Black as Night | P. Parker

Chapter Twelve

The next morning was a Saturday. This meant that when Onyx rose early that morning, she avoided both Peter and May. On the fridge, there was a note from May saying that she had gone to work early and wouldn't be home until late. There was food in the fridge for dinner.

After checking to see that Peter was passed out in bed still, Onyx went to the home phone and dialed the number that she knew belonged to Hannah's new cell phone. A gift from her foster family. They were fairly wealthy apparently.

"Hello?" Hannah asked, voice cold and confused.

"Han, it's me, Onyx," she told her friend.

"Why didn't you meet me last night?" the redhead asked.

"I couldn't get away," Onyx explained. "Let's meet today."

"Alright, I'll head over there right now. How long do you think you'll be?"

"I'm not sure. If I'm not there in an hour, get whatever is in the PO box and meet me at the park at our usual spot." Without saying anything more, Onyx hung up the receiver and went to the counters, searching for a pen and paper.

Gone out exploring, be back before dark.
          Onyx

Satisfied with the note, she pinned it to the fridge next to May's, grabbed her backpack and left the apartment. Outside on the street, as Onyx walked towards the location of the PO box, the dark haired girl found that she could finally breathe. Being outside of the apartment and away from the Parker's was just what Onyx needed.

Well, almost just what she needed.

Luckily, Onyx made it to the PO box before the hour was up. She and Hannah grabbed all that was in it and made their walk to the park where they could make their decisions about which contracts to complete and when they would do the job.

The first letter was from a mother of three. She said that her husband was abusive, not only to her but to their children. That he didn't even help provide for the family, and that the payout from insurance when he died would be enough to set them for life. Onyx and Hannah weren't quite sure what to make of it, and couldn't decide if the woman's story was true.

The second letter was from the mistress of a married man. A very wealthy married man. The mistress was sure that when her lover's wife was dead, he would marry her instead.

The third, and final, letter was from someone who wanted to stay anonymous. They didn't say why they wanted the person killed, but enclosed two thousand, five hundred dollars inside the letter. The letter-writer said that when the job was done, they would leave another thousand dollars in their PO box.

In the end, Onyx and Hannah decided to start with the third letter.

The name of the person the anonymous letter writer wanted the two girls to kill was Emory Wilson. Neither Hannah or Onyx knew what this woman could have done to instigate getting contract killers sent after her, but they didn't care.

As per their usual arrangement, Hannah lead the woman into an abandoned building nearby and held her in a chair while Onyx tied her to the chair so she couldn't get away once Hannah released her control.

"Who are you? What do you want with me? How did you make me come here?" Emory demanded.

Onyx rolled her eyes.

"We've been hired to kill you, Miss Wilson," Hannah said.

"By who?" she asked.

"Wouldn't we like to know. They wished to remain anonymous," Onyx told her.

"But the payout was too good to refuse," Hannah explained.

A range of emotions played through the woman's eyes. Confusion. Horror. Fear. Sadness. And they were beginning to get on Onyx's nerves.

The dark haired girl planted herself in front of Emory and looked her in the eyes, feeling the shift as her eyes changed to mirror to older woman's. She held her hand out to Hannah for the knife and smiled maliciously when she felt the weight of it in her palm.

Without a second thought, Onyx drew the knife across her throat and watched as the cut appeared on Emory's throat and blood instantly began to pour from the wound. Releasing the connection and taking a step back, Onyx watched as the woman choked on her own blood.

Minutes later, she was dead.

"Well, you certainly moved that one along," Hannah teased as they walked through the park.

"She was getting on my nerves. All those stupid emotions," Onyx sneered, rolling her eyes.

"Lucky for us then that we've got two more contracts that we can complete. That way you can work your anger off," Hannah said, smirking darkly.

This came as a surprise to Onyx, "I thought you would want to kill the next one."

"Of course I want to. But we certainly can't just let you back to that foster home with all that anger. If you kill those people then the plan is kaput," Hannah explained, "and besides, I can just have the next three after these ones."

As the two friends walked across the park in silence, it gave Onyx a lot of time to think. All of this stuff that was beginning to happen really was working up an anger in her, and what would happen if she accidentally killed the Parker's in a blind rage?

Hannah was right, she would be hauled away and locked up and she could forget about her plan to kill Spider-Man.

Dusk hadn't even fallen by the time Onyx and Hannah finished with their other two contracts. They would have all their money by tomorrow, once it was found out that their jobs had been completed.

Their total profit from all three killings amounted to five thousand, five hundred dollars. Together, the girls decided to take two hundred and fifty dollars out of that and put it "away" for when they were back to living on the streets.

After that, they had to divide their profits evenly between the two of them.

Splitting the remaining five thousand, two hundred and fifty dollars evenly in two amounted out to two thousand, six hundred and twenty-five dollars for each girl to spend or save as they wished.

For the first time in a very long time, Onyx had spending money of her own. And having that money was really making her think about what she wanted to do with it. Two thousand, six hundred and twenty-five dollars could get you a lot.

Onyx's mind immediately jumped to getting herself new stuff so that she no longer had to use the stuff given to her by the Parker's. Then she thought about getting herself a cell phone so that she could get in contact with Hannah without having to sneak around the apartment.

Or...

She could keep saving the money till she had enough money to not only buy herself a plane ticket far the hell away from New York but also to begin a new life wherever she chose to go. All she had to do was wait one year till she turned eighteen and then she could do whatever she wanted as a legal adult.

The more she thought about it, the more Onyx fell in love with the idea of going far, far away. Starting over and not having memories and smiles lurking around every corner sounded like a paradise. She could keep killing, why would she want to stop? But she could get away from every single bad association with New York.

So, slipping the money into a box full of her own stuff on the shelf in her closet, Onyx hid it away for a rainy day.