(ASA)SSIN

CHAPTER FOUR

Attentively, I observed my fair complexion in the smeared glass of the mirror, my cheeks were tinted with a slight rosy glow and small beads of sweat collectively gathered along my hairline. Battling Lukas for information had exerted a lot more energy than my pride was willing to admit but, somehow, the physicalness of our altercation had me looking better for it. Instead of looking like I had run a marathon, I looked radiant with healthy flushed skin and a newfound brightness to my eyes. I couldn't remember the last time I had looked like this, let alone the excitable energy I felt coursing through me.

A strong stinging sensation broke me from my reverie and caused my eyes to water. The chocolate-brown coloured contacts I wore had begun to intrinsically weld themselves to my eyeballs thanks to the overwhelmingly dry heat in this club. And my will to keep them in and protectively shield my identity was being overpowered by my want to remove them and ease the growing uncomfortableness in my eyes. Logically thinking, my identity was safe now, the only other person who somewhat knew who I was, was Varga. And he was currently face down in the toilet bowl looking like he had a small drunken misstep. Carefully covering my tracks, I had used copious amounts of wet tissue to wipe away enough of his blood from the stall to avoid any immediate suspicion and thankfully it no longer resembled a murder scene. Now, it just looked like a guy drunkenly took a tumble into the loo, and only upon further inspection would his bruises reveal a much darker story.

But I'd be far away from here by then. Far away from judgement and scrutiny, and far enough away that nobody would be able to tie me to this ghastly man. Especially as when I walked out of this bathroom, not a single sole would recognise me, not even the incredibly chatty barman. I may have walked in here as an uptight blonde but, I was walking out of here a brunette with a pep in her step.

Once I stripped off the painfully tight wig that was irritating my scalp, I gently peeled off the fused contacts and flushed them down an unoccupied toilet. Opening up my small leather shoulder bag, I took out the white button up shirt I packed, big enough to fit over my red top, and my black rimmed glasses. Unfortunately, my eyesight was shockingly terrible and without the prescription contacts I had just flushed away, my surroundings were indistinguishable.

Pulling free the bobble from my long wavy brunette hair, I was taken aback by how drastically different I looked to when I first entered the club. My eyes were no longer the dark brown of the contacts but a light shade of green like fresh spring grass, my natural hair highlighted the porcelain paleness of my skin, and my clothing and glasses transformed my look into that of a completely plain ordinary person. Strangely, I was okay with being perceived as mundane. For the past few years, my life had revolved around hiding myself from even the most common of people, and forcibly blending into to avoid catching the unwanted eye of anybody. An enemy was a powerful threat but, a stranger had the ability to unknowingly implicate you in the most dangerous way imaginable. Blending in was therefore the key to not slipping up.

Taking a controlled deep breath, I stuffed the blonde wig into my bag and fixed the broken stall door back into place. I felt an overwhelming torpedo of emotions wash over me as I closed a chapter of my life that had consumed my entire being for ten years. I was the first to admit that at what started as a simple mission for justice turned into an unhealthy obsession to cause irrevocable pain. Ten years I had been searching for scraps of clues and hints that would lead me to the people responsible for that awful night, and after coming up empty with nothing to show for my tiresome vendetta, Mr Park unknowingly handed me the greatest gift wrapped neatly in a big red bow. I owed him everything for this. Now, I had a name, something I hadn't had last month, last week, even last night, and my determination to succeed reached dangerously frightening levels.

A hunger burned inside of me and gnawed at every inch of my body for retribution. It longed to hear the blood-curdling screams of those who had wronged Lena. My once life-loving sister, the only family member I had left that I truly cared about. Like a primitive beast I was now ready to hunt them down and inflict the most painful torture possible. An eye for an eye.