Chapter 2

"I'm Wish, I'm 20, I've been on my own for a while. And almost nobody knows what I look like under this mask." He says, pointing to it. I nod. "Same as my real name, only one person knows it. I'm known as Wish. And my favorite color is green." Wish says. I nod again, and take in all the information, as I've learnt to over the years. Observing is very important, especially when you have to hunt someone down. I have not encountered my target yet.

"I'm George, I'm 23. I've been alone since I was an adult. I'm currently trying to track down my target, but I have not encountered them yet, as I haven't received their profile." He nods, "and your favorite color?" He asks. "Umm, I'm colorblind, but out of the ones I can see, I would have to say… blue?"

"Oh sorry," Wish says apologetically. I shake my head. "Don't pity me, it's all I've ever known." I say harshly. He's taken aback by my aggressiveness. "It's just really sad though." I roll my eyes. "Shut up."

"So you couldn't tell that I was blonde? Or that my eyes were green?" He asks. I shake my head. He gasps, he looks so upset that I regret telling him. "My god, I'm so stupid." He says, staring at the ground. I touch his shoulder. "That's okay, you couldn't tell."

Wish sits on the ground. He loses all the confidence, or arrogance he had just minutes ago. "Alright then." He says, unwrapping and wrapping the bandages on his hand for no reason. "Stop that!" I yell when I notice. "You're going to get the bandages all bloody!"

He probably smirks, I can't tell, as his head is turned, and his mask covers his mouth. He puts his hood back on, pushing his hair out of sight.

"Oh, you miss my gorgeous hair? Too bad, the world probably isn't ready for such beauty." And just like that, he's arrogant again. I roll my eyes, a blush creeping across my pale face. "Just give the bandages to me, you obnoxious arrogant littl-" Wish just laughs, as I lunge for the bandages, he pulls them away.

I watch him nervously as he pulls the knife back out, I can't tell his intention, and I wish I could see his face. He unswitches the blade, and turns around, I hear it slice through something. He turns back around. His mask is now cut smaller, I can see his mouth, and a few cute freckles.

"Better Georgie?" He asks, smirking. He has a smug look on his face, while he returns the blade back to his pocket. "Don't call me that!" I shout, stealing the bandages out of his hand. "Why are you so comfortable with this?" I ask.

Wish's face scrunches up in confusion. "What do you mean? We're just talking, it's not like I just came up to you and asked you for a kiss." I look down at the bandages, and notice the bloody spots on them. I scowl, he's careless and reckless, just to save somebody he doesn't know. "I'm not your soulmate idiot. Save your kisses for then." I notice he's wearing gloves, to hide the band that would appear on his wrist. Same as I do, I haven't looked at the band in months, whenever I take them off I try to not look. And I haven't met anyone else besides Wish and my hunter in that period. His gloves look yellow to me, but I assume that they're green, his favorite color, mine are blue.

For anything I know, my band would appear black, and my soulmate would be dead. I can tell that he's uncomfortable, but I decide to ask him one more question before dropping the subject. "Is your soulmate dead?" He shakes his head. "I haven't found mine yet, I saved you, thinking that maybe it was you, but it wasn't." Wish said to me, pulling at his gloves slightly. He must be ashamed of the fact that there is no band on his skin. You have to touch your soulmate to meet them, for the band to appear, unless they die, then the band appears whether you've met them or not.

"Sunshine?" Wish asks. I shake my head. "Sorry, I must have zoned out." What was the question?" I ask, embarrassed. "Is your soulmate?" I shrug sadly. "I haven't check under my gloves in months, I don't want to know." He nods, accepting the answer. "Have we touched yet?" I ask awkwardly, cringing at myself the second I ask. He nods, "yeah, we shook hands earlier." "Oh, then we aren't soulmates, because a band didn't appear." He nods. You discover your soulmate by touching each other, and bands will form around your wrists.

The color also depends on the people. It's a mix of the two people's favorite colors, for example, if me and Wish were soulmates, our bands would be cyan, or turquoise or aqua, whatever you want to call it, as his favorite color is green, and mine is blue.

He pushes me, "hey! Sunshine! You going to use the bandages or what?" He asks, smiling sweetly. I roll my eyes. "Yeah."

I might roll my eyes at him, but I feel bad for Wish, he has it worse than I do, with a large cut in his stomach, and one in his shoulder. And a few smaller ones across his arms. Not to mention the many bruises, he must have had a rough fight with my hunter. I have a large gash in my forehead, and a few bruises as well. The cut across my forehead is tricky. I can feel it, but I can't see it. I finally cleaned it, but I can't bandage it.

"So, you never answered me earlier. What do you remember?" Wish yells from the stream, still cleaning his cuts, smiling at me. I shake my head to clear it, trying to find the memories, the memories that I know are in there, but I can't. So I answer what I know. "I don't really remember, I'm pretty sure I fainted right after my hunter attacked me!" I shout back. "Sure you did, you big baby!" He yells back. I sigh. Accidentally touching my forehead. I hold back a shout of pain.

