HORNY ASSASSIN

Sofia's POV

"Shhhhh!, if you make a sound, I promise to pass this knife through your stomach and take it out from your back and nobody will know about it". I flushed my eyes open to the sight of a man touching my cheeks and sliding his hand underneath the silky nightdress I was putting on. He was all dressed up in black, a mask covering his face, with just his eyes and mouth visible. I so much wanted to scream, but the knife he held right at my face, made me do otherwise.

Oh yes, this has been my life since I was seven years old, and now I'm seventeen and still being taken advantage of because I could not talk to anyone.

Well, let me introduce myself. I'm Sofia Jones, an only daughter to Lorenzo and Giovani Jones. You might be thinking about what my parents have done about my predicament. But the truth is, they have no idea about what is going on with me. I never told them because I was threatened by these men and I was young and naive back then to know about all that. When I became mature enough, I tried bringing it up on several occasions. They never really cared to listen to me. When I tried talking to my mother about it, believing she might be the one to reason with me but whenever we get into the middle of the conversation, she changes the topic to something else. My father is just a case I don't want to talk about.

You might also want to know how we ended up where we are now. What caused this painful story.

My father was a wealthy man and a leader of one of the biggest mafia groups in Italy known as the LIONS. No one dares stand in his path unless that person has a death wish. This group was transferred to him by my grandfather before he passed on. My father has been dealing with it successfully over the past years, not until calamity struck us one night when we were having a good family bonding in our home, in the living room, when unknown gunmen barged into our house.

Everywhere became instantly dark with men in black clothing, who were heavily armed with fire weapons and masks on their faces.

"Lorenzo!Lorenzo!". One of the men whom I guess was the leader of the group, stepped forward with a wicked smirk on his face.

"You thought you could hide forever! but sorry, today is the chosen day".

I was only seven years old then and I didn't understand what was going on. My father stood in front of the man with shaking hands and sweat running down his body profusely. I could detect the fear in his eyes, something I have never seen before. I mean, the mafia was fearless, but that was not the case with my father at that moment.

"Let's keep it short because I don't have time for long drama. Either you give me access to your possessions or I killed you, your wife, and daughter ". The man said flatly with no emotions on his face.

"W who are you? How the hell did you get into my house? Do you know who I am? I owe you nothing. You better get the fuck out of my house this minute". My father yelled back at the man who looked at him in a daze.

"If I were you, I would do as he says".

One of the armed men spoke from behind.

"Let him talk, Allessio because this might be his last chance. Lorenzo! Lorenzo Jones, owner of the LION empire. Forget about how I got to know you. I have had my eyes on you. I have my sources. I own this city and no one challenges me." he chuckled and my father froze in his position. My mother has been shedding tears all along, pleading for them to let go and I stood behind her, trying to hide from the wicked people.

He grabbed the collar of my father's shirt and pulled him outside of the house. One of the men motioned for me and my mother to follow and we did.

I couldn't believe the scene in front of my eyes. My father gasped in shock.

My father's men were all down lifeless in a pull of blood, some with their brains out, some with no arms, terrified at the sight before me, I let out a scream.

My mother picked me up from the floor and covered my face in her chest

"So back to business, don't worry about how this happened. It's simple, and the same will happen to you and your family if you don't comply with me". He pointed his gun in front of my father who looked scared.

"Lorenzo, do something, give them what they want if that will guarantee our survival ".

My mother lamented, still holding me in her hands. My father shook his head in denial. Well, you do not expect him to give out an empire he has worked so hard for just like that.

The next thing I heard was a heavy scream from my mother and my back hitting hard on the marble floor. I looked at her, to see blood oozing out from her right leg. He just shot my mother!. Being so young and naive and with tears in my eyes. I ran towards him and took his finger into my mouth, biting so hard on it. He tossed me to the floor when the pain struck him. I felt the taste of his bitter blood in my mouth. I must have bitten so hard. "If you don't comply this minute, I might as well pull the trigger at your daughter ".

The gun was now on my chest. My mother struggled to grab me, with my father holding her from behind.

