Chapter 5

Sleeping has always been hard for me. That's probably normal, as I'm moving around constantly and there's no place for permanent residence. The only place suitable to sleep is the centre city. And there's only three reasons to be sleeping there.

It's either: 1. You work there.

2. You killed your target and can be there in relative safety.

Or 3. You have a death wish

Rarely, the most experienced people will stay in the central city, everyone knows not to attack them. Like the elite assassins, but still it is so easy to die in the night.

If you're a heavy sleeper, you're dead. You fall asleep, and you get your throat slit in the middle of the night, and it's probably not your hunter. Staying in the central city for even an hour without experience is suicide, that's why it has so many deaths there.

The inexperienced come around on their 18th birthday to receive target profiles. Most of them are dead before they even get to the hub, again it's probably not by their hunter.

That's always been my biggest fear, dying for nothing. Before you turn 18, you have no hunter, no target. You're safe until you're an adult. On your 18th birthday, you're assigned a target, usually about your age, that's meant to be a 'mercy'. This world makes no sense.

There's no corrupt society leader that determines this, they can't bring soulmates back from the dead, they can't assign soulmates or targets. For some reason, the world just works this way. There's no way to escape the system, at least I don't think there is. Maybe there is. If there is a way, I don't know it.

It's been five years for me. Five years since I've become of age to get a hunter, and a target. Now I'm 23, and I haven't ever seen my hunter, until a few days ago. I still don't remember what they looked like, I passed out barely a minute in.

Maybe they're younger, and only have just been assigned to me, but that would make sense. Wish said that they were skilled, so they must have been older and more experienced. For all I know, they've been stalking me for ages, and they waited for the perfect moment to strike, then Wish stepped in and saved me.

Wish, who's currently sleeping across from me, with a dagger awkwardly strapped to his belt, it's switched open, and the tip of the blade is entirely covered in blood. It occurs to me how little I know about him. Who his target or hunter is, he says he's clueless about his soulmate, and has no intention of finding his target until he finds his soulmate. For all we know, he could be my target.

I don't know why he hangs around me, we're not soulmates, and I could be his hunter, he couldn't be mine, I've seen my hunter, it's not him. Yet I could be his.

Wish is the only person that I know is safe, the only one I can put my faith into. Suddenly it makes sense why he wears his mask, and won't tell me his name.

He knows I'm colorblind, so he'll have to help me look at my target profile before I kill the wrong person accidentally. So if he sees that my target is him, he'll run, at first he'll act normal, but he'll run from me in my sleep.

Even if he is my target at least I'm safe. He won't kill me, he'll just be assigned a new hunter, and it's better to know who your hunter is, then not. Besides, that's pointless murder, living with killing your target must be hard enough already.

And he knows I'm inexperienced still, after five years you'd think I'd learn the ropes with weapons, and I've done just that. My aim is near perfect from training, so I'm incredibly self sufficient, my only problem is medical supplies, which is why I'm so cautious. If I do need them and I get hurt, I make sure to get them from a traveler in the woods, or the outskirts of the city when I'm desperate. There's no way that I'd go into the city for anything but my target profile.

My skills aren't the problem, my fear is. There's no way I could kill anyone. When I was attacked by my hunter, I fainted a few seconds after he attacked me, I couldn't stay conscious while I was attacked, much less fight my attacker.

So here I sit, watching Wish sleep peacefully, as I'm too scared to sleep. As always, I can get by on just a few hours of sleep every night. It's not healthy, it's like insomnia or something, but I get by, even if it's just barely.

It takes all my willpower to remain where I am. My head is screaming at me to leave, probably because it's so used to telling me to run, but this time I'm not going to. This time, I won't. All people are potentially dangerous, all except Wish, and my soulmate.

