I look around as a new song begins to play. Most people are gathering into couples; they will be the easiest to kill. Then there’s the DJ and the random people on the sidelines that will probably try to run for the doors first. But there’s no where for them to go, except diving off the boat into the ocean, in which case, they’ll still die. Of course the security guards and the ship-men will take a little more effort, but not much. I just have to kill them before they send out a distress call.
A reflection of light catches my attention and my eyes dart over. There’s my target; a spoiled rich snob that has some prized ruby necklace she wears with her priceless diamond sparkled dress that reflect the light when she twirls. That ruby necklace is what I’m after, or what my clients are after. I don’t really care why, I’m just going to get it, get out, and get paid. It’s all pretty simple to me.
My road block is just her body guards; three of them. They stand so close to her that her brown hair tied back in a ponytail hits them almost every time she spins. She’s probably about seventeen or eighteen and she still needs babysitters. I chuckle to myself.
And then there’s my accomplice, Alden, who also needs to die. I’m not splitting my money with him when I’m the one with the plans. He’s just as spoiled as the rest of this crowd; everything in life given to him on a clean, shiny, silver platter. I try not to puke at the thought of all these people thinking that we are a couple. The matching tie and dress, the same room number, dinner together, etc. all emphasize that fact.
“Would you like to dance?” a young man with spiky black hair and blue eyes asks. I curse under my breath and think about refusing him, but I nod. I take his offered hand and follow him out into the middle of the dance floor. He grabs my waist while I grab his shoulder and we begin swaying to the music. We’re off beat, and not really dancing, but I’m just as sick with movement as I was when I was sitting.
We sway for a quiet moment; the only sound is the music. Finally, the young man speaks up. “I’m Reese,” he says nervously. Why the heck should he be nervous? I’m the one in this obnoxious, pink dress and heels that I can’t walk in. I nod like I care.
“What’s your name?” he asks after a moment.
I sigh. “Vera,” I say, picking a name off the top of my head, not like it really mattered if he knew my real name; he’d be dead in a moment anyway.
We were quiet again. “I… uh… I feel bad I stole you from your date,” he says pointing over to Alden.
“He’s not my date,” I say. Reese looks back down to me questioningly. “He’s my uncle,” I say, which isn’t exactly keeping to our story.
Reese chuckles. “I thought he looked a little too old to be your date.” I nod, still not caring. “How old are you?” Reese asks a moment later.
Great, I got stuck with a talker. “Seventeen,” I say truthfully.
“Well that’s perfect!” Reese shouts, startling a few other couples. “I’m eighteen!”
“Cool,” I say with fake enthusiasm. Reese quiets down. Just a little longer, I think to myself as the song comes to a close.
“I think you’re beautiful,” Reese says quietly, acting shy. I look back to him and try to stop myself from glaring. Act shy all you want, I can see right through you. From his clothes, I can tell he isn’t as wealthy as most of the people here, which would also explain his lack of manners. He’s just as bad as me, except without the murder part.
I smile and force a blush to my face. I can play this game of pretend too, and I guarantee I can play it better then you.
The song ends and Reese does a clumsy bow. “Thank you for dancing with me,” he says politely.
I nod and walk away, without another word, and without a curtsy. Alden is leaning up against the doorframe to the cafeteria. He chuckles when I walk up to him.
“Seems like you were getting pretty close to that young man, Sweatheart,” he teases.
I laugh as sweetly as possible and reach my hand up to scratch my head. Out of my ponytail I pull a knife and point it to Alden’s throat.
“If you call me that again, I will rip your esophagus from your throat,” I whisper threateningly. He’s probably too dumb to understand what I just said.
“We’re on the same team,” Alden growls. I pull back my knife. It’ll be easier to kill everyone with his help… for now.
“Then let’s get going,” I say with a forced smile. I turn around and roll my eyes. I hear clicks behind me and I watch with hidden satisfaction as the guests turn and stare with awe and fear.
Click, click, click. I hear the bullets rapid firing beside my head. I watch as two by two, and even three by three, the dancers fall to the ground. Lucky for them, the oversized poodle behind me can’t aim for his life.
I hear three more clicks to the side of us. I turn and begin walking towards the ruby’s body guards. They fire their dinky pistols and miss me every time. I pull out my long dagger from my waist, hidden inside by all of the skirt’s layers. I hold it the opposite way that normal people would hold a sword, facing behind me in my left hand, knife still in my right.
I walk up to the first man who fires his last bullet. “All out?” I taunt. I jab my knife into his gun and almost cry at how easy it is. Piece of junk for the filthy rich- the irony. I kneel down to the ground part way and slice my dagger through his stomach. He falls to the floor and I stand back up.
The other two guards are smarter then the first. They attack at the same time. They walk forward together in sync and try to hit me simultaneously, nearly punching each other. I duck and step forward so I’m behind them. I stab both my knife and my dagger into each body and they fall to the ground. I hear one short shot, followed by two short ones closer together as Alden finishes them off.
The spoiled ruby girl sits behind an overturned table, cowering in fear. I kick the table and push it away from the girl. She shivers and covers her head.
“Please, don’t hurt me,” she begs. I crouch down next to her.
“I need this,” I say, as I yank the golden chain from her neck. She flinches. I stand up and turn to walk away.
“Wait, please,” she pleads behind me. “Please, I’ll do anything you want!” she screams as she goes into a fit of hysteria.
“You already have,” I say as I walk away.
“Please!” The girl screams one last time before a gun shot cuts her off.
