"Meet Me in Hell" Chapter 3

Trigger warning: Monologue, Death of a lover, being Black in America and capitalism. Enjoy my fairies ;)))

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Heavenly hands were on fire – not literally— but it felt like we were one gasoline can away from burning everything down. Assassins, assistants, shit even the janitor, was running around. Everyone’s target missions didn’t matter anymore, if the ones paying were dead. We were out of the work for the next five to ten years. 

“Ma’am you’re late for the Saints meeting,” said Rain.

The Saints were a council in charge of every assassin and branch of Heavenly Hands. There used to be one Saint in charge, Saint Brian, but like a white man in power, he let it get to his head. Now a flashy clique ran the most powerful assassin company in the world. I took a sip from my flask. The whiskey created a warm sensation throughout my chest. Rain led me out of the balcony that faced the office area, creating a perfect hiding spot to people watch. 

…

“How could you let her get away,” yelled Saint Jullian. 

“Were you aware of her plan,” yelled Saint Essence.

I sat in an oval room adorned with an open-circle table, there were four plush seats for each Saint. Everyone was ungrateful for there nice ass seats, as they were standing around the table “interviewing” and berating me. I smoked my lit cigarette, thinking of ways I would slaughter each Saint, until Saint Eva spoke up.

“Rabbit, I know this is a difficult time for you, but Heavenly Hands need your complete honesty.”

I picked at the rough skin around my index finger. “Complete honesty” wasn’t part of the job description.

“I had nothing to do with whatever the fuck Butterfly is doing.” I said, “I haven’t spoken to her in five years.”

Saint Eva pursed her red lipstick, as her pedicured nails tapped against the table. She kissed her lips — so that, where Reaper got it from— and calmed down the rest of the counsel.

“You’re excused, Silent Rabibit,” said Saint Eva.

I opened the door to find a pacing Reaper. Their honey blond locs bouncing after every step. I could stay longer watching them in a blizzard of thoughts. But I was interrupted by Saint Eva’s voice calling for them. As Reaper passed me, I whispered, “They're not as scary as they look.”

“Except, when they're your mother,” Reaper said through a chuckle. 

I held back my envy, mustering a pathetic smile. At least they had a mother, who cared. Shit, she cared enough to get them a solo assassin rank, which took me, 20 years. Nepotism: you have to love it.

…

Every aching muscle was consoled by the warm water and lavender bubbles. I swirled the red wine, watching it leave marks throughout the glass. Ella Fitzgerald blessed my ears, as her voice hummed from the record player. This was peak relaxation. EJ was asleep, while his nanny watched him for the night. I sent Rain home early, since there was nothing left to do at the office, except looking at a blank screen. 

Call from Unknown, blasted from my phone. I knew it was too good to be true. I lifted my body from the bathtub, covering my sud body with my robe, and answered the phone.

“Who is it?” I said.

“You don’t recognize my voice,” said a sultry, deep voice, I would recognize from anywhere.

“Butterfly?”

“How’s my Rabbit?”

“Cut the bullshit.” I said, “What do you want?”

“Tonight. Apartment roof.”

She hung up. Butterfly always had a flare for the dramatics.

…

The wind reeked of New York City sewage and a freshly lit cigarette. Her back was turned from me, as I reached the roof of my old apartment building. She loved to remind me of my first kill on this roof. 

I raised my gun, I could end everything now. My hands shook. That only happened once, when I was a little girl with a shotgun trying to protect a rabbit.

“Stop wasting your breath and put the gun down,” said Butterfly.

“Not until you start answering some questions,” I said. “You’re killing ruthlessly without hesitation. I can’t save you from this.”

Butterfly turned toward me with an eerie content smile. One of her locs escaped from her ponytail cascading down her face, a chill went down my spine. 

“Save me. Save me, as if this country hasn’t bulldozed me down since I left my mother’s vagina. You can’t even save yourself. Heavenly Hands doesn’t give a shit about you, as long as you keep shooting without thinking, you have value” Butterfly said, “You are nothing more than a pawn in the game. They’ve tracked you’re every fucking movement, from the day I knocked on your shitty apartment door to now. You’ve been trained to kill me. You are my retirement papers. Our founder created that mind-numbing chant — we are the damned demons to clean this world—  to keep you all in line. In what world, would they allow a Black woman to control an army of assassins? We are at war, my ignorant apprentice.”

 Her words began to mumble as tears sprang from her eyes, “We are at war and my wife paid the price. She got sick right after I left Heavenly Hands. We didn’t know where her sickness came from. I watched my love change in two months. Her body was nothing more than bones and grey skin. Those useless doctors couldn’t tell us anything. They pushed random opioids into her body. They radiated every part of her body, even though they didn’t know what was wrong. And when she died, they said, “They tried everything.” I just wanted peace.”

“I’m sorry, I gave you those bullshit scripts. We tell you a righteous story about your targets, but you never ask any questions. You killed some CEOs, but most, we’re normal 9-5 citizens that found out the wrong information. We cleaned up for the highest bidder. You are a clean-up crew.”

“Shut up! Just shut up and let me kill you,” I yelled.

“I’m not stopping you.” Said Butterfly. “Pull the trigger and let me pay for my sins in this cycle. I brought you into this. I trained and poached the fires of your issues, my child. You have so much hate in your heart, you can barely muster love for your son. You are the best weapon I’ve ever created. You are my last play, my last fuck you, to Heavenly Hands and this country. Those nasty CEOs wanted to experiment on my mentees. They wanted to make super soldiers out of y’all. They were willing to bind, beat, and brainwash you’re humanity until you obey. And this country's leader was going to pay for it. They were going to surrender their citizens, to profit from a makeshift war. I saved you!”