65 // Starry Nights

Twenty-eight years ago she had been brought into this miserable world. A world filled with so many inevitabilities; love, hatred, failures, riches, disloyalty, treachery, abuse, defeat, deceit – a whole lot of pointless things. But none of that mattered; she had seen it all, she had been through it all, and yet, here she stood, not even a single scratch on her face or as little as a single tear burning in her hollow eyes. But still, none of that mattered. 

This was how she had always spent her birthdays, whether it was in New York, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Cape Town or London; it was the same thing every night before the clock hit midnight and her birthday was over. She would either be in her office or her house, watching the stars or the black night sky like she was doing right now. 

She stood on the rooftop of The Maslow Hotel, staring at the sky while counting the stars, something she was well accustomed to now. She would count the stars whil