I look down to the ruby necklace as it sparkles in the light. I wrap it around my neck and tie the two strings together.
“Here,” Alden says, tossing me a small gun. I turn just in time to catch it. “Make sure they’re all dead.” He turns and walks out, heading down to the captains cabin. I roll my eyes but start to walk around the room.
I stop walking and look into the corner. A table is pulled on its side, like it was when it was protecting ruby girl. I cock the gun and roll the table away, pointing the pistol forward. It’s Reese. He’s hiding two or three smaller children behind his back, probably praying I’ll overlook them.
“Vera,” Reese says with a sigh. “It’s me, it’s Reese.”
I roll my eyes and lower the gun. “Why haven’t you jumped off the boat yet?” I demand, dropping my innocent act.
“They can’t swim,” Reese says, pointing to the kids behind him.
I look at him for a second. “I should kill you,” I whisper.
“Please, kill me, but leave them,” Reese begs. I roll my eyes again, but he continues. “Please, Vera.”
“My name isn’t Vera,” I say, closing my eyes.
“Then what…?” Reese begins to ask, but I raise the gun.
Pull the trigger… Pull the trigger. I can’t bring myself to pull the stupid trigger. I sigh with irritating and drop my arm again.
“Stay quiet,” I whisper as I roll the table back. When did I get soft? I point the gun at the ground a few feet away and fire the gun a couple of times. Alden comes jogging in.
“All dead?” he asks.
“No,” I say sarcastically. “I turned them all into unicorns while you were gone.”
He ignores me and walks over, reaching for the ruby necklace. I take a step back.
“Uh uh,” I say. “Mine.” I say it as if I were talking to a child, which I was.
He chuckles and takes a step forward. “You really want to die, don’t you?”
“Yes, actually, I do. But that isn’t going to happen today.” I raise the gun and fire. Alden’s body hits the ground. I throw the gun to the floor beside him and turn around. I walk over to the doors, but stop when something moves. I take a step back and look at a mirror over my shoulder.
My black hair is now half in and half out of a ponytail. Strands fall down into my face. My dress is ripped, probably from the bullets of the body guards. Other then that, I look like a normal teenage girl coming home from a night out. I snort. Normal. I’m anything but normal. My hands were now stained with the lives of… How many had I killed? Hundreds? I look one more time at my dazzling green eyes and walk out to the side of the boat, my cold-blooded murdering reflection following me.
I lean against the railings and look out to the ocean. I think back to Reese. What is my name? Do I even remember my real name? I chuckle to myself. And I think I’ll ever be normal, when I don’t remember that basic piece of information? I drop my dagger and knife on the wooden floor and rip the ruby necklace from my throat. It would be beautiful, if it didn’t have a drop or two of blood on it.
I try to wipe it away with my gloves, but I only manage to pull off a little bit of it. I throw it over my shoulder and hear it land somewhere beside my dagger. I turn to walk down the side of the ship, kicking off the ridiculous heels I somehow managed to fight in. The dress, however, has to stay on.
I stride down to the front cabin. Alden did his job well; everyone is dead. The captain lies across the main controls. I push him off and wipe the hair out of my face. I feel something wet come off my gloves. I look up to the glass and see a small streak of blood, trailing down from my nose to my lower ear. I smile. There is some small satisfaction with blood on my face, especially if it isn’t mine.
A small red button starts to beep. I look down at the flashing light. There’s a picture next to it of a boat, and beside that, it says, “Lifeboat 6.” I look back out the window and see Reese with the other kids in a small boat, all wearing lifejackets.
I smile, this makes things easy. I walk over to the communication desk, just to the left. I look quickly over the buttons and hit “Distress”, a big green circle button. I really have gotten soft. I curse my good side.
Back over to the control center, I quickly figure out how to drive the log. I push this lever forward, and this lever back, and press this button. I can feel wind coming in through an open window as the boat begins to move again. Easy controls. Why in the world would you need to go to college for that?
I hate college. In fact, I hate people who go to college. I should make a list of things I hate. I hate boats. I hate people. I hate spoiled snobs. I hate flowers. I hate small forest animals. I hate elves. I hate strawberries. I hate gum drops. I hate mornings. I hate afternoons. I hate sparkles. I hate pink. They should shoot however discovered pink. I hate heels. I hate parties. I hate people that go to parties. I hate books. I hate movies. I hate technology period. I hate people who expect me not to kill them. I hate people who expect me to kill them. I hate the innocent. I hate the guilty. I hate guns. I hate my clients. I hate my accomplices. I hate life. Especially my life. I hate my good side. I hate my bad side. If I had to choose between the two, I’d shoot my good side, because if I shot my bad side, then my good side would be my bad side. I hate thinking. I hate thinking about the pointless. I hate this list. I hate thinking about what I hate.
Okay, what do I love? ... Alright, how about what I like? I kind of like nights. I like swords. I like knives. I like frogs… never mind, I don’t like frogs. I like fire. I like explosions. I like money. I like… Well, that’s sad; I’m out of ideas.
I really need to get a life.
I leave Reese behind and head back towards the city. There, my clients will meet me and pay me. I get the entire cut and then we will all be on our merry ways, skipping away into the sunset on a white horse with a valiant knight in shining armor followed by my long lost fairy-godmother who will grant me one wish to live forever in a kingdom far away full of strawberry gumdrops and elves who sing me to sleep at night. And then I can spend my merry days singing to small forest animals about how much my prince loves me and I can make cake with pretty sparkles and pink frosting.
…I hate my job. I think it’s getting to me.
