4 300 word stories

critique this to the moon and back i want to improve my writing

Even killers fear.
The fresh scent of blood filled the room as his tongue slid against the stained knife. The rookies eyes widened in surprise since even though murder was the name of the game in this particular job sector it was definitely not normal to encounter people like his boss and so with the memory of his first encounter with his boss still in the back of his mind the young man tried to steady his trembling hands after all that dumb theory work and them weapon identification tests it was finally his turn for his first solo kill. No backup no mentor but all the usual stakes. Breathe in… breathe out… a quick check to see if the pistol was still in his holster. Why wouldn’t it be? He’s already checked three times by now, but an assassin should always be prepared. He aimed the reticle at the target and luckily for the young mercenary they appeared to be still. Now all he had to do was pull the trigger. So why didn’t he pull it? The sound of the gunshot was supposed to echo throughout the deserted streets, but it didn’t instead silence ricocheted against the walls of the worn buildings. She looked up at him as he stayed perched on the building and in that moment some higher power pressed pause. In the blink of an eye, she had scaled the building and looked him dead in the eyes instead of the fear that usually plagued the targets eye’s hers were just dull as though she was bored of the turn of events. One punch was all it took to knock the man into the next world. His body landed on the pavement with blood trailing onto the pavement. The moon gleamed making her silhouette ghastly in the night.

I’ve got the bill.
Both their hands slipped into their pockets ready to pay for the meal the waiter sighed already mentally prepared to deescalate the feud before it even started. There would be no point in offering to split the bill the customer’s pride would make them deny it. The poor waiter gritted his teeth knowing this would take up at least 5 minutes of his life he wouldn’t be able to get back. Swords unsheathed and both men in a ready position they both waited for the server to announce when to begin. He rolled his eyes and yelled “Go!”. Nimble on his feet the younger customer’s blade flew through the air as he hoped to get a critical hit and end the match as soon as possible but the older gentleman wasn’t going to make it easy as he parried and swung for the chap’s leg. But the senior was shocked when the boy simply kicked the blade away with no grace at all. The waiter stood back with a first aid kit ready even though pride would once again get in the way of them accepting such a thing. The blades clashed as they unintentionally took turns attacking and defending against the others strikes and advances. Although they were only just skimming the edge of each other’s skin, blood marred the silver metalled swords. The clock ticked like a slow beat to their waltz of violence. Slice through the air, the moustache from the wrinkled face fell it was a perfect stab but was also the catalyst for the recipient’s anger. He screamed out in rage as he charged like an adrenaline filled bull with his sights set on nothing but his opponent. The boy yelped but knew he had to remain steadfast to deflect him… “Guys, I already paid.”

I’m so hungry I could eat a…
“You sure it’s not a bot?” Tim asked him for the umpteenth time. Slowly losing his patience with his friend, James hung up. It’s not like he had time to waste since he still had to prep for the date. The girl sounded pretty nice on the phone but that doesn’t mean she would be happy to see her date show up looking like a slob that wouldn’t do. James pondered who was the best person he could ask for advice. Definitely not family that would be too embarrassing and its not like his cousins had any game they could share. And most of his friends were in the same position as him well due to him having a date James was technically a level above them now so if anyone was to be giving out advice it was him. He opened up his notes app and wrote down on a list “Clothes Scent Confidence” and in a smaller font he wrote “need some money” after finishing the list he rushed to his bedroom to see what fashionable things he had to wear. Would Asa be home? Well, it’s not like he’s ever out surely a quick visit to Asa’s would suffice to tick off the first item on his list and the second one was simple enough to complete since he had dozens of perfumes and stuff from birthday presents and other occasions like that. Going to Asa’s only took a few minutes and that’s without accounting for the multiple shortcuts on the way. Five minutes later, he exited his friend’s house looking as fly as a pterodactyl. With a pep talk from Asa and a £50 note he had enough confidence to take over the world. So, he swaggered to the prebooked restaurant only to see… a horse.

Start of death/Worse than death
He clicked away on his laptop blissfully unaware of how quickly his battery was draining even though there was about 80 windows tabs open and 4 words ones. His laptop had finally had enough and warned the boy with a low charge notification, but it was to no avail as it was brushed off by the user as an irrelevant notification. Eventually the laptop died interrupting the boy’s flow altogether as he wonders what happened. After only a few seconds of processing he realised that he had drained all the laptop’s charge. Looking around the train he was overwhelmed by how quickly he had moved and the fact that his eyes were strained on the blue lit screen definitely didn’t help his dizziness. Looking up reminded him that he was in one of those carriage carts in trains. A sweet vanilla scent filled up his nose or was it always there? Well, whatever the origin of the smell the boy was just made aware of it. These things usually only have one set of outlets and they’re both being used up. After a quick search through his bag the boy realised, he had forgotten his charger at home. This meant he would have to ask the source of the vanilla smell for her laptop charger. Deep breath in… deep breath out but not too out or he’d look dumb. He tried to rationalise whether he even needed a charger maybe he could become some anti tech monk. Shaking his head he glared at the girl. “C… could I p… p… please use your charger?”. Sure, he may have stuttered a bit, but he gathered up all of his courage to ask the question. It was actually kind of liberating for the guy. “Oh… sure, you use apple too?” … “No.”