A Summer Assassin

Ten steps behind and closing.

I love fall. Something about the smell in the air as the wind blows past and through the trees. There’s something in that smell that brings me back to childhood. Those long evenings spent outside in the cold as the sun set, taking advantage of every moment of freedom before being sent to bed. Perhaps it is a reminder of high school and the hours spent in the wet fall weather during football season. Smell is so strongly tied to memory, yet the sight of fall is something that brings me to an almost philosophical state of mind. The fact that fall is the short time after the height of summer and warmth yet followed by winter and its cruel unforgiving cold. Fall is the world past its peak and awaiting death. Walking during the fall, bundled up in a warm cotton jacket, always seems to get me thinking at life from this stand point.

The streets of downtown Portland are nearly empty at naught but a half past nine this evening. Everyone but a select few it would seem is indoors staying warm. Not I. I’ve always been a bit of an outsider to what is considered the “norm.” I have never told myself to do something to stay away from being the “norm”, frankly growing up as all kids do, I wanted to be the “norm” and fit in with everyone else. I just never seemed to fit that description.

Six steps behind and falling, slow down.

My mind is wandering from the task at hand. The trees rustling with the cool fall breeze always seems to get my mind off track. Since I was young I’ve always admired trees. They are something of beauty in my mind; I never knew why I found them so impressive. I guess I still don’t know why. Every tree stands apart when looked at closely, each has its own characteristics, each has different variants of leaves and branches, each has its own story. Trees are so unique and personal, yet they are never truly examined by most, and they’re beauty is generalized and passed over.

Four steps behind and closing.

I hear the familiar tones of a cell phone ringing inside the jacket of the man walking behind me. I can hear him answer in a snooty manner. It’s obvious that he’s speaking to one of his orderlies and not another man of his character by the harshness in his voice.

“I don’t care how it gets done; just get it done by the morning!” The senator said roughly. The beep from his cell phone confirmed he had hung up on whomever he was speaking to and the quickened pace of his feet meant something had agitated him in the conversation.

Two steps.

One step.

The senator began to brush past me on the narrow sidewalk. Before he could pass I gave him a quick push into a small alley along the road where no light could reach at this hour. Inside my pocket I grabbed for a small handle and clasped onto it tightly. The senator stumbled and shouted out at first, but I quickly shoved my forearm up against his throat and withdrew a blade from my jacket. I jabbed the blade quickly into his side and up towards his heart. The ten inch blade penetrated deeply and in less than a minute the senator stopped struggling and slumped into my arms. I propped him up against the alley wall as I searched his pockets. I grabbed his wallet, keys, cell phone, and a Rolex watch from his left wrist and walked away.

Seven blocks down in a small dumpster I discarded the wallet, the keys, and after carefully smashing the GPS chip within his cell phone I tossed it in as well. The Rolex on the other hand looked too nice to be tossed away. Last I tossed in my now bloody leather gloves. A shame I thought, my hands were just starting to get warm.

I slipped the Rolex on my wrist and continued down the road which was lined with trees. Possibly the reason I loved trees so much was not their individuality, but was more in the way that they dealt with winter. In nature and the cycle of life, winter was looked at as death. Winter is when nature dies, yet come spring the death from before fuels new life. Trees on the other hand lose their leaves, and appear to die as all the green from them departs. Yet when winter comes to a close and the first signs of spring become visible the trees awaken. They are among the few things in life that can live through death and come out on the other side unshaken and stronger. Trees are magnificent things.

I need to shower.