“Tonight will be our last sunset. You will never see me again.” He speaks, his words like silk through the faded light. It wasn’t unsurprising in the slightest, yet it still cut deep.

I had known what I was doing when I crossed the government. There wasn’t anywhere else for me to go, and he would get stuck in the same hole I was if he stuck around.

“Where will you go?” I step up beside the man, my shoulder brushing against his. His face was covered with a mask; his eyes covered with dark sunglasses. The hood he wore cast a shadow over both. If one didn’t know who he was they never would by looking at him.

Even his voice was altered. He had explained it to me long ago. There was some voice changer built into the mask that gave it the unnatural smooth aspect. No one could run it through any system and find his identity. It matched to nothing. I know. I’ve tried.

“To my family.” He replies. “You are a dead man. I value life far too much to be caught beside you.”

“Fair.” I answer, feeling dread rise in me. The snacks I had packed for after the long day we had would go forgotten. Him because he never ate around anyone he didn’t trust — which was me now I guess. Me because I couldn’t stomach anything. “I wish you safe travels.”

“I hope we do not meet again.” Was the only thing the man said as he stepped away from the cliff. The image of him reaching forward, tipping me over the rocky ledge filled my mind for a second. I knew it was unrealistic, especially after all he had done for me.

Below us is an empty valley. The only real roads that run through it are gravely and unused, forgotten in the overgrowth of the forest. No one lived within a hundred miles of the area. Many didn’t even know this cliff existed in the first place.

I turn from the view, watching as the man walks away. His coat flaps in the wind behind him. It was a rather intimidating picture.

“Do you think I have a chance?” I call out. For the last few hours I’ve been hiding the panic running through me. As I watch him leave, however, all those emotions slam to the surface. What was I going to do? I had single handed my destroyed everything tie that could save me.

He doesn’t stop when I speak. In fact, he doesn’t pause until he reaches his own slick black car. The windows were so tinted I couldn’t tell if anyone sat beside him. Surely they would have shot me in the back of the head by now, though, so it was safe to say we were alone. When he turns back to me he seems faceless. The sun reflects off his glasses in reds and oranges.

“No. No I don’t.” He drones out. The tone was careless, giving the impression that he really didn’t care much if I lived or died. “As soon as I make it down the mountain I’m calling you in. They will have your exact location and there is only one road in and out of this valley. You will die.”

I grit my teeth at the bluntness with which he speaks. Yes, I hurt him a lot. Did I deserve death for it? Maybe.

“I tried my best.” I whisper as if it would matter. I see his eyebrow raise with the words.

“Tried? Yes, yes you did. But you failed. That is not to say you are evil or weak, much the opposite I believe.” He removes his glasses then. For the last time I see pale grey eyes staring back at me. They seem to glow in the dying light. “You’re naive and you will die for that.”

With that, the man disappears into his car. I watch, numb, as his tires crunch against gravel and tear away from the cliff side. Suddenly I am afraid. Deathly afraid.

I turn back towards the valley as the last bits of light push through.

This is our last sunset, and my last night.

I pick up my backpack and walk into the dark forest behind.