At first there's darkness. All encompassing, stifling darkness that makes it hard to breathe. Then it changes to a darkness that is still everywhere but no longer stifling. It's more akin to emptiness. And that scares Jacob all the more. He tries to move, to walk away from the empty feeling that threatens to overwhelm him but his feet refuse to carry him. It is as if everything is moving towards him instead of the other way around.

From the darkness up ahead a building takes shape. It seems out of place but with a shock Jacob recognises it. It's an old farmhouse that will be forever branded in his memory. It's the place where he took the first steps on his road as an assassin.

The house takes more solid shapes and seem to come closer to him, and with all his willpower Jacob tries to get away from it to no avail. He doesn't want to relive this memory, it's too painful.

But he has no choice but to let it all wash over him. He still can't move. He closes his eyes in an attempt to escape the memory but when he opens them again he is now inside the house. Everything looks distorted and unfocused except for a single piece of furniture. But Jacob refuses to look at it. He knows what he will see if he looks at it.

Unwillingly his eyes are drawn anyway to the weathered old armchair in front of him. And right there is what he feared. The cold, lifeless body of the farmer who owned the house, slouched in the chair. His mouth is hanging open, blood still leaking from it as well as from a hole in his chest. The wound is ragged and not made cleanly. Jacob tries to take a step back, away from the scene in front of him.

He killed the man, he knows. His first kill.

His feet finally seem to be willing to move, but as he turns around he is faced by a little girl. He startles, at the sight of her. Too young to have witnessed such a scene.

It's all his fault. He wasn't patient enough. Didn't take enough time to scout the place, and make sure he was alone. He was rash. As he still is in way.

He can't bear the accusing look the little girl is giving him. He killed her father. Her scumbag father, but still.

As he turns around again he realizes with a shock that the old armchair is now empty. He looks around looking for answers but nothing comes to him.

And then, when he least sees it coming, two pale, cold hands come for him and grab him by his neck. As the life is being strangled out of him he looks right into the dead farmer's eyes with the haunting laughter of the little girl in the background.

With a shock Jacob shoots upright in his make shift bed, breathing hard. His heart is beating loudly in his chest and he's covered in sweat. His hands go unconsciously to his neck, checking for strangle marks that he half expects to be there. There is nothing. It was all a dream.

It takes him a moment to get his ragged breathing under control, and shake of the last tangles of sleep. He hasn't had a nightmare like this in a long time.

The small confines of the study seem too pressing al of a sudden, and he feels an urge to go out and clear his mind. He untangles his feet from his bed sheets and gets of his couch.

The roof of the train, he discovers, is an excellent place to clear your mind. The train is not moving at the moment, since it's the middle of the night so it's quiet around him. Not a complete silence like in his dream, but a quietness that is calming. He lets his eyes go over the tall buildings that make up the horizon and let's his mind go completely blank.

Jacob doesn't remember how long he has been sitting on his own, only accompanied by a slight breeze, but he knows that it has been a while. His eyelids start to grow heavy again and his mind wanders back to his warm study, where the couch awaits him.

He's just starting to gather the energy to get up as he's suddenly aware of another presence on the roof. As he glances to his left, he sees to his surprise that it's Evie. He can barely make her out in the dark, but he can see that his twin sister in her nightclothes as well, her dark hair hanging loose. Without a sound she makes her way across the roof and sits down next to him, her knees drawn up to her chest.

He acknowledges her with a nod and for a while they don't speak. Jacob doesn't need to explain to her why he's up here in the middle of the night. They both know. They don't need to speak. Not yet. After what seems like hours Evie speaks up, her voice a bit rough from not using for a while.

"What was it about?"

"The old farmer." he says, without adding any detail.

"I dreamed about the mill owner." Evie says as a response.

So they both dreamed about their first kill. Somehow it's comforting to know that even perfect Evie has her demons. That it's not another way in which he is spectacularly failing, like he sometimes feels beside her.

They sit a while longer, staring at the buildings in the distance, wondering how they are going to free all its inhabitants. How they are going to accomplish the immense task they set for themselves.

"Do you think we can do it?' Evie asks.

Not for the first time they are both thinking the same. It must have something to do with being twins.

"Of course," he says, "We just need time."

"And planning." Evie adds and Jacob snorts, receiving a mock angry glare.

"You and your planning." he says and bumps her with his shoulder.

"It's kept us alive more than once." Evie says trying to sound hurt by his words but failing.

They both know their strengths and weaknesses. They know they work best together.

"Come on." Evie says, getting to her feet and offering a hand to Jacob, "Enough heavy feelings for one night."

He grabs it and hosts himself up. Their hands have become quite cold, as it is quite chilly outside. In fact Jacob feels chilled to the bones. He suspects his sister doesn't feel much warmer.

"I think we need something warm." he says as they both make their way back inside the train, where it's nice and warm.

"What you mean to say is: 'Evie, can you make us something warm to drink?'' his sister says with a roll of her eyes.

"Well, I meant some brandy actually." Jacob shrugs.

"You're not going to drink alcohol in the middle of the night." Evie responds in a matter-of-fact tone, while steering him in the direction of the common room.

Ten minutes later they both have a steaming cup of warm milk in front of them.

"It feels like we're eight years old again." Jacob says, savouring the warmth now seeping into his bones, courtesy of his sister's skills.

"Hmm."

Her satisfied hum expresses exactly how he feels at the moment as well. The nightmare has already faded to the back of his mind and he feel his eyelids growing heavy again. They have some hours left till sunset, so there is enough time to get some more sleep.

So after a while they both go their separate ways again, Evie to her bedroom and Jacob back to his study. No more words are spoken. They don't need to. Their nightly encounter will not be mentioned again. It's just the ways things are. As he lays under the covers once again the nightmare is completely forgotten and sleep comes to him easily.