The 2nd Revelation

Paige coughed and spat away the blood that had built up in her mouth. As her thoughts slowly made their way back into her head, Paige realized that she was lying on her side in the middle of an alleyway. She also discovered that her head was throbbing intensely and her vision struggled to focus as she attempted to get back on her feet.

“Oh no you don’t,” a voice said suddenly and a firm hand landed upon Paige’s shoulder and forced her to sit down with her back against the wall.

“It would be better if you didn’t move anymore,” the voice continued. “You may be just another job to me, but I would prefer it if I didn’t have to rough you up anymore. Stay put, and it will be over quick.”

Paige was still struggling to make sense of the situation, but she was dimly aware of the fact that there was a man kneeling in front of her. The sound of him rummaging through what she could only guess were her belongings suddenly floated past her ears, and she looked up to find him pointing her own gun at her head while he searched for anything of value.

“Ah, now what do we have here?” The man asked curiously, staring at the detective’s badge that he withdrew from her wallet. “Well now, this changes everything, doesn’t it?”

Paige could only stare back at him nervously.

“You see, that’s a bit of a problem for me,” the man explained, “I thought it was weird that you were carrying a gun, but they never did tell me that you were a cop.”

Paige’s eyes shot wide open. So there was a ‘they’ after all! In an instant the head trauma that was previously plaguing her thoughts suddenly seemed to melt away and everything started falling into place. Paige had come to the docks following a lead on the case of her own parents’ deaths. She had reason to suspect that the lead was a fake, but she had come wanting to check it out anyway. What Paige was not expecting, however, was a hit man waiting to ambush her the moment she arrived.

Still, the fact that ‘they’ had sent a hit man after her could only mean that she was close to uncovering some information that they didn’t want her to know. Paige felt her spirits rise to infinitesimal heights and she almost felt like smiling.

The expression on her assassin's face hardened and he spoke almost as if he regretted knowing what he had to do.

“I’m sorry," he said, "but this means I’m going to have to hide your body."

Whatever boost of morale Paige had gained from the revelation instantly disappeared and replaced itself with the terrifying realization that regardless of how far she had come…this was as far as she would ever go.

The hitman stood up, towering over her. The look in his eyes was blank--already disassociated from the life he was about to take.

A cold sweat suddenly broke out over Paige's body and her heartbeat began to quicken.

The hitman pulled back the slide on the gun, and a fresh bullet entered the chamber with a satisfying click…

Paige's mind began to race.

No, no way could it end like this. Not now, not when she was so close to getting what she wanted. Paige’s eyes wandered and locked with those of her assassin. For a fleeting instant she tried to search for any sign of reconsideration on his face but found none. Presently, Paige’s breaths became increasingly short and rapid to match the frantic beating of her heart.

The hit man raised the gun and lined up the center of her forehead in the sights… Paige could not help but stare fearfully into the depths of the barrel.

Time suddenly seemed to slow and memories from the depths of her mind suddenly began floating to the surface.

Her mind wandered back to that cold night in the graveyard two years earlier when ‘they’ had first warned her not to pursue her parents' deaths.

Even now, she could remember how the chilling wind whipped around her body as she knelt shivering in the grass, staring terrified into the freshly dug grave before her.

She could remember feeling amidst the cold an unnatural chill settle over her body—as if someone were embracing her in clutches of ice.

And finally, she could remember barely hearing those words drifting on the wind like a whisper from some far-off place...

This...is...not...your...grave…

Back then, she had come to her 1st revelation—the revelation that she was never alone in her times of need, and that there would always be someone watching over her…

Paige’s mind returned to the present and time resumed its natural course. Her breaths had become more like whimpers of terror and her heart was pounding furiously in her chest.

Meanwhile, the hit man pulled the hammer back…

“No…”

His finger tightened around the trigger...

"Please, no…"

And he began to sqeeze.

“SOMEBODY HELP ME!!” Paige screamed shutting her eyes tight at the very end.

The gun fired and its deafening crack penetrated the silence around them.

Paige could feel her ears ringing in protest of the loud noise that had besieged them. It then occurred to her that if her ears were ringing, she must still be alive somehow. Slowly, she edged her eyes open to see what had happened.

The gun was still smoking in front of her but for some odd reason it had shifted its aim just before it fired. Paige looked up at her assassin in utter confusion but he wasn’t paying attention to her at all. She followed his eyes to a spot on the wall directly to her left where the bullet lay embedded in her shadow.

He had seen it—he was sure of it. Not more than a second before he fired, her shadow had suddenly shifted in the direction of the moon. The hitman looked to the moon and back to the shadow in utter bewilderment—there was no way that it was even physically possible, yet here it was right in front of him!

"What the hell?"

