Blade's Book of Nonsense

Epilogue

The sound of raindrops echoed as they splashed onto the now empty street. The gray clouds had signaled their warning for the bustling people yelling on phones and chatting with friends to hurry home. The dismal day kept the boss and I inside a smoothie place he frequently used after a quick job. He explained it always "hit the spot after bloody business".

The interior looked the same at any smoothie place in London. They all seem to order from the same catalog or have the same interior designer. They always have those same smooth, circular wooden tables dispersed in various locations with furniture which varies from beige to just about any shade of brown. The bleached white walls are always covered with motivational words or sayings such as "Believe" or "Make It Happen!" Lastly, bright lights are scattered around leaving one or two tables luminously lit, but leaving dim corners around the building that those like us sit in. They resemble café's, if cafés were brightly lit and were less creative with furniture.

I twirled my straw in my strawberry smoothie, pushing the chunks of fruit around with a sigh. My leg bounced, jingling the small amount of change given to me as an allowance. I watched out the window as the rain danced about the sky in harmony. I could feel myself just starting to dissociate before the boss jabbed my arm, a small amount of my smoothie spilled out.

"You know there are a little above seven million people in the world?"

I glanced down at my smoothie, grasped my straw and stirred the chunks again in a faster fluid motion. My throat tightened and my eyes burned as I focused heavily on the movement of the strawberry chunks. I breathed out calmly, trying not to show emotion.

"Are you really moping because we killed one?"

I remembered Baron always told me a child's mind is a steel trap of memories. When I was six, this was a complement to my ability to remember minute details about pickpocketed individuals on the streets and who were richer than others, but now? I could still see it all in my seven year old brain. Trapped behind the lock of the steel trap. I let go of my straw and grasped my arms, squeezing them tight.

"Please! I'll do anything!" his swampy eyes flooded with tears as he pushed his palms on the concrete wall hoping it would move, "How much did they pay you? I can pay you more Mercifus, please!" His breath was ragged as he grasped his chest trying desperately to catch his breath in his panic. We had him cornered. I stood behind my boss and peeked from around his right leg.

My boss raised his own golden claw hand and tilted it side to side, admiring it with a smirk. As he stepped closer, the man became more frantic and pleaded louder causing laughter from my boss. I watched as the golden claw dug into the man's throat. He gasped for air with tears streaming down his face. As panic set in his marshy eyes he tried to back away, to no avail. The claw had hooked into his larynx. Mercifus tilted his head and with a chilling smile tore his neck wide open. His gurgled gasps for air hissed through the alleyway and caused my stomach to turn. He wiped the blood from his claw with a soft grin and said word for word...

"That's how it's done kid. You make 'um scared, let them feel like they have a chance if you want, and then make them panic. When you panic, you're prone to do stupid shit. Then they get desperate. They squirm. When they have reached the climax of their panic, don't let them calm themselves, kill them quickly. That is unless you want a false sense of security, which is a completely different way to enjoy your job. It's all for the thrill, and the money is a bonus."

I retched in the alley.

He cleared his throat and slapped the back of my head with his good left hand. He sighed awaiting the response he knew was coming.

"But-!"

"Seven. Million. People. Now shut the hell up, quit being a little bitch, and drink that five dollar smoothie I just bought you. That's way too damn much for strawberry milk with some chunks in it." He hissed as he sat back in his chair. He rolled his eyes.

I gave a quick nod and took a small sip of my smoothie. The memory of the blood flowing sleekly down the man's neck turned what should be a smooth and rich drink into a putrid substance. A soft gag escaped my lips. Mercifus gulped his smoothie down and stared directly at me. His lip twitched.

"You're getting it to go. You are not going to waste my hard-earned money because you're a queasy little cock up!" He grasped my hand and dragged me to the counter.

The red headed lady who served us pushed a stray hair back behind her ear as he approached her at the counter. The mood shifted from aggression to flirtatious. Mercifus leaned forward on the counter and gave her a toothy grin. A soft blush began to show behind her delicately placed freckles.

"We'd like this to go, sugar." His voice had changed from rugged to enticing. He gave her a wink.

"Not a problem, sir." She smiled and twirled her ponytail nervously. I couldn't tell if she was uncomfortable with his advances or new to the romance game. She grabbed a to-go cup and carefully poured the smoothie from the glass cup into it. She grinned proudly and held the cup out to him.

"Thanks dear but, this is my kid's. He wanted to go see the Royal Botanical Gardens today, but the rain put a damper on his spirit." He lied through his teeth and worked up a frown.

"Poor thing! I'm sure daddy will take you tomorrow, little fella." She spoke in a baby voice and delicately handed me the cup. She had a soft caring smile and mossy green eyes. His eyes haunted me again. I grasped the cup and looked to the floor, counting the small specks of dust from the morning's hustle and bustle. Mercifus grinned and lifted me up into his arms. To everyone, he was a great father treating his son to a smoothie to help ease the disappointment of the day being ruined by rain. But to me..?

He pinched my cheek with his good hand, smiled at the woman and said his goodbye's waving with his prosthetic claw hand. As soon as the doors closed and we were out of sight through smeared windows he placed me on the ground and huffed. He walked ahead of me and grumbled to himself things I couldn't hear. I caught up and paced myself to stay beside him as we rushed home. I couldn't shake what he had said though...

There are over seven million people in the world. Are you really moping because we killed one...?

Logically it made sense, but something just didn't sit right in my stomach.