“Ow! Careful with that.”
I sat on the bed of this darkened room in Kike’s Hotel while holding onto the nearby curtains at my side window as Eve carefully stopped the inflicted knife injury on my left arm from bleeding any more than it already has. The wound itself is shallow and does not require much treatment other than stopping the blood flow and applying some gauze to absorb most of it.
“I am surprised that you did not die from blood loss, the wound I caused was pretty deep,” Eve impassively said, stitching my wound closed with medical needles and thread while wrapping it tightly with a bandage.
This Eve chick means serious business. She is like an emotionless and sentient killing machine with no humanity in her whatsoever. But even so, she was a reasonable person to persuade when I had accidentally screamed her name.
My head scanned around the room that she had already rented. It appears quite spacious enough for a few people to reside in. There are two beds from the corner, one next to mine and another across the room. The door is at my far right which leads into the hallway where the bathroom is located. There is also a large wardrobe with several drawers inside the closet on the opposite wall of the entrance.
God, that fucking hurts when I took off that bloody knife from my left arm. After she brought me here and allowed myself to remove my trench coat and shirt to allow her to tend my wound; Eve had the same plastered expression of emotionless calmness whenever we talked. It made it hard for me to read what she is thinking or feeling towards me because she just never shows anything other than a cold indifference and blank stare while maintaining this cool demeanor.
Still, it did not stop me from analyzing her behavior and appearance to try to identify the type of person she is. When all of that is said and done, I am sure that she suffers from schizotypal personality disorder due to having several traits associated with that mental condition. Patients with that disorder can have difficulties in recognizing their or other emotions. This can also extend to difficulties expressing emotion.
As she mindlessly continued to tend my wound, I squinted my eyes at hers to get a better look of her face while she continued to stitch up my arm. The more I observe her, the more I realize that despite being an assassin sent to kill me for god know what, Eve is a broken person like me who has lost someone dearly in her past as well as carrying deep scars from her experiences. But unlike me, she does not appear to be able to overcome those pains fully. She keeps herself distant and detached from everyone else, unable to trust anyone; only to do what her superior asked of her to do without question. That must have been why she was assigned to assassinate me.
But the most important of all, is who and why her superiors want me dead? My mind starts racing again when it clicked me the truth of their reason for doing something so crazy in killing a man that they have never met before…or perhaps they have?
“Eve?” I called out to her, Eve turned around to face me with her same blank look on her face. Aside from her uncaring demeanor, she is rather stammeringly beautiful, her body is slender and athletic but still feminine, her pale skin contrasting against her long blond hair that looks like snowflakes dancing in the wind. It is quite surprising how I am able to notice such details about her despite being blinded by my fear of meeting her for the first time.
“What is it target?” She asked coldly, staring at me with her ice blue eyes. Her voice had an unnatural tone to it, if she was speaking through a mouthful of gravel or sand, causing it hard to hear her clearly.
Huh, target? The hell is that supposed to mean? Oh wait, I remember now, that is right; this woman wanted me dead and is assassin with barely any emotion or social skills in that matter. So yeah, she is a target to me, but why? What for? Well whatever the reason, I can tell she has no intention of talking to me as she continues to sew up my wound.
“My name is not target, its Adam,” I said aloud to her while trying to sound friendly and polite, hoping to make her feel more comfortable. She merely looked down at my arm without saying anything back, “so ‘Eve,’ the reason your superiors sent assassin like yourself to kill me was because it something had to do with the destruction of a curious facility that I previously worked in?”
After saying that, her body became stiff and frozen with cold aura radiating from her form. I could sense her killing intent towards me. She then raised her head again to look at me with her icy blue eyes once more, her face was still expressionless as she spoke, “how did you know?”
Should I tell her? Is there even a point to lie about it? No, just answer her honestly and hope she will not be hostile to me anymore…and I am sure if she does not like what I say, she will try to kill me. Oh god! Why am I so scared of this lady!?
“I guessed.” I said plainly as truthfully as possible.
Her eyes squinted in suspicion, the cold air around us appeared to have gotten colder, and she stood up straight to glare at me. The moment she does that, I felt a chill run down my spine, expecting a fifty percent chance that she would strike me down or just ask more questions.
The good thing is that she decided to ask how I came with that information instead of finishing her job on me.
“No…that is impossible,” Eve said coldly, staring at me with her usual icy blue eyes and furrowed brows. “You cannot simply just guessed that,” her words were uttered as if she was talking to herself in a daze rather than speaking to me. “How did you come by such a conclusion?”
