Mireo

Recovery

Halio picked me up in his car and drove us back home together, asking tons of questions.
“So you're sure he's dead, you checked his pulse and everything?” He watched the road and interrogated me.
“Yeah. I got a little angry and kept beating him even after he was dead.” I confirmed it.
“Understood.” His head nodded in trust. “Good job, buddy, I'm proud of you.”
There it was, that feeling of pure joy at the sound of praise. I don't even know why I feel attention from Halio, but that question isn't gonna stop me from wanting it.

…

When we got home, he had me lay on the couch while he tended to my jaw and the rest of my injuries. I didn't want to talk because I was tired and it hurt to open my mouth, so we sat in silence for most of the time. He occasionally asked me yes or no questions, but other than that it was pretty quiet.
Eventually he saw how tired I looked and he left me alone to sleep on the couch.
“Rest well. Do you think you could do that again a couple more times? Just over the next week.” He asked before he left.
“I'm not sure… is it gonna hurt that bad each time?”
“Maybe, depends on how much of a fight they'll give.” he explained, sitting on the floor next to the couch I lay on.
“I can try..” I mumbled.
“Alright. That's all I ask of you, buddy.” He smiled at me. “Sleep well.”
He left the living room and went to the kitchen as I lay there mindlessly.
I just killed someone with my bare hands.
Why do I feel… powerful?
I stare at the ceiling with heavy eyes until I couldn't keep them open any longer, drifting off into a deep sleep. That was where I dreamt of that encounter over and over again. I dreamt of both the pain and the glory, being hit VS hitting him. It was bizarre to be in control of someone's life, it wasn't a bad feeling though.

After a day or two, my jaw started feeling better. I still couldn't really eat solid foods, so Halio made me these weird food drinks called smoothies. They didn't taste bad, I'll admit that.
Halio seemed to find it bizarre how fast my jaw was healing, but I didn't really understand.
Halio also gave me a couple jobs to do with extra challenges!! He said there was a woman named Oma that I had to kill, and I had to do it with a rope around her neck. He said that was apparently the easiest way to do it without a mess.
Killing Oma was pretty easy. She was weaker than the others. It seemed like after each job it got easier to kill, which was pretty good, I needed the energy. I didn't get hurt again, thankfully, Halio said the incident with the first job was a beginner's accident.
Speaking of Halio… every time I get done with a job, he seems to disappear for hours on end and come back exhausted. Pretty strange… he also refuses to answer my questions and it makes me think he's hiding something from me and I don't like it. He has also been missing sleep and I've caught him sitting on the counters just staring at the floor or ceiling, deep in thought. He's a strange guy.
Soon enough he said he was preparing me for something big, and I should always be striving for perfection in each kill, no matter what. i guess it helped because now I was rarely getting genuinely hurt, and just in a couple weeks worth of time to train and be sent out on jobs.
Easy enough.