The first thing Jennifer woke up to was her exceptionally cold aunt uncharacteristically shedding tears as she stood at her bedside. Groggy from sleep she got up and slipped on slippers before finally turning to her.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Oh honey!" she exclaimed and hugged Jennifer who blinked in confusion and then looked at the doorway where her uncle stood with a sombre face.
"What happened?" she asked again, rephrasing her question.
"It's your father Jenny," said her uncle coming in.
Her heart skipped several beats as her breath got caught in her chest, "Wha-what happened?"
"I'm sorry honey," said her aunt as she shed more tears.
"Your father's passed away," her uncle answered as she looked at him inquisitively.
Her eyes widened at the answer before she croaked out something uncontrollable, whether it was a word or a sound, she herself did not know, all she knew was that her world was spinning and crashing.
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The next few days were a blur as her aunt and uncle marched around the manor as if they owned it, making very important phone calls of which she knew nothing about as she wandered around the manor with dead eyes. Her eyes occasionally perked up, in rage when she saw her servants or when someone tried to comfort her. What she hated above all else was pity, it was something she loathed, detested to great degree. The days had passed with her eating and drinking very little and no one paying anymore attention to the tantrums and rebellions of a twelve year old girl that lost her own father. The only times she had even had some remote conversations with her aunt and uncle was at breakfast and it usually started with 'how are you holding up?' and ended with 'fine.' Her aunt and uncle also seemed to have moved into this manor as she never really saw them leaving it. As everything worked its way up to the funeral, that morning Jennifer awakened feeling particularly angry. After shouting at the one servant brave enough to repeatedly come into her room even after her tantrums she did her daily morning routines. The routines abruptly changed when her aunt came up wearing something that could be mistaken for black curtains and then played dress up with her, matching anything black to her, even setting her hair up with a black and white ribbon of all things. On a normal day she would have kicked the woman out but now she was acutely aware that these two was the last family she had left. She was left on the couch as her aunt and uncle went around to do god knows what. The servant, Pablo finally had enough sense to bring her tea which she promptly knocked out of his hand.
"GET OUT!" she screamed at him, sending him scurrying off.
She heaved in deep breaths as she glanced at the ground where the tea lay along with the broken cup and saucer. She clenched her fists as she fought back the tears, her father was fine yesterday, he had even played around with her before he dropped her off at school and then went to work. He did not return in the evening, not an unusual occurrence and he had called, now this morning she was told that he was dead? She would not believe it. Finally her aunt came back and took her by the hand albeit forcefully and pulled her along in stride. She went with her aunt with little resistance but a furious face and she was piled into the back of the car with two of her cousins, a male and a female whom she had rarely seen and did not even remember the names of. They both looked at her before scrunching up and offering her the middle seat in the car, one which sat on with a disgruntled expression. As the car was about to take off her aunt put a hand on her uncle's shoulder making him pause and she turned towards her two children, they both looked at her curiously before something seemed to have clicked in their minds. Both turned towards Jennifer, creeping her out a little with synchronicity.
"We're sorry for you loss," they both said at the same time and she watched out of the corner of her eyes as her aunt nodded in a satisfied manner.
She clenched her fists at the silliness of it all, her twin cousins then decided to play a game of chopsticks in front of her as the car drove, presumably towards the location of the funeral, a local chapel. She leaned as far as possible back in her seat, trying to avoid their faces which were brimming with goofy grins. 'Sorry for your loss' she thought back to their words…could they be anymore fake. She looked at her aunt at the front who had the sun visor down and mirror in it open as she adjusted her make up. As she glared at the reflection of her the aunt, those night blue eyes of hers turned to meet Jennifer's making her freeze. She quickly closed her eyes and opened them again looking at the mirror only to see her aunt applying makeup and touching herself up and her eyes were in no way night blue but a regular shade of brown. Where on earth then had she seen the night blue eyes from? She leaned forward in her seat interrupting the twins' game of chopsticks to get a closer look at the mirror when she once again saw her aunt's eyes as they turned night blue and they turned ever so slowly in their sockets and met hers. She gulped as she quickly leaned back and slid into her seat, avoiding the mirror. The twins, she saw, scowled at her but she did not care much about that and instead, simply looked away from the mirror, careful not to look at it, even on accident. Jennifer glanced at everywhere else in the car save the mirror and she was so focused on her task that she did not even notice the car pulling up at the carpark of the chapel. The twins got out first from either side and her. She took a deep breath and looked at the now closed sun visor before slowly exiting the car and then looked around at the completely filled and overflowing carpark. The amount of people that were walking around in the carpark itself was unbelievable.
"Are they all here to attend my father's funeral?" she asked disbelievingly.
"Yes," her aunt said grabbing her by the hand again. "Now walk."