I do not know why but my body felt warm although she was standing right before me with an intimidating aura. Maybe because I am attracted to this person? No way, no matter what happens, she is not going to like me and will likely kill me anyway. I just need to keep myself calm and collected for now…
“Because…” I began to speak while clearing my throat to ensure I do not stutter or stumble over my words, “I am the world’s best psychologist,” I said as truthfully as possible.
Her eyes widened slightly in disbelief, but soon narrowed again to a bored and uninterested expression, “what makes you think that?” Eve challenged me with her voice still sounding indifferent, although there was a hint of hostility in her tone.
“It is simple,” I replied calmly, “I have proficiency in observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning skills that would make any student and teacher in these respective subjects jealous.” Eve let out a small sigh before speaking, “you are indeed quite knowledgeable for someone who has never been educated in anything beyond your elementary education and even then you probably failed most subjects, Adam,” she spoke as if trying to convince herself rather than me.
Was that insult or sarcasm I hear? Well, it doesn’t matter, either way I don’t care about her opinion of me. I’m too busy with my own thoughts at the moment to pay attention to her, so I continued on without hesitation, “I can tell from observing how people act, speak, react and dress themselves that I can even could see the deepest of their innermost desires and darkest secrets through analyzing them,” I said while making sure to sound serious and focused.
Eve was quiet for a while, coldly staring at me like I am some interesting statue she just discovered in an art gallery. She did not say a word, but instead stared at me with a deep sense of skepticism, almost as if she does not believe what I have told her is true.
For what appeared like minutes, she finally acted something unexpected by falling down on her knees on the wooden floor, “what am I doing…?” looking down at her hands and backup again, shaking her head in disbelief as if she could not comprehend it made her fell to her knees, “I don’t understand…”
“Understand what? What you do not understand Eve?” I curiously asked her while leaning forward to get a better look at her. She looked around the room with her eyes darting here and there, trying to find the answer to her question before she eventually turned to me, “Adam…?” She looked at me with uncertainty, “why have I not killed you?”
I paused for a second, wondering why she did not kill me right away when she already had every chance of doing so. With all my impressive deduction and analyzation skills, there is something that I missed out on until now.
Humanity.
I sigh, staring down at her from the edge of my bed. It is not that I am disappointed or anything, more like relieved because I thought I would have died by her but instead; she is seemingly conflicted and confused about what to do with me.
“Because you have human heart,” I tell her simply, “you were unable to kill me because you showed humanity behind your actions,” my words were met with silence as Eve stares blankly at me in shock, “and this is the reason why I still remained alive; it is testament that you are not the murderer they claim to be,” it was only then that she finally reacted, “what do you mean?” she asked me, her voice sounding more hopeful than before.
I stood up with a smile as I continued to stare down at Eve with my right hand extended towards her, “Do not kneel. The life that is granted you does not always have to be one filled with darkness and pain, does it not? It means nothing for either of us. Your future lies beyond their control over yours, don’t let them dictate your destiny,” my voice sounded distant yet strong and confident as I stared into her eyes, “they can take everything from you; but not the one thing that makes you who you are, which is freedom and the human spirit to live freely without fear of judgment or persecution. Freedom is a precious gift that we all should cherish and value because no matter how hard our lives may get, it is something worth fighting for.”
I look back at her once again, smiling while holding out my right hand with palm facing upwards, “so what will it be assassin? Will you accept the truth of being free or remain shackled by chains around your neck forever?”
Eve stared up at me in silence as if pondering whether to trust or reject my offer, before eventually taking hold of my hand and placing her other hand onto mine. We both stood there, gazing at each other with a silent exchange of glances, before finally breaking away and looking down at our hands intertwined together, “you are free,” I whispered as I began to speak up, “as long as you stay loyal to yourself, you will never lose your way. You just need to keep moving forward towards your own goal until you reach it. No one else has any right to decide where you go or what you do, only yourself does that.”
My insightful speech made Eve look up at me with wide eyes, “but… I am not myself anymore…” she said quietly, her voice sounding more like a whisper now.
“You were born human, so you can choose to live as one again if you wish to do so,” I told her gently and reassuringly, “there is nothing wrong with changing to different road in life.” Eve nodded slowly, still with that blank stare on her face, speaking in a monotone tone, “I want to be human again. I want to learn how to be free. Can you help me with that Adam?”
Her hand tightened mine as we stood there staring into each other’s eyes, “you will, trust me. And no matter what happens, don’t ever forget who you really are,” I assured her while patting her shoulder, “because you are more than just an assassin.”
Then something unexpected happened. She smiled at me.
“Thank you.”
