The Company

I knew that I was dreaming, but I couldn't wake up. I was talking to myself, screaming at her to stop, to wake up, but she couldn't hear me. I knew what was coming, and I didn't want to see it again. I didn't want to live through it again. She kept moving forward, though, silently, in the dark. I knew that somewhere behind her, he was creeping along just as silently. It was a job, the same thing they'd been asked to do too many times to think about. I knew what was going through her head, but his was a completely different story. She turned the corner in the strange house that she knew only from layout drawings he had provided. To be completely honest, she shouldn't have had to be there at all. He worked solo for a reason, even if it wasn't a very good one. He couldn't be trusted, and she knew that she was taking a risk by obeying the boss's order to help him. She didn't have any real idea what she was walking into, and she had no clue it would haunt her for the rest of her life. Hindsight, right? I screamed again, hoping this time it would jar me out of that house and back to the real world, awake in my bed. No such luck, she just kept walking silently further into the dark house. Suddenly, she shifted slightly right, reacting to a small sound she heard from the adjoining room. There was a flash from behind her as he shot the person standing in the doorway, the look of shock evident on the man's face as he collapsed onto the floor. That was it, it was done, it should have been over. Except a small form came descending from the upper floor, no doubt drawn to find out what the sound was that accompanied the man's fall. She could see that it was a child, no real threat to either one of them. It was dark enough that she felt confident the child would not see their faces and was only sorry that he would have to find his father that way. She turned away and began to walk back the way she came when a flash in front of her made her freeze in her tracks. At first, I knew she panicked, thinking that he was shooting at her, waiting for the pain to follow the flash and soft snap the bullet made leaving the barrel. It was worse than that, though, so much worse than she could have imagined. She heard the thump the child's body made as it fell heavily onto the wooden floor. No. He didn't, he couldn't possibly have-- She turned around slowly, horrified at the thought of what she knew she was going to see. The child lay on his side, facing her, eyes wide in shock and confusion, frozen forever in the horror that had crept into his house. I screamed at the top of my lungs, hearing nothing, knowing I couldn't change what happened. She spun around and stared, shocked, at the guy standing behind her, gun still pointed, cold smirk still firmly planted on his face. She opened her mouth to scream and lunged toward him-- Suddenly, I was sitting upright in my bed, staring at the wall, breathing heavily, and trying to make my brain stop racing. I had this dream most nights, as unhelpful and torturous as it was. I knew I couldn't ever change what had happened that night; I was going to have to live with that haunting incident for the rest of my life. The only thing worse than that was the rage I had towards Justin, knowing that he had no feelings at all about the young life that he took. I threw the blanket off me and stood up, trying to shake off the remaining feelings the dream always left with me. I ran my fingers through my long black hair and started looking around the studio apartment I was currently hiding in. My duffle bag was still packed and lying on the floor next to the locked door, right where I left it. The bag with all of my bathroom necessities was still sitting on the sink just inside the bathroom door. Otherwise, the apartment looked like no one lived there, exactly the same as it was when I first arrived. The same as I would leave it that day when I left. I had to leave; I had already stayed there longer than I should have. It was only a matter of time until Justin or another agent eager to please the boss would catch up to me. I had kept my promise to him that I would never work another job after that night. I had reported to him after, letting him know exactly how wrong everything had gone. I hadn't been prepared for his response. "He killed a child," I had told him, disgusted. "I am aware." "He couldn't have been more than 8 years old, sir." "Justin briefed me already," he said, not bothering to look up from the paperwork in front of him. "So what happens now?" "What's done is done, Anika. Besides, surely it's better that there are no witnesses, yes?" I stared at him in shock. There was no way he was just going to let this go without any form of punishment, right? We did jobs, but we didn't do it because we enjoyed it. That was the one thing he made sure to begin instilling in us as soon as we started training. We had to be professional; he couldn't trust someone who enjoyed doing the work. The names on the contract, no one else with them. I just hadn't realized that those rules didn't apply to all of us. "You're really not going to do anything about this?" "It's already done, Anika," he said sternly, "and the job was successful. There isn't anything else that needs to be done." "If you let this stand, if you let him get away with this, I promise you I'm done. I will never do another job." "Careful, Anika," he growled, finally looking up from the papers on his desk, "you wouldn't want to do anything that would endanger your opportunity for a future." I had spun on my heels and walked out of his office without another word. I went straight to my room, packed up everything I owned, which honestly wasn't much, and left. I had been running ever since, trying to stay one step ahead of anyone who might have been following me. I knew someone would be; he had set up a contract with my name on it as soon as he found out I had left. He couldn't allow me to continue to walk free in the world while I knew all of his secrets. That was too dangerous. A knock sounded at the door that caused me to nearly jump out of my skin. No one knew I was here, there was no way they could have found me. I must have overlooked something, left some clue I wasn't aware I left. I grabbed the pistol out of the holster taped to the underside of the kitchen table and walked slowly toward the door. I listened hard, trying desperately to hear anything I possibly could from the other side of the door. It was silent. I stood to the right of the doorway, in case the person on the other side decided to fire shots through the wooden door, and waited. "Ani?" I jumped again. It couldn't be him; he couldn't have possibly been stupid enough to follow me. I had made him promise he wouldn't! "Cam?" "Open the door!" I set the gun on the table next to me, unlocked the door, and threw it open. "Cameron!" I hissed, grabbing his hand and yanking him inside, "What the hell are you doing here?!"