Baba Yaga~

6

We had taken a walk to a nearby park to clear my head. We were sitting on a bench in silence. I had a feeling this would be a normal occurrence. "I'm sorry about what happened to you. Its horrible to hear that," He spoke. "Don't you kill people for a living? I thought you saw things like this all the time," 
"I do. But it takes a monster to kill a child,"
"Have you ever been asked to kill a child?"
"No. Even if I did, I would refuse,"
"What if they did bad things?"
"There's always room for improvement,"

~

We had an interesting conversation. It seemed as if everything he said had some sort of secret message. I tried to unscramble it while we sat in the car. The engine was the only noise between us. 

"Do you ever have to kill other assassins...?" I was the one to break the silence this time. "Sometimes," his reply was short, as if he was directing more of his attention to the road. "Friends?" I asked. "Not really,"

I knew the next question I wanted to ask might be pushing it, but my curiosity got the best of me. "...Family...?" He was quiet when I asked this. "You ask a lot of questions," He stated, avoiding it entirely. "Sorry," My eyes went straight back to my backpack. I couldn't see his face, but I sensed a smile. "You're fine," 

~

We pulled into a paved driveway that carved through a small patch of trees. The yard I could see ahead was beautiful. It was an open area surrounded by a wall of trees. As we continued, we approached a house. It was huge. Holy fuck. THIS IS HIS HOUSE!?! I was in awe. He pulled into his garage. It was clean and plain. The only other thing in the space was another car. 

Despite how great everything seemed, I couldn't have felt more out of place. I didn't even want to leave the car. What if I fucked something up? What if I broke something? My nerves were killing me. I found it stupid to be so nervous over something so insignificant. Of course, every single scenario still played through my head. The slamming if his door made me jump.

I then noticed he was already out of the car. I wanted to get out and not cause a scene BUT my stupid brain had other plans. I was frozen in place. Move, dumbass! He must've known something was wrong because he soon came over and opened the door. "Are you... okay...?" He asked. I slowly nodded and managed to get myself to step out of the vehicle. I was immediately met with muffled barks coming from inside the house. 

Does he have a dog!? That certainly lightened my mood. He unlocked the door and welcomed me in. As soon as I stepped in, I was greeted by a small black pitbull jumping onto my legs. "Down," he commanded. The dog immediately hopped down. I knelt down to greet the dog, its tail whipping back and forth. "Hi!" I smiled, giving him a good scratch behind the ear. "What's his name?" I asked. 

"He doesn't have one," John shut the door behind him. I stood up. "You didn't name your dog?" I asked, having a little more attitude than I intended on. He turned to me. "A name never came to me," He gave me an odd look that expressed some kind of confusion at my attitude. He turned back around and walked into the kitchen. I followed him in. The dog paced around my feet.

I looked around. Everything was clean. There were picture frames placed around the area. I didn't pay much attention to who was in them, probably his family or something. Wow. I could get used to this!- I stopped myself. Hold it! Don't get too carried away. You don't belong here. I was mad at myself for thinking this was more than just a temporary stay. John's phone began to ring. He looked to me. "The guest room is on the second floor," he told me before picking up the phone. I nodded and found my way to the stairs. 

I climbed up the spiral to what seemed to be the second floor, but the stairs kept going. How many floors does this place have!? My curiosity was pulling me further on. I constantly told myself not  to pry, forcing myself off the stairs. I began my search for the guest room; it didn't take too long to find it. I walked in. 

The room was nice. The bed was plain white but the rest of the room had decoration. A picture frame sat on the tall dresser. In the picture, John stood with a woman in his arms. His lips were planted on her cheek and she was smiling brightly. She was beautiful. Is this his wife? As I thought about it, I did remember seeing a ring on his finger. Maybe I'll get to meet her. I placed my backpack on the bed.  

Something told me the room I sat in hadn't been used in a while. 

~

The sky was darkening. It wasn't until I opened my backpack that I realized I had no other clothes. Dammit. My duffel bag was at The Nest. I cursed under my breath. What do i do now!? All my clothes were in that damn bag. Its not like I could go buy new clothes either. I didn't know the area I was in. There was no way I was navigating it alone after what happened. John knocked at the open door. 

"Do you have clothes?" He asked. "I did," I told him, sitting down on the bed. He still stood in the doorway, clearly waiting for my reasoning. "I left my other bag at a motel in the city," I told him. "Where," 
"What?"
"Where,"
"I don't know. Why?"
"What's it called,"
"Uh... The Nest,"
I tried to remember the old words on the sign underneath the spray-painted title of "The Nest".
"Or.... the Sunnyside Resort," I corrected myself. He let out a short hum. "Let's go," He said before walking down the hallway. "Wait- What!?" I sprang up and followed after him. 

"We're going to get your bag," He said in his usual emotionless tone. "We don't have to! It's fine! I'll be fine!" I tried to convince him otherwise. I didn't want to go back. I didn't want to deal with Damian again. I didn't want him dealing with Damian.  John may have guns, but so does Damian. I've seen him use it. Any unfortunate person that was unable to pay up, found themselves at the barrel of it. 

Anyone who lived there would be happy to rob us blind. All I could think of was reasons why this was a terrible idea. Before I knew it, we were back in the car. I sighed. "You should know about Damian," I told him. "He's the guy who owns the place,"

He was quiet, waiting for me to finish my story. "He's a perverted alcoholic-" I was going to continue but John cut me off. "Has he hurt you?" He asked. He sounded almost angry. "Yeah... but-" I was cut off again. "Then leave him to me. You focus on getting your bag," 
"That's not what I'm saying,"
"The rest of it doesn't matter,"
What doesn't matter? What I'm saying? What the hell!? I was getting annoyed. 
"He has guns! And he's good with using them!"
"I do too,"
"That- He's dangerous! I've watched him kill people!"
"Leave him to me,"

His voice was calm. I felt like I could trust him. Although, if Damian hurt him, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. But why did I care? It certainly wasn't my responsibility to keep this grown man safe.  But I still wanted to. What is wrong with me!? Maybe I felt like I owed him. He did save me... and take me in... but what the hell! 

It was confusing but I didn't look into it anymore. We continued the drive into the city. I felt guilty for 'making' him drive me back. To be fair, it wasn't exactly my choice. The rest of the ride was quiet. I was mostly stuck in my own thoughts. The old building appeared ahead. He pulled into the parking lot, close to the front office. Three people stood in front of it, smoking. One of which was Damian. I recognized the other two. One being Liam and the other was Jack. They both were long time friends of Damian. They were known for being as ruthless and lustful as Damian was. 

The sight of them together brought haunting memories of being harassed. Their heads turned as we drove by. I shrunk out of view. "Room 6," I quietly told John, praying I they couldn't see me. He pulled right up to the room. I gathered the confidence to peek out the window. The sight I was met with forced me back into hiding. The trio had began their walk towards us. "Oh shit," I mumbled, pulling my knees to my chest. No.. No.. No!

"Do you want me to go in?" he offered. I looked at him for a moment before nodding. He held his hand out for the key. I fished the key out from my pocket and placed it on his open palm. He stepped out, locking the car behind him. I was secured inside. All I had to do at this point, was wait. 

I kept my eyes locked on the door as he went inside. A shadow slid over me as something appeared over the window. I froze.