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A scream.

A deathly loud scream, something that sounded like the shriek of the damned... and it was music to my ears. Anybody would normally be alerted to the poor man, screaming for help. Only, in this story, the beginning setting is in the woods. No people to save the poor victim here.

"P- PLEASE! DON'T KILL ME! I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!"

Why is this man screaming for his life, you may be asking?

Why, it's simple.

I'm an assassin. And this man, is my target. Plain and simple, just a deadbeat contract that I've held for months now, and now that I was planning on taking a new day job (We all know what this new day job is, no? Why else would I be publishing this video?), I needed to lighten my load of contracts. To be quite honest, I can't believe I let such a silly little contract get out of hand. This junkie, so dependent on his chosen vice. I'd be shocked if he could go ten minutes without lighting up.

Due to that, he frequently went out of stock, forcing him to keep going back to his drug dealer, and--

Oh, goodness me, we're already getting into my tactics before the assassination, and I haven't introduced myself!

My name... oh, my name. A name nearly foreign to me, as I hardly ever use it, as I go by my assassin name. But, my real name is Liam. Liam Jennings.

But you... you can call me...

The Phantom.

Now, where were we?

"You don't need to cry anymore..." I whispered, following after him, grinding my signature silver dagger on a nearby blown- up house. A look of pure terror flashed across my victim's eyes as I continued, my feet calmly but noticeably clapping on the pavement floor. Finally, I was right in front of him, raising my dagger, when I whispered, "...You're already dead."

I plunged the dagger, looking to cut through soft, succulent flesh, when suddenly--

"STOP!"

My dagger was literally inches away from his face. Inches away from silencing him, from completing the contract. Though, I suppose I can just relish the blood- curdling, spine- tingling screams for just a bit longer. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, my greasy, matted hair covering my right eye.

"Speak." Succinct and to the point. He got the message, and quickly, frantically spoke.

"P- please, sir, you can't kill me! I- I got a family! Please! I didn't mean to kill Mister Greg, it was in self- defense! I- I'll get off the drugs! I'll make a decent living! I'll become a member of society! PLEASE!" The man was sobbing now, on his knees, crying into my shoes, looking for pity.

I chuckled as the man looked up to me with tear- streaked eyes. Eyes, delicious eyes, full of fear and angst, wondering what on Earth I would do with him. "A nice dream," I conceded.

"S- so you'll let me go?!" New life, a surge of hope filled his eyes, hoping, praying that I would let him walk free.

"But, I must confess," I continued. "I always thought dreams are meant to be..." I was raising the dagger know, a wicked and sinister grin becoming painted on my face. The grin grew wider and wider as I saw the man's eyes fill with horror, knowing the end of his life was about to near as I was finishing my sentence. "...Broken."

The knife dipped downward, cutting through skin. Only a few last, ear- splitting, brain- rattling screams could be heard from this broken wreck of a man.

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

Silence. Pure silence could be heard, and quite frankly, it was disappointing, having the music escape me so soon.

Now, the body. I was left with it, and I had to do the norm for bodies.

Normally, if this wasn't a deadbeat contract, I'd shell off some of the body for me to eat, my own spoils of the miniature war I just waged- and won. And yes, I take part in cannibalism. To me, the human body is one big delicacy, one LARGELY overlooked delicacy, from the ripe, succulent skin, to the juicy blood, to my favorite part- the heart. I usually adore biting into it like an apple, the blood dripping down my chin-

Nonsense. At least for now. I must control myself, my hands already reaching for his chest, even though I swore to only do that for non- deadbeat contracts.

I at least know to show SOME honor when it comes to this. I first grabbed my dagger, and brought it towards the wrist. I began sawing into it, the skin and blood leaking onto the dagger as I continued gaining the proof of the assassination, eventually hitting bone. I didn't let it deter me, however, as I cut through the white solid with ease, the hand eventually sliding right off the body, and into my possession. I grabbed my dagger, and began licking the skin and blood off of it, slowly but steadily, my taste buds relishing each second the added goodness entered my system.

