Monochromatic

Chapter 25

Azoria

To her, I was a saint. A savior even. No one bothered to tie or untie her, she came in the way we found her. From the brief report on her background I knew she was found in an abandoned house alone. Although it was frigid out as well, she was rather underdressed. She was found in her bra and underwear, both nude and almost her skin color. Her hands and feet were tied, razor cut scars found all over her body. Her wrists and ankles were broken, and there were scratches all over her closed eyes. I gently opened them, her eyes were red, veins popping out from all directions, it was a gruesome sight. She was rightfully assumed blind. My position in all this however, was to clean, vaccinate, bandage, and properly clothe her. She was too damaged to be sold as a slave, but maybe with time, she'd be a good employee. At least that's what I was told. After the basics, it was my duty to learn more about her situation. It proved to be more tedious than what I signed up for however, since she had aphasia.

A single story could take hours, but I had time. She tried to keep them short, considering my time; nonetheless it would take 20 minutes to complete a response at best. What she needed more than anything, was patience and time; fortunate enough for her, I had a lot of it. I held the girl known to her 'master' as Kara in my arms as she cried, listening to the bits and pieces of her story, not bothering to write anything down until the end. At last, Kara loosened up, and slowly but surely, she felt secure. A gentle smile even appeared on her face, her tired eyes fighting to stay awake.

"Please..." Kara began, pausing shortly to find the words, "don't...s-s-send me...back"

"I won't, I promise."

Turns out Kara had a decently lived life before all this had begun, rare for the patients who visit me. She clung onto the memories to survive, memories she almost forgot. She wasn't the best student, but she tried her best. Kara was supposed to start 8th grade this year and looked forward to it as much as any other. She couldn't remember how she had gotten into that situation in the first place, she just woke up in a room that wasn't her own 2 years ago.

"Once you get your strength back," I explained, "We'll train you to work for us, and you'll never have to go through any of that again..."

My words gave Kara comfort; she smiled and nodded off to sleep.

Kara was later wheeled out of my room.

'Another orphan forced to place this sick game'

Tearing off the white sheet of paper protecting my hospital bed off and throwing it away I hopped on myself hoping for a quick nap over my break. I awoke after hours, no one bothered to wake me.

Rave

When I awoke, she was gone. The living room in which Libia slept was spotless, and Libia herself vanished before the clock struck 8. I was suspicious, but I had no time to look. Apparently, I'd only have one training session since I already had the amount of experience. I was forced to retake the name Vanish again, the thief in a black sweatshirt, blue jeans, an average and realistic face mask and a different colored wig every week. I was barely noticeable in the crowd, and never once have I been caught. Luckily, I had convinced the boss to let me just observe the others today, but I knew ahead of time that I'd have to participate physically at some point. It always turned out that way, no matter how much I try to avoid it.

It was a windy day, much drier than the last, but just as cold. Nonetheless, they insisted that I observed from the outside rather than in. They wanted me to take a risk and do this job without a mask for some reason. I took a post at a small café to slowly drink coffee I didn't want as I waited for my "date." Sighing, I waited for the action to occur. Lilac was working with me today; her job was to collect a couple of things for the building to use: A bag of medication from the pharmacy, some poison from 3 apartments, and a couple of bags of drugs from 'random' people she passes. They were all conveniently placed in the same neighborhood, and each person on our team had a certain role to play. Easy enough for us, it wasn't a big deal. I was the last one to observe, all I had to do was tell Lilac who had what. I had the eyes for it, and it didn't involve a lot of physical work so I was happy enough for the job. What pained me however, was my next job, a murder.

Apparently, this man got caught up in something he wasn't. He stole something that wasn't his, and that something would be the death of him. When I was kidnapped I knew I'd have to go back to thievery, but I never agreed to return to this as well. I've killed once, and that's the last thing I did before escaping. It still made me sick to my stomach to think about it; the blood on my hands, the screams, the sirens, all haunted me at night. I could still hear the wind behind me as I ran, my heart beat racing faster than my legs ever could. Nothing was the same after that night, and I swore on my life that I'd never do that again, yet here I was.

'I have no choice, he'll end up dead anyway, whether I kill him or not.'

Of course they made me take the job out of spite, they did things like that, but what was strange was the method they wanted me to use. I was given a micro sized poison dart that, when shot, resembles a heart attack. It fit my target well, since he had poor health and was of the age where heart attacks were common. The dart flies too fast for the human eye to see; you'd have to have a special high-tech camera to catch something like that, and around these parts, we barely had security cameras at all. The dart would dissolve in the body without a trace of evidence. I am a dangerous weapon to give to a pacifist.

It was 12 on the dot when Lilac's job was done, and yet the temperature dropped significantly. I could feel some of the employees of the café eyeballing me, worried that I've been waiting all this time for nothing. I had just come back from getting my 3rd coffee as she walked in at last. She ordered some food, and I did as well, afterwards going back outside. My victim was scheduled to come any second now. Meanwhile, Lilac and I laid back and enjoyed the brief time we had until we had to run. We talked, we ate, we drank coffee, and I coughed into my arm.

'5...4...3...2...1...he falls down.'

Lilac and I jumped up in fake disbelief as his body fell to the ground. I rush over, being the first to respond.

"Sir? Sir, are you okay?" I faked my concern

I lifted his body up, rolled him on his back, and checked his pulse.

"I'll call the police" Lilac stated as rehearsed, but the man was already gone.

In only a few minutes an ambulance showed up to take the man in. We were praised for our fast response and were released to go about our day.

'Mission Complete'