"You can have everything, but do not hurt my family anymore ". I have never seen my father shed tears as he did that day. He cried like a baby and I felt so bad that I couldn't do anything to help my parents.

"Good, I thought LIONS never give up".

The man said mockingly. " you left me with no choice. I promise to get back at you. You will pay for all this".

I don't know how to put up the story, but that's how we ended up here. My father gave the man access to everything we had and we were left with nothing. News about my father's downfall spread over the entire city and we couldn't stand it. We had to move to the United States like beggars, feeding hand to mouth and that's where my nightmares began.

We moved into a neighborhood, filled with tugs and drug addicts. Our house was not the best. Fill constantly with cockroaches, rats, and bed bugs. Every part of the house was just exposed.

Out of frustration, my father became a drug addict. A year later he was put behind bars as a result of a murder case in our vicinity. Leaving just me and my mother. I became a sex toy. They took advantage of me, and I couldn't voice it out to anyone. I was threatened with my life and that of my mother. I had to stay silent, but for how long?

*****

PRESENT-DAY

"Any noise, I will kill you, understood?".

I nodded in fear. I have lived all my life in fear and misery and I was slowly getting used to it all. The deed was done. And it was not reversible. I have to live with it.

When he was done, I watched him take up his pants and smiled at me. " keep our little secret, beautiful". He then disappeared, leaving me feeling hopeless and useless and I so much wanted to end my life.

I cleaned up my eyes and climbed down from the bed. I couldn't walk normally as a result of the pain in my legs, but I had to do this.

I managed to pull myself to the kitchen. Searching through the dirty dishes that were scattered all over the nasty kitchen, I picked up a knife, I looked at it with tears running down my cheeks. " I'm sorry mother, but I just have to do this. If this will end all the pain" I muttered to myself, lifting the knife to my throat, and immediately I was about to strike, I heard my mother scream in her room. With no hesitation, I threw the knife down and ran straight to her room, ignoring the pain in between my legs.

She was looking pale, laying on her bed, breathing profusely and her eyes searching the room as though someone broke in and tried to harm her. I pushed forward to her bed and took her hands in mine. "What happened, mother?". I asked and she looked at me with heavy eyes. "Don't ever leave me Sofia".Did she sense that? I looked at it in confusion

She traced my jawline with her fingers. I think she had a terrible nightmare, a nightmare that was about to come true if she hadn't screamed, making me run to her in panic. "I won't leave you, mother ".

I smiled sadly and snuggled into her arms.

I release myself from the hug and check at the small alarm clock, standing on an old stool beside her bed. It was still 2 AM in the morning. With the fear of being molested for the second time in one night, I climbed on the bed and wrapped my hands around her.

"I need justice ".

I whisper and then close my eyes.

Sofia's POV

I couldn't sleep properly last night as the memory of the past kept resurfacing in my head. I kept struggling on the bed beside my mother, making sure not to wake her up from her sleep, if she was sleeping at all because she hardly sleeps at night. "Are you ok Sofy?" She asked, I guess she must have heard me struggling to sleep. "I'm ok mother, don't worry about me. You should sleep". She nodded her head and lay back to sleep.

I could hear the whistling sounds of birds outside, indicating that it was already morning. Just another to start all over again.

It's been 9 years since my father was taken away. We once heard rumors of him escaping from jail. We hoped and prayed that he might come to find us someday, but he never showed up. So we had just had to accept that he was killed or he died somehow.

We have struggled so hard for the past years in pain. My mother became bedridden and there was no way she could work. She was a waitress at the bar I'm now working at.so I had to take care of her. I had to work hard to take care of her and also pay the bills of the shattered house we are living in, if not then we would have nowhere to stay.

I was thinking of getting another job, maybe one in the morning and the other in the evening.

This was getting out of hand and my mother's condition got worse every good day...no, there has never been a good day in our lives since we were stripped of our possessions in Italy and we have to move down to the United States.

I can't even count the number of times I almost threw up, trying to clean up the mess my mother makes on the bed. It was just too much for a 17-year-old, but I had to do it, she is my mother and the family I have left.

Pushing the bad memories aside, even though they would eventually come back in about two minutes, each time I try to forget.

