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Chapter 11 - The Assassin

Magnolia Cresent was in a bad mood. He was always in a bad mood, it wasn't anything new. But today brought his mood to new heights as it was a particularly bad day for him. Today was the day he was to attend the funeral of his mum. He had loved his mum dearly and she had died; she would've still been alive if his abusive father hadn't wacked her across the head five times with the buckle of a reinforced military belt. The funeral was at 9:50 am. His dad never went to prison for murdering his mother, he hadn't even been questioned by the police. Such is the power of money I guess. All the funeral attendees had by now gathered at the meeting point for transportation to the funeral, everyone except Magnolia's father. They waited for an hour and yet he still had not arrived. Those gathered decided that if they had to wait any longer there was a growing chance that they would be late and thus with the consent of Magnolia, the son they went ahead and left. Late. they were most definitely late. By the time they arrived the coffin had already been closed and the funeral rites had already begun.

When the funeral ended Magnolia went back home to find his disgrace of a father lounging around on the sofa, which had depressed due to both the pressure of a heavy weight and the fact that Magnolia's father spent most of his life on it after being dishonourably discharged. Days passed by until his father had decided to speak to him again and when Magnolia refused to obey he got kicked. Eventually his father remarried to a woman slightly older than him. She had one daughter who came to live with Magnolia and his father after the marriage. Despite the remarriage Magnolia's home life never got any better. Everytime his step-sister's mother went out, his father would beat the two children. His step-sister, who was called Patricia was in the living room, baring the brunt of her step-fathers drunken rage however the vicious punishment that was usually shared by both Magnolia and Patricia was left for her to take alone as Magnolia had been in his room out of sight, thus out of mind. Magnolia's father stormed over to Patricia, grabbed her and slapped her around, then he proceeded to try and ravage her but to her good fortune it was at that moment that Magnolia stepped out of his room and saw what was going on. Rushing to stop the flurry of hits his father was about to rain down on Patricia, Magnolia bravely steps in front of her and starts yelling at his father grabbing the belt and screaming that he'll kill him if he tries that again. And so days, months, even years pass by and nothing happens.

On Magnolia's birthday he asked his step-mother if she would divorce her husband and take her daughter far away from all the abuse and leave him. She replied that she loved him far too much. At this moment Patricia spoke up, she'd had enough, she knew that while everything was peaceful right now it wouldn't stay that way for much longer and she knew that if she didn't say anything she may not survive till the next year. Mother Patricia started…i really didn't want to tell you this may be especially not on Magnolia's birthday…. The bruises, the red marks that both Magnolia and I have. They were all given to us by your apparently loving husband. He tried to unalive me when he was drunk and angry one time, Magnolia threatened him after he saw what was going on…. If it wasn't for Magnolia I would be dead. Our 'father' beats the crap out of us but you still want to stay with him. You've seen my bruises, cuts and marks day after day but you've never asked why they never go away. I Know you have been ignorant of this but the evidence has always been in plain sight. You may not want to believe it but I think it's high time you did.

That night Magnolia came out of his room and tiptoed into his fathers, he put on some disposable gloves, pulled his fathers wheely bed onto the balcony closing the sliding doors behind him to muffle any potential noise and tipped the bed. Magnolia's father fell off the bed and over the railings of the balcony of their sixth floor apartment. Splat. Much to Magnolia's fathers misfortune he never woke up before he was left free-falling from his balcony and his wife found him the next day, dead; with blood still oozing from his already smelly and mangled corpse. Magnolia incinerated the gloves he used during his midnight plight and disappeared into the night never to be seen again. And although he is still alive he became known as the Ghost because not only did he kill people who abused children but he always managed to erase any trace of himself and completely vanish before anyone noticed someone had died. He helped people, at least he would like to think he did, but he always did it for a price. What he had come to learn from his own past of abuse is that no one will help you, you have to help yourself in order to escape your own misfortune. He became famously known as Ghost, although no one knew his real name or face, people could request for him to get a job done. They only had to leave one thousand dollars by the bed of the person they wanted dead. Although this form of payment made him rich, he never flashed his wealth, nor did he stay in one place long enough to leave a lasting impression on anyone who saw him.

By his late twenties Magnolia had become a successful assassin but no one ever found out who he was, no one knew where he was and finding him was even more of an impossible task. They say if you want something done bad enough that you stare at the night sky he will find you. But if you can't pay up and he's already killed someone for you, your life becomes forfeit.