Contractor: Chapter - 15

One of my favorite endings.

“You know you don’t have to stay here with me, right?” I said quietly, it still sounded loud compared to the previous long moments of silence. “I’m perfectly fine being alone.” As pathetic as it was, it was true. I didn’t mind laying down on the floor by myself and staring at the ceiling. It actually felt weird to have her right next to me doing the same thing.

“Maybe you are, but I’m sick of it.” Hope said, louder. It was normal volume really, it just sounded loud. “I’ve been here for over two hundred years and the only other people I’ve had to talk to are an infuriatingly sarcastic servant, a greedy and self-absorbed doctor, and an absentee father who I can’t really talk to seeing as he’s absent. So I’ve basically been alone the whole time. You may be fine with it now, but the second you find someone you feel you can talk to freely you can never go back.”

“You feel like you can talk to me freely?” I tried to sound curious, but I was worried.

“Yeah, for some reason you’re just really easy to talk to.” She paused. “And you’re kind of a nice guy.”

“You don’t really know me that well, so you can’t say that for certain.” I understood what she meant about not being able to go back. I was trying to keep my distance, but it was probably already only a matter of time before being alone would become painful.

”Well you don’t talk much.” Hope paused again. “Which might also be why you’re so easy to talk to.”

“There isn’t much to say, so I try and save what I have for when I need to talk about it.” I really just didn’t want to have to come up with a lie that I’d have to remember.

“Tell me then.” She turned her head to look at me. Her dark hair got in the way and she had to prop herself up to make sure her full was in view to properly intimidate me. “Tell me, I’m making this one of those times where you need to talk about it. What are normal people like?”

“I don’t know if you could really call me normal.” I sighed. “I’ve pretty much always kept my distance from people, I only talked to people when they talked to me first. I'm nearly certain other kids at school thought I was weird, probably still do, if they remember me at all. I never knew my dad, I guess that’s kind of normal. My mom worked herself into the ground and just up and left one day. Child services paid the rent for my apartment and I wrote my life away into fantasies I could never really experience… until now, kind of. Not that I’m overly enjoying myself.” Talking about it had made me start to wonder where my mom thought I was. My situation sounded a lot worse in my head after listening to my own lies.

“That is seriously depressing.” Hope groaned. “Maybe you should stop talking about your life, you’re bringing me down.”

“It’s nice to know you were a little better off than you thought you were though, isn’t it?”

“Not really. It’s just depressing.”

“Yeah, I guess it is. Who did I think I was trying to fool?” I was actually trying to fool her. “I don’t suppose you want to tell me about yourself instead.”

“Nope. I’ve already told you more about myself than most people will hear about me over the span of decades.”

“What about someone else? I don’t really know about anyone else here.”

“Like who?” She looked curious.

“What about the doctor. I’ve only seen him the one time and you said he was greedy and self-absorbed.”

“Well,” Hope sighed. “He’s been with us almost the entire time dad’s been contracting, he saved me from the plague back when I was human. As nice as he seemed, he still took advantage of his contract and got a free ticket to immortality. Eventually we all ended up like this, immortal, and he didn’t need to do anything as the family physician. The good doctor has been vacationing ever since. That is, until you arrived. Dad made him stick around while you got used to things, which was a good call on his part.”

“Interesting, your dad always seems to be able to detect things before they happen. It’s like he has a sixth sense. Was he always like that?”

“Pretty much. Even though he was born into a good family he never got lazy. He kept on working and investing and making money. I don’t think he ever once lost money on an investment, at least not as long as I've been alive. Maybe it’s just good judgement but he can tell when a deal is heading south long before it ever does.”

“Is he psychic or something?”

“No,” She laughed. “Even if he had the opportunity to be psychic, I don’t think he’d take it. Living forever’s enough, at least it ought to be.”

“Why does he keep working then? If he already lives forever, why bother contracting more souls?”

“Souls are like fuel, we live forever as long as we have souls to burn. Although... we already have more than enough to last for as long as anyone could ever want to be alive.”

“Haven’t you ever wondered why he’s still working?”

“Yeah, but souls aren’t all we contract for, and he seems to be contracting for them less and less lately. He could be collecting some dumb rare trinket or book or whatever for all I know... I don’t really like getting involved in the business side of things.”