I looked at my mother's sleeping form, on the broken bed we have been using for a long time now. She looked peaceful in her sleep, but I know deep down she was not peaceful. Taking the brown duvet off her body, I sighed in frustration at the mess that she had made.

"Mother, we need to clean you up?" I hesitantly tapped on her shoulders gently.

She groaned and turned to her side, rubbing the sleep off her eyes.

"You don't have to do this every day, Sofy, come on, go prepare for work".

She said with sleepy eyes, looking at me and I looked at her back in frustration. She probably doesn't know how smelly this place will be.

Without wasting much of my time, I walked to the bathroom that was connected to her room. I don't know if I should describe it as a bathroom or a toilet. Well, a toilet having a broken shower hanging above the ceiling, the toilet pot was broken and a hole around it on the floor. You could see the maggots inside the toilet if you looked closed down, but we had to manage.

I put water in a black bucket that was standing on the floor and grabbed her towel hanging on the bathroom line, I took her hand towel which was now a body towel, and put it inside the bucket of water.

I took another bucket out with me. I skipped the hole around the toilet pot, making sure not to put my leg inside, or else, I will probably end my life if that happens.

I Placed the bucket beside the bed. I rolled my mother to the side and took out the brown sheet that was soaked in urine and put it inside the empty bucket, I then stripped her naked and used her towel to clean her body.

She denied me from cleaning her, but I had to.

With that being done, I put her in some fresh clothes and took the dirty sheets into the bath, and washed them.

I was already tired before I could go to work.

I made some breakfast and fed her and also washed the dirty dishes in the kitchen. This was tiring.

It was 9:30 Am when I was finally done with everything. Mrs. Berna is going to let heaven loose today, for me coming late to work. She denied adhering to the situation I'm going through, claiming she didn't make me go through it. But what I was supposed to do, I had to stay cool because I needed the job.

Putting on the only boots I have, I tied my hair up in a pond and took out my black jacket as it was cool this morning. Having got set for work, I walked to my mother's room, placed a kiss on her forehead, and told her goodbye.

"Take care of yourself Sofy and remember I love you". She said holding my wrist. A tear left my eyes after hearing her words.

"I love you too mother".

I gave her a tight hug and then separated from her so as not to go late to work as I was already late.

Something felt off today, but I couldn't tell what it was. I just pushed it behind my mind and closed the door after me.

****

"Such a cheap lady, at her age she sleeps with everything in trousers".

"I heard her father was a drug addict and got arrested by the police "

"I also heard that her mother is bedridden, maybe as a result of her daughter's prostitution and the curses are probably following her".

I overheard these girls that have been on my neck ever since we moved to this neighborhood 10 years ago and they're still doing the same thing. I have tried so hard to avoid them but still, they won't let go.

They make a mockery of me, each chance they get. It is fine if they talk about me, but not my family. I was so pissed off, but I decided to ignore them as I have been doing for the past years, and go to work since I was more than late.

Before I could take another step forward, I felt a hand on my shoulders, grabbing it so hard that, before I could react, I was pushed to the gravel road, thereby bruising my hands on the ground. When I turned around, I discovered it was the same girls that were trash-talking me.

I picked myself up, trying so hard not to cause a fight. "Whore! What now, did sucker. You had enough last night and don't have the strength to fight us". One of the girls with blond hair and floppy jaws came yelling right in front of my face.

"Her bedridden mother probably gave her too much work this morning ". The skinny one with faint brown hair and thin bones that I could break in a second said behind me and that struck me hard. I so much wanted to rip their heads off their neck.

"You all better stay off my back this morning, I do not want trouble".

I said with a scowl on my face and my hand's up in a fist, trying to get myself up from the floor, they pushed me back down. At this point, I could not take it anymore, I have had enough already. I punched the blond hair girl in the stomach using my feet, I saw her falling to the floor. The skinny one grabbed my hair from behind, I held her arms over my head and yanked her forward, and her back hit the tarred road. I got up from the floor and walked towards them, grabbing them by the hair, I brought their faces together and collided them against each other. When I released them from my hold, I saw blood streaming down their foreheads. Yes, I did that, giving them a taste of their own medicine.

