Eva got the scarf for her 20th birthday. It was 8 feet long, white, knit, and braided. The tassels on the end were fuzzy, and the scarf was extremely thick. Her reaction to the present was nothing ecstatic, because it was simply just a scarf that her aunt bought for her. She gave it a thoughtful look, and then wrapped it around her neck. Eva was somehow attracted to the scarf that day, and she started to wear it all the time.
Eva was always paranoid, from the day she was born. During school she would walk the halls particularly fast and squeeze her books to her body. She would look side to side constantly as if someone was going to attack her any minute. No one ever knew what was wrong with her. Whenever someone even looked at her, she kept a blank face and stared at the ground. Eva had never been seen smiling.
She lived in New York city but always hated it there. You'd wonder how anybody could hate New York. There's movie premieres, fancy shops and many museums. But the smells of garbage, filthy subways, and the noise of traffic anoyed her every minute of the day. Eva couldn't leave; she had no money to move and her entire family llived in the city. Besides, she couldn't leave her job. The only place she really felt safe was aat work. Eva was a librarian, and she liked how everything was quiet. She also enjoyed the fact that thousands of books filled her presence, with not many people.
But ever since Eva got that scarf, she started to wear it covering most of her face; covering her nose to shield the smells, covering her ears to stop all the noise. She started to feel a little better about New York, but then hated it more because she couldn't shield away everything. She would walk down the streets covering her ears with a scared face staring at the ground.
About a month after her 20th birthday, Eva was walking home after work. It was barely past midnight. The scarf was wrapped around her neck and covered her face, as usual. She was staring at the ground. She didn't cover her ears this night though because it was already too quiet. Eva just passed a huge dumpster when a dark figure came behind her. Of course she didn't notice; she was too secured by her scarf to realize someone was following her. There was no one around for at least 3 blocks. All of a sudden, the dark figure wrapped his arm around her neck, dragging her down towards the ground. His attempt to strangle her was unsuccessful from the start; her scarf was wrapped too many times around her neck to stop her breathing quickly.
Eva panicked. She tried to rip his arm free, but he was too strong. She couldn't scream because his other hand was covering the scarf that was covering her mouth. Running out of ideas, she tried to bite his hand through her scarf. She bit down as hard as she could, and the man suddenly pulled his hand away, shrieking in pain. Eva pulled her scarf off her face and grabbed the ends. The man tried to come towards her again, but she was ready. She threw the scarf around his neck and pulled it tight. He was choking and thrashing, trying to pull it way, but she just pulled the scarf tighter. It was a struggle; but the man finally lay limp with the scarf tied to his neck. Eva dropped him to the ground. His face was on the ground; his body was all contorted. She stared at him with a blank face. Showing no fear or remorse, she untied the scarf from his neck and put it back on. The scarf was wrinkled, and had a drop of blood on it where she bit the man. But it didn't matter. She covered her face with it, put her hands in her pockets, and continued walking with her eyes to the ground.
As she walked away, the corners of her mouth lifted up, and her lips were scrunched. Would that even be considered a smile? No one knows. But one thing that we do know...she was satisfied.
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