Heartless

4

Phoenix expected me to come back after two days so I knew how to spend my last day here wisely. I made a few phone calls here and there and then decided to go out to the city.

As much as I enjoy staying at home and spending my day reading or doing whatever else I do, I also happen to be a lover and an expert at browsing the windows of shops. Being pulled into hours of lurking in color-coded clothing racks at each boutique is always a stress-reliever of mine. I tend to arrive home with a mountain of paper bags filled with my daily change of clothes. It was like Christmas all day long.

I never mentioned that Christmas was indeed my favorite holiday. When everyone was asleep, I would read books about the wonders of Christmas and the happy little families. Unfortunately, there was no sort of thing at the orphanage; no tree, no lights, no gifts. Christmas was not much fun there but once I ran away and got to explore the city, I saw real trees with twinkly lights and big, red balls hanging from the tip of the branches. The streets were filled with laughter and loud choirs singing 'Silent Night' at each door. And from that night, Christmas has still been my favorite holiday.

As I was saying, I'm a lover of shopping. Not only clothes but I would go to the local bookstore and get all the new hits. Although I am considered a murderer-on-the-loose, not many people knew what I look like, so I tend not to worry in that field. Plus, I lived in a world where the police were practically useless.

I arrived after a 30-minute drive to the nearest local town in Nottingham. It was the middle of the day, so restaurants were packed by aggressively starving humans. I took this chance to enter the bookstore. Water ship Down was displayed on the clean window with novels with boring covers. I hated the current books though. I guess you could say I'm old-fashioned but these new books don't do classic reading justice.

The inside felt warm and toasty. As much as I like the cold, entering a bookstore with the smell of hot chocolate and new books is one of the things I love. No one was around except a young lady at the cashier with bright red hair that stood out from her protruding glasses on the tip of the nose.

I roamed around the shelves and didn't notice any books that brought my attention, so I left the shop without being noticed by the counter lady who was deep into her book. I viewed the windows and entered about a dozen shops, mostly filled with Christmas decorations, and decided to buy myself my own gift.

I had a few hours till I needed to act as a spy again so I decided to leave. I dreaded going back to the horrific food and smells, but I couldn't let that get to my head. The assassination was to happen Thursday, so I have 4 days.

When I got back, I filled myself up with a big dinner before I'm fed soggy toast by a heap of butter. I changed back into my regular spy clothes and said goodbye to everyone.

"Please be careful Nox," Brea said as she held on to my glove.

"I will," I smiled and started walking into the dark night. The leaf rustling and owl chirping brought a chill in the space. There were no lights; no way of showing me where I was. All I had to do was keep walking till I saw bright headlights at my feet.

I've been walking for about a very long, excruciating hour. I was cold and exhausted from squinting my eyes through the darkness. I was confused as to why the chauffeur had not shown up yet when I expected him 20 minutes ago. My court was not in sight anymore and there is no way anyone could see me or any car from there. I was half-minded to walk back and said that I got lost throughout the way. I don't know what was going on, but all I knew was to keep walking till I'd eventually faint from exhaustion and the cold that had gone to my head.

At one point, I heard a noise coming and it sounded like a car trying to drive on ice and I was right about that. Two lights showed up between the shadows of the trees and I guessed that the buggered chauffeur finally arrived. He got closer and saw me in the worst form anyone could've. I entered the car and stared at his ridiculous face. At that time, I had forgotten that I was a spy and that I should've been a lot more discreet.