The Mechanic

Prologue

The thick, heavy rain muffled his thoughts and filled his head with despair. He yawned, stretching out his arms as he woke up. Three a.m - every morning. It had become so routine, that he automatically woke up every morning without an alarm.

The man pulled off his covers, frowning at his beautiful, sleeping wife. Her chest fell and rose, thick locks of curly, messy chocolate hair cascaded down her bare back like a waterfall. He sighed. She's caught onto his lies, believing that he goes to see another woman when he wakes at three.

"You lied!" She screamed at him last night, "you're a lair! Tomorrow you leave! I never want to see you again!"

His oldest daughter, Amanda, had screamed at him too: "Daddy! Why would you ever hurt Mommy? Did you lie to her? Why would you lie!" She's only six, and it broke his heart. She sounded so much like her mother, and she looked like it too, with her chocolate hair and brown eyes. He loved his wife, and his children: his adventurous brown-haired daughter and his curious blond-haired son. He loved them, but ever since his parents had died, he had been given a very special job - a job that could not, under absolutely no circumstances, be told to anyone. If he told, his life, his family's life, and everybody's life would be put on the line.

He wiped away a tear from his cheek, as he packed up his things, and left. He had to do his job, but he also had to leave. He couldn't bear to look his wife in the eyes again.

He had very few belongings, so it was easy to pack. The man kissed his daughter's forehead, and his son's, scribbled a good-bye note, and checked his watch.

Crap

He was going to be late, and being late was never an option. Under absolutely any circumstances should he ever be late.

He grabbed an umbrella for the rain, and ran, almost dropping his belongings in the process. Tears on his face fell like the rain fell on the concrete sidewalks.

He finally reached his destination, after a fifteen minute run in the rain. The library. He took out his keys, and opened up the heavy mahogany doors, with intricate designs carved into them, but he didn't have time to admire the doors, he was going to be one minute late. The man knew he would get chastised for only being a minute late.

The man ran behind the operations desk, and into a back room marked: "employees only". In there, he went to a small book shelf above the fridge and pulled down the eighth book to the left. The wall to the right immediately slid open and led to a discreet passageway. A dark staircase led into the unknown, the walls were stone and so were the stairs, he tripped down them.

When he reached the bottom, there was a door. He fumbled with his keys in the dark until he heard a click, and opened the door.

Whizzing and buzzing and beeping greeted him, as he looked at all the special equipment set up for his job.

Five minutes late.

They were going to kill him for sure. He sighed, walking up to the controls, typing some codes in, and then moved on to the giant lever that extruded from the wall.

He was going to die

But what was the point? He lost everything he had.

He hesitated to pull the lever. His only job was to pull that lever.

Just pull it.

He could run away

Pull it, now!

But he could be free.

"Daddy?" Sounded a voice, the man jumped and pulled out a gun from a nearby drawer.

"I'm sorry, you're not allowed in here, I have to kill you," he said in monotone. This has happened many times.

He blinked to see the face.

Three and a half feet tall, short chocolate hair that fell into a bob, with bangs that curled into her forehead. Bright brown eyes.

"Amanda," he breathed, dropping the gun for his daughter, "Why are you here."

"I couldn't sleep, so I followed you out."

"Why couldn't you sleep?" The man asked, following his fatherly instinct.

"Today's my birthday, silly!" She said, "but I'm still mad at you for hurting mommy. I tried to tell her that you had left, but she wouldn't wake up, weird huh?"

He nodded his head.

Amanda didn't need to live her life full of lies. She didn't need this.

He bent down, picked up the gun and aimed it at the lever.

 My only job-

He put his finger on the trigger. The gun was cold on his hands.

 Was to pull it-

He shot it, multiple times. The gunshots ricocheting around the small room. Amanda cried, while covering her ears.

 And wake everyone up.

He dropped the gun, threw Amanda over his shoulder and ran up the stairs.

"Daddy!" she screamed. He kept on running, forgetting to lock the door.

He ran back home, glad He had packed his luggage, because it was leave or die. He was like a fugitive. He slammed open the front door, put Amanda in bed, gave his wife a passionate kiss on the lips, and cradled his year-old son in his arms for a couple minutes. Amanda was screaming and crying the whole time.

"What the heck are you doing, Daddy!" She screamed. "Daddy!" She broke down on the floor crying.

"Listen," he said, picking her up in his arms. "I did this for your own safety. You'll thank me later, okay? Happy sixth birthday, Sweet-pea. I have to leave. Supplies aren't going to run out for a while, and I'm sure they will have fixed it before them. Just be okay, okay? I love you so much," He kissed her on the cheek and put her down.

"I'm sorry," he said, picked up his bags, and ran out the door, and down the street, so fast that Amanda couldn't keep up with him.

"Daddy!" She screamed, collapsing on the pavement.

He didn't turn back. He couldn't turn back. He was free.

Amanda stood up, her knees scraped and bloody. "Have a good adventure!" She screamed at him.

He felt his insides break, as he realized what he'd done.

He was selfish.

He was a monster.

But he was free.

And so was Amanda.

And that was all that mattered.