Chapter Seven

"Silence you can stop." Leo told him.

Silence ignored him and continued to run. His body was in much pain, but he had to get far away, he had to get away from his father and he had to make sure that Leo was safe, because that would be what Nahla wanted.

Leo's face was dry now, but he still had watery eyes. He was clinging on tightly to Silence and his hair was moving in the wind. Silence heavily breathed as he lifted Leo's heavy body and felt his legs push on.

"We're far enough, you can stop now." Leo repeated.

Moments before Leo was talking nonstop about how worried he was, about how much he wanted Silence to turn around. At one point he even began to beg, telling him that he needed to go back for Nahla, but even he knew that Silence wasn't going to do that.

Silence had been sprinting for what felt like hours. His legs were kicking and his arms were wrapped tightly around Leo, as if he would fall out. Each time that Silence felt his body slow down he'd pick up his pace making sure to keep looking ahead at the empty road in front of him.

Silence collapsed to the ground, unable to go any further. He landed his back against the dirt and gasped loudly trying to get air. Sweat trialed down his forehead, and blood ran along the veins on his neck. His aching arms let go of Leo making him quickly move away and stare at Silence.

He stared at Silence's soaked body and placed his hand on his forehead. Silence gagged and sat up. He turned away from Leo and a large amount of chunky throw up left his mouth. The vomit was mixed with blood and loads of spit.

Leo began to talk about how hot Silence's head was and how much he needed to lay down. He fell off the topic of him being sick and began to speak about his mom again.

More throw up left Silence's mouth. He wiped his lip and looked over at Leo who was shaking and rambling.

"Nahla is safe." Silence cut him off. Leo stopped talking and looked up at Silence.

"How do you-"

"I saw her get away. She's safe I promise." Silence lied.

Why was he lying? To keep the truth away from Leo? To make sure Leo was satisfied? Why did he lie?

Leo moved his hands up to Silence's face and began to rub the half dried blood off.

"You've got blood all over your face! And that guy hit you really hard! That guy…" Leo stopped rubbing "that guy," he repeated as if collecting his thoughts "that was… your dad."

Silence grabbed Leo's hands and took them off of his face. Although his original plan was to tell no one about assassinating, he knew he had to tell Leo. He did after all drag him into this large mess. Plus, there was no use in lying, Leo heard everything during the fight.

Silence sighed.

"Yeah that was my dad. Ace Spades, and my mom is Jackie Spades and-"

"And your Silence Spades…" Leo cut him off.

"Yup."

"So your… an assassin?"

"Yeah-well no- well I don't know. I WAS an assassin, and I still think I want to follow after my dads footsteps, but I don't know." Silence looked down as he tried to explain.

"Why is he following you?"

Silence coughed and then began to explain. He explained how he had found the picture of the little girl, and he spoke about Lauren and even when he ran away. Every once in a while Leo would say something and his eyes glowed as Silence spoke about when he first saw the village.

Leo seemed very intrigued but he continued to talk and sometimes he would finish Silence's sentences for him.

"I'm really starting to hate your dad." Leo crossed his arms.

Silence looked down.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Don't YOU hate him?"

"Not really… he didn't do anything wrong. He just wants me to be a good assassin."

"He hits you."

Silence didn't respond. He looked up at the road and felt his stomach hurt. He moved his hands up to his belly and groaned. The horrible pain of feeing like throwing up was felt in his throat.

Silence turned his head again and more throw up left his mouth. He spit on the ground and watched blood start to leak from his mouth. Leo gasped and turned Silence's head to face him. Silence moved his hand to wipe off.

"It's fine. I'm fine." Silence spit some more of the blood onto the dirt and began to wipe his lips.

Leo opened Silence's mouth and watched more blood build up. Some of it leaked and dripped off his bottom lip onto the ground. Leo drooled and his cheeks became a flushed red.

"Are you okay?"

Leo jumped and wiped the drool from his lips.

"Yeah! I just…" Leo didn't finish his sentence and instead looked down the road "where are we gonna sleep? We don't have any food, or money, and we're running away from a famous assassin, plus your sick…"

Silence looked over at Leo and spit more blood on the ground.

"But?" He asked.

"What?" Leo looked over at Silence.

"That's not how you normally finish your sentences. Normally you perk up and say something happy."

"Well this is the first time I'm away from my mom and I don't know where she's at… we're on our own."

Silence couldn't help but feel bad. 'On our own', for Leo this would be his first time alone, but Silence had experienced it most of his life. Most village kids always had a parent around with them until they got older, but Leo's dad died and his only other parent ran away to keep him safe.

"It isn't that bad," Silence smiled "it's like traveling, but extreme style."

Leo smiled as he looked at Silence. If a weak smile was all that he could give, Silence was satisfied with having it.