Operation 5: Training

Patiently, I waited for Arnold's niece to arrive. He had offered me tea while we were waiting but I refused. Could you blame me? Who knew what kind of undiscovered disease would be found in the tea?

Arnold started to tap his foot, checking his watch impatiently. I just kept my cool.  Another rule of being an assassin: be able to stay calm and collected in every situation.  That was a rule I usually struggled with (unless I was in a dangerous situation).

Abruptly, Arnold stood up and ran towards the door of the room.  I watched him run awkwardly in confused silence.

'Where are you going?' I asked.

Arnold flung the door open again and it bashed against the wall.  He exited but threw over his shoulder, 'My niece has arrived.  Do not leave the room.'

I stayed put, the sound of Arnold's loud footsteps slowly fading away. It was nice and quiet inside the room. Every so often, Arnold's dog would whine in its sleep but I really didn't mind that.

***

When Arnold finally came back with his niece, he told me a few things about her. I wrote a list to make sure I remembered:

One: her name was Maria.

Two: she was allergic to grapes.

Three: she hated anyone treating her like a child.

Four: she was a hardcore girl who hated any type of doll (apart from voodoo) and only watched horror movies or TV series.

Five: her favourite song was Baby Shark.

I never understood how Baby Shark could be her favourite song based on everything else she liked. However, she definitely was a very strange girl.

After explaining those key facts about Maria, Arnold left me alone with her. He had secretly installed a camera so that he could watch from wherever he had gone but I had already spotted it earlier.

He was not as sneaky as he thought he was.

Although, I really wished Arnold had stayed with me because Maria was one scary kid. As soon as he left, she just stood and stared at me.

Maria was wearing a black dress with black and white striped tights and black school shoes. Her long, black hair was in two braids that hung over both her shoulders. She was also holding a very creepy looking doll that had a stitched up mouth and buttons for eyes.

Probably a voodoo doll.

Then, for some reason, I made the stupid decision of trying to start a conversation—a very awkward one for that matter.

'So, you like scary things,' I stated, maintaining eye contact with Maria as I was very convinced that she would disappear if I looked away. 'What's your favourite horror movie?'

'The Exorcist,' Maria replied immediately, not looking away or blinking.

I stared at her in slight disbelief. 'The... The Exorcist. That's...' I trailed off, trying to think of how to describe the movie, 'a beautiful movie.'

I obviously did not sound very convincing because Maria tilted her head after I said that.

'My favourite scene was the spider walk,' added Maria, finally breaking eye contact to play with her doll's hair.

My breath caught in my throat before I finally cleared it and said, 'Like... when the girl walks down the stairs backwards on all fours?'

Maria nodded, smiling down at her doll in an eerie kind of happiness. I never thought I would be as scared of a smile as much as I was of hers.

There was something terribly wrong with this child. I wasn't even able to watch Betty Boop when I was younger because I found her petrifying. Whereas this child was watching some of the scariest movies in the world with a straight face.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she told me that she was able to see ghosts.

‘Can we watch The Babadook?’ asked Maria, looking up at me with expectant eyes. Not the cute kind that children normally have. They carried a sort of uncanniness that was just inhuman.

I tried to sidestep from that question and suggested, ‘Or we can… do some colouring. Yeah, colouring is good.’

Even though I knew that Maria would not want to do colouring, I would make her do it anyway. I could not just sit there and let an eight year old watch horror movies like it was normal.

I may not have had any experience with children but I knew that that was not healthy.

To be honest, I didn’t want to watch it anyway. Horror movies are far too stressful because of how stupid the characters in it are.

I mean, if a mysterious voice tells you to turn around then why would you do it? How stupid could you be?

Nonetheless, I started searching Arnold’s house for colouring books and pens. However, I could only find colouring pencils and blank paper.

I brought them out to Maria and set them on the coffee table. I gave her a page and laid all the pencils on the table. I then sat down opposite her on the ground and crossed my legs.

I stared at her and announced, ‘We’ll be drawing rather than watching movies. Helps spark your creativity.’

Maria looked down at the blank paper and then up at me. She was looking at me as if I accused her of playing with girly dolls.

‘Drawing?’ repeated Maria in disgust.

‘That’s right,’ I said, grabbing a colouring pencil. ‘We’ll be drawing. It’s more healthy for your brain.’

I started to draw a butterfly on the paper. I was quite good at art. In fact, I was good at everything… excluding childcare.

Hesitantly, Maria grabbed a black pencil and started to draw something. I smiled to myself because I knew that my plan was working.

I started to wonder if she was drawing a rainbow or maybe a really badly drawn unicorn. In my curiosity, I looked across at her piece of paper. She was covering it with her arms.

‘What are you drawing?’ I asked Maria, trying to peek over her arms.

‘It’s a secret,’ said Maria, stubbornly covering the drawing with her hands.

I smiled. For some reason, I was starting to warm up to this girl. No, I shouldn’t. I can’t let any true emotions show.

‘Come on, just one peek,’ I probed, poking her arm.

She looked up at me and sighed loudly. ‘Fine.’

She uncovered her drawing and I immediately stopped thinking she was nice. I regretted even considering warming up to her.

My eyes widened and I nearly let out a startled scream. I cleared my throat loudly, ‘Um, what is that?’

The drawing was of some very dark figure dragging a dead girl’s body across the ground. The girl had been stabbed in her stomach and the knife was still inside. While she was being dragged across the ground, her blood left a trail behind her.

‘I’m this guy,’ Maria pointed at the dark figure. She then slid her finger across the page to the girl. ‘And that’s you.’

I stuttered, ‘That’s… that’s me?’ I let out a nervous laugh and then asked cautiously, ‘May I ask why?’

Maria narrowed her eyes at me. ‘I find you highly annoying because you didn’t let me watch a movie. I actually want to reenact this drawing right now.’

As soon as those last words left her mouth, I quickly stood up and grabbed Maria. I lifted her up under her armpits like a cat and carried her to a room, shoving her inside.

‘Your uncle will be here soon,’ I stated quickly. ‘Just hang out with your… ghost friends for now.’

I slammed the door behind Maria with a bang and locked it, leaving her all alone in the dark room. It was for my safety, so I couldn’t care less if it was child endangerment. Not like anything could kill her in there.

Not unless she knew how to perform rituals.

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