i hired a hitman on myself // joshler [✓]

XII

i got whatever i needed and put in the backseat of petes car. that included clothes, my credit cards, and the guns raz gave me. but i did keep one on me, a silenced pistol, incase things went sideways.

i traveled to the nearest bank and quickly made my last transactions. my job might've been hell on earth, but it payed well. i now had over ten grand in cash.

ashley suggested i spend the night near the house, to make sure tyler got there. i was gonna camp out in petes car across the street, i had to make sure he checked my house before anything else.

and so that's what i'm doing, currently sitting in petes car and counting my money and hiding it in a duffle bag, but still keeping a fair amount on me.

"how far away is he now?" i ask ashley, as she was still on the phone with me.
"closer than i thought," i heard clicking as i assumed she was typing on a keyboard, "he's in your state, now he's just on his way to your town."

i'll admit, my heart dropped. i kind of figured i wasn't ready but there was no other way to prepare. i was just taking my chances at this point in time. there wasn't much else i could do.

"so... how does he usually kill people-- like what's his method?" i anxiously wondered on just how he was going to kill me.

"after doing some research on him," more clicking was audible but it quickly stopped, "he likes to render his prey weak enough so they are immobile, but he usually lets them die of blood loss through either stab or gun wounds. and if it takes too long, he'd slit their throats."

"o-oh," i choked on the information given to me. i know i asked for it, but it's never easy to hear how you're potentially going to die.

"so is there like a deep-web wiki page for him?" i tried lightening the mood for myself to calm my nerves.

ashley awkwardly chuckled, "sort of, it's more like an all hitman wikipedia page though. there's more than one out there on the market."

"how many of them are there?" i finished counting the last of my money and put it in the duffle bag, that was next to me in the front passenger seat.

she sighed, "there were dozens. now there's about five."
"five?" i was confused, "how are there only five?"

"people move on, they either took on different hobbies in the deep web business or they just left the deep web entirely." ashley explained.

"different hobbies? like what?" i wanted to keep conversation alive, as i didn't want to be sitting alone and quietly in the car.

"well there was the expert hitman brendon urie, but he stopped getting calls to do hitman jobs so he moved on to satanic ritual stuff in the deep web." she informed me.

"oh wow," i causally reacted, "does he still kill?"
"well if he does sacrifices to satan, i don't think people willingly go through with that, josh." she half-joked.

there was a pause in the conversation, but there was a question boiling inside me for a while, and i guess now was a good of a time as any to ask her.

"hey ashley, what's your job on the deep web?" silence came from the other line, which was eerie to say the least. i tried getting her attention again, "ashley?"

she sighed, "well i told you how i used to work for raz. i worked for him for a few months. i uh-- i used to help run the monkey house... and i do regret it, trust me josh i did. when i tried quitting, raz threatened to ruin my career. he was going to have me sent to the red room..." ashley trailed off in her thought.

"ashley?" concern raised in my voice, "what happened then?" i soon heard what sounded far away yet still audible crying. it did sound like her, but i wasn't totally sure.

ashley soon came back closer to the phone as i heard her sniffling,
"i did... i did a lot of awful things to stay out of the red room. raz knew exactly how to keep me quiet and under his control. i regret it everyday. but i eventually escaped, it i thought i escaped raz, so i moved on to the drug industry... i stayed there for almost a year until raz showed up again, and tried ruining my life again. so i gave up, i gave up trying to fight it. so i changed all my information, paid a hacker to change my IP, so. me i work as a guide. it's the most simplistic career next to the people who run the suicidal chatrooms."

all of what she said left me speechless, this raz guy really wasn't someone to mess with. it sounded like he ruined ashley's life,
"i know it won't mean anything, but i'm sorry that happened to you, ashley." i sincerely told her.

"it's not your fault, josh," she weakly responded, "i just hope karma bites him in the ass." she mumbled under her breath.

i sighed, "me too." the conversation came to another pause, as i laid back in my seat i closed my eyes and took a deep breath, feeling as if i'm about to doze off.

out of nowhere, ashley spoke up again, startling me,
"you should get some rest josh, i'll wake you up when he's here." she explained, her voice now frail.

"alright," i let out a small yawn as i closed my eyes, "thanks ashley." i got comfortably settled in my seat again.

she exhaled a deep breath, "no problem, josh."