Last updated on November 22, 2022
It was a dark September day; that was an understatement. Rain steadily showered down on the metropolis’s empty streets. Thunder boomed. It seemed as if everyone was home in their beds. Rob and John were walking home after a long night at the bar. There was a football match on, and many pints were drunk in celebration of their team’s victory. They were responsible; they didn’t drive. However, they didn’t have umbrellas, and the chilling rain sobered them. They passed many dark alleys; rubbish from dumpsters and smell of dried urine emanated out from them. Rats scurried into and around dumpsters. They slowly walked, Rob listening to music on his phone. John looked at his watch, 11:37 p.m. It got late! he thought quietly. They crossed an empty street, then another. As they approached another alleyway, they both noticed a dark outline of a man leaning on a wall. They neared the man, and he stepped out onto the dank sidewalk. He was tall and puffing leisurely on the fattest cigar they’d probably ever seen, the smoke circling his head and snaking up into the void of the starless, cloudy, night sky. They noted he was carrying a briefcase. He was dressed in a black suit with a red tie. He sported a charcoal homburg hat and eyes as dark and mysterious as his persona. Rob and John both stepped back away from the man in unison, intimidated by his appearance.
The man spoke, “Good evening, gentlemen.” He spoke in a smooth, calm voice, laced with a New York accent.
“Uh, hello?” John piped up, anxiously, his voice wavering.
As if an alarm went off, the man spoke, “You two are very lucky tonight, as I am a man of great power.” They nodded as if that statement was rhetorical. “I come from a far land, a dark land, a corrupt land.” He trailed off, pausing to take another puff of his cigar. “Forgive my manners,” he chuckled and reached into a jetted pocket, pulling out a cigar case with a strange design on it. He offered it around to Rob and John, who, as they weren’t individuals who were the most concerned about their health, slowly pulled out a cigar. The man smiled. He had a strange face. He looked old, wrinkles were chiseled in his eyes and forehead, yet he also appeared strangely young, almost boyish. He offered Rob and John a light and spoke up again, “Alright, as I was sayin’, where I’m from, we don’t talk much, we just work, and that’s what I’m talking to you about, work…business. I am in a business much different than you are probably in. Some think I work miracles, others think I am…well, you’ll see.” He paused again, his eyes closed for a second, and he smiled, thinking to himself. Rob and John stood petrified, both casting uneasy glances at each other. “So,” the man said, “let’s talk business. I’ma be frank with you. I’m what you might call a hit-man. Except,” he held up a finger, Rob and John’s eyes were even wider than before, “I do things different.” The man maintained the steady calm in his voice. “I have, let’s say,…obtained the power to…erase whoever you want on request for free. This can be anyone you want; there’s no judgment. They won’t die painfully, unless you want them to, of course.”
John stepped back a little cautiously. He didn’t have many regrets in his life or anyone who he held grudges against. He wasn’t perfect, by any stretch, but he was satisfied with his choices.
Rob, on the other hand, was eager to speak up, “Anyone?” he asked.
The man laughed, “Yes, but only one person and only once.”
Rob rubbed his hands together greedily, a sinister grin formed from ear to ear.
Perplexed, John noticed this and asked, “Do you actually want to do this?”
“Of course I do!” Rob hissed, “There’s that teacher who always hated me for no reason so I couldn’t get the job I wanted, the guy who stole my wedding ring for God’s sake!” The man slunk back to his spot in the alley and leaned against the wall, emerging himself in smoke; he grinned slightly. Rob thought to himself, My ex-girlfriend who stole my money, that one guy who threatened to kill me (I’d just be returning the favor), that loser old man across the street who always got me in trouble with my parents, the guy who threatened my family. He thought to himself for a good fifteen minutes, John stared back at him, shaking his head.
John stormed up to the man and asked angrily, “Get him to stop!”
“Can’t, it’s his decision” the man emerged from the smoke and reemerged after his sentence was finished.
“Just tell him to stop! Tell him it’s fake or somethin’ or anything!”
“I’ma let you in on a little family secret. I’ve been doing this for a long time. There’s a pattern, you know. You’re a good man. You can beat me. But greed is not something that can be ignored. Your…buddy is not a good friend.” He sighed, “You met him at a bar two years ago. You’ve never been to his house, and he hasn’t been to yours.”
John gasped. This was, of course, all true. “How do you know?” John asked weakly.
“I’ve been in the business for a long time. Here, take my card.” The man shoved an ornate black business card into John’s jean pocket. John didn’t look at it. He knew he had to warn Rob, but Rob started to walk over to them.
Rob spoke, his voice filled with hate, “Sir, I know who I want dead.”
The man in the suit spoke up proudly, adjusting his tie and slipping on two black gloves “Of course!”
“But before that,” Rob said, “I’d like to thank you. I don’t know where you’re from, but you’re a good man.” John started to tense; there was nothing he could do.
The man replied, “Thank you. It’s been a little service of mine for three thousan-” The man coughed loudly, “Excuse me, gentlemen, it’s been a little service of mine for about three or so years.”
“Well, God bless you.” Rob smiled.
The man laughed a little louder than he should have, “Sure.”
There was a silence, John had a look of desperation on his face, while Rob had a look of pure ecstasy. The man spoke up, “Well then, who would you like to be…erased.”
“Oh right, sorry,” Rob grinned, “I have decided that I want to kill whoever has caused me the most pain.” Rob exhaled, confident and happy with his choice. “And of course,” Rob continued, “thank you.”
The man smiled, “No, thank you.” With that, he winked at John and clapped twice, Rob dropped dead.
The tall man disappeared into the alley, slipping off his black gloves, whistling an unknown tune, fading leisurely into cigar and sewer grate smoke. John didn’t think about the rain, his former friend, or himself. He just thought nothing for five minutes, staring at the sidewalk. The rain continued to pour around him. Then, he slowly reached for his pocket, and the small ornate business card was gone.
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