Let Go

With a knife driven deep in his back the job was done. A bit horrid from the usual jobs that keep Cindy busy for her clients, but a thorough complete job. However, it never occurred to Cindy that all of her vile tasks for her respective clients, would ever have to be experienced in her own life because she just did what she was paid to do. Cindy seen her position as a job, just a job.

Months went by and seasons began to blend as the tasks mounted from her clients, and her heart became cold to the death she inflicted. Cindy secretly wanted out and feared for her own safety if she did not fulfill the demands of her affiliates. Cindy began to plot her escape from her daily duties and assault’s. Everyday Cindy would make and complete her check lists to get her further to her needed exit.

Cindy grew up in a small town in Iowa. Both of her parents worked for the local postal service and provided a great up bringing for her and her little brother Timmy. One night while doing research for a project, Cindy heard glass being shattered downstairs followed by the breaking of what sounded like snapping wood, and very soon after multiple guns shots went off. Cindy was scared and horrified at what could have transpired downstairs. She stood frozen in fear crouched down on the side of her bed when she dove beside to hide for cover. After what seemed like forever Cindy stood to her feet and headed for her bedroom door cautiously. She proceeded to turn the knob to the door. The creak that sounded from the door when it opened made her heart pound harder and faster. She was in disbelief, and hysterical to have to learn what could have happened downstairs.

Step by step she footed down the staircase. Her decent longer in her mind. It seemed as if she ran up the stairs and back down them several times. Cindy can describe the feeling as a bobbing and floating motion. Cindy finally reached the bottom stair and seen the front door open and broken from the hinges which held it securely in place. With horror she reluctantly turned the corner to find blood splatters and stains on the furniture, floor, lamps and T.V. Cindy shook her head in disbelief and began to scream. Her heart in pain to find her family slain senselessly while enjoying precious time together in their family room. Her little brother so small, innocent, yet a single bullet wound to his head. Cindy’s mom met her demise while cradling her little brother with a single gun shot wound to the head as well. Cindy's dads death was the most disturbing sight, he was leaning over on the couch with two bullet wounds to the back and one to the head. Around his neck was a rope which appeared to cut his circulation off. It seemed as if Cindy’s father was tortured before his demise. Cindy was in disbelief at the sight. She rocked back and forth on her knees for what seemed like forever, the pictures of her family’s deaths, their positions and demise were replaying over and over in her head. Cindy kept asking herself why. Why was this happening? What did we do to deserve this? Why her little brother? Who was responsible? Where were they now?

The police showed up in these moments of her thoughts. Asking her blurred questions that sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher lecturing her class. This went on for a few seconds. Nothing registered to Cindy, nothing but death, nothing but pain, nothing but revenge, nothing but rage, nothing but her loss. At the station Cindy was cleared of any relation to the murders and awaited her closest aunt to pick her up from the station as next of kin. She was held in great warmth in the time of her loss, but her heart was heavier than before now. She soaked for what seemed to be months. Cindy grew to despise everyone for no reason snapping at the things she didn’t understand, not holding conversations nor giving them warranted attention and thought, clarity was no where. Cindy was just there, a shell of who she was before, and she grew to accept her self for who she had become. Cindy felt the need to leave her family to figure out what she could do to fix herself. When she thought about fixing herself, she thought of killing the ones who killed her family. After all, these people deserved it for what they did to her and her family. With a bag packed and a mission to revenge her family, Cindy left in the middle of the night wandering to become an assassin.

The trees in Iowa state parks provide some of the best shade for her secluded lifestyle Cindy thought because they are littered throughout the state, throughout all the towns and cities within. Here amongst the trees Cindy found sanctuary, and practiced her skills of weaponry, stealth, cooking, and her personal favorite, rage. Cindy had been in the park’s forest for over what seemed to be six months now learning the land, finding food, exercising, learning to build from the land, and making weapons. The pond was majestical that appeared from nowhere. Cindy made markers in the wood on the biggest trees so she could find her way back and forth. Cindy was sure she would get the job done when she finally got her chance. Until then she would make plans to find leads to find the guilty suspects.

Leaving the pond gave Cindy much discomfort but she knew the time was now. She had to make her move so she thought. She had not shed a tear since her family’s murder, and she was sure she would never shed another. Her first stop was to sneak onto the postal service grounds and find who her parents worked around. Cindy needed the information to see who had it in for her parents. Upon reaching the grounds Cindy seen that the back docks were unguarded. She hopped on the dock and slithered behind a pallet and listened for people or any sound of approach. She heard nothing and proceeded to look around the loading dock. Cindy heard voices and ducked behind postal bins, she creeped backwards and backed up into a door. She twisted the knob and slid in the closed door and closed the door softly.

The room was cold and dark. She noticed boxes on the desk and other stacked items to be packed nearby. Cindy stood up and walked behind the desk. She removed a small flashlight from her all-black suit pocket and flipped it on with a click. She shined it onto the closed box and opened it with one hand. She moved the flashlight around and found a picture frame turned over in the box. Cindy quickly picked up the frame and flipped it over. She lightly gasped and closed her eyes briefly. It was Cindy’s father. He stood in what seems to be the same room Cindy was in from what she could tell in the darkness of the night. He was being honored as employee of the month. He seemed happy in the picture, proud of himself almost. Cindy thought to herself, “I Love You Daddy, I will get them”! She laid the picture on the desk and continued to comb through the box. Cindy removed loads of folders, old staplers, a fancy pen, several framed work awards, books, and other items, but most oddly an old music box. Without thought Cindy twisted the key over a few times. The music box played a soft lullaby that she recognized. It was the very same one her mom sang to her as a little girl. Cindy’s heart warmed and grew cold at the same time. Her feelings were shot down by the truth in the deed committed. Just as her rage began to take over her, the lullaby ended, and a tiny door popped open. A small key sat in the small cozy compartment. Hum, “What’s this Cindy thought”? She picked the key up tucked it into her tight body pack and placed the other items back in the box.

