Steele- Chapter three

Chapter 3

~present day~

“Good Morning New York City! The weather today will be a bit cloudy but mostly sunny. Tonight there will be a slight chance of rain. But the weekend is looking good! Don’t forget to make your way to the Bronx Museum of Arts for their new exhibit.”

The sound of the radio echoed through my bedroom. I was laying in my bed, not ready to get up just yet. The covers were still warm from my body heat and moving was not something that was on my agenda. The sheets, the covers, the faint scent of Downy were pulling me in, whispering in my ear “don’t go, you know you don’t want to”. And that was true, but work was more important than staying in bed. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t. My hand reached out and hit the off button to my alarm clock. The red numbers that told me the time read 6:47 just as it does every morning. I’ve never understood the reasoning behind always waking up at the same time, nor did I question it.

The wood floor on my feet was giving me chills as I walked over to my desk. Going from a warm bed to freezing wood floors was always something that took me a while to adjust to. So I took a seat in the chair at my desk, no longer worrying about my feet. My focus was now on work. A manila folder was placed on the right side of the small desk. I looked at if for a long moment. Just glancing at it sent memories back to my head. But this was my “destiny” as Boss says, and I had to fulfill it.

I took the folder in my hands. It gave off a very unsettling feeling. One that made me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Everyday I look at the list, a new name shows up on it. Only one name and one location are on it at a time. Once I get rid of that person- kill them in any way possible- the words fade into the fibers of the paper, never to be seen again. When the ink disappears completely, you have to immediately place the list back into its folder. You’re forbidden to look at it again until the next morning when a new name has shown itself on the paper. The process repeats itself for the next day, and the day after that, and so on until the last person on my list has been taken care of. Never was I informed of  why the people I have to kill need to be rid of, and that always bothered me. It’s a never ending cycle of death and I’m living right  in the middle of it

Taking in a deep breath, filling my lungs with fresh air, I opened up the folder. A slight breeze escaped the inside of it brushing my face with cool air, just as it always does. The list itself was an aged piece of paper that yellowed a bit over time. The edges and had been burned and charred and a few coffee stains we scattered all over. In the centre of the piece of paper, a bold italicized name had showed itself.

For a moment, the only thing I was capable of doing was starting. I thought that maybe, just maybe, there had been a mistake. The list doesn’t make mistakes. It never has. Two years I’ve had this list. Two years I’ve killed off person after person without a second thought. But this, this is wrong. Why him? It just doesn’t make sense.

I pushed away from my desk. My knuckles turned white from gripping the edge of the wood. Every muscle in my body was tense and threatening to burst out from underneath my skin.

“This can’t be happening. It just can’t.”

Time felt like it had stopped. It was mourning the death of the list’s next victim just as I was. Nothing was moving and the only sound in the room had been my heavy breathing. I sat there for what seemed like eons, but was probably only seconds. My body was numb. I just couldn’t understand why his name had been chosen to be on the list. Boss would know why. It was just the matter of if he would tell me.

I shot my head up. There wasn’t any time to mess around. Grabbing a pair of jeans, I quickly put them on. There was no time to look for a shirt to wear today. Sprinting through the house I picked up my car keys, and a hoodie. The front door was waiting for me at the end of the hallway. I slammed into it, making the door rip from it’s top hinge.

“God damn it.” A sigh escaped my mouth. “I have no time for this!”

I would like to go off topic for just a moment. The side effects of Mercuranium are things unimaginable to humans.Things you thought could only happen to superheros. Now, of course, I’m not the first human they tested it on, but because I’m no longer apart of that species, I would like to say that the effects it put on the human body were incredible. Sharper, clearer  eyesight, more powerful punches, a stronger body, tougher skin, little bit of flying here and there, flames shooting from your hands (my personal favourite), enhanced senses, and things I probably haven’t found out yet . But anyway, back to the story.

I pushed hard on the door to make it look somewhat back to normal. It was still sticking up a bit from the the broken hinge so I did a quick snap. My fingertips combusted in a bright flame. I slowly urged my hand toward the metal hinge and allowed the metal to melt under the heat. A few seconds was all it took the fix it. Which was good because I needed  to see Boss.  Now that the door was fixed, I ran to my car, started the engine, and sped on down the road.