Behind Those Eyes

The Assassin

Dylan smiled at the customer as she passed them a paper bag with a muffin in it, "Have a nice day!" she chirped cheerfully. The customer just grunted and shuffled away.

How rude. Did people have to be like that all the time?

"Have a nice day!" she said to the next customer.

"Have a nice day!"

"Have a nice day!"

"Have a nice day!"

A few regarded her by returning the smile. Others replied "you too". But most just ignored her.

She was used to that.

It seemed like no matter how much she tried to lighten the atmosphere, nobody seemed to appreciate it. It was almost as if people wanted to be grumpy all the time.

"Have a nice day, I told her." Dylan said to her coworker, Brian during their break, "And then she said 'go screw yourelf'. Seriously, what is wrong with people these days?" she opened up a pack of cigarettes, drew one out and lit it.

Brian just shrugged, "There are people like that." he said absent-mindedly, "This world is full of bad people. Did you hear mayor Clarke was killed last night?"

Dylan surpressed a shudder, "Yeah, I did." she said, "Apparently, she got decapitated and her head was stuck on a stake in her front yard."

Brian gave her a funny look, "Where did you hear that?" he asked.

"I overheard some little kids back inside." Dylan explained, flicking ash off her cigarette.

Brian sighed, "Right, then that makes sense." he said flatly, "No, she was found in bed with her throat slit open. Blood was everywhere. People are saying she had been assassinated."

"But why would someone want to assassinate Clarke?" Dylan wondered, "I mean, alright. So she hasn't been doing the best job a mayor could do and she did get into an argument with that company thar makes drills, bu t I think that killing her would be a little extreme?"

Brian shrugged, "Hey, people are weird." he stated.

Dylan laughed, "You said it." she said.

There was a pause. Dylan took off her glasses and cleaned them with the hem of her shirt.

"It's really unsettling, though." she suddenly said.

"Yeah, it is." Brian agreed, "Some invisible person slipping through the town, nobody knows who he is or who his next target is."

"Yeah, but I meant that he could have come into the cafe this morning." Dylan put in, "I could have served him. I could have said 'have a nice day' to him."

Pause.

"I bet he was that scary business man who glared at me."

"Nah." said Brian, shaking his head, "He wouldn't be angry, he'd be happy that his assassination was carried out well. He'd be one of the happier ones."

"But that's what people would expect." Dylan argued, "There were less people being happy and more people being grumpy, so he'd act grumpy to blend in."

"Yeah, but people never exect the nice guy to be the murderer." Brian insisted, folding his arms, "They expect the grumpy, overall crappy person and then WHAM! Mr Happy strikes again!"

Dylan began to laugh but then she suddenly stopped herself, "We shouldn't be joking about this." she said in all seriousness, "Somebody died. Here. In this town. They were killed. Oh my god, what if we're next?"