Without the Truth

Chapter 1

Standing on the crowded subway platform, I glanced at the clock for what had to be the thousandth time in the past eight minutes since the train was supposed to arrive. People pushed past me in a hurry, trying to get where they need to be as quickly as possible. I ran my hand through my shoulder length brown hair anxiously. For many, the mass of people coming and going, bumping into you and pushing past would be stressful but I had always loved the atmosphere of big crowds. It was something about how easy it was to blend in and disappear.

I had always been good at blending in. Physically, the best word to describe me was average. I stood at an average height of five feet, five inches. My hair was an average shade of shoulder length medium brown. It wasn't straight, but it wasn't curly. I wasn't athletic, but I wasn't fat either. I was just... average. I was the kind of girl no one would go looking for.

Disappearing had become something I used as an escape. When no one noticed you, you learned a lot. That boy selling papers on the street corner? He had a huge crush on the girl who worked in the floral shop down the street after school. The man from my apartment that always wore suits with a different contrasting color tie? He loved cream filled donuts but wouldn't even get near a jelly filled one. The homeless man who usually sat outside the park? Every time someone gave him money, he used it to buy ice cream for the little girl who had to walk home alone every day because her mom was too busy working three jobs just to make the house payments and put food on the table.

I glanced at the clock again. I was supposed to be there for the first day of my internship in fifteen minutes and the commute was supposed to take eight with a six minute walk from the station to the office. I had missed my alarm and now my train was late, what else could possibly go wrong? I lifted my travel thermos up to take another drink of my lukewarm coffee only to find it empty. When did I finish drinking that? I asked myself and sighed. I could already tell it was going to be a long day. I was right, just not in the way I was thinking.

I heard the the train coming down the tunnel and I sighed in relief, I could still make it. I stepped forward in order to board it as fast as I could, but someone bumped into my shoulder from behind, causing my thermos to fall out of my hand and roll towards the tracks. When I recovered, I turned to find the cause of my fall staring me in the eyes. His deep blue eyes reached into my soul as if calling for help as a single tear ran down his face. "I'm sorry," his voice cracked and I felt cold metal wrap around my wrist. My upper body was pulled downward from the weight of the suitcase now handcuffed to my wrist as he stepped forward and threw himself under the train.

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The figure slid its metro pass over the scanner and walked through the gate. It sat down on a bench in the bustling station and adjusted the hooded sweatshirt that hid its face.. It crossed its arms and slouched down, clearly uneasy about something. A little girl who couldn't have been more than eight slid onto the bench beside it.

"What do you do mister?" she questioned with curiosity sparkling in her young, innocent eyes.

The figure stared at her blankly for a moment. "I make bad people disappear."

The child's mother came over and grabbed her arm, pulling her away while glancing at the figure clothed in black seated beside her.

It was only a few minutes before it saw what it had been waiting for. A man in a trench coat walked by, glancing around as though he was afraid someone was following him. He chewed on his lip as he halted abruptly. He held a small leather suitcase as if his life depended on it. A small pad lock held the case together and there there was a glint of silver metal around the handle. The figure watched with a sly smile as the man walked towards the tracks, stopping only to whisper something to a preteen girl. The figure stood and turned to leave as the man ended his own life.