Christmas Eve. New Orleans.

“Stop assassin!”

“Wat was I thinkin’? Christmas shoppin’ on Christmas Eve? My poppa told me not to wait for de last minute to do somethin’. Said I would get into trouble doin’ dat. Now what am I in? Trouble.” Belladonna thought as she caught sight of her adversaries closing in on her.

Belladonna’s black motorcycle switched lanes and launched foward as the cars made their move.

They turned making the water on the road spatter against Belladonna’s bike.

A cold chill went up her back as the water hit her; she knew they were close. The bike twisted and turned trying to lose them but yet they kept her in sight.

“Could be worse,” she told herself reassuringly, “if de store wasn’ goin’ to deliver de gifts I’d have to run dis death trap while balancing packages.”

Suddenly and without warning the motorcycle’s tires began to slip upon the slick highway. “Come on, don’ go out of control on me. Straight up and down, go back straight up and down!” Belladonna shouted as her shoulder scraped hard against the road. She panicked and threw herself to the other side, making the bike skid and whirl around until it shakily returned to the proper position. “My friends better like dis stuff , riskin’ my life like dis!” she said nervously as she tried to set aside the pain in her shoulder. A car veered to the left trying to cut her off. “Wat happen to ‘peace on Earth and good will toward men’?” Belladonna yelled.

“Dis be strictly business,” replied the thief.

She looked around for an escape. A dim light held some hope.

Speeding foward she took care not to lose control. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to regain control again, that was a two arm operation. She made a sharp right turn disappearing in the shadows of a small darkened road.

A canopy of branches crisscrossed above her head. Crickets chirped in the cool night air. “Dis might buy me some time. Don’ think dey’ll find me here just yet.”

A cool wind blew, gently calming the assassin’s racing heart. Relaxing, the speed gradually became slower, one hundred, ninety, eighty, seventy, until she finally stopped.

“A peaceful road goin’ through a peaceful neighborhood. De picket fences are a nice touch. Dis whole neighborhood is like it painted in.” Belladonna couldn’t help but remark about the place as she cradled her arm. “Bet dey all just finished singin’ carols and gettin’ drunk on egg nog. Probably just went to sleep in their nice warm beds, Wat am I doin’? Well, dis Christmas Eve I am being hunted like a wild animal and shivering in the cold because I’m half drenched,” Belle laughed.

“Dere you are! You can’ get away dat easily!” The man stomped on the petal, propelling the car toward her.

“Here we go again! Guess dat peaceful mood is over,” she said under her breath as she accelerated her motorcycle again, “Christmas Eve! Dese guys just won’t let me slide by!”

Lights flickered on in the houses and creaky doors opened....

Swerving to throw the car off course she caught sight of the second one. “Wat am I in? A bad movie? ‘Attack of the Infinite Cars’! Dat it!” she said, thinking out loud, trying to desperately keep herself calm and her head clear.

.... people stood on their front lawns with mouths wide open.

The bike launched once again into the lead, keeping both cars at a safe distance. She began to wonder if escaping these two thieves was her Christmas present.

The sound of a ticking motor became louder and louder behind her. Belladonna wheeled inquisitively around and saw the source of the ticking sound, an ebony car heading straight toward her.

She made a careless swerve to dodge the car. The tire’s traction on the road faltered.

“ Got to get back control! Just got to...damn I can’t get de control back!”

The black car slammed into her bike, catapulting her under a street light.

“I’m one stupid person!” she told herself again and again as she tried to get up, “I forgot all about de 'dird car! How did I manage to forget dat one?”

Belladonna thought quickly, there was no way she could continue to race them on her bike. She didn’t even know if her bike would start nonetheless out run the thieves.

Her next idea was to fight it out with them. Three against one, she’d fought with those odds before. She’d fought with those odds before just not with her arm feeling like it was going to fall off.

Her only chance was for a foot chase, she hoped they would be confused enough to give her a descent head start. That would be the only way. Getting up she realized one important fact.

Her heart skipped one beat, then two. “Dis ain’t good,” she told herself as her lungs stopped for one second, then another.

For the first time in her young life she experienced true fear. Not the fear that she was going to get a good talking to from her father or brother but the fear that they probably don’t allow assassins into Heaven.

“Why is de sky becomin’ lighter?” she asked herself as she realized another horrible fact, “My life is flashin’ before my eyes! I know dis ain’t good!”

It was a rather short flash since she could only remember so much but yet it did it’s job in adding to the utter dreadfulness of the whole ordeal.

“Lord, I know I screwed up, if dere was anythin’ I could do to make it for up....” her prayer was cut short as the thieves stood around her and complete fear gripped her.

One man stepped foward completely undistraught by the whole event and smirked, “Merry Christmas Belladonna and guess wat? You’ll never see de New Year!”