FADE IN
A MAN IN A big sweater is walking outside of a park. He’s wearing sunglasses and gloves.
MAN (narrating)
My name? Not important. You can call me Mike Where I’m from? Anywhere. What I do? Death.
Mike enters the small park by a small entrance.
MIKE (narrating)
As for what I do, well that’s tough to explain in any normal dinner conversation.
Mike sees a letter taped underneath one of the benches and sits down on the bench with the taped letter. He opens the letter, removes his sunglasses and reads it.
LETTER
I’ll be there in a few minutes.
After reading the letter, Mike folds it and puts it in his shirt pocket.
MIKE (narrating)
I’m a hired assassin. Although I like to call myself a professional cleaner. I take out the guys my boss doesn’t like. I may not like it, but there’s no other offer coming my way. My biggest wish is to leave this business, but I made a promise to my boss. And there’s only five rules. One is make sure they’re dead. Two is never leave any evidence. The third rule is...
A man in a business suit and carrying a briefcase sits next to Mike.
MIKE (narrating)
Never meet the boss. Somehow I don’t know if I broke the rule or he did.
The man opens the briefcase and takes out a folder and hands it to Mike. Mike opens the folder, checks the contents, and grabs one of the pictures.
MAN
You’re not going to ask?
MIKE
Rule #4: Don’t ask.
The man smiles.
MAN
Were you surprised?
Mike looks at the man who then looks at Mike back.
MIKE
Yeah, boss. Actually I was. Why---
BOSS
Meet now? After this job, you’ll find out.
Mike’s boss takes out a handkerchief and coughs really hard for about ten seconds. He then places the handkerchief back into his pocket.
BOSS
I’ll answer everything once you’ve done this job.
Mike looks at his boss, then at the folder and looks it over again.
MIKE
All right.
Mike’s boss gets up and walks away, leaving Mike all alone with the folder and suitcase next to him.
MIKE (narrating)
Usually, when I get a job, no matter who it is or what they did, It’s all by encoded email messages. I only met him a few times. First, when he got me out of prison because he was interested in my skills. Skills that I can’t really talk about.
Mike puts everything back into the suitcase.
MIKE (naratting)
The other time was on my first hit. He showed me the ropes and how to do it carefully. After that, I didn’t see him for five years and over forty hits he hired me for. Until now.
Mike stands up and starts walking out of the park.
MIKE (naratting)
I’m very much tempted to get information on this person. Especially since the job in this one is pretty clean and quick, the opposite of what I usually do. But then again, that would mean breaking rule number five: Don’t see a name, but a target. I hate this job, I don’t know if my boss does so too, but we all have to make a living somehow.
FADE OUT2 EXT. PARK-NEXT DAY 2
FADE IN
MIKE, LIKE THE DAY before, is wearing a big sweater, sunglasses, and gloves. He’s also holding the same suitcase that his boss left for him yesterday.
MIKE (naratting)
Sometimes when you finish a job, you wonder how it would impact the world. Maybe the guy found the cure for some disease that millions of people were dying from. He could’ve found a planet no one else could find. Or even just be a nobody that no one actually cared about.
Mike enters the park.
MIKE (naratting)
Usually when you kill a target, you don’t get sentimental. But this one felt, different. Enough to make me remember many of the people I killed, something that doesn’t usually happen. Maybe now it’s time to break rule number four.
Just like the day before, Mike finds the bench with another letter taped underneath. He opens the letter.
LETTER
Wait for me here. I might be there in a moment or it might take minutes. Remember, the questions you ask yourselves will be answered.
After finishing reading the letter, Mike continues to look at it for a few more seconds. Mike rips the letter into pieces and throws them into the garbage can that is near him.
MIKE (naratting)
In all the time I’ve known him he’s never been late. Always the first one.
After two minutes, Mike looks at his watch.
MIKE (naratting)
This job last night must have been important. Usually I torture them first, then I kill them. But there was no torture with this one. I know that sounds pretty sadistic, but it’s one of the few things I knew how to do. I may not like it, but what other choice do I have.
