Late Message

Xiaoyu Tian

One day in the winter， I was sitting in the library， as usual， worrying about what should be the topic for my next book. The librarian called me over to his desk. We have known each other very well since I spend most of my time there. He asked me to take care of his house while he is off-town.

The next morning， I went to the address he had given me. I found out its a three storied house with a swimming pool. How could a librarian own a house like this？ As I walked into the house with doubt， I knew he is more than just a librarian. As I explored the house， I heard someone knocked the door. It was another librarian who also worked at the library I always visit.

“Hey， I am here to help the owner of this house to take care of it. Why are you here？” I explained to him.

He looked at me and smiled， “My name is Joe， and I have already known about that. I just got a few things to tell you about Luke （the other librarian）.”

As we walk towards his car， I asked him， “Where are you trying to drive me？”

“I am going to show you something about him.”

“What kind of thing you cant explain here？”

He holds breath for a second， “he was an assassin. So do I.”

I didnt expect he was lying to me， but I dont really believe that “prove it.”

He looked back without saying anything but just flipped over the bottom of his jacket. I saw there was a gun on his belt.

“Well， I guess I will take it. A gun， you know， cant prove anything.”

As we stepped in to the car I asked， “if he is a librarian， why would he still want to be an assassin？”

He started the car and starts to drive forward， “The story started fifteen years ago. He was neither a librarian nor an assassin. At that time， he had a beautiful wife， Anna， and a cute daughter， Christina. It should have been the best time in his life. One day when they were having a picnic， Christina and Anna was kidnapped by some unknown criminals. If you remember， there was a big scar on Lukes left hand. He got that when he was fighting with criminals.” Joe paused to give me a few seconds to recall. I did remember there was a big scar on his left hand， but I never got a chance to ask him what had happened. Then he decided to become an assassin because he thought this would be a good way to collect evidence about those criminals who kidnapped his daughter and wife. I was his tutor like role when he was a freshman in Assassin. I still remember the first time he called me on my phone and told me he wanted to be an assassin. He was desperate and angry. All he wanted was to revenge. He really was a nice man. Even he was an assassin， he still kept his conscience. He told me he would only kill bad people. Everyone was expecting that when they first came in; however， this means that there would be fewer targets he could pick. We assassins also have KPI. Our boss had talked with him many times about his attitude. However， he worked really hard， so at last our boss just let him do what he wanted.

“Yeah， Life is tough. Every job has their own rule; its hard to keep yourself clean when others are muddy.”

As he finished his sentence， we stopped at a field. Joe pointed at a stone not far from the road， “That was the stone Luke set there for his daughter and wife.” Joe explained.

As I walked to the stone and read the words on it： The devil which took my family here. You will pay even it costs me my life.

Then I asked， “If he really wants to find his daughter and wife， why would he become a librarian instead of continuing to be an assassin？”

Joe answered， “he retired five years ago; He has gotten too old to kill people. Also， he kidnapping happened fifteen years ago， and It was not that easy as you think to find evidence. He became a librarian instead of doing anything else because this was the place where his family came most often before the kidnapping. He expected if his wife and daughter were still alive， they would come back.”

We walked back to the car and started driving back， “Joe， why did you tell me all of this？”

“Actually， I told you these because Luke asked me to.”

“Luke asked you？ Why would he do that？”

Joe explained， “He recently found some really important trace that might help him find his family. Although Luke had already retired， he had to go on this mission. He told me this trip might be very dangerous. There would be a good chance he would not come back alive. He knew you are a writer， he wishes you could publish his story if he cant come back， so his daughter and wife would know he is looking for them.”

A week later， it was Christmas. I got a newspaper that day. The headline read： An unknown man dedicated his life and helped the policeman uncovered a criminal gang. I looked at the picture that went with the story. Although the picture didnt show the mans face， I noticed a scar on the mans left hand. Then I looked at the list of rescued people. And read the names， “Anna Ray” and “Christina Ray.” Lukes last name was Ray.

【作者簡介】Xiaoyu Tian， McCallie School.