MENACE

6:45 AM, Monday Click. Her low heels silently mixed with the noise as she stepped into the station. She straightened up her stiff shoulders just when the train abruptly stopped, and a mixture of figures consequently surged in to enter and go. Then Rita gripped her dark leather suitcase and held her breath as she searched for a vacant seat. Silently on the corner, her weary eyelids rest for a second. She recounts the files that she spent overnight sorting for the firm management. Rita could barely breath around the office she works at due to the pressing senior workers who kept shoving a bunch of papers at her face. And when she gets home at midnight, she gets bombarded with voicemails from her mother's inquiries; to settle her arrange-marriage with a man she didn't want to know, to financially support her two fresh college siblings, and to supposedly prove she had made a right decision to work and live independently as a 26 year old woman. In addition, the four corners of her tiny apartment even looked more claustrophobic due to the accumulation of trash. She felt herself having too much on her plate and was never able to develop the skill of "time management." Hence she'd been unable to fully grasp everything in her life until it happened. Klang. Sitting upright even though the train wobbly rushed, Rita's dark eyes lowered —as if carrying the world on her shoulders. Despite everything, she still hold on to her believe that she needs to keep a dignified appearance to let people see her worth. Will they even notice? That her hands always shook behind her, and her habit of biting the inside of cheek whenever she feels bad. Most especially, the way her gut clenches and her heart pounds a hundred miles per hour when she senses something horrible and dangerous. Like what she exactly felt that moment on her usual way ahead to work. She suddenly broke into a cold sweat and her whole body turned deadly numb. Someone's watching me. Rita's chocolate brown eyes carefully roamed within the narrow space of the moving train which will arrive at its destination in 15 minutes. And finally, she found the source of that eerie atmosphere when her eyes came back to meet a pair of falcon eyes staring beneath a silver- rimmed glasses just right next to her. As if a bile got caught onto her throat, she struggled to get some air and her blood ran cold. He was holding a gun directly pointed at her through the inside of his dark coat. Don't move. An unspoken word was said when she saw the tall man's lips gently opened. Suddenly, he flashed a big smile– or was it a huge smirk? She could only stare out like a fish out from the water. What does he mean? Oh. Of course I'm gonna get killed. A huge wave of bizarre feeling overcame her, drowning her sense of sensibilities. She suddenly became calm, as if being blanketed by the strange comfort of death. Shutting her eyes, she wanted to warmly welcome what destiny presents to her. Just like meeting an old friend, she gently smiled. Even though a rebellious thought tried to choke back Rita to reality and loudly shouted: " you can't just die like this" and "don't be selfish." She only shrugged them off like seeing a spilt coffee and accepting the fact that what happened was meant to happen. Similarly to what had occurred that day to Rita's life. Bang! An ear - piercing sound shoots out and immediately killed silence. Her eardrums rang, but only Rita's raging heartbeats hurted her body somehow. She's alive. The sound of the gunshot actually came from the next faraway seat. One. A loud scream from a pregnant woman resonated. "AAAAAAH PLEASE DON'T HURT ME." The woman got yanked close by a ruffled middle aged man yelling with a cracked voice; "DON'T YOU DARE F*CKING MOVE OR I'LL —"His words were immediately cut off in mid - sentence. Since a hole was dug on the his forehead . Also the woman who was held hostage eventually fainted in shock. Rita looked ahead of her and saw the figure of the man standing nearby her earlier. Did he shot the man? He was just standing calmly in the middle of the space while gripping his gun. Consequently, what followed is massive panic from the passengers who witnessed such scene in a public train. "Haa.. how troublesome." She heard him sigh and took something out of his pocket. "Miss, will you hold this for me?" After the guy lit his cigarette, he unexpectedly threw the lighter at Rita's direction and it fell on her lap. "???" In confusion, she couldn't speak but blankly stared at the back of the unknown man oozing with all signs of danger. Oddly, her knees became too wobbly to stand up and avoid the man like a desease, like what the other people see him as he goes waving around the weapon. Unexpectedly, they were many of them. "GYAAAAAAAH" Two. A person who wore a dark hoody sitting two meters away suddenly charged in and started shooting firearms. Three, four , five, six... Immediately, Rita lost count of how many gunshots were fired at once and the stirring chaos going on endlessly. Oddly enough, she felt like being in a scene on a movie, and she was