Blood Money

The little black notebook should have gone straight to the police. I knew that, but for some reason I decided to keep it. That was my first mistake. It had arrived on my doorstep late at night when everyone was supposed to be asleep. If I recalled correctly it was around two at night. The dogs in the neighborhood had started barking right before I heard the loud crash in the kitchen. I had grabbed a heavy dictionary and heaved it up ready to attack the intruder. But when I cam into the kitchen there was no sign of any breakage or an intruder. The only thing was a small black notebook sitting on my counter nonchantly. I lowered the dictioary but kept it close just in case the intruder was planning to attack me from behind. My thumbs flipped through the notebook until it came to a page that seemed to have been opened many times before. The page had in big red pen three words. I read them. That was my second mistake.

"Kill Jaylen Morin." I whispered in the dark. The words startled me. Jaylen Morin was my English professor at the college I attended. He was a decent normal guy. Nothing about him stood out. I peered around my kitchen cautiously. Who would give me this? I blended into the crowd and lived a perfectly normal life. Nothing about me would attract the attention of anyone. From my sneakers to my sandy blond hair I was perfectly normal. Despite my heart pounding and my palms sweaty I went back to bed. The plain black notebook was tucked in my top dresser drawer. Out of sight, out of mind.

The next morning was like any other even though I knew something had changed. As I looked in the mirror I realized something. I couldn't just stand by and wait for Jaylen Morin to die. All my life I had been focused on blending into the crowd. But someone was going to kill Jaylen Morin, someone wanted me to kill Jaylen Morin.

Once I got to campus I immediately started following Jaylen Morin. About halfway through the day he looked twice behind his shoulder's and ducked into an alleyway. Jaylen Morin's hands were tucked into his pocket and his head was down. I followed him into the alley. That was my third mistake.

The gun in my pocket felt heavy and hot even though it only had one bullet in it. I pulled it out and clutched it with shaking hands. I had never used it before.

A figure appeared out of the shadows and started following Jaylen Morin. He cornered him just as Jaylen Morin got to the end of the alleyway. He turned around and held up his hand.

"Please! Please!" I heard him beg the figure. The rest of their conversations was muttered in low voices too quiet for me to hear. But I knew, I knew that this was the person who was going to kill Jaylen Morin. I raised the gun in my trembling hand at the figure in black.

The gun was aimed right at his head. All it took was one little squeeze of my finger for the bullet to explode from the gun. It flew through the air so fast and was all over in less than a few seconds.

The figure leaned down just a little and let the bullet skim right over their head. The bullet shot right into Jaylen Morin's head. He slumped to the ground clearly dead or already dying. I screamed.

The figure in black turned around noticing me for the first time. He stalked towards me and pulled off a black mask. The face underneath smirked.

"Congratulations Miss Lin." He smiled at me and handed me a small slip of paper. The check had the amount 20,000 written on it in cramped handwriting. "On your first blood money. We'll have your next assignment next week." The figure dissepeared leaving me with a black notebook, a gun, a dead body, and 20,000 dollars in blood money.