"You all better be careful with the kind of person you trash talk about. This will be my last warning; the next time you talk about me or my family, I will make sure to fuck both your fathers, and brothers, and make your mothers bedridden, and then kill you and feet your bodies to the dogs". That has never been me, but self-defense. I needed to stand up for myself and my family because being vulnerable wouldn't do me any good.

They nodded their heads in fear as they drifted behind. Good, exactly what I wanted, they should fear me.

*****

I arrive at my workplace at 10 AM. It was hard to explain why I came late to miss Berna because her mouth was worse than that of the girls I just fought with. She could strip you naked with just her insults. I was putting up with her, because I needed this job, if not, I would have chopped off her tongue a long time ago.

"You this little dirty whore, do you think this is a brothel where you come anytime you want huh? this is my business for goodness sake".

I greeted her behind the counter and she ignored my greetings.

"I'm sorry miss Berna, I w...".

She cut me off before I could explain myself. With thick makeup all over her face, looking like she has been surviving on plastic surgery. "You probably want to join your bedridden mother at home".

She said unfazed and that got me mad, I have had enough of it today.

"STOP!" I said at the top of my voice, making her go tense and the people around looked in our direction. I must have said that out loud. Enough of them calling my mother bedridden, how on earth was that her fault.

Tears streamed down my face. All bad memories resurfacing. The incident of last night came to mind.

"You all won't believe what is going on in town, come and watch the news "

Alex, one of the waitresses came behind the counter and told us, thank goodness he didn't take notice of the tense atmosphere between us. "Make sure you go along with your bag, you are fired". She said, making me stop in my tracks. "You're missing out!" Alex yelled again.

"People are callous " I heard her whisper and this got my attention. I stamped into the bar, I couldn't believe what my eyes saw, when I lifted them, to look at the small analog TV that was standing on top of a table at the entrance of the bar.

Sofia's pov

There was a shooting in my neighborhood. Leaving two people dead. The image I just saw on the screen made me freeze as I stared at it blankly. The body of a woman was shown, completely naked and her abdomen wide open with no organs in it, indicating that they have been removed.

Realization dawned on me when I thought of my mother, she was all alone in the house. Without a second thought, I put the small bag I was holding across my neck and stamped outside of the bar.

"What happened Sofia, where are you going ? It's raining heavily outside". Alex said behind me but there was no time to stand and answer him. The idea of my mother getting hurt was not a nice one, all this made me not think straight, as I stepped out into the rain.

Standing at the roadside to get a cab, I stopped about three taxis, but none of them halted. Some did not look in my direction. I tried stopping the fourth one, which stood right in front of me. I drifted closer to it and told him where I was headed, he looked at me head down, like I disgusted him, and then sniffed " it's like you are completely unaware of what is happening in that area. I can't go there, it's dangerous " He told me and drove away. I couldn't contain the tears that were now streaming down my face, and at the same time, the rain was washing them away. At this point, I was completely drained in the rain and my teeth were clicking tightly together and shaking vigorously. I stood under the rain with my hands folded across my chest and my body shaking violently from the cold weather, just waiting for a miracle to happen. But it looks like I was going to wait for eternity for that miracle to happen, I did not have that patience.

I sigh in frustration under the heavy downpour and decided to do the only thing that was in my mind; to track. My house was 30 minutes away from where I was standing.

I started with a slow pace but took off on my heels when the rain increased and thunder stroked violently in the sky. I clutch my bag to the side of my body using my left hand as I run off on the watery tarred road.

The rain was so heavy, our house must be soaked down with water as it had a broken roof. My mother was the only thing I could think about.

I couldn't clean up my tears, as the rain watched them down my face.

So focused on my running that I didn't know when I bumped into a stone.

"Gush!" I hissed in pain, I stopped in my tracks to look at my leg. Looking down, the age of the only boots I have was badly damaged and blood oozed out from my toe, there was no time to check it. I have had enough of crying already.

It hurt, I couldn't run anymore so I had to walk like a lame to my house. Luckily I reached home.