She did not have the time to explore as she was dragged forward again at her aunt's pace followed closely behind by her uncle and the twins. She kept her eyes forward and unflinching but could feel the gazes of the many that had turned up at the funeral. On the way inside, her aunt pleasantly greeted nearly everyone they had come across, whilst Jennifer even refused to take a look at them, their looks, that was what she couldn't handle. He was her father, not theirs, why would so many people turn up?
"Good morning Senator Andrews,"greeted her aunt and then she tugged at Jennifer and whispered into her ear, "That's Joseph Andrews, he's a senator."
Jennifer raised an eyebrow as she stared at the smiling bald old man…what a fake smile, she thought. She scowled at the man making him freeze and dodged the head pat that was coming her way, her aunt let out a nervous chuckle.
"Don't mind her," she said. "She's a little temperamental, she's been this way ever since we broke the news to her."
'That was not true', Jennifer noted, she's been this way from the very beginning, not just because of the news they broke. They were all annoying her and she saw the senator nod sympathetically.
"It's understandable, a tragedy at such a young age," he said with pity.
She clenched her fist as her aunt held onto her tighter, perhaps wary that she would shrug her off and run away. Finally after much more pointless greeting and discussions about the Hailing Family assets and the inheritance of those assets she and her aunt finally entered the chapel where the front was a most pompous design with the casket and an array of flowers along with her father's picture, one that appeared younger than his actual age. Her father was balding and had somewhat gray hair and many more wrinkles, this picture showed none of that. She looked on in distaste at the ceremony, everything was so fake…so unreal. After the minister had finished saying his piece it was time for some individuals to say their piece on the man called Francis Hailing. Jennifer listened with rapt attention…for the first thirty seconds before she zoned out. All of the speeches dictated the great life of Francis Hailing, the man that brought many changes to their little city, turning it into a fully fledged metro, his philanthropy his many goals and achievements, none of those sounded like the man Jennifer knew him as, he was a great father, that was all he was to her, that was all he needed to be for her. Right as her uncle Frederick went up to stand with his eulogy her feet twitched. She passed a glance at her aunt who appeared to wiping tears from her eyes in a very graceful manner. She wanted to see her father but she didn't want to make a spectacle out of it amidst this sea of black. Right as her uncle was speaking about the importance of family and how he would treasure and cherish each moment he spent with his brother Jennifer finally stood up, she could handle it no longer. Her aunt looked at her in surprise and she passed a very withering glare at her.
"Where are you going?" Priscilla, her aunt, hissed.
"Out," she replied bluntly and made her way through the row of people she now found herself in the midst of.
As she did so she took care to step on each of their feet, though it would do nothing much to them, it would at the very least help her alleviate her anger somewhat. In front of everyone, including her still speaking uncle, she walked out of the chapel and turned left in the building foyer towards the toilets. She did urgently need to go. With small, light steps she slowly made it to the bathroom, woefully unaware of a suited figure following her at a distance.
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The assassin, number two, or two as he was shortly called was one of two, part of an assassination duo that had been hired to complete a job. The first part of the particular job was completed when he threw Francis Hailing down the elevator shaft to his death. The second part of this particular job involved a little girl, Jennifer Adele Hailing, Francis' daughter. Unfortunately, after he father's death the little girl had not come out of her deceptively secure manor and therefore he had to wait, a risk for any job, considering he had ended the life of a highly prominent businessman, one that was very well connected in the high circles of politics and nobility. The pay however was too good to pass up and so he waited for the day of the funeral, the day that Jennifer Adele Hailing would have to come out, that was the day she would die as well. He decided to make this quick and already had his gun with a suppressor on, pulled out. She made his job easier when she decided to walk alone out of the funeral hall. Dressed as an undertaker he waited outside the hall and imagine his surprise and great delight when his target came walking out willingly, without any accompaniment. She walked into the female toilets and he followed. As she entered a cubicle he waited outside, his gun pointed at the door, waiting for her to open it again so he could get off a clean shot. He didn't notice, behind him in the mirror, the strangeness taking place. The mirror had misted over slowly and a human figure could be seen like a shadow through the haze with wild flowing hair, those night blue eyes piercing through the fog. He felt a shiver down his back but he chalked it up anticipation and soon after the door opened slowly and his smile widened. It was this moment that the lights in the toilets chose to flicker, running electricity's crackle could be heard as the lights switched off and then flickered back to life. He watched as Jennifer open the door, look up at the lights in confusion and then stare at him, he watched as her eyes widened. Her mouth fell open as she stared directly at him...or was it past him? He heard the electric currents coursing through the lights above him as it flickered brighter and then dimmed. The first warning signs he noticed however were the frost slowly covering the floor as it approached his feet. Then there was his body rejecting his commands, making him freeze up and as the frost slid up, he felt a cold grip across the back of his neck, he craned his neck around to see those eyes, dark blue with a hint of red, those eyes were attached to the palest skin he had ever seen. He felt the temperature drop as the grip on his neck tightened. He choked out a soundless scream as he looked at the girl he was to kill, mirroring his expression. As her screams pierced the silent veil he felt a strong tug and with that he was pulled away.