Second Chapter

"I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process." -Vincent Van Gogh

He landed on his feet like a cat, elegant and quiet. He grinned at me, showing me his little dimples. He wore his grey sweater and jeans. He never put to many thoughts in his outfit. Like this he almost looked like a normal 18 or 19 year old college student. Except he was very pretty and just jumped from a five floor building and didn't break one bone.

 “See?” he murmured cheerful in a low voice. “Just like old times.” He lifted his leg and turned it to test the flexibility of it. Its knee made some odd sounds, like the ticking of an old clock. Slowly, with some slight doubt on his face, he placed the leg on the ground again. “Well,” he said, sounded a little defeated. “At least almost.”

 I rolled my eyes and started walking. I didn’t want to show it, but I was actually worried. He wasn’t ready and everybody knew that. But they had commanded that he should be in operation as soon as possible. And this mission should be a good start, he said. And I should look after him. I always do, it was never a question, but now…

"Hey," his comforting voice interrupted my thoughts. "Stop overthinking everything." Joshua patted me on my shoulder. He seemed awfully optimistic. I gave him a very unconvincing smile. I mean, he was right. I certainly overthought this. I know, this job isn't easy, but it wasn't that dangerous. But either way, so much could go wrong...

"Joel!"

I blinked and as I looked around, I was finding myself in a dark, cold alley, in the shadows of the afternoon between two buildings. I have to be more attentive, because I had no idea where we were. This was a new city for me and I had absolutely no orientation.  Joshua looked at me, his gray eyes shining bright of excitement. "Didn't you see that?"

"Joshua, where are we?"

"I, uh, I thought you knew."

"Joshua!"

"What?" his face was blank, no sigh of guilt. "You walked in front of me, so I thought, 'Well, he knows where he is going, so I'll just follow him'." With an impatient gesture he stroke out the dark string of hair out of his eye. His hair was too long; he didn't cut it since he had been taking to the hospital.

I took a deep breath. Do not get mad at him. This is his first mission in a long time. He is just a little distracted, happens to the best of us. It's going to be fine…

"You know exactly what happens when we get there to late!" I rubbed my forehead, trying to think. "Alright, let me check the coordinate that were sent to us, so we-“

A terrible, almost inhuman scream exploded in the street, soaked in pain and fear. I swallowed. Apparently we weren't lost after all.

I let Joshua lead the way. He knows now where to go. I saw how his body became tense after every step we went closer to the already faded scream. One day he told me he could feel them. Feel their pain.Feel the life flowing out of them. We go around the next corner and I smelled the blood before I saw the silhouette on the ground, a women lying on her back. When I saw the big pool of blood around her I stopped walking. Joshua went closer to the women, watching her. From where I stand I could see she was at the most 22 years old. I felt a lump in my throat. Why do they have to be so young every time?  I noticed that she was holding her stomach, blood was flowing from the open wound through her hands. I knew she wasn’t dead yet. Because that’s why we were here.

 “Please,” She sounded like she was drowning, her voice gurgling. She coughed up blood which covered her face in tiny scarlet drops. “Help me.” She gasped for more air, which made her cough again. Joshua knelt beside the women, did not mind the blood and looked her calmly into the eyes. She stopped her breath for a second and swallowed. She was as calm as Joshua. “You are so beautiful-.”

 Joshua just smiled, warm, then said the words I have heard a hundred times: “I’m Joshua, your time has come. I’m here to take your soul.” And as he said it, he touched her cheek and the painful expression vanished from her face and left it blank.

 

 “You’re okay, buddy?” I asked carefully. He hadn’t moved for a few minutes, just starring at the corpse. Slow, still eyeing the motionless body, he stood up and took a few steps back. Now I could see his face which was covered in tears. I went over to him and hugged him without any words. He buried his face in my neck and I felt his wet tears.

 “She was stabbed, Joel,” I heard him whisper. “Stabbed to death.”

 I hugged him tighter. “I know.”

Author's Note

So, I think you can guess what they are. If you got any questions, ask away.