“I know what you like,” the black man said while he was busy unbuttoning his pants.

“Oh really? How do you know?” Evelyn smiled teasingly, already lying on the bed in cheap lingerie.

“A big black dick. All sluts like you love that,” he smirked while his underwear dropped to the ground.

Evelyn’s eyes widened. Big was an understatement.

“Make it quick. I have more customers,” she said while she unclasped her bra.

*******************************

“Shit, shit, shit. Why didn’t I send that bastard to Susie?” Evelyn mumbled while she sat on the toilet with crossed legs. Her vagina hurt so badly, she could barely walk.

“Oh well, he did pay me a 100 dollars for the quickie.” She grabbed her purse off the ground, put it in her lap and got the money out. “350 dollars today. Hell yes!” she smiled and, after admiring the bills, she put it back into her purse carefully.

There was a knock on the toilet door. “Eve? Honey, are you in there?” the voice of Susie, her friend and colleague, echoed through the small and dirty bathroom.

“Hold on!” she shouted while she stood up and pulled up her thong and straightened her skirt. She took her purse, unlocked the door and opened it.

“Hey sweetie. Wow, what the fuck happened to you?” Susie asked when she saw the way Evelyn walked out.

“Black man,” she moaned. “Next time I’ll give them to you. You’re a little more… elastic.”

They both laughed about that.

“You know what we should do? Get a surgery for our vaginas so we don’t feel any pain when we’re doing it. Those porn actresses do it too!”

“Susie, are you mad? We can’t even enjoy real sex when we do that,” Evelyn said full of disbelief.

“As if we get real sex. Come on, you know Nick doesn’t want to do anything with you because he’s afraid he’ll get all kinds of weird diseases.”

“No Susie. Do whatever you want but I’m not doing it. That goes too far for me.” She ignored Susie’s remark about Nick.

Susie shrugged. “Whatever. I’m not doing it either, costs me way too much! And Carlos wouldn’t want to pay it either. He doesn’t give a damn if I feel pain while fucking someone or not. Not that it hurts, but if it would…” She shrugged again.

Evelyn turned the tap and threw some water in her face. “Nick wouldn’t do it either. He spends his money on drugs, alcohol and parties. He says he wants to save for a new car but there’ll never be one.”

“Same for Carlos. Especially drugs. That shit costs him a fortune. I would know how to spend the money, not that I’m allowed to keep it, but still. Oh, the opportunities we would have if we could get rid of this shitty job,” Susie sighed.

“Dream on, girl,” Evelyn smiled sadly. “This is our life and nothing or anyone can change that.”

Susie smiled back in the same sad way.

*******************************

It was four in the morning but still very warm. Evelyn walked the street, a trench coat covering her exposing clothes. She grabbed a pack of cigarettes from her purse and lit one. She blew out the smoke and watched how it disappeared into the clouded night sky. When the smoke was gone, she saw she had reached Brooklyn Bridge. She heard someone muttering somewhere in the distance.

Probably a drunk guy, she thought.

She walked further and saw a man standing at the edge of the bridge. She looked around her for a second, suspecting what the man was about to do. He was the one who was muttering.

He stepped over the railing. The ledge he was standing on kept him from falling. He watched how the water of the river streamed under him.

 “Sir!” the man heard behind him.

Ignore it, you can’t go back, he thought.

She stood behind him now, her hands on the railing. “Please, step back over the railing,” she said while she tried to catch a glimpse of his face.

“Go away,” he mumbled.

“Don’t do this,” she pleaded.

“I said, go away,” he said a little louder.

“Why would you end your life like this? There’s so much to live for.”

“Not when it comes to me,” he replied gloomily.

She looked behind her and then back to him. She grabbed his hand that lied loosely on the railing.

He turned his head a little towards her. “Why do you want to help me? You don’t even know me.”

“I want to know what happened that made you want to end your life.”

“WHY?!” he screamed.

Evelyn didn’t even startle. “My life is as fucked up as can be and yet I’m not ending my life because I still hope it’ll get better. I wonder if your life is better or worse than mine.”

“I lost my wife and daughter and it’s my fault,” he sputtered, his voice cracking.

“And?” She kept looking at him.

“I’ve been dealing drugs for a while. Apparently, the drugs I sold him was crap, the quality wasn’t what I had promised. That’s what he said when I spoke to him on the phone. He had broken into my house and slaughtered my family. I wasn’t home, I was partying… while they..” He sighed deeply. Why was he telling all this to a strange woman?

Dark clouds drifted over them while they stood there. There was thunder that shook the ground.

Evelyn felt a raindrop falling on her nose. Then another drop. And another one. Until a downpour fell over them.

But neither of them made an attempt to find shelter.

“How hard it might seem to imagine this, there are more chances at love,” she whispered, her hand still on his.

The man looked up while the rain hid his tears.

“You didn’t lose the greatest love of your life,” he whispered.

“I already lost love. My chances are gone already,” she said in a bitter tone.

“Do you really think- wait, I’m not saying anything more. I don’t even know why I’m having this discussion with you. Just leave me alone. I don’t need your company.”

She felt how his hand tried to move from under hers. But she held her hand firmly on his.

“Fine. But before you jump and you die a slow death by drowning, know that your life will get better if you give it a chance. There are people in this world that have a life much worse than yours. And I’m not talking about myself.” Then she let go of his hand and walked away.

The man looked after her. Who is she? Why did she let herself get soaked just to let a loser like me change his mind?

She didn’t stop, she didn’t look back, she kept walking steadily. What a selfish bastard! He still has a chance to build a new life. She doesn’t even have a life. She doesn’t have any chances at all. Alright, the fact he lost his family, whether it’s his fault or not, is pretty tragic. But he’s not a prisoner. He can go everywhere he wants and start again.

Suddenly she was being turned around and saw two brown eyes looking at her. She could see how he looked like much better now. He was about her age, bald and she also noticed his nose piercing. She saw a tattoo in his neck.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Does that matter?” she asked back.

“I’m stubborn, not everyone manages to convince me. I wonder why I’m convinced to continue life. How come your words refrained me from jumping?”

She crossed her arms across her chest. “No idea. But I’m glad I was so convincing, because normally I’m not like that,” she said with a small smile.

He smiled back with a full smile.

They both stood watching eachother in the rain.

“Go home,” she finally said and turned around to walk away. He grabbed her arm, turned her back around to him and kissed her.

At first, she didn’t know what happened to her. She didn’t know what to do. Unsure of what she did was right or wrong, she put her arm around his neck and kissed him back.

The kiss was short. Abruptly, she pulled back. “If you think that I’m your new love, you’re entirely wrong. I’m too risky for you,” she said and ran away.

He stood there, dumbfounded. He was wondering the same thing again.

Who is she?