Moral Tension: Part I

always prided herself on what she believed to be the “right way to live,” standing up straight, abiding by the rules, going to church, paying her parking ticket on time, doing her 9 to 5 gig every monday thru friday, always on her soapbox & always having it easy cause’ she never got her morality put to the test. her favorite cousin asked her to come visit the city & though inside she was a bit reluctant, she hadn’t seen her cousin for such a long time & the summer was the time for having a little fun anyway (so she told herself), so the hop on the Amtrak was quick & lo & behold, she arrived at Penn Station round 4:00 pm. that night they went out on the town, the group of them & when crossing the street she heard a scream---it was shrill & short, as if it had quickly been muffled--- looking in the direction of where it had been coming from, she saw with her very own eyes a man repeatedly striking a young woman in the face, whilst yelling at her in between the blows--- they were more like hard slaps than punches, but the sound that they made she swore that she could hear them over the sound of the cars & the crowds. while her friends continued to walk as if nothing was happening, she found herself slowing down & as she watched the scene unfold, it was over in real time much quicker than the delay in her brain, which seemed to vibrate in sync with the increasingly rapid thump of her heart.