Angel of Death

Origins of an Assassin

It was small and cramped. There was scarcely room to breath. But it was the best hiding place in the house, and Mora Williams had no plans of losing hide and seek to her mother. She had already killed her mom's favorite plant in her hurry to hide.

"I'm gonna find you," her mom sang as she walked through the small house, knowing full well where her daughter was hiding. She had seen Mora's small green eye peeking out the minute she had entered the kitchen. Avery Williams was a tall, beautiful woman with striking green eyes that stood out on her dark skin. She was the kind of women who called attention to herself by simply being. She was kind and fair and true. But the world is not. A lesson Mora Williams was forced to learn that day.

Everything was as it should be in the William's home until a loud bang echoed throughout the cramped apartment. "So this is where you live. I've always wondered" The tall, lanky man, who had just broken into the house sarcastically stated. He had the eyes of a snake and the personality to match.

"What are you doing here" Avery questioned, fear blazing like fire in her eyes. Her legs shook, causing a confused Mora to peek her head out from the cabinet she was still hiding in.

"I'm here for what you owe me" The man whose name was still a mystery stated. His voice was harsh like sandpaper. He was flanked by two large giant-like men, with tree trunks for legs. The man with the sandpaper voice and the eyes of a snake taught Mora Williams what the world was really like. Like a snake, he snatched something from her that day, something she would never get back.

"I don't have it. I need more time" Avery desperately pleaded, her voice shaking. All Avery Williams had ever tried to do was protect her daughter. She would do anything for the little girl hiding in the cabinet next to her legs. From the first time Avery Williams held Mora in her arms, looking into her identical bright innocent eyes, she knew Mora was special. She knew from this day on, Mora was the only thing that mattered. At that moment, Mora made a promise to herself, she would give Mora a good life. She would protect her from the world. She wouldn't grow up the way she did. She would grow up in a happy family with everything she could ever want. And until that day, Avery Williams had done just that. She had given Mora Williams the best childhood a child could want. But eventually, the world will always break the walls parents build to protect their children. Standing there looking at the man who would take everything from her without a blink, she knew it was hopeless. She knew she wouldn't see her daughter smile again, she wouldn't hear her laugh, she wouldn't brush her hair, or tuck her in for bed.

In a last attempt to save her daughter, Avery moved to cover the cupboard Mora was silently hiding in. She closed her eyes and saw her daughter smiling and laughing as she ran from her mother in a game a tag. This had only been yesterday, and yet, to Avery, it felt like a year ago. Her little girl couldn't have been that happy only yesterday. Everything couldn't have been perfect only yesterday. Avery Williams may have saved her daughter from death, but she couldn't protect her from all the horrors that occurred that fateful day.

"You have no more time. If you can't give me the money. I'll just have to take it." With one motion of this man's hand, Avery was dead. That's all it took. A simple wave and the man's goons shot her without a second thought, leaving her body a crumpled heap on the floor, blood seeping from the wound in her head to rest in front of her no longer innocent ten-year-old daughter.  

Avery Williams opened her eyes moments before her death, in the hopes of a catching one last look at her daughter. Mora Williams sure wished she hadn't. Because if Avery had kept her eyes tightly shut, Mora wouldn't have spent her life haunted by her mother's empty eyes. 

"Take everything you can find" The man casually remarked. It was then that Mora ran. She ran and ran and ran. She didn't hear what the men said. She didn't see where she was going. She simply ran. As far and as fast as she could, leaving the plant she had knocked down in her hurry to hide wilted, brown, and forgotten in the hallway.