Contract
The OSPREY silencer works best for me. I don’t know how other guys in this field work it, but when I have to fulfill a contract in a very public place, it has to be quick and easy. Especially on a 9mm, the OSPREY is your best friend. The contract is a guy who likes to go hiking and normally starts out at six in the morning and always completes his hike by 10 am. What he does beyond that is anyone’s guess, I’m just here to do what I have to do. This morning he decided to hike up to Kaniakapupu, Kamehameha III’s old mansion up in Nu’uanau. He parks near the water reservoir and walks the few steps up the road that it takes to get him there. I park a few feet past the trail to the right between two large boulders. I take the side trail that eventually joins the main path and I come up just a few feet behind him, I keep him in my line of sight but I don’t get too close. There are other hikers up ahead and a few coming down the trail toward me, so I’ve got to be cool and very careful.There’s the usual ‘hello’ and ‘good morning’ but I keep my head down and I don’t respond. I could care less about any social interactions in the middle of a bamboo forest, I have a contract and I’ve got bills to pay and other things that need to be taken care of. The trail is a gradual ascension that leads to a breathtaking view of an old withering building that still seems as if it is awaiting the arrival of unseen guests, or it gives one the impression that guests are already within and the party has already begun without you. It is majestic, imposing, and very sacred.
The contract has entered the old palace that sits without a roof in the middle of this forest where it has seen many events transpire. For as overgrown as the foliage may be, the canopy itself does not cover the structure. To me, it is a sign of the mana of the palace itself or the mana of the Hawaiian King who once moved about in this royal home away from home. In either case, the contract has taken a seat at the opposite end of the front entrance which is just a few feet away, all I have to do is take a short step up over the smaller rock wall but I’m interrupted by the appearance of a Hawaiian man who seems to be a bit out of place, considering the location. His white long sleeved shirt is normal enough but his pants look like those old navy cracker jack pants, which are buttoned on the sides. He stands directly in front of me as if to block my path. I give him a break and I go around, but he blocks my path again. This time I stare him directly in the eye in order to show him I mean business and to give him one more chance before I put a talon through his heart. All of a sudden there’s a loud ringing in my head and it’s so deafening that it makes me lose my equilibrium and I crumble to the damp grass on the forest floor. The strange Hawaiian man stands over me, glowering and there’s a loud static noise in my brain, almost like a ham radio trying to fix on a signal. It’s only then that I heard the voice reverberating through my head, “ ‘A’ole make ma’ane’i, he wahi ho’ano keia.”
That’s all the strange Hawaiian man said, that there was no death here and that it was a holy place. This was the worst headache I’d ever had, but by the presence of this person who would not let me enter the summer home of the late king, I realized that I would have to wait him out before I could do my job. IF I could do my job that is. The headache I had was so horrendous that I had to close my eyes, and before I knew it, I was out like a light.
It was still day when I came to but as to what time of day, I wasn’t sure until I looked at my watch. It was 10 am the exact moment when the contract completed his daily hike. He was also standing right over me and offered a hand to help me up.
“I’m ready,” he was very calm and resigned for someone who was about to die. Most times people cry and beg and I have to finish them off quickly, otherwise, it just gets ugly and awkward. “We can do this anywhere you want, right here, somewhere deeper in the forest, It’s up to you.”
I had trouble keeping my balance once I was up because my head was still spinning, the contract held both hands on my shoulders in order to make sure that I wasn’t going to crumble again. “Who was that Hawaiian guy that was out here earlier?”
“I didn’t see anyone,” he replied in earnest. “You and I have been the only two people out here the whole morning. I saw you faint and when I came over, it looked like you were having a nightmare.” He looked around for a second a took a deep breath. “I’m ready if you are.”
“Uh, we can’t do it here, it’s not the right place.” I pointed toward the west end of the property that led back down the trail. “Let’s go to your car.”
“Alright,” he was very agreeable and affable for someone in this situation. Who knows, if things were different we could have been friends. “Not that it’s going to matter but I need to confess a few things before we do this. Really it’s for my peace of mind," he said.
“I’m half listening but go ahead,” I told him. Why can’t any of these contracts be as nice as this guy?
“Everything that’s on that contract is one hundred percent true, I did all those things, all of it. The young girls, the roofies, the pictures, the videos. I ruined their life; each and everyone and I didn’t care. I just had this need to do those things and couldn’t ever be satisfied.…but I never expected Jen Takashima to kill herself. She was only thirteen, we had fun, we laughed, she enjoyed it.…” He put his head down and cried as if he were unloading a storm of hurt and anger.
“Let’s go,” I said. He confessed and his absolution was going to come at the barrel of a 9mm right through his brain.
“Thanks,” he said quietly. “ I won’t run, I’m Raymond by the way.”
“ I don’t care, just get going,” I growled, my head was killing me. It was awful.
….………
The contract was the contract but I couldn’t get past that Hawaiian man who got inside my head. Every time I thought about those words he told me I would start to smell rain, but rain before the deluge, not as it was happening. I’ve encountered ghosts before but nothing as powerful as that. We were now standing at the contracts car and while pointing my gun at him I reached into his pocket and retrieved his keys. I opened his door and instructed him to get in but he just looked at me with a blank stare, “Get in!” I raised my voice and opened the door wider, still, he stood there with that empty look on his face. Something caught my attention and I can’t tell you exactly what it was, but when I looked in the driver's side seat, there he was the contract. He was already sitting there with a blank look on his face, that’s when I saw the two huge gashes going up his forearms from the wrist to the pocket of his elbow. The keys were gone all of a sudden, my mind was still mush because I hadn’t noticed that the car was running and that the a/c was on. He was gone, the contract, no longer standing in front of me but sitting in his car where he’d been the whole time. He killed himself as soon as he parked here. Son of a bitch, I’d been trailing his ghost.
….……….
“ ‘A’ole make ma’ane’i,” the Hawaiian man said. “There is no death here.”
Yet, there was Raymond’s ghost sitting in the middle of a royal summer palace where the words and thoughts of a stalwart Hawaiian man invaded mine and rendered me useless. Could it also be a sanctuary or holy place for spirits as well? I have no damned idea, and I'm not planning to go back to that place anytime soon.
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