved his arm around her waist and pulled her in close to him, she could not so much as take one step away.

He smiled at the hostess as they walked through the foyer and out the door. As he turned the corner and swiftly inserted a knife into her stomach and placed her into the back of his car, the hostess inside turned to a waitress and said "I'm glad those two finally found each other, they make a lovely couple."