Assassination on Gore

I woke up earlier than normal, despite being off from work. This horrible flu had gotten to me, making my body week and my brain incapable of fulfilling my position at the auto shop. It had been a fight, but my boss had eventually noticed the stream of snot leaking from my nose.

The digital clock on my bedside read a quarter past four in the morning. I groaned, letting myself fall back onto the thin layer of memory foam covering my mattress. Something struck my left shoulder blade, catching me off guard. I cussed under my breath, my hand going to the pained area.

After recovering from the initial shock, I looked to see what I had so irresponsibly placed on my bed. My hand hit my face with a loud slap; I had fallen asleep with my phone. “You are such a dumbass,” I sighed, plugging my phone in before deciding to get up.

The toaster shot my now burnt bread to the floor, reminding me to get a new toaster. Wearing oven mitts, my skin had always been quite sensitive, I carefully picked up the bread, setting it onto a clean plate beside the sink.

Slathering peanut butter onto the thick slab of carbs, I heard the doorbell ring. The plans for my day had had nothing to do with people. I stood, leaning over my piece of toast, debating whether or not to answer the door. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell being rung again.

I opened the door, pulling a nearby hoodie over my head. “Hello, may I help you?” I asked, facing a blond woman a bit shorter than me. “Are you… Lee? Lee Evans?” she had a pinch of fear in her eyes. That’s when I noticed how thin she was. The clothes- ripped, they were ripped- hung off her body, causing her to look ill and malnourished. “Yes, I am. I’m sorry, but do I know you? I’ve got a horrible memory so don’t take it personally.” She frowned, looking down at the floor in front of her. “I’m Merissa,” she looked to my face for any sign of recognition. “Merissa…?” I said, praying that she would elaborate. “Merissa Evans, your… your sister.”

I paced back and forth in my living room, Merissa sat quietly on my leather loveseat, though it was not used for making love, it was used for reading and reading only. Merissa had taken the blue blanket off the back and wrapped it around her cold, shivering body.

“Hold on, so you’re telling me that you didn’t go missing seven years ago, you went into hiding?” I was so confused, Merissa- my sister left me when I was only twelve. “Was it dad? Did he make you leave? I know he hurt you, he hurt me too. But that gives you no reason to leave me with… him!” She opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off before she could. “He tried to kill me, Merissa. Kill me!” this made her stand, placing her hands on my shoulders with such grip that would surprise anyone that looked at her.

“I didn’t leave because of dad!” she nearly yelled, her grip tightening. “I… I- you remember Danny, right? Danny Forester, my ex-boyfriend. A real douchebag he was, you remember?” I nodded, still shaken up a bit. “After we broke up, he… he hurt me. Really bad.” My jaw nearly hit the floor, “he hurt you?” Anger filled me to the brim, “why?” I could see the tears in her eyes, showing just how painful it must have been. “He didn’t want me to leave him. That night, when I came home around three in the morning, you were up playing some stupid game on the Wii, that was the night. He threatened to kill me, saying that if I left him, he’d have someone hunt me down and bring me back to him.”

Merissa was in the shower, leaving me alone with all of the new information to settle in, if it ever did. So many questions filled my head; Did he know where she was? Were his intentions still the same? What was going on in Merissa’s head?

The shower stopped just before the soup was done heating up. Chicken noodle, Merissa’s childhood favourite. Hopefully she still liked it.

The bathroom door opened, revealing Merissa dressed in the oversized hoodie I had loaned her, as well as a pair of black jeans that I had thrifted but they had been too small to fit me. The microwave beeped; the smell of chicken noodle soup flooded into the tiny apartment.

“Thank you for the clothes, Lee.” I smiled in return, still freaked out by the size of her. “I made lunch,” I said, changing the subject. Setting the pot of soup on the wicker trivet, Merissa sat in the desk chair I’d had to pull up. Never had I had a guest eat with me, at least at the table. “Bon appetite.”

We ate in silence, not even looking at each other. Merissa was finished in minutes, seeming as if she hadn’t eaten in days. Maybe she hadn’t. I stood up, taking her empty bowl in the same hand that held mine, washing them in the minuscule sink. “Can I do anything?” she asked, breaking the silence. I shook my head, loading the already clean dishes into the dishwasher. “Actually, there is one thing.” “What is it?” she looked me in the eye. “Could you answer a few of my questions?”

“He hired an assassin?” I gasped, sitting down on the couch. My legs had almost given out so I wasn’t taking the chance twice. She only nodded, sensing the amount of distress the entire thing was putting on me. “I don’t understand,” I stood, “the psychologist said that you were dead, that you would never come back.” She gave me a sad look, “well I’m not, am I?” I was shaking all over. “You might as well be, there is god knows how many assassins after you, you weigh no more than one hundred pounds, and you disappeared for seven years!” Panic had taken over my body, I was losing control just like after she left. “I was scared, I didn’t know what to do,” Merissa was crying now. “You… you could’ve called, maybe even just given me a heads up before leaving in the middle of the night.”

