2 A Blessing or a Curse

Entering the tavern, Allen was bombarded by the lively noise of the customers.

Spilled drinks, people eating like animals, sleeping patrons whose mouths were no different from a waterfall.

Allen was disgusted at the sight.

In spite of those, there were still organized people, which made up the minority of the customers.

"Close the door, will you?", a young tavern girl almost at the same age as Allen, sternly eyed him. "If you are not here to buy anything, you can get out!"

Before Allen got to say anything, somebody called out to them, "Hey, that kid's with me."

The both of them turned their heads to the origin of the voice and saw a man with long hair wearing a coat.

"Oh, so you are with Mr. Sanchez.", the tavern helper's tone didn't change but she walked away towards another customer.

Mr. Sanchez signaled Allen to come have a sit, the latter couldn't disagree more for helping him not to get kicked out and took a seat beside him.

Aftrr Allen comfied himself, Mr. Sanchez said, "So, you're the kid that the guards has been chasing earlier for not entering the town through an official road."

Without his face changing, Allen increased his distance a bit from Mr. Sanchez.

"Haha, don't worry, I won't sell you off, but of course my help comes with a price.", Mr. Sanchez wrapped his arm around Allen's neck.

The kid felt slightly suffocated by the grip. He held the other's arm and tried to take it off, but it didn't budge an inch.

"B-but I don't have any money with me.", Allen shakily replied in a nervous tone.

"Oh, well then, I'm going to make you do something for me.", Mr. Sanchez paused. "And in fact, I would pay you then instead."

"Really, what is it?", Allen's eyes sparkled. Forgetting that his neck has been latched around Mr. Sanchez's arm.

Mr. Sanchez approached a little closer to Allen's ear and whispered, "Kill somebody."

"W-what?! No, I won't kill somebody!", Allen replied with a low shout. He wanted to earn money, but not that way, he couldn't even imagine the scene of what would occur if he accepted it.

"Come on kid, don't you need something in life, don't you want to buy something for your family, don't you want to make your family's life comfortable?", Mr. Sanchez whispered again.

Allen deeply thought of what the man said and answered back, "I-I want to."

"Well, this is the fastest way to earn money for you.", Mr. Sanchez beamly said. "Though if you declined the offer, you'll be the one receiving the shorter end of the stick."

"W-what do you mean?", Allen asked while looking towards the floor, not daring to look straight into the eye of the other person.

"You have already seen my face, if you won't do this job then... I'll... kill... you... and your family.", Mr. Sanchez emphasized every word on the latter part of the sentence. "How is that?"

Hearing the threats, he further struggled to get out of the other's arm. He wanted to call for help, but he feared that he would die on the spot or maybe even get William and his father implicated if he acted too rash.

Although on the other hand, he wanted to earn a bit more for this day so that he can get a gift for William, but in the end, he got stuck in a predicament.

...

Night came and the customers left the tavern, leaving behind Mr. Sanchez and Allen.

The streets of the town were now empty except for guards patrolling due to the curfew. The full moon was shining down upon the lands, making the scene more eerie but relaxing.

"You see kid, I'm the owner of this tavern.", Mr. Sanchez signaled Allen to follow him to the second floor of the building.

Going up, Allen saw the second floor only had a few rooms.

"This is where I live too." Mr. Sanchez said as he unlocked a door then entered the room with Allen.

"This is my office room.", Mr. Sanchez sat down behind the desk.

Allen inspected the room; it had a thick luxurious mahogany desk, two seats at each side of the desk, and a window behind the seat where Mr. Sanchez was sitting.

"Go take a sit.", Mr. Sanchez pointed at the other chair.

Allen sat down, opposite of Mr. Sanchez.

"So kid, listen carefully to what I'm going to say.", Mr. Sanchez took out a map of the town from one of the drawers of his desk and pointed towards a particular spot on it. "You'll be killing a man right here. The house only has one floor, you can sneak easily into it. That person is most likely in his bedroom, asleep and alone."

"Here is the weapon.", Mr. Sanchez passed a dagger to Allen. "Remember, kill that man... or your family will be receiving that dagger on their necks instead, understand?"

"O-okay.", Allen answered without looking back.

"Before you go, wear this mask, safety first of course.", Mr. Sanchez handed a mask that could cover Allen's face from his nose down to his jaw.

"Good luck." Mr. Sanchez chuckled and waved the kid away.

After which, Allen left the establishment, carefully looking around if there were guards present in the area.

...

As it was risky to use the street during night, Allen cut through the town by travelling through the alleys and occassionally crossing streets.

With his experience in being a pickpocket for many years, he almost mastered every ins and outs of alleys as he would use them to escape after stealing.

During this period of time, the alleys were the darkest parts of the town, luckily, the moon was shining down towards almost everything for this night.

'That's the house.', Allen saw the house pinpointed earlier on the map across the street.

As he was about to cross the street, a group of guards suddenly entered the vicinity. Allen stopped at the last moment and thought, 'Too close.'

Allen let the guards pass the street before crossing it.

The target's house was beside another alley, making the kid slightly relieved; thinking at least he already has an escape route.

He cautiously approached the house and circled around it and spotted an opened window. He peeked through the window to check where does it lead, and he discovered that it lead to an open kitchen.

In his mind, judging from the items in the kitchen, Allen thought that the man must be well-off in his life.

Seeing that there was nobody in the kitchen, he entered through the opened window and temporarily hid at the darkest part of the kitchen.

Sweating and panting quietly, he then continued sneaking inside the house through the spots where it was too dark to see until he reached a door. He carefully checked if the door was locked, but wasn't and entered the room while closing back the door.

Inside the room, he spotted a sleeping man on a bed beside the window.

Allen tiptoed towards the man until he reached him beside his bed.

He gazed at the man's neck, he knew that he could kill the man at any moment but with his shaking hands, the feeling of hesitation covered him like a wet blanket.

Sweat covered his whole body from his head down to his feet. As they trickled down his face, he remembered what Mr. Sanchez said.

'Kill the man... or your family will be killed', Mr. Sanchez's voice echoed in his mind. 

Allen took a deep breath, tightened his resolve, and lifted the dagger up with both hands... and slashed down the man's neck!

-pshew-

Blood splurted out from the man's neck, however, there wasn't a single no reaction from the man and he died quietly.

The kid could only show a blank face and the hand where he was holding the bloodstained dagger visibly shook, he looked at the dead body with his wide eyes for a long time.

The foul, pungent smell of blood permeated through his nostrils that almost made him puke, signaling him to leave the place.

As the kid was about to leave, the man's hand fell from the corner of the bed, startling jim, and a rough paper flew down afterwards.

Due to his curiosity, he picked up the paper and saw that there were words with a messy handwriting written onto it. It was a good thing he knew how to read.

[Happy birthday father!

I hope that your sickness could be cured so that you won't be lying down anymore on the bed all day long.

I want you to take me again to eat my favorite food in an inn with mother when she gets back, I can still remember the taste of that chicken leg that you got for me when you came home.

I hope that you will get a long life so you could play with me again and again. Happy birthday!

Love, Edwin]

Allen backed off and dropped the paper down the floor.

'W-what did I just do?', Allen snapped out of himself.

He ran back to the kitchen, disregarding the loud noise that he was creating, and exited through the window and ran towards the alley.

As soon as he reached the end of the alley, he sat in the dark corner. 

Allen covered his eyes with his arms and quietly sobbed. His body was shaking, maybe due to cold? Or due to fear? Or due to something else?

"What have I done... what have I done... what have I done....", Allen muttered the same words repeatedly and used his other hand to pull his hair out of fear.