Hiraeth

Chapter 1

My sense's focused, my mind sharped, my only point of interest was the target six feet in front of me. I could feel the heavy weight, the cool metal of the gun. The red rimmed outline of the target, a silhouette to mirror the real thing. The air was thick with the smell of oil and a metallic tang. My finger closed around the trigger. My heart beat didn't change.

The gun fired and all I could hear was the loud bangs and small clinks of bullets being released and casings dropping to the floor. Eight holes penetrated the dummy right through the head the board gapping to show the iron wall behind. I mechanically reloaded the gun, going through the motions in less than a second. I raised the gun again, focused on the target and again hit it in the centre of the head.

The scene changed, I couldn't remember when the target boards had been swapped for real targets. I didn't much care. I stood in front of a man with wide eyes and panting breath, he looked at me, desperately shouting muffled words from under the duct tape secured to his mouth. He looked frantic, his face was bloodied, eyes darting around, he strained at the bonds as if he could break them through pure will.

Again I leveled the gun at the target's head focusing on the cool metal against my hands. His movements became more frantic his words louder as my finger slipped to the trigger. This time I only fired twice. Once in the heart, once in the head. The shot echoed around the small room and casing clinking on the wooden floor. The man went still, then oozing blood, slumped where he sat. Dead.

I holstered the gun watching with hollow eyes as the body was dragged from the room. I looked at the spot where the man had sat and suddenly wondered when I'd become so numb to death. Numb to everything. I didn't have a name, I was an assassin I didn't need one. My life was the red room, their orders my will. I was no one to question that. Still something at the back of my mind stirred as if in protest. I ignored it.

My handler, a woman in her 40s, with curly blonde hair and green eyes sat on the seat the bodied just being taken from. She had a cruel face, something that was stark against her colourful clothing.
"I have a mission, simple find and destroy." She stated brushing invisible dust from her bright green trousers as she looked up at me expectantly.

I stayed quiet taking out my gun and handing it to her, she took it putting it on her lap as she produced something from inside her yellow fur coat.
"This is the man, make it quick and make it clean." She handed me a small picture as she checked the bullets in the gun. I stared at the picture, it was a guy with army cropped hair, a light peppering of stubble and tired eyes.

He was wearing prison orange and stood in front of a line up board. I gave the picture back memorising the details as my Handler got up from her seat. She stuffed my gun into the waistband of her pants, flicking her coat over to hide it as she gestured for me to follow. We walked through the corridors, her a few paces ahead. I passed a woman with fiery hair and for a second our eyes met.

Suddenly I was overwhelmed by a sense of familiarity, her name was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn't quite remember it. Her expression faltered and I imagined that mine looked similar. There was something so comforting about her presence something that assured the thoughts in the back of my mind.

I broke eye contact first brushing past the woman who also continued on. A few seconds later my handler halted in front of a huge metal door. She gave me an injection expectantly waiting as I took it from her. I positioned it over one of my arms plunging the needle into my skin and injecting it. Cool liquid seeped through my veins and I took out the needle flexing my hand as I handed it back to my handler. I counted to 20 backwards watching as the world got further and further away from me before I collapsed.