I sat on the couch, my head in my hands. “Lee…” she sniffed, rubbing circles on my back. I shrugged her off, “I just need a minute.” She said okay, sitting next to me silently. Slowly, I raised my head. “What are you going to do when he finds you?” worry escaped with my words. “I don’t know.”

After getting up to blow my nose, I grabbed my computer and brought it back to the couch. “We have to disguise you, make you unrecognizable.” She gave me an uneasy look, “I don’t know…” “Yes, Merissa. We have to. I don’t want to lose you again.”

We spent up until seven in the morning on the computer, booking appointments to transform her. “Okay, this afternoon you are getting your hair cut and dyed. Sound good?” I asked, closing the screen of my laptop.

“Yeah, but what if someone recognizes me from the posters?” she asked, sending another rush of worry into my system. “They won’t, because I’ll be with you.” “How will that keep them from connecting the dots?” I thought hard, coming up with an idea.

“Stay here,” I said, standing up from the sofa. “Wait, why?” she stood up after me, confused. “I am going to run down to the pharmacy and pick up some things. Okay? But you have to promise me that you will not leave this apartment. Promise?”

I sprinted down the stairs of the fire escape, too antsy to wait for the elevator. The pharmacy was just down the street, maybe a five-minute walk without traffic. But of course, there was traffic. I waited at the crosswalk, my heart beating out of my chest. When the walk signal lit up, I was already halfway across the gap.

The bell dinged as I opened the door, the cashiers eyeing me up as if I had come in here to steal something. This pharmacy did get stolen from quite often, so I didn’t really blame them.

Immediately, I went to the makeup isle, not knowing what to look at. “Okay, okay, where is the…” I trailed off, sensing the stares from fellow shoppers burning into my body.

After roughly fifteen minutes, I had filled my basket with makeup items that I didn’t know what to use, feminine products, and a dress that had been a cheap find.

The cashier gave me a strange look as she rang everything up, “you aren’t a bad man, now are you, Mister?” I shook my head, “my sister is staying with me. She came a bit unprepared.” “Clearly,” the cashier scoffed, loading everything into a plastic bag.

As I went to leave, I noticed a horrifying image on the glass door. “Excuse me, Missus?” I called, racing back to the checkout line. Thankfully nobody had been in line.

“What now?” she said, clearly annoyed. “Who put that poster up?” I asked, motioning towards the poster of a woman, the name Merissa Evans printed underneath.

“Some guy, says it’s his girlfriend. Apparently, and you didn’t hear this from me, someone saw her walking up this street about a week ago. Might want to watch your back, also heard that she can get violent really easily.” It took all I had not to scream, he was close. If I didn’t hurry back, he could find her. Who knows, maybe he already had.

“You alright, Mister? Look like you just saw a ghost.” “Would you mind if I took this poster and put it up in my building, just so everyone could be aware of her being?” I lied, unable to stand still.

“Sure, it’d do some good. Plus, every store on this block has one in their window, people probably don’t want to see another one. Go ahead.” I thanked her before tearing the laminated piece of paper off the window, bringing it back to the apartment.

“You aren’t going to believe this,” I said after closing the door behind me. Merissa hadn’t left the couch, “What? What is it?” I walked over to her, shoving the poster in her face. Her face dropped, her hands going to her mouth. Merissa looked back at me, it seemed as if she was having difficulty processing what was going on. She wasn’t alone on that track.

“The cashier at the pharmacy told me everything. Saying that someone had seen you about a week ago wondering this street.” Her head went between her knees, Merissa was trying to catch her breath. “We have to hurry with this makeup otherwise those appointments will be your last.

The hairdressers was empty, since we had booked an appointment right before the boutique closed. “Hello, welcome to Laura’s Boutique. You must be Lee and Raegan,” the hairdresser said, standing at the counter. “Yes,” I lied, “this is my sister Raegan and I am Lee.” “Well, Raegan, if you wouldn’t mind having a seat over here, I would be glad to do your hair.”

Her makeup had surely been overdone, but it was the only way to be sure that nobody would recognize her. My stomach did flips when I noticed the poster in the corner of the mirror on the back wall. “So, where are you working?” the hairdresser, her nametag reading Hannah, asked. Merissa hid her panic well, saying that she was new to the city and that she was on the hunt for a job. “You could always apply here, for the position of receptionist. Unless you find a better job. I wouldn’t blame you for skipping out on this job, it doesn’t pay enough.” Merissa shot me a glance, “well I am just looking for a temporary position until I can go back to school. Would you mind grabbing me a form?”

