The Pursuit of the Unknown

TODAY, YOU DIE

HAZEL POV

“Oh God, please – please, save her” she whispers sitting in the ambulance as the paramedics screamed at each other to save the woman’s life. She continued flat-lining regardless of the attempts to resuscitate her. “Do something! Save her please!” she screams at them realizing how helpless they were. They arrived at the X Hospital in a matter of minutes and she was admitted in ICU. Hazel ran behind her mother’s stretcher and called out to her, her grasp on the hand loosening up. She watched her mother getting whisked away and at that moment she fell to the ground, feeling hopeless and helpless. She cried silently holding the wrist watch her mother was wearing. She got up off the floor as the nurse came to her assistance and encouraged her a bit. Her phone rang, it was Rosa on the line, “Hey Rosa? How far are you?”

“I am on my way, hold on Hazel, I am almost there. What are the doctors saying?” Rosa asked.

“They haven’t said anything yet, she still in ICU. They won’t tell me what is going on.” She said, “How soon will you be here?”

“I am a few blocks away, give me a few minutes,” as Rosa hung up, she arrived by the hospital entrance and rushed in to look for Hazel. As they found each other, they held on to each other. Hazel burst into tears and clung to her best friend. The doctor then came out a couple minutes later, finding the girls sitting together, “Which one of you is Hazel?” Hazel then stood up, the doctor whisked her away from her friend, “Hazel, we fought really hard – we did our best but she couldn’t make it. She is not more. I am very sorry for your loss,” with a light touch to the shoulder the doctor left Hazel there, she froze on the spot, couldn’t move as she felt an overwhelming amount of grief hit her heart. She fell to the ground and started screaming and crying. Rosa rushed over to her best friend, she overhead the doctor and silently cried. She found Hazel in a puddle of tears, cradling her on the floor, she held onto her until Hazel quieted down. The devastation upon her was too much. She then said, “ I need a few minutes to myself Rosa, thanks for your support.”

She walked out of the ward in a daze, looked at her mother through the hospital door, she stood there for a moment before one of the nurses came back to her, “This was your mother’s, there is a note in these for you.” As she walked away, Hazel tore through the packet and found the letter. She walked to the nearest park, sat down and opened the letter, it read, “Dear Hazel, I am sorry for failing you and your brother. I am sorry for not being the mother you deserve; I am sorry for not taking care of you when you needed me the most. But that showed me how strong and beautiful you are. You are a light that can never be distinguished and I pray you remain that way sweetheart. I decided to go and join your father, there is nothing left for me in this cruel world. I am sorry for not being there for you. Take care my little boy, I know that with you, he will grow up to be a handsome, strong and kind man. Love Mom”

Hazel read the letter over and over again trying to take in the fact that her mother left her. In a moment, she felt rage within her; both her parents committed suicide and she was left to care for her baby brother. The ire in her grew so steadily and that was what characterized her from now. Anger and hatred rose in her heart for the men that brought chaos to her doorstep. At that moment, she vowed to avenge her parents, with the blood of the ‘Crue gang’. In her mind, ‘As long as I live, every single one of those disgusting pigs will pay for what they did to my parents with their blood’.

She got home, looking at her sleeping little brother, she cuddled up next to him and held him tightly, ‘I will protect you with my life, no harm will befall for as long as I live.’ She fell asleep and woke up very early in the morning, prepared her brother’s lunch pack and took him to school. After dropping him off, she went to a gunsmith and bought herself a gun and a silencer, stating that it was for self-defense. She waited for the call that comes in every night for her to prostitute herself. Finally, her phone rings, “We got more work for you b***h, that 300 000 won’t pay itself off,” he said on the line before hanging up.

Hazel took her young brother to her neighbors’ like she does every night. And headed out, thigh – high boots and the gun tightly strapped n her thigh underneath her skirt. She strode with a purpose. She got to the club she was summoned and entered the room, finding the client and her ‘boss’- the loan shark her father sought out, the leader of the gang ‘Crue’. She watched him with a lust for blood, ‘today, you die – piece of s**t’ .

She walked into the room she was booked for, with the date r**e drug in her purse she persuaded the man to have a drink. She sprinkled the drug in the man’s drink while he took off his clothes and watched him gulp it down in a hurry. In a matter of minutes, he was out cold – he fell unconscious, “Sorry buddy, but I got a bit of business to handle tonight and it won’t be you.” A little while later, she screamed for her boss to come in, “Aaahh! Help! Scott, he fell unconscious, help!” as she said that, she stood behind the door and watched the man rush in. From behind him, she closed the door, loaded her gun and waited for him to turn around.

“What the f**k did you do to him, you stupid b***h?!” checking his pulse and opening his eyes. The moment he turned around to look at her, the gun went off silently, landing a bullet swiftly between his eyes. Knowing that his other men would look for him, he took Scott’s gun and put it in his hand to make it look like a suicide. She then left silently, as if she was never there. As she ran, she knew somehow the others would know she was last person to be contacted and so, she made a phone call, “Hey! I was at club, what happened between boss and that man?! You have to go there and help!” as soon as she hung up, she went home, took a shower and got her baby brother, putting him to sleep.

Heading to the study room, she got out her journal and noted down all the names of the Crue gang. Starting with Scott, she cancelled his name with a red pen, meaning she had killed him. “I am just getting started Crue, all of you are going to die.” She took each picture of the gang member and pinned them to the wall, and with each killing, she was going to write with her signature red pen – OUT. The new Hazel defines lethal.