A Gift from the Goddess

"Rae...I do believe this guy is alive," Zac said.

The two of us were peering into the cupboard, looking at a very tied up and very terrified looking Noah.

"Yep," I replied.

"Right...right....And, just to make sure we’re on the same page here, you are aware that normally I don’t see this part, right? That I come in afterwards?"

"I’m aware."

At the sound of the conversation, Noah immediately started to squirm and plead to Zac with his eyes, hoping that he would help free him.

Not that it would do him any good.

"So, what's the hold up?" Zac asked, still confused.

"Isn’t this just another Thursday for you? I’ve seen you do worse."

He was right.This really wasn’t that abnormal of a job for me to do.

But I gritted my teeth at his question nevertheless, hating how I had ended up in this situation.

"I...can’t," I said, deflating in defeat.

"I can’t do it."

"You can’t...do it...," Zac repeated slowly.

"And why is it—."

"Look, I just can’t, okay?" I said, cutting him off, irritated at all the questions.

"I’ve tried.I even tried again before you got over here.I can’t do it, I can’t do it, I can’t do it.End of discussion."

"...So why am I here? Just tell your dad that —."

"No."

Of course, Zac would suggest that.He didn’t know about every dark secret my father was hiding, only ever seeing as far as he needed to.

"No, I can’t tell him," I said.

"...And you can’t tell him either."

"Rae, the boss is expecting this guy dead," he said, taking a step back to look at me.

"I’m not really sure what’s going on, but you do realise he’ll find out sooner or later, right? You can’t just keep him locked up in a cupboard forever."

"Okay, fine! Fine...," I sighed in frustration, before slowly locking up to meet his eyes.

"...Then you do it."

Immediately, his face paled.

"What?! Rae, no! No," he blurted out.

"I don’t do that."

"c’mon, Zac," I whined.

"It’s not that different from cleaning up.Both have a lot of blood.I can talk you through it.Here...just grab this dagger like this...and then hold it in your hand facing—."

"Raven, stop!"

I'd been trying to get him to wield the weapon but he immediately held his hands up and stepped away.

"Just...chill," he said.

"I’m not going to kill someone."

"Argh! I spun around and angrily started pacing the room, beginning to get more worried as every second passed.I didn’t understand why this had to be so difficult.It shouldn't be this hard.Any other day, I could have done this job with my eyes closed.Why was I struggling to kill one random man? Who even was this guy? A small brown wallet then caught my attention as it sat on top of a table, and I walked over to inspect it.

sort of familiar?" I heard Zac say behind

as I went

membership to a laundromat? I didn’t

finally, I found his driver’s

sort of looks like

Zac continued.

from a

I said, reading the name on

from the clean-up a few days ago?" I slowly spun around to look at Zac, my mind now racing with

Zac...Kennedy is this guy’s last name,"

"Noah Kennedy."

to look at the man

to him? I’d thought that Miles was an

tried to pull a

else would he have acquired problematic documents relating to him? But...‘clean up’.That’s how this job

...If that were true...then didn’t that mean Noah’s death sentence today was because of me? Because of m y

over to Noah and pulled out the cloth I’d stuffed

agreed that talking to the future murder victim was possibly the dumbest thing I could ever do...but

me go, please," he

anything.Just...don’t kill

Miles?" I asked,

blanked for a moment before

"What about Miles?"

in the mood for people not answering my questions plainly.I’d

into the wall directly next to his head, causing him to

the questions," I hissed, pulling the knife back out to point

me repeat myself for the last

out a ‘yes’, his head quickly bobbing up

"Howe"

m-my brother," he

bridge of my nose, already knowing I was going to hate where this

when was the last time you

never showed up at the bar on Saturday.I think he’s

him but it’s like he’s

That caught my attention.

‘Business’.

was something that held my curiosity and yet I

questions I had already asked was already

dealings, it was just to carry out his

of me

his death sentence today was actually

so I asked the question I knew I shouldn’t

business was Miles involved with?" I

"Rae—."

repeated, interrupting Zac before he could stop

bad of an idea this

all, he was also under the same orders to not

"Smuggling," Noah answered.

businessman in town.Gets in supplies and rare goods from all over.The best at what he does, in

I should have stopped.No, I *definitely* shouldn’t have wanted to keep going....But I couldn’t

businessman?" I asked

looked at me as if I were stupid for

this city would be

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

An employee.

had been a goddamn

or a rivaling businessman.He

...I killed an employee*.

or snitch on

harmful, then what could make someone want to betray aman as powerful as my father? Someone who would know better than most in this city what going against him entailed?

a moment and stop tunnelling down a thought process that had no end in

regardless of the why, I was now left with a very important ‘what’; As in, what the hell was I going to do about Noah? And I quickly

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