When I was twelve, I was forced to watch my parents die a horrible death. Let me start by saying my name is Persephone Lynn. I’m twenty-three now. It’s been eleven years since the incident. I still wake in the middle of the night screaming from terrible nightmares. I can’t get the image out of my head. I was the only one forced to watch. My five older sibling were all taken away, all except me. For some reason their killer only made we watch. He said it would make me stronger.

I still remember the day. It was a regular Saturday for us. We get for our annual Saturday morning breakfast at ihop. We were celebrating my twelfth birthday. Once we left ihop, we returned home. We could all feel like something was off. “Anyone else feel like something bad is going to happen?” I asked.

“Yeah, I have this feeling like something is off. I feel like something’s wrong,” my sister Corona said.

“Don’t y’all worry about a thing. Today is going to be a great day,” mama said. Her voice was so soft and smooth. It was gentle and always make me feel better. “I want you to enjoy this day, Persephone. You only turn twelve once. No matter how old you are you will forever be my baby girl.”

Then everything went dark. The lights in the house went out. The windows were somehow covered one by one. There was no light anywhere in the house. It was pitch black and silent. Not a single sound in the house. One thing my parents always taught us was that in the event of a blackout we were to stay where we were. That way no one could get hurt roaming around in the dark. One by one I heard five quick screams like they were covered. Sunlight broke through the windows, and I was all alone. I realized that the screams belong to my siblings. I ran into the living room, horrified by what I saw. My parents were tied to a chair back to back. Their mouths covered with duct tape. Someone was pouring gas over their bodies. “Mama, daddy!” I screamed. I tried to run over to them. A woman covered in black grabbed me from behind. I could tell she was a woman by her breast. I could not see her face or anything. She picked me up and placed me in a chair and tied me to it. I struggled and strained to get free, but she was to strong. She overpowered me. I was only a twelve year old girl. The smell of the gas filled my nostrils. I wiggled trying to get free. The ropes were tied so tightly as I was wiggling to get free I was giving myself rope burn. I didn’t pay it no mind. I was crying harder than ever before. I knew my parents were going to die, and I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it.

The man lit the ground under my parents. They began to burn. I could hear their screams of terror banging against my ear drums. Then something inside me changed. My sorrow became anger. I stopped crying, and I could feel my blood boiling with anger. I stared as my parents burned to death. I then vowed that I would avenge them. After a while they stopped screaming, they had finally died. I looked their killer in the eye. “Remember my eyes. I promise you I will avenge my parents. I will kill you. I vow on my life I will hunt you to the end of the earth if I have to. You will die by my hand,” I said. My entire body shook from the intense anger.

“Dear child, one day you will realize that I have made you a stronger person,” the man said. His voice sounded deep and unreal. “I have just changed your life for the better. Your brothers and sisters will grow up weak, but you will grow up strong. Your parents were weak which is why we had to dispose of them. We must rid ourselves of the weak. Carry on this tradition.” The woman untied me. I rubbed the rope burn marks on my skin. I walked over to the charred skeletons that was once my parents. I single tear fell from my face.

“I promise I will find and kill the man who did this to you,” I said. I left that house and vowed never to return. I had no family left. I was put in an orphanage till I was adopted by a man and his wife. They treated me well. They put me in karate to help me find ways to let out my anger. I became a black belt quicker than anyone else in my class. Once I turned twenty-one, I left. I went to Japan to become an assassin. My adoptive parents were surprisingly okay with my career choice.

For a whole year I trained and trained. I had a fire in me that no one could compete with. I had a drive that was unstoppable. I made my first kill at age twenty-two. It was a birthday gift. Then I began to make more and more kills, each more painful than the last.

The day I returned to America I called my parents. To let them know I am coming home. “We are so glad to hear that you are coming home,” My father said.

“Me too. I have learned so much here in Japan. Here I am considered the deadliest woman alive,” I said.

“I guess we better not mess with you then,” my mother said. We talked for a little while longer before.

Once I got back in the states, my parents picked me up from the airport. They had prepared a big dinner for me. The entire time I was eating I felt something wrong. He same feeling I had the day my actual parents died. “What’s wrong Persephone?” my mother asked.

“Nothing just got a bad feeling,” I answered.

“So, what is it like to be the deadliest woman alive,” my father asked.

“It’s okay. I can’t really enjoy it until I kill the ones who killed my parents. I personally only have two targets,” I said.

“How is it determined who is killed?” mother asked.

“Our targets are war criminals and murders,” I said. I noticed both of them got a firm grip of their excessively large knives they were using.

“I always said we must rid ourselves of the weak,” my father said. Then everything came together.

“It’s you!” I shouted. “You are the ones who killed my parents.”

“You are not as smart as we thought. It took you all these years to figure out who we really were,” he said.

“Why?” I asked. “Why adopt me? Why raise me? Why do all this for me?”

“Because your parents were not our real target that day,” he said. “You were.”

“Our orders were to kill the lady Lynn. We assumed that was your mother, so we killed both your father and your mother. We were told that if the lady Lynn was not killed, she would one day kill us and our kind. We never expected you to be the lady Lynn,” she said. “When we found out that you were the lady Lynn we adopted you. In hopes that when this day came we would be the ones to kill the lady Lynn. We are assassins. The only difference between us and you, is we kill for fun. Now that you are the deadliest woman alive, we will go down in history for your death.”

I lunged over the table, knocking the knives out of their hands. For them to be assassins they were not that good. I fought them with everything I had. Blood splashed all over the walls. I began to get tired. The two of them began to overpower me. I had never fought against two people at once with no weapons. He did something to my leg. A shock wave of pain went through my leg. I was fighting on one leg. I managed to make it to the table to brace myself up. They charged at me. I managed to slam both of their heads on the table. I grabbed a fork. One in each hand. I drove the fork through each of their necks. Then I grabbed the sharpest knife I could find, and cut along each of their major veins to drain their blood.
My lip was busted. And I think my left leg was broken. It didn’t matter I was alive and my parents had been avenged. I grabbed a pack of matches and lit every candle in the house. Then I left the kitchen run on fire. I stood outside the house and watched as it burned. “Mama and daddy, you can rest in peace now, they are dead,” I whispered. I called the ambulance and told them my house caught on fire and my parents didn’t make it out. I was the only survivor. They took me to the hospital. My leg was broken and I have to have stitches on my lip.
Now I wonder around. I have fulfilled my purpose in life. I am still an assassin, because it is the only thing I know how to do. I know protect the innocent. I kill before my target can kill. Now I kill so families and children don’t end up like me. I use to live a life driven by revenge and hate, now I live to protect those who cannot protect themselves.