Jade and the Onyx Blade

Kelsey Philippe
Aug 28, 2017 · 6 min read

She did not like what she saw in the backseat when she peaked in her rearview mirror.

Her body acted as a telephone wire. Fear, adrenaline, and excitement surged through her veins. If sh didn’t kill him now, he’d surely kill her first. She knew that this was her assignment, and that she was destined to belong here. But whose side was she on, or maybe the better question would be whose side did she want to be on.

The door swung open. And a business type man entered the car, sitting next to her. He was well dressed, professional, and serious.

He nodded at Jade only to be greeted back by her stern soul piercing stare.

This man deserved no emotion or signs of sympathy, not after what he had done. Did he realize who she was? Could he recognize her, after everything she went through with him.

“You’re new,” he said confidently.

Jade made no attempt to acknowledge that was was addressing her.

“But I bet it’s safe to assume you know the drill,” he said, “5454 N. Winthrop Drive, windows up, music off and only take the side roads, if any car is behind us, pull over and let them pass. In case you forgot. Got it?”

She shook her head in agreement

When she shifted her car into drive, she slammed on the gas. His body jerked forward and back with a thud. He let out a disgruntled moan.

“Hey, watch your driving young lady, do you know who I am” he belted in his low monotonous voice

She rolled her eyes, “Sorry… I guess.”

Her eyes stayed focus on the winding side roads but then, she caught a glimpse of him beginning to move his arm. Before she knew it his hand thrust the back of her head into the headrest, cutting off all her air. She tried to grasp for a breath but achieved nothing. The car swerved to the left and she hit the brakes as they rolled into the grass.

“Now, you listen here. I have absolutely no issues slitting you throat, tossing you out of this car, and leaving you here to die.”

Her eyes quaked in an unnessasary fear.

“You have such a pretty face though.”

His hand relaxed and his thumb began to stroke my chin

“You remind me of my daughter, she too had the most stunning green eyes.”

His hand became fully removed from her face, as he sat back in a slumped sigh.

“We had a house fire. There was important paperwork in that house. I had to grab it. Get out of dodge, if anyone ever saw what was written on them. We both would’ve lost our lives a different much more painful way.”

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered to himself

He sounded as if he was about the start crying.

Did he actually regret his choice? Did he miss her?

“I’m sorry, ma’m you seem like a decent person. So now, could you just focus on your driving and please, no more backhanded side comments. Do you understand?”

She let out a whimpering yes

She was scared, maybe she wasn’t fighting for the right cause. How could she know. She had to stick to her gut.

In all her thinking, she wasn’t focusing on her driving. She was still off the road in the long grass.

“Now get back on the damn road and drive”

She turned and faced him. Suddenly her nervousness was gone, she felt good. She felt the high, the rush, the surge. It was afeeling of approaching the edge of the bridge and about to jump off. Cliff jumping, but this was the ultimate type of high. The thrill of a kill.

He looked back at her with confusion

“Do you have a hard time understanding, I said get back in the damn road and drive,” he said sitting up and strengthening his composure.

The sad eyes that had transformed his face had hardened and a scowl crawled across his tense face.

“I can’t believe you dont recognize me. I don’t think you realize who I am…”

Before he could even process the words that flowed from her mouth she had hit him with her onyx blade. She held the blade firmly across his neck.

His eyes widedened in pure fear. His hands went for his side, but she knew hed pull the gun. It was time to jump off the cliffShe twisted the blade deeper and then swiped across in one fluent movement before pulling out. He gagged. His eyes widened and he stuttered. The blood streamed out.

Then recognition hit him.

“Jade,” he sputtered before his body collapsed.

“Dad,” She whispered back.

He knew what I had done, he was my best friend, her father, the only family she had left in this world, but I did what had to be done.

But she didn't regret it. Not an ounce of her felt bad for the actions she committed. No remorse, no sympathy. She was becoming more like him. Something she swore never to fall into becoming, and yet, her she was.

Jade looked down at her fathers face, still and lifeless still in his seat. Not yet dead, but unconscious, and on the verge of death. The belt was laying next to him, he had trusted her, a supposed stranger, to drive safely enough. She peered into his eyes. The shocking green quality of them still resonated with their ancestry and her name. The color she had been named after. Jade in Chinese culture was thought of as beautiful, a quality he had seen in her since she was born. Something he hoped she could rely on as she grew older, so she could be less like him.

She studied his face. Dark eyebrows, and hair, just starting to have the smallest hints of gray. He was aging, but aging well. His face showed no signs of growing up, numerous fights or stress, he still looked like good ‘ol dad. She could still remember his booming voice chasing her around at the playground, up the stairs to the swirly slide.

She examined her kill mark. She had severed his trachea, carotid artery and jugular vein. The blood was still quietly pumping, not as strongly but at more of a slow trickle. It was a clean cut, perfect, the best she had ever managed. This would have been her best work, her father would have been proud, if he had lived.

She was the one who ended his life. It stained his white cotton shirt, soaking it in absorbent like a sponge. His black tie still hung miraculous straight, freshly ironed, just like he had always made mom do.

She looked out the windows, no one was around to see what she had done. The gravel on the road was still as well as the air around her. It was the moments before storm, it was calm and the birds were at peace, just as she was at peace with her past.

The grass dully swaying in the low breeze, barely enough to rustle up a few goosebumps. The sun hidden behind clouds, she knew that she’d have to leave. The car wasn’t registered under her name and there would be no other traces. She reached under the counsel and pulled out a Lysol wipe. The gray wheel glistened in the light, a glimmer of hope for the future. With a wile in hand she reached for the handle of the door, swung it open and left it there.

He was dead to her long before this, but now, now he was officially dead, and this could be the end. No longer would she have to deal with her past

ORIGINAL IMAGE LOCATION

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