Axel stared wordlessly at Hannah, wondering when she would finally pass out from all the alcohol she had taken. From the bottles littered on the table and on the floor around her, he feared that she was going to pass out from alcohol poisoning.
Hannah did not look drunk except for her flushed face and her half-closed eyes and the cheerless expression she had on.
He had seen the melancholic look in her eyes when she looked at him before turning back to the window and he couldn't help but wonder what was going on in her mind.
While he was still thinking, Hannah downed the last content in the bottle and stood up. He thought that she was going to head to the door but instead, she walked over to his side. She sat down next to him and placed her head on his shoulder.
Subconsciously, Axel held his breath as Hannah's head moved on his shoulder as if searching for the right position to place her head, and by the time she found it, her hair was already all over her face and his shoulder.
"Who are you?" Hannah's sudden question took Axel by surprise but before he could respond, she asked again, "aren't you scared of sitting so close to me? Do you know who I am?"
Axel was silent as he listened to her questions and planned to remain silent since she was drunk but he suddenly had the urge to ask, "who are you?"
To his question, Hannah opened her closed eyes and stared blankly at the space ahead of them. "I am Hannah of the Night Knights. Do you know what they say about me? Wherever I go, blood spills and there are always cries of agony from whoever I come in contact with".
"Are you proud of it?" Axel asked, "are you happy that you shed blood everywhere you go? Are you proud of that title?"
Hannah closed her eyes again and inhaled deeply. "No," she replied, her voice distant, "I don't want to be that person but do I really have a choice? I was made this way and I have already walked on this path for a long time. If I stop now, other people will spill my blood".
Axel didn't speak. In fact, he had nothing to say and he could only silently listen to her. He knew Hannah was right. If she decides to stop now, she would lose her life in the worst possible way.
Met with Axel's silence, a drunk Hannah couldn't help but ask, "Why don't you speak? Are you suddenly scared? Don't worry, I won't kill you".
Axel didn't know if he should be relieved that she wasn't going to kill him. If he didn't die in Hannah's hands, then he was surely going to die in the hands of her pursuers.
"Can I ask something from you?" Hannah asked and Axel replied with a low hum. "I want you to listen to what I want to say, will you do that?" Again, Axel responded with another hum. He didn't think much of it since Hannah was drunk and she was probably going to say unintelligent words before passing out so he agreed.
When Hannah heard his low hum of approval, she shifted a little on the chair before closing her eyes. "When I first got kicked out of the gang, I thought everything would be back to normal. I thought I would be able to live like a normal person but nothing of that sort happened". She sighed. "Instead of that, things became much worse than they were before. Right here…" she raised her hand to Axel's chest, "it feels so empty. I feel like I have just crawled out of an abyss only to be met with a huge black wall. The wall is so high that no matter how much I try or how high I climb, I still can't look over it nor can I break down that wall. I was so stupid. Thinking that leaving the gang was best for me. I thought everything was going to be fine as long as I left that place and its people but that is not the case. Right now, I feel like there is a big sword hanging above my head. One wrong move and that sword will fall and I will die".
Axel listened silently and he could feel his chest tighten from every word she spoke. All this while, he thought that she enjoyed killing people. He thought that she was a lowly person who would kill others for her benefit and wealth but it turns out that she was nothing like that.
Hannah continued, "All this time, I have been trying to get out of that dark world and now that I am out, I feel like I have stepped into a whole new hell made especially for me. When I got kicked out, I thought that my title as the bringer of death had been thrown away but it stuck with me. It doesn't get off no matter what I try". Hannah opened her eyes and tears were threatening to fall but she held them back.
Axel noticed the change in her breathing and even though he was looking away from her, he could tell that she was trying to suppress something. Her tears maybe?
"Let's go back". Axel suggested and was about to move when Hannah's hand in his chest turned into a fist, crumpling his shirt.
"You agreed to listen to me. Are you going back on your word now?"
Defeated, Axel sighed and stayed back to continue listening to Hannah. He thought he had listened to what she wanted to say but turns out, she had more to say.
"When I came in here with the secretaries, everything was going fine. For a moment, I began to feel normal but that feeling disappeared when I saw someone. Do you know who it was?" Hannah paused and her eyes closed, making her suppressed tears stream down her face. "One of my targets. I had no intention of killing him but I found myself reaching for my knife and going after him".
"Did you kill him?" Asked Axel.
"No," Hannah replied. Before she could reach him, Hannah stepped on a nail. The searing pain she felt managed to pull her out of her dark thoughts.
"If that nail wasn't there, someone else would have been added to the long list of people who were killed by Hannah. The people I murdered."