New Job

~Authors note:
This is a short story I've written whilst trying to overcome writers block, it is based on a writing prompt 
I found online and the story takes place in an AU where everyone is born with a specific talent, this isn't my best work but I'm pretty proud of it so please enjoy!!

Talent is something most ordinary people possess whether it is something as harmonious as singing or simply wiggling your nose, talent came in all areas of life at varying levels of difficulty some people had multiple talents and that is okay. Can you imagine however on the journey to discovering your talent learning that the thing you excel at, the one and only activity you have a true affinity for, is murder? It is a rare occurrence to discover such a negative talent but that was my reality, I spent 19 years jealous of my peers for being able to do things I never could. It drove a wedge between my friends and I until one weekend in spring I found myself in a particularly unsavoury situation involving a very desperate young man and a knife. I had been walking home from my part time job and as usual had cut through a dog walking trail through a lightly wooded area in a bid to get home quickly and avoid the main roads, it was a peaceful night, slightly chilly but light enough out that I had not felt the need to use the torch on my mobile. A rather idiotic decision because had I used the torch then I would have noticed up a head of me an unsettled gentleman muttering to himself as he walked in my direction, the light would also have most definitely lit up the knife he carried, I tried to ignore him, as he approached, I pulled my earphones out so I could concentrate and that made it easier to make out what he was saying.
“They’re gonna find me. I warned them, it’s too late, they’re going to kill me.” I gave myself away by throwing my head back in fear to meet his eyes. Did he say ‘kill’.
“You!” He exclaimed. “You’re one of them.”
I took a step back, “I don’t know who you mean I’m just trying to get home.”
“DON’T lie. You must be.”
The man seemed rabid his eyes darted around the trees and landed back on me.
“Please, I don’t want to hurt you I just…” I had not realized that in my panic I’d stepped back, this triggered the lunatic and he lunged toward me screeching, knife extended…the rest was a blur.
My next conscious memory was of a conversation I had with my room mates when I arrived home.
“…hello, you okay? You look…rough?” Stated Alya
“Erm, yeah sorry think I’ve caught a cold or something.”
“Ew don’t give it to me I can’t afford to be off work.” Cried Carla.
“Don’t worry I think I’m going to take a shower and head to bed.” I jogged up the stairs suddenly aware of the fact my hands had been stuck in my pockets since I got home, I took them out and flinched at the sight of the sticky crimson liquid.
I quickly washed my hands cautious not to touch the taps, I proceeded to shower hoping the steam and warm water would slow my racing heart so that I could concentrate on my thoughts instead of the rushing of my own pulse. I still could not think straight so I finished my shower got into my pajamas and hurried to put my clothes from tonight in the washing machine. I climbed under the covers of my bed and the moment my head hit the pillow my memories flooded back. The man had not stabbed me in fact I had somehow in that moment managed to hit out at his arm causing the hand with the knife in it to fly past me I then trapped his elbow with my arm so he could not retract it and I dropped to the ground the force pulled him down with me and as soon as his body hit mine, I rolled over him breaking his arm and then… I did not even want to remember this part but in some sick twist of fate I had grabbed his knife and used it to slit his throat I climbed off him and fell next to him where I could see his eyes wide with fear drain of all light as he gasped for breath. I let out a sob a mix of fear, relief and disgust.
Somehow, I knew I could not leave the knife there because of fingerprints so I took it and ran further into the woods off the trail where I found a small brook, I took the knife dug a small hole, buried the knife with dirt and gravel and walked away, I was shaking. What on Earth had just happened, I did not even know how to fight let alone kill someone, but I had done it almost perfectly. How did I know it was almost perfect? How did I know any of that? I was panicking at this point. Recalling the events had made me shiver I stared at the ceiling. What if someone found me? Maybe I had left hair on the guy’s clothes or something? Or shoe prints, they can track shoe prints right? I needed sleep, I needed to clear my mind and decide what to do, I did not want to go to prison but I knew I would not be able to live with the guilt of what I had done. As difficult as it was, I soon drifted off to sleep the events of that night weighing heavily on my subconscious…I had killed a human being.
