Michael is a 24 year old male who I have seen at Starbucks only twice. He comes in with his pretty girlfriend and puts up with the loud music and fancy coffee with her as she does work on her laptop. She looks at him like someone who is hopelessly in love. They have been together only a few months.

They have been together only a few months because Michael just got out of prison. The clock tattoo on his left calf indicates a 3 year stint in prison that just ended this year and the watch tower tattoo on his right leg indicates a specific facility in Texas where they mostly send the worst offenders. He is Hispanic but still very light complected indicating he still is not used to going outside. When he buys something to eat he guards it as if someone might come up from behind and take it from him. When he stands in line to order or get his coffee he puts his hand behind his back wrist over wrist. When a cop walks in to buy drink his jaw squares up automatically as he bites down.

Michael is not working (she pays for the drinks and food) and he will find it hard to get a job. He has other tattoos which I have not seen (most likely covered up at her request) but he most likely joined a gang while in prison. He never smiles and he carries his stress in his shoulders.

I want to feel sorry for him but I can't. I do feel sorry for her. She thinks she can save him. She can't. Not because of those tattoos or that gang he is in. It is rare but I have seen guys walk away from that. It's because of that look in his eyes. Something happened to him in prison. Something he can't even begin to admit to himself. It could be anything. He could have been viciously assaulted or, more likely, forced to assault someone else. But it hurt him. It damaged him and she can't see it. She knows there is something wrong but she can't see anything beyond what she feels for him. She thinks her love can cure him.

I would like to feel optimistic for them, but I can't. It's all in his eyes. His eyes are becoming the eyes of shark. Lifeless. Yes he looks around, yes he responds to people, ...but he is disappearing. I've seen that look before in hardened criminals and others that have suffered great loss. They are not psychopaths or sociopaths. They weren't born this way. They have been worn down. They just start losing their ability to feel or care. It is being drained from them. In normal people it leads to depression and suicide. In people like him it leads to death and destruction.

She thinks she can save him...she can't.