As soon as she closed the box Cindy heard talking outside the door. She cut her light off and slide it back into her pocket. She rushed over to the door quietly to meet the knob as it began to turn. Cindy squat down and pulled her blade from her thigh sash and pulled her hood over her face. She grabbed the knob and force the door open and darted out with force. The two men flew back and fell to the ground. They started to make a fuss and began to yell for help. By the time someone came to aid the employees Cindy had fled the scene and was on her way back to an old farm space with a pond she had made a hide out on her mission she claimed earlier. Cindy was in awe. She wondered what the key was to, and if it could have been a clue in the murder of her family. That moment replays over and over in her head as if it was happening now.

The key was small enough to fit a locker lock or a lock box or something of that sort. The problem Cindy had was never seeing her parents possess something that needed a key or a lock like the one she found. Cindy knew she would have to go back to the house. It had been so long, and she knew that it would bring a lot of unwanted feelings back. Even so she knew she had to press on. The next day she headed out with the things she needed to fulfill her mission to avenge her family’s murders. Cindy felt like she was wandering in circles.

The house was taped off and closed tight. Cindy went around the back and went through the laundry room window. She left it open for her freedom calls with her friends so she knew it would be an unchecked window. The scent of old blood and her family’s fragrance lingered in the house. Blood stains were still in place. Cindy fell to her knees. For the first time she heard her inner thoughts talking to her. They spoke softly to her and told her she didn’t have to do this. She could just hand in what she finds to the police. She could walk away. For some reason she didn’t want to understand the thoughts. She believed them to invade her senses, detour her mission for the cause. She shook off the kind thought and said aloud, “I will”! Cindy started to tear the house apart looking for anything that she could put a key into. She found jewelry boxes, a safe, and old record player with a lock, but nothing fit. She grew sad as if the key would grant life to her family again, she sat and thought. They only room she had yet to check was her little brother’s. She ran upstairs and, into his room, she removed his books from the shelves, clothes from his drawers, she crawled under his tent. Cindy looked over to his toy box in the corner from the tent. She crawled out and slid over to his toy box. She emptied the toys out to the floor and a small case fell out. The case needed a key. Cindy reached into her body pack and pulled the key out and put it into the case. Cindy turned the key and it opened. Inside she pulled out a small thumb drive. Cindy’s raised an eyebrow clasped it into her hand stood up and headed for the door.

Back at her camp her unfulfilled orders were starting to fill up and her clients were growing skeptical and weary. Cindy had several angry clients speaking to her vilely and making side threats at her about her inactivity, and missing information. She set up a few meetings to set the work tone and to hopefully get back into good graces. After working out what Cindy thought was a good bargain for her clients she proceeded to work on her family’s cases. The police’s leads had gone cold in the search for a reason and a killer, but Cindy was on to something. The file was password protected but it was Cindy’s mom’s name. The thought sent peace of ease to Cindy as if her dad knew she would find the drive and open it.

When Cindy opened the files, she seen that her father was overseeing several postal shipping accounts with weight inaccuracies. She seen her father record several accounts with the owners that did not go well. She also seen that her father was being bribed. Cindy wanted to know who the accounts belonged to, so she opened several more files. Cindy was in shock and utter rage at what she discovered. To her dismay her father was overseeing the accounts for several of her clients. Those few clients were in close contact with Cindy daily now. It would be nothing to end them she gathered. Cindy rose to her feet and the next meeting she vowed to slay the clients for what she did to her parents.

With a fist of rage Cindy swung her blade, swinging widely at the three clients who her father revealed were responsible for their deaths. She kicked punched and jabbed at them, narrowly missing vital arteries. The clients were more experienced and older in the game. They anticipated her moves and Cindy was good but outnumbered. Cindy tripped one of the clients and thought she had knock the other two out. As Cindy mounted the man ready to slay his life from him, in that moment she began to cry. Helplessly and endlessly, her tears dropped from her face as she let go of all the emotions she had endured with her family.

Cindy cried until a puddle formed around her. Her tears connected to the waters, and she became engulfed. She let go of her pain, her hurt, and her fear! The client Cindy was trying to kill no longer lay beneath her ready to receive a jab. Cindy was floating now, completely overtaken. Her eyes wide open now only to reveal blood mixed foggy waters. She seen what appeared to be bodies of her parents and little brother floating around her. She shot up from under neath the water to quickly see the back of her house. The beautiful forest was her back yard and acreage. The mystical pond was the one her and her family spent countless hours sitting by and now they were taken in.

With the clients standing above her with the flash drive in one of their hand next to the family in their pond. It was clear now; the battle was not Cindy’s, or her families. Cindy was the reason their family was slayed and she was on the brink of death. Cindy was in the house when they came in, she seen them get shot, and she took the information that caused the scene unfolding that's now a reality all the while she is fading in and out of consciousness. Cindy would now have to let go. She imagined she survived the brutal attack on her family and found the key to solve her pain and actions. The truth was Cindy was a part of that attack and she was seeking her peace to exit life on this realm. Cindy had to let go and let the maker so her soul could finally go rest from the attack that she and her family sustained and desperately wanted to get away from. The goal was for Cindy to empty herself of anger, rage, and hate, and to become anew. Foggy Waters always become clear eventually! #perceptionsclearer