Teen For Hire

A Clean Slate

"Is he...?" she asked impatiently.

"Let's find out," he said. Two step forwards and he was looking directly down the face of a man; his face wrinkled, hair was unkept with an even messier beard, his blood travelled from the side of his head where a deep gash was, down to his body, drenching the black hoodie he was in. The man's eyes were closed and from where Reece was, it was almost impossible to tell if he was breathing.

Hesitantly, Reece reached down into the bin, one hand stretched out while the other gripping the sides firmly as if he might somehow be yanked into the black container as well. His fingers grazed the man's neck, trying desperately to find a vein.

An overwhelming sense of relief spread through his chest when he finally felt a faint rhythm beating against his fingers.

"He's alive." Reece said, quickly backing away from the bin, brushing his hands against his shirt.

"Shit." Sierra cursed, her brows furrowed even further.

"Well, that wasn't the reaction I was expecting. Would you rather he's dead?"

"Yes," she said, with a steel certainty that sent another wave of chills down his spine. Before he could panic, she continued, "I'm just saying, this will be less complicated."

"Wha-How?" To be honest, he was scared to ask.

Sierra sighed, her head shaking as if she was questioning her own thoughts. "Dead people can't talk."

"But their rotten bodies will show! What the hell is wrong with you, Sierra?" he almost shouted.

"I don't know, okay!? I don't... I just can't-" Her fists curled, there didn't seem to be enough air to catch the breaths she needed as she struggled to find the words. "What-what did I do? What the fuck did I do!?" Her screams were silenced by the lump in her throat that felt like it was choking her and tears were threatening to spill out, her eyes stung as she kept that in.

The panic and worry had been building up in Reece, but one look at her forced everything to melt back. All that was left was pity for the girl who was forced to do something unimaginable after an innocent outing to the cinema. Reece held his arms out to her and pulled her towards him. Sierra buried his face into his shoulder, her own arms wrapped tightly around his waist as she let out a muffled cry.

He held her close, resting his head on top of hers while shutting his eyes, trying to calm himself down enough to think straight. There had to be a way around this, some way to get away with this. A way to just let this whole thing disappear, get rid of every proof this ever happened.

Reece opened his eyes and sighed. He figured it out.

"Sierra, listen to me." He whispered to her. She nodded, head still against his shoulder. "We can settle this but we need to be quick. Go around the blocks, get as many garbage bags as you can. Tomorrow's the day they pick up the trash so most places should have a few by their bins already. Take them from different shops so they don't notice. I will settle with the rest. Okay?"

She pulled back from him, eyes puffed up but they were already focused. "What are you going to do?"

Pursing his lips, he said solemnly. "Get rid of the evidence."

There wasn't any plan in his head, only a vague idea that had an even blurrier ending which he hoped to be a happy one. He was hanging by a thread with this, a very thin and fragile one, but at least he had something to hold on to. Sierra seemed to think so too, nodding her head before heading off to do her part even if uncertainty was plastered all over her face.

While Sierra ran off down the alley, Reece turned his attention to unconscious man. Pulling out his phone, he leaned into the bin again. It was hard to take photos when both of his hands were shaking like hell but considering he was doing this to a bloodied person, it was enough. Every detail he could've possibly seen was captured in the photos; the small tears in the fabric of the worn-out hoodie, how the man's hands were rough and calloused, a small yet painfully clear tattoo at his left wrist. The final one was of his face and how the gash at his temple started to turn blue even though the blood was barely even dry yet.

Reece swallowed down a grimace as he reviewed the pictures, a deep disgust began to simmer in his gut. After making sure each one was as clear as possible, he contacted the one person he hoped not to have to. "Time to give these to that creepy old mafia," he muttered under his breath. The moment he pressed the 'send' button, he immediately questioned his decision.

There wasn't enough time to ponder or regret it; the thought of being caught by an unsuspecting worker going out of their back door made adrenaline rush through his body. Reece looked around the scene, spotting small rolled-up tissues trapped between the gaps of the brick walls. He picked them up, all of the tissues were already stained with brown patches but it didn't matter, he'd just need a lot of hand sanitizer after this.

Dipping the tissues into the pool of blood on the ground, he wiped them across the edge of the bin where his fingers had touched earlier. The grey bin now painted deep red, with an awfully metallic smell that made him gag. After another dip into the dark liquid, he let it drop against the walls of the container just to make it realistic.

By the time Sierra had come back smelling like expired groceries, the bin looked positively similar to a crime scene. With the bags of trash that she dragged along, they quickly piled all of it into the bin, burying the body out of sight. The stench of the garbage overwhelmed anything that came out of that man's body, there was no longer a stream of blood flowing through the bin.

The body was, for now, taken care of.

Before Reece could even turn around to look at her, he suddenly felt a strong force pushing him out of balance and he found himself falling head-first to the rough ground. He groaned at the sharp pain that pierced his skin, struggling to focus on the girl standing above him who wore a face as smooth as it is cold.

"Sierra, what the hell!?" he said as he brought himself up by the elbows.

"I'm sorry, Reece." Sierra had said it with such a dark tone that he almost expected her to whip out a knife and get rid of him too, but instead she just squatted down to his eye level. "I just have to make this clear; you are with me on this, okay? You helped me," she whispered now, slowly. "We have to keep this between us. Don't you dare sell me out, you understand? You cannot tell anyone."

Reece gulped, not sure how to tell her the news. "Well... that might be a little too late."

"What?"

Just then, the solemn melody of a grand piano pierced through the quiet atmosphere. He felt the vibrations coming from his pockets, and he had no doubt from who the call was from. Before answering, he just gave Sierra a sheepish smile. "Why don't we talk this out at your house?"