Weekly Expressions Week #10 Joe

Nearly empty streets, now filling with fog and mist. The air reeks of a musty, dry, dirty smell. It's 9:32 AM, not really going to suddenly have a whole bunch of people rush in at once, but they will come. This is a train station, anyone at all who wants a ride to wherever, will be here, most likely. Observation of it from a longer distance away, a body could perceive it was not time yet for boarding, a time of peace in this a moment devoid of movement. I'm just sitting here waiting for my train, the 10:00 one, and it hasn't come yet.

   "Hey Jess, you still there?", said a voice.

   "Huh?", I questioned. Oh. It was just me thinking. Nothing there, just thoughts invading. Yup, it was only my thinking. If you looked at me, at first glance you'd be thinking I was totally ordinary. Of course you would. You obviously wouldn't have guessed I was an assassin, yes, that's my job. I'm a highly-efficient, trained, fighter-worthy assassin, quite good at it too. No one would ever suspect someone like me of it, I mean, at first glance probably. I've been at this since I was 5 yrs old, a pretty good deal of time spent on learning these very things for assassin's work like: stealth, speedy retreats, whispering ideas (An idea is a powerful weapon, don't forget that, although it's only used for certain adversaries. Say in political status, for instance.), and back-stabbing (My personal favorite.). Those are my qualifications, impressive, yes. Although at this moment it doesn't matter, because of a situation I got myself into a little while back. That time is stuck in my head, I can't get it out of life, it was the day I almost died. That day.

I had been on a journey, a business venture I'd been offered to kill a gangster. The price I was offered was exactly 2,000 dollars, a fair amount for a not really well-known "boss". Nevertheless, it was money, I couldn't argue. All it would probably take was the old,"One two! One two! And my blade would go snicker-snack!" Simple? Not so, or so I found out later on. I brought a bow and some arrows, including a foreign specialty blade strapped to my back, right next to my quiver. I had heard the guy was partial to open spaces, which made me think he's gotta be outside. Right in the open, so I can find a perfect sniping position for my arrows, or maybe come from behind with my blade.                                                                                    

When finally got there, it was the barest barren piece of land I'd ever been on. There were lots of cracks, corners, and crevices I was sure gang-members hid behind. Lying in wait to kill me. Was I going to let that happen? No! I saw out of the corner something above me moving, so I took an arrow from my quiver, drew the bow-string back and whoosh! It flew through the air at whatever it was, missing the target. The target, now I realized was just my imagination, didn't move at all. Leaving me wondering where I was supposed to go next, I didn't have to wait to long, for down leaped a thug. I got rid of him, but was then followed by 3 more baddies. I gave them a firm warning, to that they ignored, coming closer. I shot at the middle one of them who sent the other 2 after me, they failed. Gracefully hitting the ground, they were then proceeded by their comrade who was not in the least bit amused. We fought each other for a little while until he then, getting the upper-hand, had me down on the ground. Taking punches, kicks, and thrashings to my body, I lay there helpless. He then started to give me a speech, a boring one, which luckily I stabbed into with my blade. He fell, thus for extra measure, I wiped my blade on his miserable dead body. I bandaged myself up there.

I was panting, he'd put up quite the struggle. As a matter of fact, so did I. It was not yet over, for my journey wasn't quite finished. A sound could be heard from behind me, as I realized cold barrel of a pistol was aimed at the back of my head, and the sound was him cocking the trigger. A tear ran down my face, it was a rather unhappy life I've been living after all. Not a lit to it. Just then as that thought came to me, a smiling man burst from the shadows, grinning from ear to ear. He paused his steps towards me, somersaulted forward, landing on the toes of his shiny black boots. Leaning he began to speak in a slimy voice, almost sounding like a gurgle.

   "You've come far, I've observed. I see your a good fighter, too. The best I think I've laid eyes on."

   "You speak better grammar than your one thug, I'll give you that.", I said with a wink.

He slapped me across the face. He apparently was not attracted to girls who had senses of humor, and could slit throats faster than you could say,"Bob's your uncle!"

   "I've also seen that from my little contraption here, it says your an assassin.", he said with a pouting face on."I do believe this will not do, yes, this will never do!", he said while shaking his head."Well, I'll have to let my "thug" as you call him, blow your head off. To bad, this could have amounted into something better. Kill her now. Go on. On with it."

He didn't budge, he had not moved a single muscle, that guy hadn't even tried to do anything then. He just stared blankly back at him.

   "Get on with the bloody murder, make it quick!", he yelled. He looked ticked now. Stop standing around, and just shoot her hea...."

The man in question, whoever he was, shot the boss in the head. Everything went in slow-motion just then, the blasting sound from the gun, and the bullet sailing into the head. Almost you could say, shattering the skull, bits of it flying across the area. I was shocked, not because of the breaking of a man's face, I had seen that many a time. But one of his men saving me, shooting his boss instead, that says something. The man then turned around to face me, his aviators covering his eyes, though is face showed some emotion. It was very noticeable.

   "Go.", he said.

   "What?", I said.

   "Go, leave, don't come back!" he said with an even firmer tone.

   "But you just killed your boss, right here right now, taking his life without a second glance! What were you thinking?!" There was a moment of silence, just me staring at him, wondering when he would get to the point.

   "My employer may have seen you were a good fighter, but he didn't notice the feeling you put into it. I could never hurt anyone who didn't fully deserve it. I respect that."

A sort of smile broke out across his face, I couldn't help but start to smile too. He was very gracious to let me live.

   "As I said, please leave.", he now said with an almost pleading expression. A horde of gang people could be seen running from a distance. They looked angrier than thunder, and they were coming in fast."Go now, they won't get you if you leave now, I've got you. I promise you, if you go now, you'll be safe."

  "But you'll be killed!", I said. I had grown now, for some reason, feelings for this guy. To have him die would be tragic, and in that way, it would be sad.

  "It doesn't matter, just if your alive, that's all that matters." A bullet grazed his shoulder then, and blood came out of his side, he gritted his teeth from the pain."Go!"

That's when I ran, hard and fast, very. Running across plains and who-know's-where regions, as long as I was away from them. I was far away now, really far. I don't know how long I had run, but I do know that I reached my headquarters by 3:00 PM the next day, 'cause a lady there told me so. So here I am, bloodied up, tired. I'm in no mood for thinking of assassinations, what had happened, or even what would be the end factor. All I knew was that I had a near death experience, been slapped by a filthy scumbag, to add on to this I hadn't completed my mission. A gallant man (What would you call him? Didn't save your life.) had come in, bested the filthy boss of his, and took the fall for me.(Bittersweet, actually.) I must do something. I gotta get away before anyone finds me. Hmmm. What could I do. I know, I'll get a train ticket. Can't be to expensive. Yes, a perfect idea.

That's where I am now, here, waiting for my train. I wonder about the man who saved me, and I sit in the cold fog thinking about him. Now he's dead and I've got to move on. But how? I don't know.