“Why this mark?”
“I am not at liberty to answer the question.”
“Are there any ties?” the assassin asked as he always had, knowing the answer is the same.
“Ties?” the voice asked in forced surprise. Not bothering to mask his boredom.
“You know exactly the correlation to which I am referring.” He permitted a very calculated expression of discontentment to creep onto his impassive face.
There was no reply. He waited in the still of the darkness, not sure a response would bless the conversation. Although he was hoping for an answer, it did not mean he would give this stranger the satisfaction of asking again.
The voice finally boomed from the pitch-black air. “The agreement, if you will, is the same. You acquiesced to eradicate all threats.”
The answer was always the same, but he had to ask. He couldn’t disregard the consequences. Too much was at stake.
“Who is it? Where do I need to go?” His rejoinder was mechanical.
“We will be in touch.”
Chadwick, Oklahoma
Current Day
He walked into my life and hit me like a freight train. One day my life was normal. The next… Completely upside down. My story began a few weeks before Halloween. It was a “usual” night for me. I should have had the night off, but Mandy called in, again. She called in at least once a week, so as I said “usual.”
Driving through town, I noticed the town’s maintenance crew had been hard at work decorating for the upcoming, unavoidable holiday. I had the awesome pleasure of cruising by horrifically bloody creatures frozen in battle suspended above Main Street. The hanging monstrosities hung low enough to give the effect of the passing cars amidst fighting demons, and each was bloodier than the last. The last few were so grotesquely bloody that liquid dripped onto my car. Now, that was scary and gross. You would think tourists would not want to come back, but they did. They came back in droves year after year.
The street, lamp posts, and businesses running along the main strip were all very neatly outlined with lights that sparkled red, orange and black. Glistening spider webs housing gigantic, colorful spiders were strung from buildings. “Of course, it wouldn’t be completed without holy wars,” I said, noticing angels and demons were at it in the lit-up alleys. The decorative lights gave off the appearance of daytime all night long, lighting my way all through town.
“Ah, watch out! You might run into zombies on your walk to lunch,” I mockingly said to no one, rolling my eyes at the absurdity of it all.
Rob, our local city maintenance engineer, always began planning for the holidays a year in advance. Christmas would be more overdone than this spectacle. I loved Christmas, so that was just fine by me. It’s a nice holiday, not ridiculous like Halloween. Rob was a cool guy. He had always been one of my most frequent customers.
I pulled up in Myra’s driveway to see her waiting for me on the porch. Myra was my best friend. Our relationship began forming at birth. I have invariably found that very few people are worth my time. I don’t date much, either; never have. Some people say that I am too picky when it comes to dating, but I say that I’m not picky enough.
“What took you so long?” she asked, opening the car door.
“I had to be careful not to run into the dead.” I rolled my eyes, again, at the outlandish decorations.
She laughed, “Yeah, isn’t it awesome this year.”
“It gets worse every year,” I retorted.
“What! You mean to say that you don’t love running into vampires and zombies?” she replied, feigning shock. “It gets better every year. I love it,” she sang.
“Yes, I’m well aware.” I rolled my eyes.
“Why do you hate Halloween so much?”
“Hm,” I paused to try to remember. “I don’t know. Halloween is freaky.” I shuttered. “Rob doesn’t help any.”
Myra laughed. “He does love tricks over treats.”
I groaned. My distaste is well known.
By the time we arrived at the bar, the sun had completely set. The bar was far enough outside of town that the Halloween decorations had stopped lighting our way miles ago. Once we turned into the parking lot, we had to rely on the trusty old normal lighting that lit up the parking lot.
“Perfect, the street lights just blew out,” I said, noticing the immediate dimness. We ran inside and reported the outage. “I’m sure Rob will be in later and will call it in,” I told Alex, the employee assigned to check ID at the entrance. “Make sure you let Joe know, please.”
We headed to clock in. “Let’s make some money. Mama needs a new duvet.”
Myra laughed. “Didn’t you just buy a new duvet? I need a new pair of shoes.”
“Didn’t you just buy new shoes?”
“Touché.”
The night started off slow but picked up around ten. Since the decorations were up and running, people from fairly close neighboring areas came to bless us with their presence. Since our town didn’t offer much in the way of entertainment after five o’clock, travelers piled into the bar in herds. I loved working in a bar because in a place like that, I didn’t have to be sweet or upbeat. I’m not much of a people person. I never have been and I don’t anticipate changing that at any point… ever. I enjoyed the fact that I didn’t have to suck up to the losers who came through that door. I took drink orders, delivered them and moved on as quickly as possible. That’s all I had
