Look For Her

Born, to an overwhelmed mother
and disenchanted father,
in a small suburb outside Boston.
She was a sweet kid,
a light in the dark uncertainty of the Depression.
An idol, revered for her beauty and kindness,
beloved by all who crossed her path:
That girl with the Hollywood dream.

She was stunning.
Gorgeous, inside and out.
With luminous eyes of blue and dark swept-up hair.
Skin as pure and smooth as silk,
and a smile that could melt a man’s heart.
Indeed she did, plucked the very best,
A man in uniform. He proposed,
but their marriage could not be so.
He was sent overseas to pilot in the war.
She waited for him to return, her heart on hold.

She moved to California,
hoping to break into the movies,
never once forgetting the one she loved.
But her hopes were dashed.
His plane crashed returning home from abroad.
She fell apart. Nothing could mend her broken heart.

She hopped from guy to guy, trying to drown her misery.
Then she fell for the Wolf’s handsome face.
He filled the void left by her love’s lost life.
He asked her hand in marriage but she expressed misgivings.
She stabbed him in the heart and he would make her pay.
She fled, fearful for her life,
returning only when she felt things had cooled.
She didn’t know the danger still lurked…

Time passed, and she had high hopes for the New Year.
She looked exceptionally elegant leaving the lobby of the Biltmore,
on the night she disappeared into the fog.
A ticket pinned in her hair,
something beautiful for something ghoulish.
If she only knew what it was for...

A date at Devil’s Door,
A surprise by the Minotaur.
Her screams could not save her.
Then stillness took her over.
Her life liquid drained;
An alabaster husk once brimming,
Now ready for the final pain.

The monster he carved her,
his sick sadism searing.
Once content, he carried that soft stone to its new home.
Comfortable, it had to be.
String cushions of weeds
and gaunt stubs manipulated by Hellish hands.

He added the final touch,
carefully placing her black suede heels atop a garbage can.
His masterpiece complete, he drove off,
grinning the grin he made her bear,
but not akin to the beast’s own tool.
The morning would deliver him;
The notoriety of his deed secure.
How they would scramble to find the artist!
He knew they never would.

The horror was instant, the shock numbing.
Reporters flashed their cameras.
Investigators scribbled their notes.
Newspapers burst from the press,
An Extra on every corner,
and a morsel of macabre for every mind.
Within the hour, the Nation had become
obsessed with the “Girl Found Savagely”.
It didn’t take long for the stories to come,
The lies, the exploiting, the deception.
Slashed and salt rubbed in the wound.
Money can be that cruel.

The years passed, and she became just another unsolved.
They took it with open arms.
It fed their vile fantasies.
Had they dug deep enough, they would have found out.
Her riddle was solved. Those who found the answer buried it.
And the Wolf went free. She was not his first.
There were others before her and there would be others after.
She got the brunt of it,
first consumed by cold and then by corruption.
She’s a blur, a smudge on a monochrome sheet.
That’s all that’s left of her.

The world moves forward, and life goes on.
But not for her.
She’s trapped in that moment.
Waiting for us to look for her, and remember,
For the right reasons,
Who she was, and why she’s not here.