Ego's Trap | ✔

34 | A Change in Blossom

☆☆☆ Chapter 34 ☆☆☆

A Change in Blossom

*Jade's Point of View (POV)*

Yes, it must be that one── Christmas season, two years ago.

Everything everywhere had red, green and white with bits and pieces of gold and silver. All sorts of stores, restaurants, banks, and even at the airport and front desk of the broken-down motel on the highway where only truckers, hookers, or people like me crashed in, Christmas songs played over and over again, with annoyed clerks and tired managers wearing elf or Santa hats.

A typical cold day after some moderate snowfall in Peapod, Massachusetts.

I arrived there with a full eight hours' worth of sleep and little to no jet lag, regardless of all the jobs I was scheduled for throughout several polar states and one European country. In the eyes of my so-called parents and other family members, I was out traveling for educational purposes, learning on my own, if they cared or actually set some time aside to ask.

I was free from any obligations; free from school, free from family ties or friendships, free from an everyday routine, free from everything and anything── all except for my job.

I liked it that way, or at least I thought I did.

"So?" Roger began, clapping his hands together, knowing fully well that he was interrupting my thoughts. "You thought about it long and hard, didn't you? One of the worst, if not the worst, of all the jobs assigned to Blossom in their entire career." My eyes snapped up to his own as soon as he mentioned my alias. I never gave him that info. "Come on, I'm not dumb. I've known their identity for quite a while, mainly because I know you so well." Before continuing, he let out a small chuckle. "Plus, your hair was a dead giveaway. You should know better. You're too easy to read. Well, actually, that doesn't matter anymor── "

It was instinctive. It must have been. Before I could even move a muscle, Roger had already immobilized me. "Let me go," I growled, but he didn't move a muscle. "I said let me go, you fucker!"

"Tell me why, then. So that you can go ahead and kill yourself, as part of the protocol?" he asked in an alarmingly casual manner. I had no intention to answer that, and he caught on quickly. "Tsk tsk, you should value yourself more, Jade. You know it, I know it. You don't want to be Blossom, you never did. Stop following their rules."

"You don't know anything 'bout me! Shut the hell up before I── "

"Just a quick reminder that I'm literally holding you down. You can't do shit," he said, raising his voice just enough to stop my tracks. "Now, tell me about Blossom's worst job."

I gulped away a burning sensation. Well, I tried, actually, but it only made it worse. "Heaven... heavens, please, help me... "

The town was in a merry mood, welcoming every passerby and resident with a bright, heavily decorated and humongous pine tree that rested right at the heart of the town square.

Within the first hour of my arrival, I spotted one of my targets playing with other children: Luis "Buckteeth" Jones, seven years old. Oldest of all the Jones' kids. Had recently been visited by the tooth fairy, but already spent his dimes on sweets and minty candy canes.

"What? Cat's got your tongue? Say something." After looking at me directly in the eyes for a long minute, he let go of me and threw his hands up in the air. I didn't dare to move a single muscle. "You're free now. Speak."