only there as a spectator. Watching everything unfold right before her eyes while keep anticipating for her own ending to arrive. She might've been crazy back then to look unlike the others— crawling on the floor, crying and begging for their lives. "I simply wish for everything to end." Again, she hated herself for having the idea of using such situation as an excuse. If I would die, will they notice? That I am too tired of pretending to be the perfect, responsible daughter and a civil worker. I just need a damn rest. Blank brown eyes stared out of the blue and watched everything unfold like a rolling film. Rita could only hope for one thing. "Let this be the end, please." "Surely, for those scum. But I need you to be alive Miss Norman." A deep threatening voice entered her entire senses and she got snap back to reality. The train made a gritting sound and a sudden voice appeared from the speaker. " EVERYONE — The train operator made a one last call, hoewever a gunshot cut him off too. " Uh - hello hello? Oh how does this thing- Ah! Am I heard? Sorry Sorry." A deep menacing voice suddenly breaks into the noise and everyone turned dead silent. It's the guy with the falcon eye's voice. How did he suddenly get there? "Who's this stupid guy?" A dark man wearing a dragon tattoo tilted his head and shoots the trembling office worker beside him. The remaining passengers cried and scrambled on their feet as those four men wearing dark coloured overalls and tattoos kept firing passengers one by one. "Sh*t, it's that insane dude that killed Guo -san." They frighteningly looked like just having a serious conversation while holding guns, simply shooting those who tried to call for help. "Huh?! That assh*le, is he really the one being sent by that Old Man ?!?" "Hey, he's the rumoured hitman 'ANDERSON' the one who slaughtered the Shikari Group." Rita didn't mean to listen to them mumbling about whatever their concern, but she caught a gist of what's happening somehow. A group syndicate? Hitman? Shikari Group? She was hearing these dangerous things at once, and deeply regretted of ever trying out to know what is underneath the event as it may cause her life to fall into pieces. "Cough. Alright, are you listening?" They got snapped back at once by the voice holding the speaker, and Rita also doubted the man to be person behind this dangerous act even though he playfully speaks. "Are you finished discussing?" The tall tattooed guy fired his gun suddenly in mad response. " I'M GONNA KILL EVERY LIVING PASSENGER HERE AND YOU'RE NEXT, ANDERSON !!! " The people literally wailed and begged after the furious guy threatened. Meanwhile Rita clutched her bag like a lifeline and sublimely thought. This train took damn long to arrive. She firmly closed her her eyes. "Okay." A shiver ran down her spine when the voice spoke, this time it is deathly cold. The sickly bitter air wafted, and the remaining passengers' noise sobbing turned quiet suddenly. Ah, it finally came. Rita lowered her head down and the next moment she covered her both ears. Bang ! Bang ! Bang ! Thud. A body fell beside her, she felt blood sprayed on her face. Her body being swayed by the force as everything kept beating loudly and fast. Eventually, silence came back once again and sharply sliced her skin.Rita felt her body didn't stop trembling. Her heart beating fast, as loud footsteps were starting to approach at her direction. The sickly smell of death. Her eyes saw a pair of black shoes that looked pretty shiny at the first time she saw them. Now, they are entirely painted with crimson, proudly representing the owner's victory. She chuckled of such thought, and maybe realized she'd already gone insane. " Oi, are you okay?" Is she hallucinating? or was her body falling into exhaustion from all the chaos? Because she felt extremely lightheaded and felt like being carried away like a dust. "It's rude not to look at someone's face when they're talking to you..." Suddenly her head was tilted up, finally meeting those deathly eyes again. " You've noticed right ? " "...." She slowly blinked and didn't get to process his words as she got too absorbed with his pale golden eyes which shone like ambers. His hair in a bloody mess, and his careless smile, as he put on his glasses which had a slight crack on the the left lense. "Good. You seem different from those mobs. It's a relief, you didn't make a ruckus before I can finish my job." He patted her. And then he walked away. The train stopped too. Everyone seemed to vanished right after, except for Rita and him who eventually disappeared out of her sight. The sound of police cars and ambulance faintly resonated on her ears. Why? She was too shocked she could not move a single finger. Rita could never forget that event as long as she lived. "I'm... still alive..." Her one last thought before her vision totally blacked out, her body joining into the pile of bodies on the blood soaked floor of the train. This incident remained imprinted on the minds of those who had survived. And the criminal behind it remained missing.