With her hair cut, and dyed blond, she looked like a whole new person. Now to move onto the bigger challenges. “Okay, we need to leave for the library now if we are going to make it,” I said, practically dragging Merissa behind me. “What’s the rush, Turbo?” the old nickname made everything more surreal, making everything more frightening. “It’s already half past five, the library closes at seven.”

“We literally have almost two hours. Why are you so worried?” she sighed, jogging to catchup to me. “Every second that we spend in the streets is another second where Danny, or whoever the fuck he hired, could come and kill you.” Merissa was silent, understanding the consequences.

The library had practically emptied. This was a good time to be here, in between the two busiest times of the day: noon, and closing time. Merissa and I removed our shoes at the door, placing them beside everyone else’s on the rug. “Okay, I’ll sign in while you grab us a computer. Good?” she nodded in agreement, practically sprinting over to the box shaped computers that operated a code a minute, maybe two.

“Hello, Lee, darling. How have you been? It’s been a while,” the questions that the receptionist was firing at me went in one ear and out the other. “I’ve been good, just here to use the computer.”

“Who is that lovely lady with you, Lee?” the elderly woman motioned towards Merissa. “Oh… just a friend. Hadn’t seen her for a while, decided to meet and hangout here.”

Elma, the receptionist, poked me slyly. “She’s a keeper, you two look wonderful together.” I nearly puked in my mouth, “No, no, no! We are just friends!”

She laughed to herself, “alright, whatever you say, Sport. Just make sure to invite me to the wedding.” I rolled my eyes at her dumb remark, saying goodbye before making my way to the computer room.

“What took you so long? What if Danny had been here?” Merissa had pulled up an extra seat for me. Quietly, she logged into the account she had made when she was twelve, seeing the wallpaper hadn’t changed from the stupid llama.

“Okay, walk me through this.” I shrugged, “What makes you think I’ve done this before?” “You just seem like the type of kid to hack into other peoples accounts and change things around.” I glared at her, “I’m not a kid, okay? Plus, the only person I ever hacked was our cousin, James.” Merissa covered her mouth, trying to mute her laughter. “You were the one who sent around his search history to everyone?” my face dropped, “my mistake, I hacked him twice.”

The website was easy to find, searching “can you change your name legally online” brought it up to the top of the list. Merissa found our city and began filling out her information.

She paused; a confused look set on her face. “Why didn’t we just do this on your computer?” I sighed, “the government can track these things. If we did it at my apartment, then they would have tracked my location, brought your being into the public eye, and then, boom, DEAD.” She hung back, “Jeez, I just asked.”

“Okay, I am officially Raegan Evans.” I smiled, “great, now let’s get out of here. They won’t catch us if we leave now.”

Once we arrived back at the apartment, Merissa- or should I say Raegan- and I celebrated her arrival with a bottle of wine. I was just about to take another sip when I got a text from my mother.

Lee, turn on the channel 7 news. You won’t believe your eyes!

I had a bad feeling about this, my mom never texted me unless it was something really important. “Merissa… can you pass me the remote beside you?” she looked at me, confused yet again. “Yeah, sure. What’s going on?” she asked, aware that something was wrong.

“Mom texted, saying that there was something bad on channel seven.” I pressed the on button, going directly to channels. My jaw nearly slammed right into my lap, right on the screen in the comfort of my living room, was an image of Merissa and I sitting at the computers in the library.

“Holy shit! How did they find out?” Merissa’s voice was shaky, as well as the rest of her body. “the government must’ve tracked down the time when you visited their website and connected the lines.”

“What’re we going to do?” she asked, turning off the television. “I don’t know but we can’t stay here. They will match my face to the image and track down where I live.”

We hid in the darkness of the alleyways, unable to breathe. Even though she had never said, I knew that both of us were sure she was dead meat. “Lee?” she whispered, clinging to my arm.

“Yeah?” I responded, staying close to the wall. “I’m sorry I never called. It was a bad move and I am very sorry.” I gave her a sad smile, even though she could hardly see it. “It was for your own good. You may have not lasted this long if you’d gotten in contact with us.”

A rustling sound just outside the entry of the alley brought us both out of our conversation. The silhouette of a tall man started down the center of the alleyway.

A sudden pain handed me my misery. I looked down, the light of the streetlights giving just enough light to see the wound. A bullet wound. The man was no ordinary man, he was an assassin. And he was coming for my sister.

I grasped the pained area which had started to bleed. “Run,” I whispered. “What?” “I said run!”

I collapsed to the ground. My heart slow.