I grabbed a small leather pouch. I had dozens of these, as I had little useful things in each, minus one. I always had one as empty. Why, you may be asking? Well, it's where I put my proof of assassination into. Usually, I choose a hand, though when it comes to the true high- level assassinations, I may choose more of a... delicacy to me. Like a brain, or a liver. Something like that.

When I finished putting the hand into the pouch, I positioned the man's body and arms to make it seem like he died in a swooning position, the arm with the severed hand on top, with the other arm on his chest, his hand tightly gripping his heart.

And yes, I'm wearing gloves during all this shtick. You didn't think me as some amateur, did you?

I then grabbed another pouch. This one was actually labeled, the word Orchids written in a highly faded black marker. I opened the pouch slowly, inhaling the fragrance of the purple orchids. I took one out carefully, before placing it in the hand that was gripping the heart. I smiled at my handiwork, I always did like my post- assassination rituals. With that... dirty business out of the way, I walked towards my car, prepared to drive away, unnoticed.

I chuckled as I slowly stepped towards my car. I began to hum a small song, proud of the kill I just went through. That was the last contract I was saddled with, a deadbeat one, anyway. From here on, the real work begins. As I step to the XWF, my other line of work won't interfere with my pro wrestling line of work, unless I get a high, and I mean high- paying job. My thoughts were interrupted as I bumped my shin against my car. I recoiled.

My senses had become dulled, having targeted such... low- life scum for so long, a true challenge escaping myself for so long. I hopped inside, revved up the engine, and began driving out of here as fast as I could. I chuckled as I looked at the radio, barely paying attention to this area as I already surveyed this neck of the woods, anticipating my target would come here. Perhaps some entertainment was needed.

Ohhhh, Mr. Jennings

I think you wanna wake up

I bopped my head to the country beat the radio was spawning, slightly turning up the volume. I didn't know who was singing, nor did I care.

Wake up

I turned my thoughts to the XWF. Would it be what they talked about, and more? Would there be a bunch of drunken, racist rednecks all over? Would this prove to be a flop?

WAKE UP!

I immediately snapped back to reality, fading away from my flashback.

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A gasp escaped my lips, taking note of my real surroundings, as I was looking into the eyes of this dumb lady, who just so happens to be handling my XWF application. Basically, she got to decide if I made it into the XWF or not.

"I hope you enjoyed your nap, Mr. Jennings." the lady said perfunctorily, almost as if she dealt with a lot of bored wrestlers while looking over their applications.

"Yeeeeeaaaaah, it was actually great, thanks for asking," I replied with a yawn. The lady rolled her eyes, then returned to the application.


"Taking a look at your personal background... you were indicted on several murders. Care to explain?"

This elicited a chuckle from me. "Listen, sugar tits," I began, "You don't need to worry about those. Due to the fact that they lacked key eyewitnesses on all of the indicted murders, they never could get the guilty verdict on me. I'm as clean as a bar of soap."

"That somebody dropped," she replied with an eyebrow as she looked further down upon the list. "I'm seeing more reports of an admitted theft, multiple times this has happened, in fact. Who's to say some of the wrestler's supplies won't disappear when they're looking the other way?"

I gritted my teeth, though, she couldn't notice, as my mouth was closed. In truth, when I was younger, before I was ever forced to become an assassin, I was just some kid on the streets, turning to thievery to survive.

But that's a story for another day, yeah?

"Now, due to this, I'm not exactly 100% sure if we CAN let you into our company. Though it may not look that way on the surface, we do have VERY high standards for this place, being the number 1 source of entertainment in this entire WORLD. Now then, I'd hate to say it, but for now-"

"For now, you'll shut your fucking mouth, Cindy."

The both of us snapped our heads towards the source of the new voice.