Then I throw a few rocks at him. They hit him in the leg. "I'm sorry, how would you feel if you had just gotten stabbed?" I ask him, throwing more rocks. "I have, multiple times I might add." Wish said with a smirk. How was he so laid back and confident all the time? He slowly got up, and signaled to his wounds. My face contorts with concern. "Don't worry, I'm fine George. I'm an adult, I don't need help." He says. "Adults still need help too!" I say to him.

I walk over to him. And I again see the cuts up close. One thing is for sure, my hunter is lethal. "Bet you regret that one." I say, teasing him. "Nah, I got a new friend out of it!" He says. I roll my eyes. "Pretty cheesy." I say, trying to hide my blush. "You were really that desperate, that you would risk your life?" I ask him. "I guess so." He says, a smile still on his face.

I walk back to where we were staying and sit on the grass. He had saved me on the off chance that we were soulmates. Even if I was, and had died, he could have saved me. Presuming he hadn't already killed his target. If your soulmate had died, and you hadn't killed your target, you could kill them to revive your soulmate. This was one of the few mercies of this world, but you only got one target. If you killed them, you weren't assigned another one. So it wasn't a way to live forever, it was a second chance. However, if you kill your target before your soulmate dies, you don't get a chance to save them. So many people wait till their soulmate dies to hunt, but some people, it isn't worth being hunted, and they want safety, so some people kill their target immediately so that they get the safety that comes with it.

It's not that easy of a choice though, the main reason some people wait till their soulmate dies, is because they want to help someone. And the people that do it upfront, are just straight up murderers. Is it worth the price of taking an innocent person's life, just so that you can be relatively safe? Or is it worth taking an innocent person's life so that you can revive the love of your life, so that you can then live in safety? Obviously the latter one is the better option, but some people can't wait till they get a soulmate, and are in an unsafe situation with their hunter, so they become the hunter.

It's either sleepless nights being scared of your hunter, or sleepless nights of guilt. In those two choices that most people make, they're going to end up taking an innocent life, a life for a life. So some people choose the third option, live in fear of your hunter forever, but never have to suffer through the guilt it causes you to take another person's life. As some people can't justify killing, and others can't do it.

Killing for your alleged soulmate, or killing for your personal safety, in my eyes none of it's worth it.

"So, have you seen your target before?" Wish asks, cutting through my thoughts. He stands in front of me, tall as ever, with a slight limp, his legs are all bandaged and cleaned. He's still bleeding slightly though. I shake my head. "I don't even have a profile on them, I never go to any towns, so I've never received one." I say to him. "I hadn't even seen my hunter before today, but I still couldn't tell you what he looks like." I tell him. He nods. I'm still trying to bandage my head, I wish I had a mirror or something. I zone out again, and while I'm not paying attention, Wish gets in front of me. This is how you almost got killed by your hunter in the first place George. "You need help with that?"

Another one of the mercies in this world, is that your soulmate can't be your hunter or your target. Thankfully, imagine having to kill your soulmate. I keep daydreaming, wishing of a better world, now I'm having out with a guy called Wish. Hilarious! I think.

I finally process his question. "No!" I shout, and I back up quickly, hitting my head on a tree. I wince in pain. "I mean, no thanks, sorry." I say to him. Continuing to try and put the bandage on. I'm not trying to be harsh, but trusting people is very hard for me, I'm not like Wish who seems to crave human connection. I'm quite the opposite in fact.

"What?" He asks, obviously hurt. "You really don't trust me? Even after I saved your life?" "You don't trust me! You won't show me your face because of trust issues! And you expect me to trust you?" I yell at him. "Fair enough." He says and walks away, hurt still showing in his face.

After a few more attempts, I still can't bandage my head, and I know how stupid it sounds, but I would rather bleed out than trust the person who saved my goddamn life, that's how bad my trust issues are.

At least the wound is clean.

"So, are you looking for your soulmate or your target?" Wish asked, determined to keep the conversation going. "Neither, but I suppose I should look for my target, I'll retrieve their profile from the centre hub, I would have already, if I wasn't too scared that I would get killed." I tell him. Once you turn 18 and have been assigned a target and a hunter, you can go pick up your targets profile from the hub at the centre town. It's just a name and a picture, but it helps. He looks confused. "Don't you want to meet your soulmate?" He asks. I shake my head. "I can't get behind the whole 'soulmate' thing, seems like another ploy to get me killed." I say to him. "Neither your hunter nor your target can be your soulmate though." He says. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean your soulmate can be working with your hunter. To get you killed." He shakes his head.

Suddenly, I get up, it takes an astounding amount of effort, but I do it. "Where are you going?" Wish asks. "The hub in the centre city, so I can find out who my target is." I tell him. "Goodbye I guess." Wish gets up too. "No, i'm coming with you, I can help you." I sigh. "Yeah, I guess." I guess I have a friend in this world after all.