It's cold.
This is the perfect weather for staying indoors, but pleasantries such as that aren't options. As if wanting to perfect its dismal ensemble, the world decides to let it rain… well, not quite rain. Drizzling, yes, it's drizzling… just enough that it can turn to snow, but enough that the water freeze almost on impact.
I reach out a gloved hand toward the gate, its bar are iron—slick as frozen glass. The handle is welded shut by the hours of frigid rain, so I'm going to have to do this the hard way. Planting my foot between the bars, I double-check my hold to make certain it is secure before pushing myself up and flipping over the wrought iron barrier… and I nearly fall on my ass as I stick my landing right on top patch of ice.
So much for double-checking.
With a sharp shake of my head, my hair falls back into place as if no mistake had ever happened. It's more of a curse, I assure you… it never moves—it always stays like this. I've tried dozens of times to change it, but it still looks like a well-groomed duck's ass no matter how long or short. I gave up on it years ago.
My hands agitatedly brush at the front of my coat, smoothing out the wrinkles before I continue on my way. One step into my resumed journey and a sharp pain shoots itself up my leg like an unwanted injection of magma. I must have done something to my ankle when I hit that ice.
…just… great! Really, of all the times…
I muster as much dignity as possible to hobble over to a nearby stone bench, taking a seat and finally getting a gage of my surroundings.
I'm in a park. A fairly nice park, I would assume from the décor… though most of the foliage has gone dormant for the winter and the leaves have fallen off the trees. It's a dim, gray portrait of something beautiful… still beautiful in its on right. At that moment the weather decides to change, and I look up as white flakes begin to fall from the sky, swirling and dancing their way from the heavens… I can help be noticed that they look rather sorrowful in their decent, like ethereal being who know their lifespan is only a trip from sky to earth… and the commemorate the glory of that life in the most graceful way possible.
"You aren't supposed to be in here."
The voice comes from my right, and I turn to look at a wizened old groundskeeper. He's probably worked here for years… completely innocent of most going on in the world. Such a shame… but, then again, no one is truly innocent.
"I won't be here long?" I reply, reaching into my jacket to look for something.
"Need a light?" he asks, "I've got one here."
"No…" my response is colder than the weather, if that's possible. "Are you William How?"
"Do I know you, son?"
"No…" and my response if followed up with a silenced round to his chest.
The man collapses in shock, not even uttering a cry… which is mainly due to the fact that my shot punctured his lung which is now filling with blood. He wouldn't have been able to make a sound if he wanted too. I stand up from the bench and walk over to him, only to see that the old bastard was still breathing. With a frown a bring the gun up once more and release a silenced round into his skull.
It takes a few minutes to locate what I'm looking for: his indicator ring. See? Like I said… no one is innocent. He's a level four, probably made it that far because he looked kinda like Santa Claus. No one expects Santa to be a murderer, or a serial killer for that matter. Taking the ring I slip it into my pocket; I'll mail it off later once I've moved on. Twenty-four hours before the next target… one more elimination… one more day before I could die. Wouldn't that be nice?
The wind whips dark strands of hair across my face as I conceal my weapon once again, and walk off in to the fresh forming blanket of snow.
Suspect # 0001
a.k.a The Raven
Real name: Sasuke Uchiha
Suspected kill count: 100+
Years in The Game: 11
Classification: extremely dangerous
~A/N~
Welcome to the greatest story ever told in incriments of about 500 words. I know I've been absent for awhile. In my defense: my new year started off with the Flu, followed up with broncitis, then added with an ulcer... plus the need to search for a new job. Fear not, my stories are not stopping merely stalled... so as the LtB, I'm created a way to give you something to read that I can easily sit down a write up if I don't have time (which I have very little of) to work on my main stories.
Hopefully these two chapters intrigue you because there is so much that I can do with this form of storytelling. Hope you all have fun, hope your holidays were bright... much love!
Sarai