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.

doesn’t this guy look sort of familiar?" I heard Zac

him as I

a grocery store reward one...a rental shop...a membership to a laundromat? I didn’t even know

I

sort of looks like

Zac continued.

from a few days

reading the name on

the clean-up a few days ago?" I slowly spun

this guy’s last name," I

"Noah Kennedy."

both then turned to look at

what was his connection to him? I’d thought that Miles was an underground businessman or some sort of gang

who'd tried to pull a fast one over

else would he have acquired problematic documents relating to

was I sent here because he was digging into his disappearance? ...If that

Noah and pulled out the cloth I’d

the future murder victim was possibly the dumbest thing I could ever do...but I felt we were already past the point

please,"

anything.Just...don’t kill

Miles?" I asked, disregarding the

face blanked for a moment

"What about Miles?"

I really wasn’t in the mood for people not answering my questions plainly.I’d already had my

and sunk m y dagger into the wall directly next to his head, causing him to

hissed, pulling the knife back out to point it

myself for

to huff out a ‘yes’, his head quickly bobbing up

"Howe"

brother," he

bridge of my nose, already knowing I was

last time you heard

showed up at the bar on Saturday.I think he’s

like he’s just disappeared....Is that why you’re here? Does this have something to do with him?

That caught my attention.

‘Business’.

held my curiosity and yet I knew I shouldn’t

I had already

wasn't to investigate my father’s dealings, it was just to carry

a part of me wanted to

find out whether or not his death sentence today was

the question I knew

was Miles involved with?"

"Rae—."

interrupting Zac before he

would know how bad of an idea this

was also under the

"Smuggling," Noah answered.

smuggler for that wealthy businessman in town.Gets in supplies and rare goods from all

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

I

he looked at me as if I

else in this city would

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

An employee.

been

some random criminal or a rivaling businessman.He

...I killed an employee*.

had I been given instructions to bring him in at all? Was he trying to run away or snitch on my

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? There were too many questions already

a moment and stop tunnelling down a thought process

in, what the hell was I going to do about Noah? And I quickly stood back up and stepped away, my brain swimming with a million different thoughts

like the