Conditioned

"Who are they?" 

That three-worded question haunted me for the rest of my life. And now after fifteen long years, I finally found out the truth.

My stomach clenched, the lunch I ate that afternoon wanted to go back where it entered. But I held my body in place.

"What do you want from me, Annie?" I turned my head and looked from the face of my handler to the picture of the smiling couple in my hands. He started inching to where I was standing. "What's wrong?" His unwavering concern for my well-being ticked me off. The façade needs to stop!

Everything has to stop!

I had to stop it!

I threw the picture to his face, the corner of the paper cut his right cheek. "Who are they?" I spat the question angrily. "Answer me!"

My handler bent down and took the picture from where it dropped on the floor. A lopsided grin formed on his lips. "They are your first hit, why do you suddenly take interest in them again?"

I couldn't contain my anger anymore. I jumped to him, putting my weight on him so he would stay down.

"Don't you dare lie to me!" I pressed, my hand froze in the air. "You're not in liberty to lie!"

"What is this behavior, Annie. Stop it right this moment!" he commanded but his voice passed through my ears. I let a punch hit his perfectly chiseled face.

"This is the last time I'm going to ask you this, who are they?" I wouldn't let him manipulate me again.

"They are no one, Annie!" he insisted but I already knew the truth.

Tears flooded my eyes and I was taken back to a memory I was proud of until this moment.

"Are you ready for your first mission my little darlin'?" My handler asked, there's a wide smile painted on his face. 

I was overly excited, I have been waiting for this day for as long as I could remember. This mission will embark my future to the organization and I wouldn't let my handler down. I owed everything to him, I am me because of him. I wouldn't let the harsh training I had undergone go to waste.

"I am always ready," I answered pumping my chest with my little fists.

"Good now here you go. These are your targets." He handed me a picture of a couple.

They looked familiar but I had no idea where I have seen them before. "Who are they?" I let the question slipped out of my mouth though I knew it was against the organization's rules.

"You know the rules my little darlin'. Don't ask questions, they are no one. You must kill them."

"Yes, sir!" I saluted and went inside the house. 

I searched for the couple but I easily found them. They were having dinner in a dim-lighted kitchen. Both of their eyes were closed for prayer. And when they opened them, shock immediately covered their exterior.

I didn't faze, I fired my gun in the guy's direction. However, no sound came even after another click. I threw the gun away. 

I hissed annoyed. I knew my handler would still be testing me but I am not one to back down with a simple trick. 

My eyes immediately found the knife over the countertop. I grabbed it and stabbed the guy on his nasion just where his eyes and nose meet. Blood splattered everywhere followed by the loud shrieking of the female target.

I pulled out the knife and jumped off the spasming man. "You're next," I warned the female.

"So, they're also using kids now, eh?" She grabbed a knife from a drawer on her back and aimed at me. She managed to slice off half of my long mane, exposing my bare neck and the angry gash below my right ear.

I always hated that marking so I keep my hair long to hide it. "You shouldn't have done that! It took me three years to grow that hair!" I fumed however the fire that was inhabiting her disappeared. She looked like a ghost out of a sudden. I didn't care, I took it as my chance to take my hit. I stabbed her repeatedly on the side of her stomach. 

"I never thought I'll ever see you again. I'm happy though it ended like this," she said caressing my face, letting me murder her. "I have looked everywhere..." The female dropped cold to the ground, dead.

A heavy sigh escaped my lips, pulling me back to the present. I always thought they were just random people chosen by the system, that they were no one but I was wrong. Nothing was random for the organization.

"Wrong answer." I took a folded picture from my back pocket and showed it to my handler's face. It was the couple and in between, them was a smiling little four-year-old kid. "Now would you tell me who are they?"I pulled the gun from the holster in my right leg.

"I was just a pawn too as much as you are. I don't give orders, you know that my little darlin'. You know that!"

"Wrong answer again!" I fired the gun in the same spot I stabbed that smiling man. And one wasn't enough. I fired my gun again and again until I myself couldn't recognize my handler anymore.

I breathe deeply, collecting myself. Promising to take the whole organization down. They will pay for everything they have done to me, for everything they made me do.

This is only the end of the beginning.