****

"Holy mother of God!, Mother!". I gasped in shock, with my hands around my mouth. stumbled backward when I entered my mother's room? to see the figure laying on the bed, if not for the door frame that was behind my back, I would be in the gutter in front of my house. ...

"Mother!" I screamed at the top of my voice, trying to digest the situation in front of me. I tried to let out tears, but it felt like nothing was coming. Jumping across the dead bodies in front of me with a speed that was faster than the fastest car I know, I made my way over to the naked body that was laying on top of the bed.

I was eager to touch the body and at the same time scared to touch it. "No!...no! This is not my mother, tell me this isn't what I'm seeing. Tell me I'm just a hallucinating mother! Who did this to you? who is this heartless human being, how on earth could...could someone be this heartless?". Her lifeless body could not answer my questions, but I needed answers to why all this was happening to me.

Was my entire existence a mistake, ripping me and my parents off our possessions, me being molested by different men over ten years, my father disappearing into thin air and now my mother killed in cool blood, a corpse which I couldn't much recognize as that of my mother?

Her internal organs were all taken out, why and what for?

What did she do to deserve such a brutal murder?.

I was weak, no voice left again for me to shout, no tears for me to cry out, my body became numb, and my strength was all gone, I wish the ground could just open up and swallow me, this was more than I could handle.

I was not wrong when I said this morning that something felt off, but this is not what I meant. Waking up from the ground where I was sitting wallowing in tears, I took slow steps toward the disfigured human in front of me.

I stretched my hands to touch the body, but hell no, I felt nauseated at the sight, her face had terrible cuts on them, and her eyes were bleeding out blood. I looked further down her body, her thoracic cavity was open up, right down to her abdomen, with every organ taken out.

The sight disgusted me.

From fighting, getting fired at my workplace, and then coming back home to a hideous act in front of me.

When I looked closely at the bed, I spotted a piece of paper that caught my attention because I didn't leave any papers while cleaning up my mother's room in the morning, so I had to pick it up in my hands.

"I will come back for your dear".

The words were printed out in black on the paper. Come back for me! Who was after me and my family? They killed my mother and promised to be back for me.

With shaky hands, I looked around the room and that's when I saw three dead bodies on the floor, all masks up and with guns. I remembered jumping over them.

This got me confused, what on earth was going on, if they killed my mother, then who in turn killed them and also left me a note.

I took dangling steps to my mother's closet, I started to rummage it, and that's when I discovered that some of her clothes were gone. The only thing left behind was a small bag hanging in the closet. I grab the bag, and when I search it, I sigh in relief when I notice her gold chain was still inside. At least it was safe.

I felt like there was more to the death of my mother, but I have to leave. I couldn't stay here anymore. It would only hurt me.

I hang the bag over my neck, taking the last servings I have, I dug right inside the bag and zipped it up.

"I'm sorry mother, sorry that I couldn't do anything to help you," I said with my hands over my mouth as I walked backward. I could hear my sobs echoing in the room.

I stumble on something in fright, I look back to see that it was one of the dead bodies on the floor. "Fuckers" I cursed, before getting up from the floor. "MAY YOU ALL ROT IN HELL". I said out in anger.

I felt a hand grab my shoulder from behind before I could make my way out of the door. My heart skipped heavily in my chest and was rising so high. I closed my eyes, turning around slowly to welcome what was to happen to me. Feeling like I was standing right in front of the person, I slowly opened my eyes just to be welcomed by another masked face. My legs felt numb as I slumped to the floor, with my back against one of the dead bodies that were right behind me.

He came closer and I tried crawling back with my hands, but my movements were halted by the body behind me.

I looked up at the man in front of me who was standing all high up and looking at me with downcast eyes, with an evil smirk on his face.

He looked just like the man who had molested me last night.

I could fear the tears burning in my eyes right now. I couldn't hold them back as I let them fall down my cheeks.

Did they come to get me as written on that paper? I cried out even louder when that thought crossed my mind. This was the end for me. Time to say goodbye to my torments.

"Strip off now", that was the next thing I heard, when I looked up at the figure in front of me, there he stood, with his knife and gun pointing directly in my face.