Rising Power ~ p. parker

Uncle Ben

December 17th, 2012

Queens, New York

The holiday season was in full swing. Snow lightly trickled down from gray clouds and painted the city white. Customers walked out of retail stores with bags full of gifts, humming Christmas melodies. A lake had frozen over in Central Park and was packed with families and friends alike trying to learn how to skate, most unsuccessfully. In a perfect world, chestnuts actually were roasting on an open fire.

Just outside the heart of Christmas joy, a man was sent flying back into a brick wall.  He choked on the blood that filled his mouth from previous hits. His broken body sunk to the ground with a groan.

Ah, the most wonderful time of the year.

Taylor Thompson flicked open the switchblade she hid in her boots and approached the man on his hands and knees trying to crawl away. She kicked him back down and kept him pinned to the ground with her foot.

"What do you know about Tiffany Ramirez?" Taylor interrogated.

The man shook his head. "Nothing. I don't know anything."

"From what I hear, that's not exactly true."

Something clicked in the man's head. Even through the mask, hood, and red goggles, he could tell the woman was young. Her size and voice was a dead giveaway. He winced at the cold blade Taylor now had pressed against his throat, threatening to cut deeper.

He found humor in being overpowered by someone so young and laughed a little, "careful there, sweetheart. Children shouldn't be playing with knives."

Taylor was quick to wipe the smile off his face. She applied enough pressure to the blade to break the surface of his skin.

"Who said I was playing?" she sneered. "Now tell me about Ramirez."

The man sucked in a painful breath. "We went out once."

"Really?" she mused, feigning surprise. "From what I hear from a certain client of mine, that's not exactly the full extent of it, is it?"

He squirmed uncomfortably, so Taylor took that as a sign to keep going.

"After being given a heaping pile of compelling evidence, I am inclined to believe that you took advantage of one Tiffany Ramirez. Correct? Leaked private pictures, beat her senseless, stalked her, and did some unimaginable things, all to someone you were supposed to spend the rest of your life with?" She dug around in her front pocket with her free hand and pulled out a silver ring to show the man. His eyes widened.

"So what do you want?"

"I'm just fulfilling the favor of a woman who stumbled across my Craigslist ad. Shame she wouldn't do it by herself though. You would have liked that. Hell, I would have liked that."

A couple snowflakes floated on to his face and melted with the tears spilling from the corners of his eyes. His body shivered with what could have been either fear or the cold, Taylor couldn't tell.

"What do I need to do to walk away from this? I swear I won't tell anyone," he tried bargaining though his shaky voice.

She pretended to give it a moment of thought. "See, in my book, creeps like you don't deserve to walk the streets, acting like they don't have the past you created for yourself. I feel like it's only fair they rot in the deepest pits of hell, or live out the rest of their guilt filled days in a jail cell, wishing they were dead."

"Jesus, who are you?"

She smirked. "You're not gonna live long enough to find out."

In one quick movement, she shoved the blade fully inside of his neck, ignoring the blood pouring on to her gloves. She raised him up off the ground and dropped him inside of an open dumpster. The sight should have terrified her, but not anymore.