I spent the night tossing and turning as my subconscious punished me for my actions by filling my sleep with flashes of what had happened, when I finally woke, I was for once, glad to be awake, it was early afternoon passed 12 but still plenty of day left, I had a day off and luckily enough my room mates were away. I was trying to distract myself with thoughts of food when there was a knock at my front door, I was deciding whether to answer it when the knocking got louder, maybe it was the police? I jumped up and scurried to the door, I opened it hesitantly and there stood on my doorstep was a tall male figure dressed in all black he was looking down at me with an odd expression, I could not muster words, but I didn’t need to because after glancing around quickly he leaned towards me and whispered…
“So…killed anyone else since last night?”
I froze, in that moment I forgot how to breathe, and I was certain my heart had stopped beating, did I deny everything? Did I admit to it? Who was this person?
“Relax I’m not here to bust you, I’m not a cop.”
I looked at him, I realized the all black he was wearing seemed to include what you would expect
a spy to wear or an agent.
“You’re not?” was all I could say.
He chuffed, “definitely not, complete opposite actually I’d say and don’t worry like I said I’m
not here to turn you in either.”
“I’m so confused, perhaps instead of telling me what you’re not you could tell me what you
are?” I asked.
“Well,” he brushed passed me and strolled into my house, “I’ll start by letting you know the guy
you shish kebabbed last night was going to die whether at your hands or not anyway.”
I shut the door and spun quickly to face him, “wait, what? What does that mean?”
“It means he was my target, and I was going to kill him before you interfered.”
I must have resembled a fish as I stood staring at him wide eyed my mouth agape like I was
trying to catch flies.
“Target?” I finally managed to mutter.
“Yup, I was going to step in when he attacked you, but I didn’t need to did I? So, what
company do you work? I haven’t been able to find you in the system, so you’re a rookie, right?”
“What on earth are you on about, I killed a guy, and you want to know where I work?”
He raised and eyebrow and looked me up and down, “you’re not an ‘Occisor’ are you?”
“A what? All I am is scared and confused…” I was so lost, and this strange person wasn’t making it any easier. He muttered to himself for a while then turned to me.
“Listen, I mistook you for someone like me,”
“And what are you?” I interrupted.
“Let me finish, there aren’t many options for you right now, our cleanup crew disposed of the body and I took full credit for the kill, the guy you took out was a real nasty guy and he deserved what happened to him so don’t beat yourself up over it. But what you did isn’t something normal people just know how to do.”
“Oh god I’m a sleeper agent or something aren’t I?”
“Eh no, definitely not.” He looked at me like I was crazy, the fact a sleeper agent was too unbelievable to him, made me almost want to laugh after he had just told me he was going to kill someone with such normality since I was certain that was not normal.
“Look, I have to talk to my boss, so I want you to wait up for me, I won’t be long.”
“I still have no idea who you are.”
“Let’s just say if things don’t go the way I hope they will then my name is the last thing you should be concerned about.”
 “Was that… a threat?”
“Maybe, I’m not sure yet but if you see me later then no.”
“Then hopefully I will see you later.”
“Aw shucks cutey, you’re gonna make me blush.” He winked at me and walked out, I considered packing my bags and going on the run, but something told me that would make no difference.
My only option was to wait, I decided since the last comments he made it sound like he may have to kill me tonight, that I should write goodbye letters to all my friends and family and leave them somewhere to be found. It took several hours to complete but it was a good distraction as I barley noticed the hours go by, after finishing the letters I laid back on my bed and cried for a little while, eventually crying myself to sleep.
I was awoken by a series of footsteps outside my bedroom door and sat bolt upright in my bed, there stood in my doorway was the tall man from earlier today.
“Are you here to kill me?” I asked stifling a sob.
“No, although that would be easier.”
