The Gift Reaper

Chapter One

In a dark, quiet alleyway, under a blinking orange light and surrounded by birds picking at scraps, Eve Hale sits waiting for her friend Kenny to arrive.

They always meet up here around ten to talk and split what they have found during the day, but it was now thirty minutes to curfew and he was nowhere in sight.

Eve has never really liked Kenny that much. He's always nervous about one thing or the other and never really thinks of smart ways to deal with the issues that are causing these nerves. He gets so worked up about things and will talk about it for hours. He is a stark contrast to Eve, who never really gets worked up about anything and is very content with just sitting quietly and not doing or saying much for hours, just getting on day by day.  At least she tells herself she is.

Still, she keeps him around. He's one of the few people who talks to Eve, let alone actually likes her. He's in a similar situation to her as well. His parents died of the plague three years ago leaving him on the streets, same as Eve. He was only 13 then, and he and Eve have been looking out for one and other since.

Another five minutes pass before the reflective silver stripes on Kenny's big, faded, yellow raincoat catch the light and Eve sees him. He nearly trips on a bin on his way over to her. He sits on a crate opposite her and smiles awkwardly. 
"I know I'm late, I'm sorry"
He says. 
Eve waves her hand a little dismissively
"It's fine. What held you up?"
"It's that thing I joined, remember?"

Eve sighs, she knows all too well. Last month Kenny joined a group that calls themselves the Rose Mirror. They've been going around convincing any gifted people they can find to join them but no one knows what it's about and people rarely actually join. The only reason Kenny signed up in the first place is that they offered him a bed and enough food to get by.

"They've been keeping me all day, every day for the past two weeks now. It's like they want more from me every day," Kenny says, and looks at the ground for a moment.
"Today they-"
He pauses and goes paler than usual, glancing around.
"Today they what?"
Eve looks at him.
"Nothing. It's not important."
He looks around as if they're being watched.  |This worries her a bit.
"Are you alright, Ken?"
He takes a breath and leans closer. 
"Today they told me to use my gifts on someone... I don't know who he was or what he did, but it must have been really bad because they wanted me to... to suffocate him."
"Well did you?" Eve asks quickly.
"No of course not," Kenny hisses. "Some guy came in and asked them to bring him to the boss' s room to be dealt with. I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't."

Eve leans back and sighs.
"Jesus."
"I know. And now I don't know what to do"
"Leave?"
"I can't.  I signed a contract."
"What did it say?"
"Well... I didn't read the whole thing but something like 10 years of service or-"
He is cut off by Eve.
"Jesus, Kenny, what were you thinking?"
"I know...I just thought it would be like cleaning their floor or something."
"Why would you need powers to clean the floor?"
"Okay, that was a bad example.  Point is, I wasn't expecting to be killing people there."
There's another pause. 
"I wish I didn't have these stupid gifts." They've done nothing but cause problems."
Eve thinks about it for a moment then pats his hand a few times
"I wish I could help," she says and Kenny smiles weakly. 

And then something strange starts to happen.
Eve's' hand gets a tingling feeling, like pins and needles but far more intense. She tries to move her hand but it's stuck to Kenny's like it's part of him. "Eve, what are you doing?"
He says trying to pull his hand away
"I - I don't ...nothing, I'm..."
Suddenly, as they both pull, their hands break free, and they fall back.