On receiving some excellent advice, I revised this tale a little more. I like this version better. Hope you do too.
It’s hard when you’re on the run. People start to avoid you. Things become much more expensive when they realise you’re desperate. Money becomes scarce, favours scarcer. I ended up on the dark side of every planet I landed on, always one step ahead of the bounty hunter. Until I came here: too tired to eat, too tired to make a decision.
Best restaurant this side of Tixlit, best meal on the menu and all I could do was prod it from one side of my plate to the other. Not that it was still moving or anything. Elena’s Exotic Eatery was famed throughout the universe for the best food going at the best prices.
Yet here I was, unsure whether to take a mouthful or do whatever I needed to do next. I was tempting fate by sitting here I knew that, but I needed one good meal inside me. And a break.
“You gonna eat that?” A gravelly voice disturbed my thoughts. I looked up: my table companion eyed my food greedily.
“Yeah… maybe… no… you want some – all of it?” Hell, I thought, why not give it to him, he looked hungry enough. I pushed the plate towards him, appetite gone.
It shouldn’t have ended like this. I loved that woman more than anyone else I had come across. She was everything I needed: sassy, kind, moneyed. I could’ve moved up in the world, left my past behind, started anew. Then her dad put a tail on me and all my secrets spilled out. The bounty hunter had a fresh trail laid out for him.
A blast of cold air: the door had opened. This time I knew it was too late. I turned and faced my nemesis.
Marj's writing 