“Then…why are you here?”
He strolled in and sat on my bed. I shuffled backwards.
“Make yourself at home why don’t you.”
“Thanks, I think I will.”
“Seriously as good as it is to know you aren’t going to kill me, I’d like to know why you’ve invited yourself in.”
“Well first off I think you found your talent. Not very traditional I know and extremely rare, but it appears to be the case that your talent is murder, its like a second nature for you.”
“Oh god, I don’t want that talent, its sick.”
“Well, you don’t get a choice.”
“Is that your talent as well?”
“Not everyone in this line of work has a talent for murder a lot of us train for months to get to this point.”
“I don’t want to ask but I have a feeling you want to tell me but what is your line of work how does it…well, work?”
He smirked, “its simple, there are some bad people in this world, bad people who do bad things, sometimes people don’t want to wait for those bad people to be caught and trialed and sometimes people think their crimes deserve a harsher punishment than jailtime. So, a person turns to us, or others like us, the speak to a higher up who asks them to provide evidence the person we’re targeting deserves their fate, payment is made, and the case is passed down to someone like me. The client has the option to let the higher up choose their Occisor or they can make requests for instance maybe they want a more experienced person, once the case is passed to me for example, I then have a certain window to complete the job and cover it up although my company has a clean up crew not all do.”
“All as in there are multiple companies that hire people to kill people?”
“Yes, and listen I’m not going to sit here and tell you that what we do is good because its not, we take lives, but we only do it to people who have in all instances taken or ruined someone else life.”
“I guess that’s not too bad.”
“We don’t pretend to be good people, but it pays the bills, and the government is well aware of us they very kindly keep it hidden from civilians like you.”
“Of course, it’s a government conspiracy.” My comment made him laugh.
“Of course, and I’m here to invite you to be part of it.”
I gasped, I could not imagine having to relive what had happened the day before several times for the rest of my life but at the same time, this was my talent in a way I would be helping people.
“I don’t even know you’re name and you’re here asking for my hand in murder.”
That earned another chuckle, “we don’t often share our civilian names with co-workers, we have ‘code names’ if you will, our normal lives are kept covered up.”
“So, you can’t tell me?” he shook his head, “then how am I supposed to trust you.”
“Because I’m sat here in front of you when I could have just killed you.”
“Good point,” I thought for a moment twiddling with some thread on my pajama bottoms, “if I join your company, if I agree to your offer, will I have to abandon my friends, you know for their safety?”
“No, we’ll help you keep it from them and keep them safe so you won’t have to worry about family or anything.”
“I think…I think I want to do it; I want to join you.”
He stood up fast and presented me a manila file, “I had a good feeling about you, and I was right welcome a board princess, this file has your code name and everything you need to know in it.
“Don’t call me that, also don’t be too quick to feel good about this.”
“Aww don’t you trust me.”
“Not one bit.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Year Later
Sat only a few inches from each other in a dark room we waited patiently for word our target was on the move.
“Been told training is going well.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Good, still nothing like some real experience.”
“I think you’re forgetting I got this job thanks to ‘real experience’.”
“Yeah, well you might have done an alright job that day but you were sloppy and besides we all go through a year of training.”
“Yeah, I don’t mind it.”
“Plus, I enjoy these little duo missions of ours.”
I rolled my eyes. “I wish you’d have told me when I accepted your job offer that I would be stuck with you as my partner.”
“They have to know they can trust you and besides would knowing have made you change your mind?” He glanced at me curiosity on his face. I thought for a moment then smiled.
“You’re frustrating but…no I think I still would have accepted.”
“Aww Birdie careful now comments like that might make me think you actually like me.”
“Ha wishful thinking Caracal.”
“Oooh I love it when we use our codenames.” I rolled my eyes as he lifted one finger to his ear and his face dropped to one of concentration and seriousness.
“As fun as this has been Birdie, we got prey to catch.”
“Hell yeah, let’s ruin his day.”
“That’s my girl.”