Standing in the middle of the bustling market, Sanka closed her eyes to the brightly colored awnings over the different booths, but couldn’t shut her ears to the sounds of laughing people or advertising merchants. Nor could she block out the smells wafting through the bustling market. The warming aroma of baked bread and cakes seemed to taunt her and the sounds of happiness and life around her was torturous. Sanka turned and fled down a narrow, filth littered alley and leaned back against the cool stone. Willing herself to ignore the life going on just beyond the crevice in which she hid, her mind wandered back to the scene she had escaped. Images flashed before her eyes like snapshots: Hooded figures, blood pooled on the floor, smashed dishes, a door swinging crazily off its hinges. Her eyes flew open again as a particularly loud group of playing children ran by.
Sanka walked further down the cool alley away from the sounds and smells of the busy market. She stopped just before the passage opened up into another main, though less crowded, street. She watched the armed patrol saunter by, taking their duties lightly in the almost crime free city. She rubbed her hands against the insides of her pockets, trying to wipe of the sticky blood where no one would see it. After the guards passed by she ran across to the small fountain on the wall of a dusty building and rinsed the deep crimson away.
She peeked over her shoulder at the retreating backs of the guards and considered or a wild moment telling them what had happened. She shook her head and walked the opposite direction, trying to blend in. She now regretted leaving the loud marketplace, for without the loud distracting noise of the crowd, her ears were remembering now like her eyes did when she closed them. The silence of this street enticed her ears to hear again, over and over, that rattling last breath a person takes before dieing.
Some one jostled her as they walked by before she realized she was standing stock still in the middle of the street, breathing as though she had been running. She moved aside and leaned again against a wall and tried to stop the horrible sound which was still softly roaring in her ears. Finally she decided to just continue her way towards the slums.
Sanka knocked on the 3rd story apartment door of Ruukle, her boss. It cracked open and a bloodshot eye peeked out for a moment before slamming it back shut. Two minutes passed before the bloodshot eye reappeared.
“You’re late, where have you been.” The door opened just enough for Sanka to edge her way inside before it was shut again and bolted. Ruukle motioned for the man who answered the door to make himself scarce before turning his eyes to Sanka. She tried not to look away, but couldn’t bear those empty eyes looking into hers for to long. Before she could linger on the thought that her eyes may turn as empty as his he motioned her forward with a finger. She sat down in the only other chair in the room, straight across the round table from Ruukle.
“Where have you been, the others returned an hour ago, telling of you running away just after the job was finished and ignoring their heeds to cease and wait for them, yes? Why.” He paused for a moment, turning over in his hand a freshly severed finger, still dripping blood. “Were you perhaps just feeling ill, or did you run to fetch help for Ruukle’s betrayers.” Ruukle leaned back in his chair, laying the finger in front of him on a white square of silk, now stained with fresh blood.
“No, you would not betray Ruukle to guards. You, Ruukle thinks, were only frightened your first time out. You will do better next time. Yes?”
Sanka was able to force her voice to work enough to whisper yes. This answer was apparently enough for the boss, though, because he then waved his hand for her to leave. She managed to walk calmly to the door, but wasted no time in sprinting home after it was shut.
Her one-room apartment seemed empty and cold when she returned to it, despite the sweltering summer heat drifting in through the vaguely square shapped hole in the wall that served as a window. She sprawled herself across the old mattress in the corner and let herself drift into a fitful sleep.
Morning came too soon for her body to be rested, but not quick enough for her nightmare haunted mind. It only took her a few minutes standing in the morning sunlight shining through her window to almost wash away the torment of the previous day. In the cheery morning light it seemed obvious to her that she didn’t need to do some horrible man’s bidding, just to be able to have people surround her. It wasn’t worth the emptiness she might carry in her eyes if she continued. Sanka decided she wasn’t so bad off being alone in her apartment, and doing whatever odd jobs came around.
Some one knocked loudly on her door, causing her to stumble back from the window. She waited quietly, crouched on her mattress in the corner, willing them to go away. She didn’t want to return to that horrible work. They would go away if she just pretended she wasn’t home, or too asleep to answer the door. Fifteen minutes passed in silence before there was another, even louder, knock on her door. Sanka didn’t answer.
She heard a man’s voice scream “Now!” before the door was smashed in. It swung crazily on one hinge as hooded men gathered in the room. The last sound she heard was the tinkling of breaking glass before her own crimson stain spread out across the old mattress.