living isn’t much of an issue for her, as it so happens, and evelyn’s moral code isn’t what keeps her here, rather it’s the certainty of malignity / it exists and so must she. everything else is irrelevant. that’s a privilege, perhaps, for she never turned to killing out of desperation — she was never made, never broken ( just unleashed ) … there were options. she chose this life, to feed that beast inside her, and she’d choose it again. others didn’t have that opportunity, the choice. but that’s an excuse that can only be stretched so thin. among others.
❛ comparing yourself to a high - ranking politician… strong start on getting me to change my position. ❜ how many of those had made it on her list over the years? truth be told, it never crossed her mind to keep count… to write down names and neatly cross them out. it still doesn’t. does that make it better or worse? what matters more — whose blood you’re coated in or the fact that you’re coated in it at all?
in any case, she accepted herself a long time ago. perhaps he has too. doesn’t mean they have to accept each other.
her tongue clicks. ❛ it really isn’t, at least not for the job you’re being paid to fail at. i’m fairly certain the lower end for a hit these days is… fifteen? probably not enough to pay off whatever’s making you walk around with a stick lodged up your ass. maybe you should take the rest of those rocks. buy yourself something nice. ❜
‘ if a single conversation had a chance of changing your position, it isn’t much of a position. ’ it is laughable to talk about morals with a man who has cloaked himself in the brutality of death [ other children had learned their numbers in the classroom, a friendly teacher swathed in smiles, while he had been counting bullets, kills -- did the number matter anymore? he curled their truth around his hands, number blending into time blending into a life defined against murder, and squished the unripe peach of his history ].
arms cross across his chest, eyeing her as if in search of some lie -- if there ever was one, he wouldn’t be able to pick up on it ... the study of her face, a portrait captured in endless disarray. this has never been his language. if she had been a gun, he would hold the barrel to his ear and hear the twitch of secrets. if she had been a knife, he could read the blood smeared across its pointed edge. but she stands before him as a human ... and he stands to the side as a monster, uncertain as a young child would be. youth is a sin that one can never shed.
‘ the man is dead, is he not? that doesn’t constitute a failure. ’ but there is a twitch in his jaw, a mouth held tight, a jaw clenched -- the kill should’ve been his. there is a vague itching under his skin [ what does he control if not death? what ownership can he claim with these beasty hands? -- this apartment clambers into a coffin, clumsy, rushed ]. ‘ i’ve taken as much as i need ... aren’t most issues caused by those who take too much? you should be impressed ... i’m sure his death had something to do with taking too much. a moral issue, is that what you had? ’