Heartless Divulgence

A little after midnight, the sounds of thunder shake the room and suddenly Jay is launched from his terrifying nightmare back into his lonely sweat filled bed. Sweating and shaking he crawls out of his drenched sheets leaving behind the damp remains of the aftereffects of a troublesome nightmare. Stumbling over the many duffle bags filled with money cluttered across his one-bedroom apartment floor he fights to get to his bathroom. He finally manages to reach the sink to splash cold water on his face trying to force himself back to reality. But what was reality? He continues to have similar dreams of him being caught red handed in one of his various heinous acts. Although he didn't fear death, he was absolutely terrified of being tortured. The thought of being forced to endure an unknown or unforeseen amount of pain sent a shrivel up his spine so intense goosebumps would start to form; his palms would get clammy and his heart would beat through his chest. He would begin to sweat profusely with a growing tremble in his gut forged from fear and distress. Jays thoughts now channel to his newfound situation or the life he lived before the arrival of the black notebook. It’s only been about 1 month of having the book in his possession and Jay has amassed a small fortune. Upon receiving each payment for each mission and to witness the aftereffects of his original decision he would continuously loose another piece of his sanity. Staring himself in the mirror he is disgusted and nauseous at himself but at the same time excited about his newly found riches. He hasn't slept more than two hours in 23 days and his actions have turned him into two different people. He thinks to himself "yea, 23 days ago, that's when my life changed." He shakes his head with a slight grin and splashes more cold water on his face and begins to think back to the exact moment that changed his perception of life and death. Now again staring at himself in the mirror he doesn't see a way out of this precalculated predicament. "Why is my freedom more important than another's? Did my life mean more then another's? Who decides ones worth?" As he ponders these questions for the 10th night in a row he thinks of his role in this unreal circumstance. He establishes that he might be stuck at the crossroads of depression and exploitation with no way to change his incurable occurrence.

Initially he didn't start this alternative lifestyle to be an informant nor an assassin. He was offered a choice and he simply made a choice. A decision based on the cards he was already dealt, the pile of bills collecting dust on his kitchen counter and the answer machine full of messages from collection agencies that he has continued to ignore. His thoughts now wonder to the bane of his existence. The little black notebook. The pages change and each name is always different, but the payment is always the same. $20,000 in unmarked cash stuffed in a black duffle bag usually buried about 3 feet in the ground at specific coordinates. Along with the names the little black notebook often brings further instructions. The next few pages after each name are filled with random yet important information about the specific target. Information such as likes and dislikes, location, friends, family, place of employment, pictures, fears and various other information for Jay to completely understand this randomly chosen prey. Flipping through the pages he used to try to find correlation between each victim. But to his frantic obsession he always fell short. He would sit for hours dissecting each page searching for some connection between the victims but again with no success. The book gives a specific time frame to carry out each assignment. Usually a 72-hour window then 8 hours later he is notified by text with coordinates always from a different number and always at a different location. Still staring at himself in the mirror he now sees three different people. He sees the person he was before, and the two very different people these contracts make him become. Depending on the name in the book and the information given after the name he would either become a ruthless lone assassin or an insidious informant. He thinks back to 23 days ago which was his first assignment. He remembers the face almost more vivid then his own. The name. He'll never forget because of the predetermined death sentence. Isaac Franklin. Isaac Franklin was an oil importer from Tennessee and was living with his brother named John Armfield. They were enjoying life in Virginia at the time when Jay was sent to infiltrate the brothers comfortable but simple existence. The task so heinous and so dark was to kill John Armfield and make it look like Isaac pulled the trigger. Only no guns were to be used.