Page 27 of Encounter

Surely, he was asleep already. Well, a normal person would... It was hard to say what his regular day-to-day schedule looked like.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and pressed my lips together. Deep down, I knew why I had the need to call him. I knew why I wanted to get back in contact. What he said before he left... After seeing him go around like a force of nature, seemingly unbothered or unshaken by anything, he was—in essence—everything I wished to be but never could. When he said what he said to me, I felt this jolt of... hope. Ambition.

A normal person would just get a gym membership.

As if there was a subconscious part of me that decided to make the choice, knowing I could never get the courage to, my finger slipped over the button and the phone started ringing. Panicked, I listened to the sound and fought the urge to cancel out the call, delete his number and forget about it, but instead, I forced the phone next to my ear.

I couldn’t realistically expect Chast to pick up. I couldn’t expect him to even remember me! He was a hitman, someone who only cared about the money. Not about a scrawny kid like me—a nobody.A nobody who was now calling him!

I nearly became so tangled up in my critical thoughts and the sound of my heartbeat that I didn’t even notice the ringing stopped.

“Yeah?'' A somewhat bored, hesitant voice responded, and I completely froze.

He picked up. He freaking picked up!

What am I going to do? What am I— Put the phone down. Just put the phone down, throw it away, or say something, say anyth—

“Hello?” Chast exhaled; his patience, clearly, about to run out.

With my eyes still closed like I didn’t want this dream to burst, I finally managed to push out some words. “I-It’s me,” I whispered, halfway hoping he wouldn’t hear me. I wanted to, but I couldn’t even bring myself to say my name.

Please, hang up. See it just as a dumb prank call and hang up.

There was a pause. The volume of the TV in the background of his call went down before he spoke again. “Kid?” He sounded shocked, but not as much as I was for him recognizing my voice or even remembering me. “How did you get— What the hell, why are you callin’? Do you need myservicesor somethin’?” he asked, with a thick layer of disbelief clouding his voice.

I turned around in the bed and pulled the blanket down, unable to survive in the hellish furnace my sweating, burning body created in there. Rubbing my face, I bit the inside of my lip until it hurt. The jolt of pain finally helped me get some words out.

“I don’t really know.” I let out an awkward chuckle. “Maybe I wanted to—” I had to pause again and to my surprise, Chast waited with nothing more than his heavy, slow breaths coming through the phone. “I was thinking about when... you said that thing about not letting life walk over me. That I should stand up for myself, I— You were right, maybe— I wondered if you could teach me how to defend myself. To... be a man. You know, since you seem like the... epitome of that.”

Oh, shit. Shit. What the hell are you even talking about? None of that made sense! He won’t care. Why would he?!

A silence followed. He didn’t even laugh or anything. “You know what, maybe f-forget about it, it was—” I blurted, hoping he’ll think this was one of those nonsensical dreams once he wakes up in the morning, but Chast interrupted me.

“Alright. Hell, sure! Why not?” He sounded a little amused and sort of flabbergasted.

Is he trying to mess with me or something?

I exhaled, drawing my brows together. “You... will?” He had to be joking. I had to be dreaming. My mind couldn't comprehend this as real.

“I will. I mean,fuck, you had the balls to call me. Yeah. I used to help with trainin’. Done that a few times—I think I can manage you.” I couldn’t help but notice the slight tinge to his voice. Something was different, unusual. He sounded as confident and firm as always, but also... odd.

“How much... How much would I h-have to pay you?” I blurted the moment that important aspect I clearly overlooked came to mind. I had a bank account, and a trust I could probably dip into, but Dad was going to notice with how particular he was around finances. My account or not, he had access, which has never been an issue, until now.

A sharp scoff came from the phone. “I don’t need your money. Let’s take it as a... change of scenery for me and charity for you, ey?” There he was again—mocking and playful.

“Wh— What? Really?”

“In all honesty, I’d feel like stealin’, considering... I doubt you’ll have me teaching you some advanced skills at this point anyway.” Even though I was left speechless, he kept going like nothing was unusual about the situation. “You have classes, right? I’ll let you know ‘bout what I can come up with tomorrow evening. Roger that?”

“Al— Okay,” I peeped and stayed on the call for a few more seconds, waiting for him to burst out laughing or send me to hell but he didn’t. He hung up, solidifying the situation as most likely not a joke. Putting the phone next to me, I looked at the ceiling with my mouth half open and tried to process it.

What the hell did I just do?

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