“I can’t look.”

“You don’t have to.” I let my hands move along the walls while Mina shivers behind me. I can hear everything she wants to say, mumbling under her breath only panicking herself more. I tune it out, trying to find some kind of possible exit. “There really is nothing.” I take a breath, stepping back. The only things in here are blood and ripped to shreds bodies. “Not good.” I turn back to Mina, seeing her still lost in her own head. “I changed my mind. I think this would be way easier with some extra help.” She shakes her head.

“Nnnno. No no no.” She mumbles. Taking a breath, I grab her shoulders. “G-GET AWAY!” She pulls out of my grasp.

“Uh, ok. Sorry.” I sigh, looking over the place again. “I…I really need your help. I can’t keep you alive if we’re both just stuck in here.” For some reason, that seems to end the mumbling. She turns her gaze to me.

“...you talked about payment. Nobody just jumps around on roofs for no reason. You’re an expert with a gun, and only offered to protect me when I agreed to it…like a job…”

“That’s a lot of different thoughts at on-”

“What are you?” She interrupts me. “Are you like him?”

“Like him? Uh, I can’t do anything impressive like this. If I could, we’d probably be out of here by now.”

“Are you a murderer?” The word slips off her tongue with so much hatred it stings the air.

“...”

“David, are you a murderer?” Why can’t I answer? I am, I know I am, I fit the definition perfectly, so why can’t I say it?

“...I don’t think so.”

“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!” She holds her head. I can see the wetness forming in her eyes. “DON’T LIE TO ME! BACKSTABBER! EVIL! BASTARD!” Every word she can think of she throws at me, stepping back into one of the walls. “Ngh…why…why did it have to be you?” Her words broke through the crying. “Why couldn’t it be some good person…who saw me?” She slid down, sitting in the blood, coating herself in it.

“Did someone kill you?” She looks up at me, her eyes still wide, filled with tears.

“Did…someone…” She looks down at the blood. “I don’t know…”

“It sounds like your hatred is really personal is all. I guess I was just curious. Though, you already told me what you do know. You would have probably already mentioned it then-”

“I don’t know how long I’ve been…dead…but I feel it.”

“Feel it?”

“Inside of me. Like mountains of bricks, weighing me down with every second that passes. So much of it is empty, without vision, like I couldn’t bear it if I didn’t sleep through it all.” She gripped her chest tight. “I was asleep for so long, hoping I would somehow end up disappearing. That…existence. Even if it isn’t everyone you killed. Even if only half. I could only hate someone who would allow someone to end up like that.”

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“...I see.” I feel my thumbs bump against each other. What do I say to that? How I feel? How do I feel? “Sorry…”

“What?”

“I’m sorry.”

“...you’re…sorry…”

“I never really thought, like, ghosts could exist. I just thought it sort of ended when people died. Uhm…” She hung her head.

“I want…to hate you…and then you say stupid shit like that.” She covers her face. “Why do you have to be a monster?”

“I’m not a monster.”

“Oh? Do you think you’re a good person?”

“No. Not that either. I don’t really think that matters right now though. Uhm…” I sigh. “I don’t enjoy doing it. It’s more like a job than…a thing I do. I think that’s why murderer sounds wrong.”

“Do you think doing it for money makes it better?”

“No. It’s not about whether I think I’m right or wrong. It’s more, like, I guess I don’t want to think it’s malicious.” I sigh. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to say this.”

“It’s…” She sighs back. “Why? Why can’t you do anything else? Why is murder your only option for a job?”

“That's all I know how to do.” The words seem to freeze her up. “As long as I’m with dad, that’s all I can do. On…that tv, on the roof. The thing I was watching was…a video he showed me on cutting people up.” I cover my face. “I don’t know, but this feels really hard to say. I don’t mind if you say you hate me again, but I’d really prefer if you talked instead of me.”

“Your dad taught you how?” She whispered.

“Uhm, yeah.”

“...why don’t you leave him?”

“Because I don’t know where I’d go without him.”

“I see…” Her hands ball up. “I…see…okay.” Something like determination shines in her eyes as she stands up. “David, listen up!”

“Ok.” She points right at me.

“I want to make changes to my job I’m asking from you! Are you listening?!”

“You’re talking really loudly.”

“1. I want you to find a way to get me out of this hotel, with you obviously. If that involves killing that murderer bastard, then that’s just fine. I hope to god his soul never sees heaven or hell.”

“Scary…”

“2. After that, unless in self-defense, I don't want you to kill anyone, ever again.”

“I think that one is impossible.”

“We’ll make it possible.” She gets close, looking directly into my eyes. I gulp.

“W-we will?”

“No matter what.”

“I-I guess I’ll let you try.”

“Good.”

“Uhm, I guess I don’t really know what payment I can expect for this job.”

“Easy.” She holds out her hand. “You’ll have a friend.”

“A friend…aren’t you the one who said you hate killers more than anyone?”

“Well…you may be the only person who ever sees me. I may as well make an exception.”

“Huh. I guess that’s ok. I don’t really have any of those, anyways.”

“I sort of figured…” I take her hand.

“Alright. Job accepted. Let’s get out of here.”