Chapter 5

The lights of the city illuminated the night as Jade walked along the street that night after talking with the bartender. Normally when someone tried to talk to him he would not bother giving them so much as a twitch of a response but after the weeks he had been going to the bar to drink he had come to find himself curious about the man. It was not every day that someone did not flee when he entered the room so finding someone who was so determined to continue his work and talk to him on top of it was something he did not get anymore.

If it was his past life he was a hard working man who everyone easily took advantage of in their own ways. He did not want to go back to those dull days when he served others at the drop of a hat while everyone else had seen him as a joke to abuse at their own gain. Jade had no interest in letting another person into his life this time around. Yet he could not shake his urge to respond to that man every time he tried to ask him questions. His life was not a simple thing in this world though and he knew if the man one day came to press too far into his life there would be no going back for him.

As he neared his apartment he could hear the sounds of the traffic around him in the night passing him by. In front of him stood a tall building that was not quite for the rich but not quite a place the poor could afford either. It was something simplistic yet enough to make a person feel accomplished by living in such a place.

Jade paced himself slowly towards the entrance of the building as the automatic glass doors slid open for him so that he could enter. The air of the building was warm and comforting as if he was a baby being swaddled by a blanket. It was something that he enjoyed every time he came home to this building. They truly knew how to make a place feel like home in this apartment building. His own room was among the highest in the building that over looked the city. It gave him a beautiful illuminating view that could hypnotize a person if they weren't careful enough; at least that was how Jade felt about the view from his room.

As he tossed his keys onto the table upon entering his room he could hear absolute silence enveloping the apartment around him. There was a small calico cat curled up on the sofa that let out a soft meow at the sight of it's master coming home. It was the only one he considered his companion in this world and felt it was the only thing he would ever need.

"I'm home." Jade spoke out loud to his home. There was nobody to greet him other than the small calico cat but there was no feeling towards this for him.

"Mew!" The small calico let out a soft noise in his direction as Jade walked towards the sofa and sat down beside it.

"What do you make of this world, huh?" His jade eyes gazed down at the small thing as it slowly crawled onto his lap and curled into a ball.

He could hear the little thing purring away at the warmth of it's master's body. Every so often it's body would twitch as if it was expecting attention so his jade subconsciously reached out to the calico. His index finger began to stroke down the calico's back slowly. The cat's eyes closed shut in comfort as if it had accomplished it's goal to gain attention from him. It's actions caused a slight tinge of warmth to Jade's heart as it felt nice to have something acting so welcoming towards him without a shred of fear nor a shred of expectancy towards him.

CLANG CLANG CLANG

A bunch of random noise started to resound from the hallway outside of his apartment. He could recall that someone new was moving into the building on his floor but he had never expected them to make so much noise. For a moment he wondered what they could be doing in the hallway to make so much noise and it caused his temple to twitch in frustration.

"Looks like the new neighbor is going to be trouble for us." He said as his finger gently scratched under the calico's chin while it's soft green eyes gazed up at him. There was a loud purr coming from the cat as it slowly stood up to hop down from his lap.

Due to his habit from his past life for a split second at the sounds coming from the other side of his door he debated on checking if the person was alright. When he realized his own thoughts he shook his head and tightly closed his eyes. If he was to so much as open the door he was sure it would at the very least scare the person out of the entire building when they realized they were moving in so close to a highly known killer. When he thought this far he felt there was no reason for him to get involved at all unless the new neighbor was annoying than he could at the very least make himself known so that they did leave so he could regain his peaceful silence.

"No need for unnecessary involvement." He affirmed his decision out loud so that he would keep himself put.

It was getting late into the night and soon he would have to leave. The night was his time to work and if he did not track his next target down he would miss his next payment. He did not need the money but he was not willing to let his standing drop among the people. If he slacked off for a second the people of the city could easily start to forget who he was and that was something he did not want to happen. He was not willing to let go of his title to be feared. If it came down to being used by people or feared by them he would rather be the devil they all feared in their hearts.