As she looked in the mirror her deadpan expression and lifeless reflection stared back. She had carefully applied her make-up to bring out the best of her features, but her troubled eyes could only see the foundation as a layer of anger, her rouge as rage and her red tinted lips smeared with bitterness as a vehicle for revenge which was ready to strike.

Tonight, had been months in the planning, her ex-best friends’ husband had been easy prey and the time the deed would be executed had arrived. Little did she know that tonight would also shatter her ex-best friends’ life, it was also a pivotal moment for her. The hate and poison which had flowed around her veins had caused her soul and ability to love to grotesquely twist and wither. Her heart which once pumped with vibrant red blood was full of sluggish grey bile. Once the deed had been done her ability to feel happiness would cease.  Her anger had infiltrated her very being and joy and pleasure would elude her for the rest of her long miserable life, to her last painful and final lonely breath. She was about to destroy her own precious life all in the name of revenge. Not able to work through the hurt her desire for revenge had built up into what would be a catastrophic crescendo of pain for all concerned. If only she had found the strength to forgive, to move on, to mourn but realise after the pain and heartbreak a new beginning would have emerged from the grim feelings of betrayal. She would have grown, grasped the opportunity to explore herself, have adventures and enjoy the happiness love could bring.

Instead, she embraced the hate, the slithering puss filled maggots of revenge now controlled her every waking moment, nothing else mattered.

Misery was soon to be her master.