SHORTS

DEATH EATER

It's a rainy night. The thunderous roars in the sky are the only indication of what this night is about to bring on me.

I am entering the room, it's dark – but again, this part of the earth always is dark. There's a strange smell in the air; not a pleasant one, it's like a mixture of death & shit, the worst kind.

Everyone's in hazmat suits, covering every inch of their bodies. They are the CLEANERS. Even from their covered faces, I could feel their groans & grins, I could feel their eyes filled with disgust. But I understand; that disgust comes from a place of jealousy. Jealous about me. Jealous about us, THE TRAVELERS.

For them, we're just 'time traveling morons, who do as they please, go where they want'. Well, they are not wrong, we can travel anywhere in time, and most of us are morons. But not me, at least I hope I'm not.

The walls in the room are filled with black stains, the stench, I could still feel the presence of the evil that have took place in this very room.

"Oooh, the stench is real. The SQUAD must've found a big score this time", that's my new partner. He's a rookie and this is his first job. I could sense his excitement. I could sense everything; the tension in this room, the disgust in the cleaners, the sadness in the Pollock-art that the squad left us, and the breaths of the people they exterminated – the Abominations as they prefer to call them, and the never-lasting over excitement in my rookie partner. I could feel everything, that's a curse that comes from being in this job for too long.

"Wait!" I whisper to my partner, "Nobody move!" I turn to the cleaners, who were cleaning the walls while murmuring, possibly about me, "It's time!"

They storm out, like bees leaving their hive, without making any noise. They know the routine, we've been through this, thousands of lifetimes, literally.

"Is it here? Can I do this please?" my rookie begs me; he is starting to get on my nerves. I growl at him, giving my nod.

He starts to whistle out the tune that they teach at the academy, you could tell by his rhythm that it's the first time he is doing this, certainly the first time in the field. But that whistle was enough for the last abomination to crawl out from under the bed. It was staring at me, even though it was the rookie that had called it out.

The rookie took out his gun, pointing it at the creature, yet, he was unsure of himself. I could feel his hesitance. I understand it, I still remember my first rodeo, I was shaken to the core. The creature itself is disgusting enough to kill in an instant. But, the eyes. The human eyes, that they still possess; the more you look into them, the harder it becomes to kill them.

This one had dark brown eyes, and by looking at its form, you couldn't say that this dark, gloomy, slimy, growling creature was once human. I'd guess its age is probably just 5 human years, but it has been in this, disgusting form for hundreds of years.

See, the earth had given humans lots of things, but in return, all the humans have given is pain. The planet had to clap back, and it did. Oh, how it did. First, the rains stopped, then the trees and the animals; dropped like insects. But, humans and their instincts always thrived on survival. This time, they did. I don't know much, but from what I do know, they created drones to form clouds and cause rainfall and tested it on people. It was fine at first, but within no time, the humans started to change, they started to deform and become these immortal abominations. The ones that survived created a world for themselves, in the skies. They wanted to take back the earth, hence, time travel was created, WE were created.

Enough of this!

"Do it fast kid" I'm losing my patience. We don't wanna stay here longer than we have to, every minute counts. Every minute that we stay here is to be accounted for when we head back to the cloud office, and I don't wanna be late, I follow a routine and I stick to it.

"Are you gonna do it or not?" the rookie is locked into its eyes, still aiming at the forehead of this little abomination. I know he's afraid. These creatures – they appear to be just like humans, but they are eviler than we can comprehend.

"All right!" I pull out my gun aiming at the abomination, putting three dots on its face, one on each eye and one in the middle. That's how we're taught. We have to make sure that they are down for good. This one was. The black blood spread all over the walls was proof of that.

~~~~

"You can check back in at the cloud, I'll be back in exact-"

"Exact 3 minutes. I know. I've read your files, and I've been on the rounds with you for a week now remember? Well, a week in the Linear time at least." the rookie cuts me off. He looks disturbed, not as excited as he might've imagined the job to be.

It's been 60 seconds since we've been out on the terrace, putting our guns back in our cars. He still looks upset. He'll get over it, everyone does. I did.

"That's right. See you in 5 kid" I bid him adieu, sitting in my car "Look kid, you'll get over it."

I start my engine. Ready to bust out of here. I don't wanna be late.

"Wait!" the rookie shouts "I've been meaning to ask you. Why are you always in a hurry to be back there? Every day, It's not like you'll be late. Time doesn't exist for us. You can go there any time you want-"

"How do you know where I am going?"

"I've read you." his curiosity turns into concern "I mean your files. Your entire story. I know where you go. But do you have to? I don't understand why you need to torture yourself every single day, to go face the exact moment, to relive that again."

I don't wanna answer his question.

"I think I deserve an answer. If I'm gonna be your partner then I need to trust you. And I need you to trust me. So, please tell me-"

"Because I've to remind myself" I snap, what could you expect, I've been holding it in for a long time now and it had to come out. I just wish it wasn't on this rookie.

"...time doesn't exist for us but it exists in the office. I have to log back my entries. I can spare a few seconds out, perks of my experience. And to answer your question, why do I go back to the moment again and again? To see my daughter get killed, by me? It's to remind myself – you see kid. You've joined this job thinking it's the best deal. You could travel through time, anywhere, anytime, becoming immortal in every sense and perhaps becoming 'the most powerful person' right? That's what you told me on your first day. Well, kid, answer me this, do you feel like that now? After facing what you've just faced?"

No answer from him, "I didn't think so." I take a breath, "Go home kid. Take some rest."

"About what?" he asks, with a growing concern in his voice and his face.

"Huh?"

"You said it's to remind yourself, about what?"

"The deal I had to make. I didn't know I had a daughter; let alone she was an abomination. But, that was the job, the...the test for me to pass in order to get in. I was your age kid, I had nothing to lose only to gain. And when they told me that I had a daughter on the ground, who has been an abomination for centuries now and I have to put her down in order to become a Traveler, I did it. Without hesitance. Without any second thoughts. Why do I go back there? Because even though I can travel through time, I can't stop it. Even though I save humanity every day, even though I can relive every moment in time, I can't change it. I can't save my daughter, from being killed, by me. It's to remind myself about what I had to do, to remind myself kid, that even though I'm an immortal, I'm still the most powerless man ever."

I feel breathless. Even though it should feel like a weight has been lifted over my heart, I feel a ton of weight added to it. I don't know why; I don't want to.

I shift my gear and accelerate my way, at the speed of light.

What came over me? Why now? Maybe it's because I see myself in him. Or maybe, it's here, the moment I've been waiting for, I'm nearing my end. 

Finally.