RED
Lee and I were sitting on the couch, watching a James Bond featured movie when my phone vibrated.It was a video call from my boss, Skull.Lee had a nervous expression on his face when I picked the call."Red, is Grim there with you?" "Yeah" Lee responded by himself.Skull pursed his lips, looking displeased."I need to talk to Red alone"Lee's eyes widened.I was alarmed too.I mean, ever since I became top major assassin, alongside Lee, Skull would always send us on missions together."But-" Lee's start of an argument was interrupted."It is important that I speak to Red alone. I've decided to give you two, separate missions from now on. Now Lee, I suggest you leave that place" Skull said, his commanding voice, hard and cold.Muttering under his breath, Lee left the sitting room. I heard him bang the door of his room, shut."I have a new mission for you. You are to assassinate a woman for me. I know you want the details. I trust that you will not have any difficulty because you have eliminated bigger challenges. You must not tell anyone about this mission, not even Lee. I chose you because you are simply the best. Her elder brother used to work for me, he quit the job and ran away. He was owing me a huge debt from the drugs that I'd supplied him""Why do you want me to kill his sister when he's the one at fault here?"Skull stared at me, grimly. His glare menacing."The coward knew I was after him. He put a bullet right through his skull. Someone must pay for his debts, Red. You have two weeks to terminate her life as usual. Come to the HQ, Vanessa has the full details with her. Oh, and you should tell Grim to get his ass to my office right away"The screen went black.Well, that doesn't sound so hard.***The organization was located underground, positioned in a way no one could find it apart from it's workers. There was a statue of the organization's logo right at the centre of the massive hall. White and black marbles shone on the floor with the ceilings designed professionally. Young men and women sauntered back and forth, all dressed in the organization's trade mark uniform.....black skinny jeans, shiny black combat boots, black T-shirt and a black leather jacket with the organization's logo printed on it."I wonder what made him change his mind about the two of us going on missions together" Lee said, flipping the collar of his shiny silver leather jacket that had the organization's name printed on the back in cursive.I shrugged."Maybe he has a reason for it" I said. "Maybe""I'll see you later" I said when I got to the door of Vanessa's office. Lee nodded and continued towards Skull's office.I knocked on the door and opened it when I heard her say 'Come in'."Sit down" the athletical, golden-brown haired, lady said from behind her black desk."How are you, Red?" She said, a small smile appearing on her red lipstick coated lips. "You know why I am here" I said, ignoring her question. Vanessa Jones a.k.a the Phoenix was my exgirlfriend and she's been pestering my life. She's always hinting on the fact that she wanted to get back with me. She's a sassy bitch who keeps frustrating me."C'mon, Arch. A little response won't do you any harm""Vanessa, cut it out. Stop trying to flirt with me at every chance you get, it's annoying""Fine, fine. Whatever" she scowled, placing a brown file in front of me. "There, that's the details. Her name is Dahlia Malon"I opened the file and took out the paper. My blood ran cold, my heart sinking when I recognized the photo of the girl smiling. The room had suddenly become very cold."Red? Are you alright? You look really pale" Vanessa said, her brows creased. I didn't say anything, I just stared. How? Why? She didn't do anything wrong?Why would she die because of her brother's foolishness?"Red?""It's nothing. I'll be on my way" I said, leaving the office. "Red, I need to-"I ignored her and went straight to my office. I dropped down on the large red couch in my office.Dahlia......The name suited her.Now, I'm going to have to kill her. The question is will I be able to kill her? After the truce we'd made? Do I have to kill her? I haven't had a failed mission yet. Now that I've gotten to such a high rank, Skull wouldn't be pleased if I failed. Failure wasn't an option.I'll have to kill her one way or the other.