“Fine, I suppose that’s enough of him I guess.” I hummed. “What about Amy?”

“What about Amy?” Hope looked offended that I’d asked about her.

“Well you’re limiting who and what I can ask you about, I’m just curious.”

“I don’t really know a lot about her, actually. She was a filthy little street urchin way back when, I wouldn’t have socialized with her at all before we... met.”

“How did you two meet? You’ve both been dancing around that bit of information. What was it that she did that forced her into your service?”

“She killed me.” She sighed again, clearly it was something she didn’t like talking about. “And she’s not in my service, I own her and her soul. She can’t help but obey a direct command because it’s her very soul telling her to do what I say. She won’t die either, not while her soul keeps telling her body that she’s alive.”

We were both silent after that explanation. I couldn’t think of anything else to ask her and she obviously didn’t want to continue talking about Amy.

“I think I’ll let you in on a secret.” Hope raised an eyebrow in interest. “I honestly don’t care about the things you just told me about the doctor, your dad, or Amy. Not a bit.” I was beginning to see an edge of anger on her face. “I only asked so I could figure things out about you, indirectly of course. These people are so intertwined in your life you couldn't help but tell me about yourself at the same time.” Hope’s angry look never got a chance to get off the ground. “I know you now. Young Agatha Richmond was a rich nobleman’s daughter that caught the plague. She was miraculously cured only to be killed by a street urchin, whom she still despises. I can also tell that you're secretly a very vulnerable person with emotions deep down in you... somewhere, even though you act like you don’t have any.” It was a very basic and cheesy description but it was a starting point.

“You really do have a silver tongue, don’t you.” Hope smiled in defeat. It was odd because I didn’t expect her to be happy about me tricking her... again. “Dad was right about you being sneaky.”

“I never told you I wasn’t sneaky and manipulative.”

“Well now I know something personal about you.” She kept smiling as she inched closer. “You’re the kind of guy that manipulates people to get what he wants. I like that kind of guy.” Serious backfire.

“I... I think you have the wrong idea.” I was stammering. This was definitely a first for me. “I don’t... like... you... like... that?” I was very hesitant to actually admit it, and honestly I didn’t even know what I was saying. Flirting had been a very useful method of gathering information, and to tell her how I felt now would only make her mad.

“Oh, I know.” She whispered very quietly. It was loud enough though, her face had crept in very close to mine. At this distance a single piece of paper might fit between us, which is not an exaggeration, and perhaps an understatement of how uncomfortable it was. “I know, I’m not the kind of girl that can be liked. Bossy, manipulative, violent, and an outright... well, you get the picture. And while I might like that you can be that kind of person, that’s definitely a one way feeling. Like charges don’t attract.” Hope backed away and gave me a thoughtful look, like she was questioning her previous statement. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I didn’t want her to think of me like that in any way, shape, or form. No good could come of it.

What was I supposed to say to that? Is there even a correct response? Maybe a "well okay, that’s cool" or "okay, bye". Who even gets into these kinds of situations? Flirting with Death’s daughter, lying and conniving my way closer to her only to have to tell her that I don’t actually like her… even if I kind of did? It was probably just me, no one else’s life could be this stupid.

“I suppose that’s an accurate statement.” Straight to a cold dorky systematic response. Of course, because that’s just how stupid I am.

“Sneaky, manipulative, and cute.” Hope sighed, the sound was completely unexpected, horrifyingly attractive, and musical. A siren came to mind, attractive and murderous. She stood and walked back into her room leaving the door open just a crack. The act left a very obvious invitation.

I stood up and walked over to the door. The floor creaked under my feet giving away my position. I rested my hand on the doorknob and closed my eyes. If there was one thing I understood about girls, even if I had never been around many, was that if there was ever any uncertainty, danger, or secrets nothing good would come from pursuing them... I suppose that goes for any relationship, but it felt more applicable here. Hope was dangerous, more dangerous than I’d probably given her credit for, and that was the last thing I needed to confuse my life. I bumped my head against the door and closed it, it didn’t hurt as much as I wanted it to. It didn’t hurt at all. Intelligent enough to know what to do, yes. Stupid enough to actually do it, also yes. I spent a few minutes bumping my head against the door after that. The subsequent hour was spent wondering if the noise could be heard on every door in the house.