Operation: One percent

Chapter 21

Margaret

Even though he said that I could go early, I waited to track him. He, however, never came out.

Surely, he would be leading the assassin back to his place if he went home, so I decided to let him go about his way for now. I noticed that I was waiting for him for way too long for someone without a disguise. Even if I caught him unaware, I simply had no strength left to complete my task.

I stood in the shower, letting the droplets of water glide down my body. Steam easing my muscles, I let myself be whisked away in the caesura of the moment. Emptying my mind was a struggle, as the what-ifs haunted me just like my victims at night. 

It would be morbidly comforting if they appeared in my visions as humans they were when I took their lives. Instead, they would show themselves as ghouls, eyes taken out of their sockets. Screeches of theirs calling my name, blaming me, asking why I had no courage to face them. Maybe they would keep their eyeballs if I had at least. 

A singular ghoul had his eyes, and it was the first victim. He would sneer and growl at me, and he would always appear in front of me whenever I tried to run away from the piles of eyeless ghoul corpses.

Shaking off the vision, I turned off the faucet. 

Towel drying my hair once again left a large clump of it behind on the fabric. How long will I be able to keep on going? 

My soul is a bedouin in search of an oasis, but in fact, forever chasing a mirage. 

I barely clothed myself, when I heard footsteps in my home.

I scoured my bathroom for anything that could be useful but except for my razor, I saw nothing else. Keeping the faucet running was my best bet at keeping a diversion. I hid behind my doors and calmed my breath. Taking out my phone, I moved to call the police, but then I remembered what Ace said about disappearances.  At least someone should know that I might be dead soon, so by any chance my daughter is alive, they could tell her the truth.

Margaret: "Someone uninvited is at my place."

I wrote, and only after sending it, I forgot that he doesn't actually know where I am living.

Five seconds later, a response.

Ace: "Stay where you are. I am coming."

I wondered how would he do that, but the steps were closer and far heavier.

A lean figure of the same stature as the one from Ace's office, stood now in my bathroom, focusing the silver gun on the shower curtain.

I jumped at their throat, elbowing their throat in a chokehold, but they used my own weight against me and pinned me down.

My legs pushed into their knees, and the person didn't have such a strong grip, which I used to my advantage to throw them away from me. I quickly went for the daggers under my bed, and as soon as I had reached them, they appeared in front of me and kicked me in the stomach.

Their eyes were heated in anger and spite a sense of familiarity already formed. They are a formidable adversary. 

"Who are you?" I strained to speak.

No response was coming from the person, but as the TV and my lights started flickering,  I used it as a useful diversion, jumping once again at their throat, using as much weight as I could to overpower them on each of their limbs. 

"Why do you want me dead?"

"Why wouldn't I?" a robotic voice, masking a true one, laughed maniacally.

Heaving my chest for air, and calming myself is a futile task. 

"Why don't you remove my cap? I want you to have a good look at the face that will end you."

For a moment, I found it to be a peculiar request. It echoed our dissimilarities. Were there no visions haunting them? Even if there were, this person decided that the cost was fair.

I slowly started removing their cap and would have succeeded if the doors didn't open suddenly. I promptly paid for the singular glance away from the person below me, as they topped me suddenly, but large hands grabbed them from behind squeezing the breath out of their lungs and slowly dragged the body away from me.

"Stop! Don't harm them!"

"Ace didn't loosen his grip, and I gathered all of my strength to get up and try to free the person.

"Stop it !"

I grabbed onto his hands and pleaded.

"Please."

Finally, he looked at me.

"I will not kill them, only because you requested so. But I will not let them go."

"Right, as if you can stop me." Robotic voice snickered in disdain. 

I approached the person, and when I reached for their mask, they kicked me in my jaw with their leg, knocking me out.