****DAHLIA"No way, I do not fancy him" Tori said, blushing hard. "You like him, Tori. He's not a bad looking guy, you know. Lee is perfect for you. I thought you liked bad guys" I said, smiling."Oh, shut it, Lia""O-kay" I said."So, what's up with Red? He hasn't shown up at school for the past three days" "I don't know, to be honest. Besides, it's none of our business""There's an empty seat over there. Let's go" Tori said as we walked into the park. "Holly Molly. Lia, they're here" Tori whispered."Who?""The world's hottest guys"They were both heading in our direction, having a heated conversation. They didn't notice us even as they came closer.Red bumped into me, steadying me immediately.When he realized I was the one, he flinched, clenching his jaw.Lee raised a brow, but turned to look at Tori."Nice dress, Vicky" Lee said, smirking at her. Tori blushed and looked away."Dahlia" Red said, gruffly.My eyes went wide."How did you-""I have my ways" he shrugged stiffly. I frowned."It's not fair" I said, gazing into his eyes that looked more grey than hazel today. He blinked, but I kept gazing into his eyes. There were a lot of emotions in them.Pain, grief, guilt, anger.Something was terribly wrong.I could tell.He grabbed my hand, moving me away from Tori and Lee."The next time you see me, I want you to do something for me" he whispered, his breath tickling the skin below my ear."What?" I asked, his cologne flooding my senses, pleasantly."Run" he breathed.I frowned, confused."Run and don't look back" he said and walked away.I stared at his retreating figure, my heart pounding hard.Run.The way he'd said it was scary.Why did he say that?What's going on?Why do I have to run away from him?RED "Dude, something's eating you up. You can talk to me, you know" Lee said to me, bringing his cigarette to his lips. I heaved a sigh, shaking my head wearily."It's nothing""Is this about Dahlia?"I froze at the mention of her name. I couldn't bear to think of her, I felt so troubled. How wouldn't I feel troubled? I was supposed to kill an innocent person. How was I supposed to do that?Two days had passed since I saw her at the park. Usually, I would carry out my assignments two days after it was given to me. Five days had passed since I received the new assignment, yet I was still contemplating."Is your assignment giving you a tough time?" Lee asked, genuine concern in his eyes.I heaved another sigh, bringing the bottle of vodka to my lips."Man, you got it bad. Just get on with it, can't you? This has never happened before""It's not that easy, Lee""Okay, you've had enough vodka to last for a life
DAHLIA "So, you're telling me you're both assassins?" I asked calmly, trying to wrap my head around what Lee had just told me."Yeah" Tori sat in the corner of the room, clutching a pillow to her chest. She looked really frazzled. I mean, who wouldn't?I heaved a sigh and turned to look at Red who was still lying on the floor, deathly pale and unconscious.Red wass an assassin assigned to kill me. He'd failed.What happens now?I stared at his handsome face, frowning pensively.Deep down within me, I don't think he's all that bad.I mean, he didn't want to do it. He'd even warned me but I'd not understood him.I moved to his side, brushing his hair away from his temple. There was a visible swelling on the side of his head from when Lee had hit him with the butt of his gun. I grabbed an ice pack and went back to his side, pressing it to the lump.Lee whistled dramatically, moving away from the wa
DAHLIA Neither Lee nor Red showed up at school for another week. Maybe they were avoiding Tori and I. Deep down, I felt that Red was planning a more concise attack. I couldn't help but feel insecure. I didn't want to die, not yet."Hey, Lia" Tori said as she walked into our room with a smile on her face. She had been moody ever since Red's attempt to assassinate me. I'm surprised she's back to being her bubbly old self."Hey" I said, leaning back on my chair. "Guess what" she said, smiling."I don't know""Come on, stop being boring. Anyway, I'm going on a date tonight with Rick" she said and I sat upright immediately, spitting out the water in my mouth. "Whoa.....why did you react like that?""It's nothing..... I was just shocked...How did you do it?"As far as I know, Tori has been crushing on Rick, one of the bad boys around. She'd been crushing on him for as long as I remember.