As if on queue the shadow suddenly began to grow and widen on the wall. The hit man jumped clear back to the other side of the alleyway in surprise.

“What the hell is this?!” He shouted incredulously then looked to Paige who was staring at him in a mix of fear and confusion. “What the hell are you doing?!” He added, lining her head up in his sites yet again.

Paige screamed a second time and covered her head with her arms. The gun fired again, and it was only a few seconds later that Paige realized that she was still alive. Again, she cast a timid glance in front of her to see what had happened.

This time, she could not believe what her eyes were telling her.

A disembodied arm had appeared out of her own shadow and had intercepted the bullet no more than an inch away from her face.

Then, before she could even comprehend what had happened, the arm moved forward out of the shadow along with the body, legs, head, and face of a man whom she could only remember from photographs and the deepest recesses of her memory.

Before she could stop it, the word had already slipped through her lips in a fearful whisper as the man stood protectively in front of her.

“...Daddy?”

The man she addressed gave no more than a glance in her direction before turning his attention to the hitman, who was now circling around them towards the open end of the alleyway. It appeared he was about ready to run for it.

“What’s going on?!” The hit man screamed raising the gun at the newcomer, “Who the hell are you?!?” He demanded, and fired the gun at the other man’s chest.

In an instant, the shadow on the wall from which the man had emerged jumped and snaked up the his body, nearly consuming every inch of his flesh. The bullet passed into the darkness, and then disappeared—swallowed whole by the shadows.

The hit man’s mind was racing in a panic. There was no way any amount of money was worth this.

Then suddenly Paige stood up. There was an eerie smile on her face, and the look in her eyes terrified the hit man more than even the ghost had.

“No! Stay right there!” The hit man screamed frantically, “Don’t move!”

Paige, however, did not comply. She raised her hand in a gesture indicating that she was about to snap…as if she was anticipating the start of something and her snap would set it in motion.

The hit man’s eyes widened and his pupils contracted to the size of needles. Delusions began to take over his sense of judgment. He knew that snap meant something was going to happen. She was smiling—she knew, she had to know. He had to stop her—he knew his life depended on it.

It all happened in an instant. She snapped, he fired four shots, and the ghost surged forwards with its hand outstretched toward the hitman’s neck. The bullets passed harmlessly into the ghost’s body, and the clutches of his hand inevitably found the hitman’s throat.

In the next instant, the hitman was raised a foot off the ground and slammed up against the wall of the alleyway. The gun clattered uselessly to the ground.

The ghost watched the hitman writhe in his grip, and then his eyes fell to Paige, whom had walked up to his side, seemingly enjoying the spectacle. Her eyes locked with his. The ghost did not say anything, but from the look on his face Paige could tell that he was expecting something…an order maybe?

Dawning upon this thought a hideous smile flashed across her face. The words the ghost was expecting formed themselves in her throat and had nearly rolled off her tongue when the ghost’s eyes suddenly narrowed and his expression hardened severely. It was obvious from his expression that he wanted her to think hard about what she was about to do—that he didn’t want her to take this decision lightly. But in the second that Paige hesitated the ghost could see that there was no sign of remorse or regret in her heart. Her mind was firm and resolute as she gave the order…

“Kill him.”

There was a sickening series of cracks followed by a wet gargle, and the hitman slumped to the ground.

Paige stood over her would-be assassin with an expression that was so mixed and twisted with a variety of emotions it was nearly indistinguishable as something human.

Her mind was racing with thoughts of what had just transpired—of what it meant for her and her desire for truth. If ‘they’ had sent someone after her in order to keep her from vital information then there would certainly be more assassination attempts as she continued investigating. But such things weren’t to be feared anymore, they were even trivial at this point—no more than a minor inconvenience!

She had come to the 2nd revelation. The revelation that she could get as close to the truth as she wanted without the fear of losing her life—the revelation that all she had to do to get closer to the truth, was to put herself in danger.

The ghost looked at her only once before melting back into the shadow. Though it was impossible to tell what he was thinking from his expression alone, he knew that he could no longer stop what had now been set into motion.

He had failed Paige just as he had failed her mother. He could not stop her from doing what she wanted. He could not tell her what she was doing was wrong. After everything he had done for her—after sacrificing half of his soul to ensure her protection, he had failed to save her from what was truly waiting at the end of her journey…every time she took advantage of her father’s sacrifice, he could only watch as she earned herself a deeper place in hell.

From somewhere deep in the endless corridor of memories that was his home, the ghost could hear the devil himself, laughing.


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I’m pretty sure that the one I wrote before was better. This is just my futile attempt at recalling it all.

*sigh*

Also, the picture didn’t come out quite the way I wanted it to. Oh well.