It'd be so easy to see his soulmate band, his gloves are off, and I could just roll up his sleeves and see if he had one. I want to see what his face looks like more than I want to see his soulmate band, but his hands are clenched around his mask so tightly that I can't without him waking up. I might attempt to remove his mask, but he also has one hand on his knife, and he probably wouldn't hesitate to use it, it might not be on purpose, just second nature, it would be for me. As soon as I touch him, he'd swing his knife, it's not worth getting cut open to see what his face looks like

Or maybe if he's lying about his soulmate, he may have found them, but doesn't want to tell me. Why would you lie about your soulmate though?

Can you possibly love someone else?

No, that's ridiculous, that isn't the way things work. Soulmates are meant for each other, true love, to love someone else would be insane. My logic would also involve Wish being in love with me and that's crazy and could never happen.

I see Wish move slightly, he still looks tired even after being asleep for like 7 hours. Judging from the little light coming in, it's just before sunrise. "George?" He asks, so he is awake, but barely. "What are you doing awake?" He asks drowsily, adjusting his mask slightly.

"I could ask you the same question." I tell him with a yawn. Wish pushes himself against the wall in a sitting position. "No but why are you-" he pauses and yawns. "You look awful." He says, examining my face. I'm sure I do, I don't exactly have a healthy sleep schedule.

"Thanks." I say harshly, pushing him away. "George, you haven't slept have you?" He asks, I shake my head, I'm not even going to bother lying, I'm a bad liar. "George! You need to sleep! Why haven't you?" He asks. I don't respond, he comes to a realization, and I can practically hear the gears turning in his head.

"You're too scared to sleep," he says, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, that's why you've been so nervous ever since I've come in, you're scared that you're going to get ambushed again." I want to shake my head, to deny it, but I find myself nodding. He shakes his head again. "I'm so sorry." He tells me, then he remembers I hate being pitied and turns around as much as he can in the small space.

When he turns back around I see he's sheathed the small throwing dagger and placed it in his scabbard where he doesn't have immediate access to it. He pushes through the barricade, it's not much brighter, I assume it's about 5:00 am, early, but early is good. We'll have to go to the central city early to avoid most people.

I start to push the barricade out of the way. "What are you doing?" Wish asks, "going to the centre city." I say. "No, no you aren't, go to sleep." He says. "You haven't slept at all last night, and you're very tired, so go to sleep." He tells me. I try to push him out of the way, but he's much taller than me.

"Just let me go." I say, "I'll sleep well tomorrow." I tell him. "No, no you won't." He tells me. He's right, but I'm fine and I really want to go. "What do you need me to do for you to go to sleep?" He asks, "go." I say, I know it won't work but I should at least try. "No." He says gently, "then you won't sleep." He says.

"Is there anything else I can do to make you feel better while you sleep?" Wish asked. "Why are you trying so hard?" I asked him. "You're my friend, I care about you." He tells me. "Oh… umm." I try to process what he has said. Friend? I try to not look at him. "I've not really had a friend in years." I tell him, "I don't have anybody I can trust."

"That's sad, but what about your parents?" He asks, I don't like talking about them. "They both died to their hunters soon after I turned 18. Within months of each other." Wish's eyes were filled with pain. Tears prick at my eyes, I don't want to cry but I'm sad and vulnerable. I've never told anyone this, why am I telling him?

"It's hard to trust people when you know that any one of them could kill you with no remorse, I don't know how you found the confidence to step in and save me, or why you did." I tell him. "Do you want me to give you a hug?" Wish asks innocently. "You look like you need one." I would love to accept his hug, I do need one, but I don't trust him very much, I mean I do, but a hug is one step away from a choke.

Silently I shake my head, causing an awkward silence between us. "I'm sorry." I mumble, when I can't take the silence any longer. I look numbly at the wall, away from him, sad that I didn't accept the hug. I hear a shuffling behind me, and an item falls to the floor, it's Wish's mask. I look up at him, his mask is off and his hand is outstretched. "Hi, I'm Clay, I'm the boy who just saved you from your hunter, nice to meet you. What's your name?" He says to me.