RED I closed my eyes, trying not to show how much pain I was in. I felt pathetic. How long exactly has it been since Skull decided to use me as his toy?Oh yeah, a week ago.Hell, it still hurts.It shouldn't hurt this bad but it does. My life has been thrown into a horrible mess. Skull will definitely find my mother and kill her. That's not what I want for her. She doesn't deserve it.With my body fucked up and all, I've never felt so helpless. It's literally eating me up on the inside.I opened my eyes, Dahlia's gaze meeting mine. All of this didn't start with Dahlia. No, it didn't. It started with that douche of a brother that she had. If he hadn't fucked up, she wouldn't be in this mess."Hey, talk to me. What's going on?" She asked, her brows knitting up with concern. I sighed, grimacing at the pain that exploded within my ribcage."Your brother used to buy drugs from Skull" I rapsed."What?
RED "Red? You ready yet?!" Lee called out from the bedroom. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and opened them to stare at my reflection in the mirror. I still looked like I'd been run over by a truck. But who cares? It's not like I've got anyone to impress. I've lost nearly everything. The only family I have left is Lee and I can't afford to loose him. I shifted my weight to my right leg, wiping my face with a face towel. "Red?"I heard the door open but I didn't turn to look at him. "Are you okay?" I stared at my gloved hands.Was I okay?No, I wasn't.I wanted to scream and cry.I wanted to die.I felt so guilty.What would happen if Lee dies because of me?What about Dahlia and Tori?I'm risking their lives and I'm not okay with it.My mum....She's going to die because of me. She's going to die because of my failure.I flinched when I felt Lee place a hand on my shoulder."Woah, calm down
DAHLIA "Red, we need to get going." Lee said, leaning against the door. There was no response from Red who had refused to come out of the room for the past three hours. "I know you're hurting. I know how it feels, Red. Please don't shut me out" Lee said, his voice echoing his exasperation.There was still no response coming from Red."Come on, Red"There was a shuffling sound coming from the room. Lee moved away from the door as soon as it was opened. Red stepped out. His eyes were bloodshot but his eyes had gone cold... almost lifeless. "Let's go" He said monotonously as he grabbed his bag. "He's so not okay" I whispered to Lee who looked crestfallen. "Of course, he's not" he sighed, shaking his head."Come on, we need to get going" he said, walking towards Red and Tori. We got into the car."This is going to be a long drive" Lee said. "Yeah, hopefully not a boring one" Tori sighed and Lee's lips
DAHLIA Tori and I were asleep when we heard the loud, persistent knocking on the door. Alarmed and alert, I cautiously made my way towards the door with a bat in hand."Who's there?" I asked, cautiously."They're here. Dahlia, we need to get out of here as soon as possible" It was Lee. He sounded very frantic. With my heart pounding hard, I grabbed my backpack."What's going on?" Tori asked as we got out of the hotel room."They tracked us down to this place. Red and I knocked out a few of them. More will be showing up soon" Lee said as we walked towards the parking lot. Red was sitting in the driver's seat, clutching the steering wheel fiercely. His knuckles were turning white. We all got into the car and he sped off without a second thought. Three black cars were trailing behind us. "Oh, shit" Lee cursed, taking out a gun.My eyes widened."Calm down, girl. I'm not using it on you" he said with a smirk.
RED For the first time since my mum's death, I switched on my phone only to be met with the smiling face of my mother.Sighing, I turned it off and pocketed it immediately. "You okay?" Lee asked from beside the driver's seat where I was seated."I'm fine" I said and he nodded."I guess we're almost there" he said. "Yup""Does Kevin know we're coming?""Of course, I told him""Okay"I looked at him.I knew he was trying to make a conversation but I wasn't really in a mood to talk. When I looked at him, I noticed how stressed out he looked. He kept stealing glances at his wristwatch when he thought I wasn't watching. He bit his lower lip, frowning at nothing in particular."Okay, will you just tell me what's going on?" I asked and he sighed, his head hung low."It's today" he whispered almost so quietly, I had to strain my ears to hear him."Wha- Oh....." I said, when realization hit me.