Mike spots his boss entering the park. The boss stops for a moment, gets a handkerchief from his pocket and coughs on it.
MIKE (naratting)
Sometimes I wonder of the little time people have. They could die any day. Sometimes after a job is done, I feel like I want to find my boss and kill him and then me for what he had me do.
After Mike’s boss finishes coughing on the handkerchief, he throws it out into a garbage can. He then grabs onto the fence as if he is falling down. Mike is about to stand up until his boss sees him and waves to keep sitting.
BOSS (yelling)
I’ll be right there.
His boss lets go of the fence, stands straight again, and walks to Mike. When he sits down, it sounds like he’s out of breath.
MIKE (worried)
You...
Mike looks at his boss who looks at him back.
MIKE (worried)
...okay?
BOSS (raspy and sickly)
You want to know, don’t you?
MIKE
Rule #4---
BOSS (raspy and sickly)
Right now, there are no more rules.
Mike’s boss coughs on his sleeve.
BOSS
If you’re wondering, yes I am sick. There’s no cure for what I have.
Mike looks at his boss in surprise.
MIKE
You mean---
BOSS
I’m dying? Yes.
MIKE
And the man you had me kill yesterday?
BOSS
Why? Is it eating away at you, wanting to know who he was? What he could have done with his life? Did he do anything wrong?
All Mike does is stare at him in anger and confusion.
BOSS
Let me ask you. Do you enjoy what you do?
MIKE
Not in the slightest.
BOSS
How do you feel about this kill? It seems strange right? Kept you up at night? The mystery surrounding a man who lived in a small house. Not a lot of money. Living alone.
MIKE (in anger)
Get to the point!
The boss coughs once again for ten seconds.
BOSS
The point is this was your last straw. Right?
MIKE
And? It’s not like you could just let me leave all this? Trust me I want to, I really do!
Mike’s boss stares at him and smiles.
BOSS
You really want to leave? How long have you thought about it?
MIKE
From the very beginning!
Mike and his boss just stare at each other for a moment. The boss coughs hard onto his sleeve.
BOSS
I always knew you wanted to leave. I saw it in your eyes when I freed you from that prison. You were hours from being executed, desperate for anything. I met you, knew you had the skills I was looking for, and you worked for me because of your loyalty, no matter what you did.
Mike looks at his boss then at the ground.
MIKE
So, what now?
BOSS
You’re free.
MIKE (surprised)
Free?
BOSS
Free to live the life you want.
MIKE
How? What happened to finally make you realize this?
BOSS
First, the why. When I first got sick, I thought it was nothing. Then, as I learned from my doctor, I had a rare disease, with one of the symptoms being continuous nightmares. I kept seeing the relatives of those I ordered to kill. The pain I caused. My doctor said he had made a cure for what I had. As for the how you can escape from this, well I have a huge fortune, but I have no heir.
MIKE
Heir to what? And what about the cure?
Mike’s boss smiles again.
BOSS
Sadly, as it turns out my doctor was apparently killed last night.
Mike looks at his boss in shock.
BOSS
Anyway, I recently built a corporation specializing in helping victims of violence, anywhere and everywhere.
MIKE
Wait, why did you have me kill the one guy that could have cured you?
BOSS
Two birds. One stone. Your freedom. My punishment.
MIKE
And this organization?
BOSS
I want you to take over when I’m gone.
MIKE
Why me?
BOSS
You have true heart. Something I lacked for so long. Once I’m gone, the business we were both in will no longer exist, and in its place is something new and better.
MIKE
How will they know that I’m your heir?
BOSS
They don’t. I have no real identity anywhere. Basically, I don’t exist. A man who doesn’t exist can’t run an organization. I started it using the identity of someone younger, healthier.
MIKE
Me?
BOSS
That’s right. Instead of taking lives, you help them.
MIKE
So that’s it then?
BOSS
Pretty much.
Mike’s boss gets up.
MIKE
When’s your funeral?
The boss smiles.
BOSS
A man who never existed can’t have a funeral.
FADE OUT
End.
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