Contributed by Budgie on 15/11/08

The killer stood in the shadows, watching the firework party.

The laughter and excited screams from the children rang through the occasional emptiness of sound, vacated by the fading bangs and small explosions of fireworks.

In the shadows, the killer waited, biding time as it was meant to be bided, slowly, patiently, with enjoyment.

He remembered the previous year, that moment when he’d looked from the window and seen the firework laying there on the grass, exhausted, much like himself.

It had been a long year since then. Satisfying, unquestionably, but long.

He watched the family for a moment longer, and then made his decision. He walked away, staying in the shadows as much as he could already mentally composting the email informing the client that he was exercising his option not to fulfil this particular agreement.

He’d return the deposit, including a further 10% as per the termination clause. He chuckled silently at the phrase.

And as the family continued to live, unharmed, they would never know that they had escaped death by a memory this night, that they had yet more nights to live.

And the contract killer was already thinking of his next contact.

It had been a long year – but it wasn’t over yet.