Misfortune

Kana-

My alarm went off at 5am on a Saturday morning. I woke up, and brushed my teeth. I got dressed, wearing a black and green zebra striped Nike Pro sports bra, black Nike Pro capri-length weighted leggings, black Nike Crew socks, and green, teal, and white Nike running shoes. I put my red bicep-length hair with blonde ombré in a braid and stuck my AirPod pros into my ears.

I shuffled my playlist with all of my favorite songs on it, and went outside. I stretched, and then jogged a very slow 5-minute warm up. After the warm up, I stretched again...you can never be too careful these days. Then, I started my run and ran 5-miles in 31:50, about 6:30 per mile (this is in minutes, BTW).

After the 5-mile run, I did a slow 5-minute cool down, stretched again, and then went into the gym. I stretched, again, and then did my workout warm up which was 3 sets of 5 burpees, 3 sets of 10 lunges, and 3 sets of 15 sit ups. After the warm up, it was time for the workout, back squats for 10-8-5-5-3, overhand pressed for 10-8-5-5-3, 3 sets of 1-minute plank holds, an ab circuit of 50 crunches, 25 leg raises, 25 flutter kicks, and 15-second reverses Superman holds. After that, I did HIIT cardio: 15 minutes of running, in and off, 1-minute walk/ 1-minute jog, and then a 5-minute cool down. After that, I did some sparring with my friend who works at the gym for about an hour and a half wearing a weighted belt, and then I did 45-minute Yoga to wrap it all up.

After that, I headed to the coffee shop where I worked as a high shift, shift supervisor, and got my tea and breakfast. “Hi, welcome in!” They all shouted.

I smiled. “KANA!!!” Ally exclaimed, the morning shift, shift supervisor. “The usual?” Ally asked.

“Yep.” I said, and she made my drink and breakfast.

I sat at the table in the corner, and pulled out my book, reading it. Ally went on her lunch and sat across from me. “Does routine ever feel annoying to you?” Ally asked.

“What?” I asked.

“You run the same route daily, go to the same gym, workout daily, and then come to the same coffee shop every morning getting the same thing. The only thing that’s different is the book you read!! Where’s your sense of adventure?” Ally said.

I chuckled, putting down the book. “Ally, I like routine. It’s structured, it’s sound, it’s...it’s safe.” I said.

“Agh! Girl! You need to get wild!” Ally said.

“I had my fill of adventures for 16-years Ally. I’m happy with this routines life.” I said.

“Well, at least one of us is.” Ally said.

“Oh no, girlfriend troubles again?” I asked.

“She says I work too much.” Ally said.

“You do.” I said.

“Ugh!!! What am I gonna do, our 1-year anniversary is next week and I’m working!” Ally exclaimed.

“I’ll take your shift, rest, take her out to a nice place, but her some jewelry. You know she loves it.” I said.

“Oh, seriously!? Thanks!!!” Ally said, squeezing me.

I hugged her back, and then left after her lunch was over. I walked home, to my duplex, and a person wearing a black hoodie ran into me. “Watch where you’re going!!” I shouted, but they clearly didn’t hear me.

I rolled my eyes, and then saw the black notebook. “What the...” I starged, grabbing the book. “Hey, you dropped your...oh never mind.” I sighed, grabbing the mail from the box and going inside.

I went to my room and sat the mail down, and then I heard an envelope drops. “Huh?” I asked, and I looked at the manila packaging.

I opened it, and my jaw dropped. This is $20,000!!! Attached, there was a note. “‘Good work on the last mission, here’s the agreed payment.’” I read, and then it was signed Agent A.

I looked at the money, I was tempted to go out it in my bank account. “No. No! You’re better than that Kana, it’s not yours.” I thought, tucking it away into the ceiling.

The next point of interest was that small black notebook. I opened the book and my eyes widened. It was full of names, some of them were scratched out and some weren’t. “Oh my, Hera.” I said.

“KANA!!!!” My roommate, Sylvia shouted.

I sighed, hiding the notebook in the same spot as the money. “WHAT!?” I asked.

“I’m starving!!!” She whined.

I sighed, showered, and changed clothes. I put on a torn and ragged dress, tied my hair in a bun, and then put a bandana on as a headband. I put on my black-framed prescription glasses and walked into the kitchen.

I prepped breakfast and gave it to her. She made sure to make a mess everywhere in the dining room. I sighed, cleaning it up as she got ready for work. She was the secretary for some wealthy CEO.

Is this where I saw myself 21-years ago? Living with a woman who treats me like shit and makes me do all the work? Definitely not, but she paid for half of my college stuff as long as I agreed to be her servant until I graduated college.

“Goodbye dear!” Sylvia said, and she left.

I sighed, and after I cleaned up, I went to my room and sat on the bed. I was about to grab the money and the book, but then I heard glass shatter. I looked outside. “Oh my, Aphrodite!” I exclaimed, as they came in.

They beat me to black, blue, and bloody mess. My ears rang and I was in so much pain, watching as they turned the duplex upside down. “It’s not here!” One man shouted.

“It has to be, this is the address!” Another man shouted.

“We could always take the girl, and force the information out of her.” A third man said.

“Ace would be happy if we brought a girl like her in.” The leader said, and they walked towards me.

I couldn’t move, I was petrified with pain. Suddenly, a flat bomb came in and I covered myself as it blew up. I heard grunted and blows landing, and saw this new person had beaten the 20 men in the house with ease. The person walked to me, taking off his mask. “Are you alright?” He asked.

I coughed, nodding in pain. “Where’s the book and the money?” He asked.

I pointed to the ceiling and he looked at me, impressed. He grabbed the manila package and the black notebook. “It’s not safe here.” He said, lifting me and I passed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up in a bed, him watching over me. I grunted, sitting up in pain. “Whoa! Easy, these wounds are pretty serious.” He said.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Unimportant.” He said.

“No! No! I almost died because of you, who are you and what the fuck is going on!?” I asked.

“Whoa! Whoa! Ok, ok! Sheesh. My name is Dick Matthews, I’m a free-agent assassin.” He said.

“The book?” I asked, immediately understanding.

“It’s a long story, not sure I have time to tell it. Get changed.” He said, handing me a bag.

I walked to the bathroom and changed. I wore a green jacket, a black and grey striped hoodie, black jeans, purple high-tops, a black ball cap, my black-framed glasses, and my hair was braided. I was bandaged up from the attack earlier.

“I’m sorry, this wasn’t supposed to happen.” Dick said.

“It’s ok, it’s not your fault.” I said.

“You’ll be safer with me.” Dick said. “Can you fire a gun, precisely I mean?” He asked.

I nodded. Oh you bet your ass I could, I knew more about fighting and weapons than I really should of. I used them for 16-years.

“Good, come on.” He said, and we stole a truck.

We stopped at my bank and he put the money in my account. “The $20,000...for dragging you into this.” Dick said.

I smiled at him. We headed towards his next safe house and he explained to me what was happening. From what I could gather, his boss Ace was the leader of the Demon Syndicate and trafficked girls and guns for money. He got the names of everyone in the Syndicate and was killing them off one by one in different ways.

“The book is what’s important, not the money. It has the names of every syndicate member inside. The ones crossed off, are the ones I’ve killed. The ones not, are the ones I need to kill to end this whole thing.” He said.

I nodded, and looked out the window. So, we were going after an evil Syndicate and I got $20,000 out of it? Hell yeah.