The Thousandth One

The Runner

In Arizona, I was the one assigned to make the First disappear. Of course, no one would know that it was me, there was absolutely no evidence to prove otherwise.

I watched him as he left from the starting line. He was one of the first to take the lead. He was the first one to be targeted because he was very well known and a very fit man. We would need someone like that.

Hours later, he was one-on-one with a lady, racing to the finish. She would probably be assigned to someone the next day. But I had no time to feel sorry for her. Hell, if I was caught feeling sorry for someone I would be the one to disappear. All I needed to do was to tap the heel of my foot and poof, he would be gone.

"Hey! What are you doing?" A voice called from behind me. Shit, I've just been caught. But how? I'm just tapping my foot!

I looked to see who yelled at me, and what I saw was a man racing towards me. Oh no oh no. I started to pull out my pen. All I had to do was poke myself and I would disappear. It's like the button in my shoe, but this one actually has to make contact with the object. I'm about to poke myself when I see the man run past me.

He jumps and tackles a woman who is pointing a gun at me.

"Oh my God!" I hear shouts around me and everyone starts running away.

"Are you okay?" A different, younger, more attractive, tall, tan kid asks me.

"What?"

"Are you okay? That lady almost shot you!"

Oh shit! The runner! I look around, desperately trying to find this runner. I see him still running to the finish line. What? How did they not hear all the commotion? I realize that the only people who noticed were the ones within five feet of me. Everyone else was cheering the runner on. As he reached the finish line, I stomped my heel, and he disappeared.

Phew, job done. I almost missed it. I wouldn't have seen tomorrow if I did.

There was the temporary silence, no one knew what just happened. Soon, the people started screaming. I needed to get out of there. If I wasn't reacting I would become suspicious. I was about to turn around and run, when I ran smack into the boy who asked me if I was okay.

"Oh my God! What did you just do?"

"Excuse me?"

"I saw you! You just made that man disappear!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I needed to get out of there. I started to walk away when I saw the woman who just tried to shoot me getting into a police car. She was giving me the most horrible glare. I quickly left and made it across the street. I had to get back to my room to report the incident back to Truine, he would want to know how the First went. As I left I kept thinking about the lady's stare, it really shouldn't have, but it made me feel uneasy, it's not like I would ever see her again. At least that's what I thought.