The Secret Of The Beauty In Black

Lightning flashed in the sky, marking the start of a heavy downpour.

A girl stood at the edge of the cliff amongst the thunder. 

Another roar sounded through the sky, as lightning flashed past once again, making her already pale face even more so, accentuating the many small cuts on it. 

The girl looked ahead of her with an unknown expression on her face. Slowly, she stepped back and  spoke with a raspy voice, "Don't you dare come near me, go away....nooo!!" The girl's foot slipped and she shrieked as she fell down the cliff, facing the ground.

It felt as though time had slowed down and she fell deep down the valley; light as a feather, flowing its way down to the ground. A large light seemed to devour her. She couldn't see anything and had to close her eyes.

A thousand questions swirled in her mind.

Was this how she was going to end up?

Will everything be over now?

Will she get the freedom she wanted and waited for so long?

Will she be granted this freedom through death??

She tried opening her eyes, but the intensity of the air was making it difficult for her to keep her eyes open.

'Crack'

She fell on a protruding tree branch, hurting her left leg in the process. Her whole body turned around due to the contact as she faced the dark black sky.

She couldn't even point out if the cracked voice she heard came from her leg or the tree branch. She had long stopped paying attention to the various injuries on her body. 

Opening her eyes slowly amidst the heavy rain, she gazed at the top of the cliff with pure hatred. She swore with whatever energy she had left, "If I ever return back alive, all of you shall die a gruesome death!!" She knew her words wouldn't really matter as she had long known the outcome of her fall, but she still wished that a miracle would happen.

Thereafter she closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the extreme pain and probably her long lost..... freedom.

__

After two years.....

Jerking up, Jennifer sat on her bed with her eyes wide open, sweat trickling down her forehead. She looked around, only to find herself sleeping in her bedroom, her mind still dizzy.

"You had a nightmare, dear. Are you alright?" Her mother's soothing voice made her blink. She slowly came back; from her dreadful dream to reality.

"I'm alright mom. It was just another bad dream. By the way, what time is it now?" She calmed down and took deep breaths.

"It's 6:30 am dear, time to wake up. You have to go to work today." Mary reminded her gently.

Jennifer hummed in response as she got down from the bed.

"Are you sure you're alright? It's been a while since you had a bad dream." Mary asked, concerned about how her daughter looked now. Her hair was dishevelled as if she just fought. Her forehead, too, was glistening in sweat.

"I am totally fine." Jennifer smiled softly as she hugged her mother. She wasn't sure whom she was assuring, herself, or her mother.

"I'll be freshening up now."

Breaking away from the hug, she made her way towards the bathroom. 

Splashing herself with cold water, she looked at the mirror in front of her. 

A miracle really did happen!

__

Sitting on the bed, Jennifer stared blankly into space.

Suddenly, the phone beside her buzzed, displaying a text, more of an image of a panther with some words written below it.

Narrowing her eyes, she read the full message. An evil glint passed through her eyes when she saw the words.

Jumping up, she ran towards her wardrobe and came back in 10 minutes, dressed in black trousers and a shirt, fitted with a black jacket. 

She even covered her face with a black mask and took a bag out from the safe, which was hidden behind her clothes in the wardrobe.

Without wasting a second, she jumped down from her window located on the second floor, landing on the ground effortlessly.

She looked around to see if anyone was there. Noticing that the coast was clear, she slowly walked forward and soon came to a stop in front of a wall.

After pressing her palm on a particular place on the wall, it cracked open, and a big garage came into her view. Grabbing her favourite motorbike, she sat on it, pressed on the ignition, moved the throttle with her hand, and rode off.....the wall behind her closed automatically, and the crack before was now no longer visible.

__

At the airport,

"Have you informed Jen?" A man asked, covered in black clothes with his blue eyes seemingly waiting for a response.

"Yes. I have reported to her sir, she would be coming in 20 minutes", answered Louis.

__

Jennifer was driving her motorbike on the highway when suddenly, her phone rang.

'Shit,' she cursed for having forgotten to tell her mother, she now had to make up a story again. Clicking on her Bluetooth, she accepted the call and spoke with a little bit of hesitation in her voice, "Yes, mother?"

"Dear, where are you?" A concerned voice came from the other side of the phone.

"Mom, the office's manager called for an emergency meeting so I had to go without telling you. I am so sorry about that. Also, I'll be having my breakfast in the canteen today." Jennifer spoke as she kept dodging the cars in front of her.

"Make sure you eat your breakfast, Jenny. And when did you go? How come I didn't notice you going somewhere? Don't tell me you jumped down again fr-"

Before Mary could continue to ask her about her daily stunts which she normally did, when she would be late, Jennifer interrupted her, "Ah, no no mom, I didn't....you must have not seen me going as you were in the kitchen. Okay, now I will end the call or else I would be late for the meeting. Bye, love you; muah~"

She sighed as she cut the call. She would have surely been punished this time, had Mary come to know about her pulling that stunt again.

"This would be the last time!! Never to jump down from the second floor, never to risk your life," She muttered the words her mother had asked her to as a punishment, whenever she would be caught jumping down and doing crazy stunts in her house. Even after getting punished several times, she still repeated the same mistakes. And by now she got the habit of uttering the same words again and again whenever she would do something wrong even if no one saw her, in particular, doing the stunts.

After around 5 minutes, she reached the airport. Parking her motorcycle in the parking lot outside the airport, she took out her phone and checked the location of the meeting which was sent to her a few minutes ago.

__

"What's the problem, Jason?" Jennifer asked, looking at the four people before her.

The blue coloured eye man Jason spoke, "Jen there is a problem in Los Angel's Lefen unit. Yesterday, the unit was attacked and robbed. We've almost lost twenty of our most capable men as well as a few plans regarding our upcoming missions."

"Have you investigated the attackers?"

"Yes, they're from Sherman gang whom we've supposedly destroyed six months before. The Leader's son is still alive and he is now the head of the Sherman gang based in Italy which is a subunit of the former Sherman gang. To take revenge from us, he planned the attack on our information unit."

"Book 5 tickets, we are heading to Italy we..."

A little chubby and a short man named George interrupted, "Sis Amy, why are we going to Italy? We should be heading to Los Angeles to check on Lefen's current situation."

"No, we should first entertain the Sherman gang members and return their favour," she smirked evilly.

"And what is the favour?" Asked a blonde-haired girl, Alissa as she chewed on the gum in her mouth.

A cold glint flashed through Jennifer's eyes, "Kill them."

"Oh, you are so great sis Amy," praised Alissa, as she blew air in the gum.

"Jason, ask Leo to handle the problems in Lefen. And inform him that we would be arriving in two days." Jennifer spoke seriously.

"Ok Jen." Jason nodded, as he made a call.

__

The group of five took the earliest flight to Italy. After a two hour journey, they finally reached their 'destination.'

Italy was currently sabotaged by many gangs because it had the best types of equipment for gathering various databases of countries all over the world.

The five of them checked into a hotel.

As soon as she reached her room, Jennifer took out her phone and called her mother.

"Hello mom, please don't be mad at me okay. It's just that... I had to go to Versailles for a business trip really urgently. Anyways, I am already here now...please don't blame me, it was all my boss's fault. He made me take the earliest bus here...Don't worry I'll take good care of myself.....Yes, yes have already packed my clothes, you know the ones I usually keep in the office...I've already had my breakfast in the pla...bus...I will stay here for around two to three days.....will miss you, mom. Bye."