Lost

Selling Soul to the Devil ☘ Maureen

My eyes opened due to the numb right part of my body. The horrible shock of blurry vision greeted me as I blinked several times in a panic. As my vision became clear I realised I slept leaning on a wall last night or should I say early morning,

Jack was lying in front of me, his bruise a gross shade of yellow after four days of the fight. But some injuries were severe than the visible ones like the defeat in is eyes of not able to pull himself out of this place.

I wiped my hands on my torn jeans and get up on tip toes keeping noise to a minimum. My stomach grumbled loudly and I felt nausea hit me. We have been without food last night which was a common occurrence but with Jack on medicines, we needed to arrange food. He has been injured before but never like this never has he fought with a Royal before.

Sam and Anne sometimes served drinks in a local bar where they hire waitress on a daily basis since it is filled with perverts and no girl stays for too long. Me, on the other hand, was forbidden by Sam and Jack to ever step in such a place. But I wanted to help, I always want to help and now as I have numbered breaths I had to repay Jack and Sam for what they did.

Shawn was already giving me wage but that would come at the end of the month, I already asked for medicines from him I couldn't ask more so I ended up at the only place that can get me a quick money job if I wanted to pay for medicines and food.

Sabir the old drunk who taught me to read and write was an expert in card playing. Many times the guy would go and make bets with people, played card and won money for his daily dose of alcohol. He was a man with the talent of deception and people liked to keep away from him but he was also known to give you some low time jobs and quick money.

"You come empty handed Reen." He looked like he always does, red hooded eyes, drunken stupor and torn white tee too big for his lanky frame. His grey hair seemed to miss out in few patches and he coughed time and again.

"I need help, Sabir," I asked him out front with no time to waste.

"I can't give you anything unless you get me a bottle." He said and a cough followed.

"Jack is unwell." I played my Jack card since he was one of the few kinder kids on the street and everyone respected him.

This got his attention and he frowned barely keeping his head in position.

"He will kill himself one day." He grumbled and pulled his knees together leaning back on the wall behind him.

"Sabir." I reminded him that I was still there.

"Serve the table at this casino and you might get hefty tips." He slurred and looked at me with pity.

"Casino?" There were a lot of them around and the crowd is really rich but I have no idea how to work there.

"Yes, I can get you in. But stay clear of guests there, not nice to girls like you." He forced out the words coughing badly.

I nodded not thinking too much about the consequences. Going to die soon changes a certain perspective and even though there are times when I just sit alone under some tree in the nearby park and cry my heart out, there are also times when I feel reckless.

It has been a month since I found out I was dying and I was both scared and relieved, to be honest about it.

He gave me a card of the casino and with it a poker chip telling me that it was a token to get in.

"Reen." He called out as I was leaving.

"Stay safe."His bloodshot eyes looked at me with concern and I smiled slightly at his words.

***

I was very familiar with the disgusted look that a street kid get so it was nothing knew when the employer took the poker chip and took me to the fat bald man who was apparently the in charge of employees.

He didn't say a word, just handed me a uniform, gave me instructions in super fast tone with the rest of the girls and dismissed us with little interest. It was clear he hated his job and daily hassle of handling employees.

The casino was one of the posh casinos of the city. As I was pushed towards the main area from the backdoors I felt good about myself since I saw many people with a wad of cash and the place seemed better than where Anne and Sam worked. My uniform was even moderately decent.

I was wearing a white blouse a little too loose on me and a black pencil skirt making me feel confident when I walked. I never had the luxury to wear nice clothes but right now I felt very neat and clean. I had skin stockings on and a used up pair of black heels of some employee who left.

I walked out on the plush carpet with elaborate designs and a hall too widely lit up. The uproar of cheers, the music, the cries of loss and clanking of glasses filled the place too crowded with men ready to blow some money. I would never gamble if I had a choice, I knew about my luck too well and I would never let my luck decided my chances of winning.

I have served drinks before with Sam when Jack almost bit her head off for taking me to such a place. While he wanted Sam to stay back as well, she was stubborn as her brother and wanted to help make some money now and then.

With Jack almost unconscious this was my first chance to prove them I am not some damsel in distress and I can handle myself fine enough.

Half the night passed uneventfully or so I say in my own tongue since little passes at me, the subtle gaze at my chest, brushing arms inappropriately is something I have been dealing almost all my life. As much as I was disgusted by it, I was helpless. Voice is only heard if you have power and money to amplify it.

It happened almost before my shift was going to end and I was feeling good about this since at the end of the night I was getting a decent amount including my tips.

I walked to a table at the far end of the hall slightly covered with shiny curtains with a tray loaded with drinks. It could have happened just a few minutes later but my luck snapped out and a sharp pain hit my head. My steps faltered in the path and my hands trembled on the tray.

I walked towards the table, shaking and hardly holding up together. My vision was betraying me and I felt nauseous. It was the burden of working all night and I didn't realise it until now.

With a numbing feeling rushing through my right-hand side, I know that a disaster was going to happen. The right hand completely became useless and my left-hand side couldn't hold the burden of the whole thing and the tray crashed from my hand just before I could reach my destination which seemed a little bit too far away.

The carpet absorbed the sound of destruction but the mess made was clearly visible. But at that moment I had no sense of loss or guilt, instead, a panic was building inside me. The shortness of breath was new as I gasped for breath and the pain in the back of my head too severe to bear.

The black dots in front of my eyes made my stomach squirm with an uneasy feeling.

I could hear someone yelling at me, I could feel the commotion around me but it was not before a warm pair of hands encircle around me that I lost consciousness.

***

My eyes flutter open and the heaviness in my head made me wince. Everything around me was resolving and I had to close my eyes or rather squeeze them shut to able to gather the sense of the surrounding.

Panic hit me before anything else as I realised the lavish texture of walls around.

"Relax Magenta, the fear in your eyes is making me wonder what kind of person do you think I am." The familiar baritone voice should have shocked me but under the circumstances, I felt utterly relieved.

"What time is it?" I asked worried that Jack might have caused a havoc and in the state that he was in it was rather harmful.

"Three in the morning." He answered and I carefully looked up to see him sitting on a sofa across the room.

I was gone for more than six hours, I had to get back.

I started getting up and realised that I was decently covered with a bed sheet. Filmstar was few of the not perverted ones then.

As soon as I stand up, I had to clutch the nearest table stand to prevent my face from hitting the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He was next to me now looking really worried.

"Lack of food and lot of work," I answer him shortly.

My answer confused him and I gave him an evil eye, "You did beat my friend half to death."

"Get over that Magenta." He scoffed and just looked at me fierce curiosity.

"My name is not Magenta," I told him indignantly.

And I couldn't help but stare at him. He was a fine male specimen with features carved by the hands of perfection itself. There was a raw untamed pain around him that made him beautiful and callous. I have never been kissed and this is the first time I think looking at his lips that how will it feel.

His eyes looked intrigued and he steps back even though we are not even that close.

"What is your name? It is not Sasha." He said in a lazy manner.

"Why?" I asked frowning at his assumption.

"You don't look like a Sasha."

"And what does a Sasha looks like?" I asked him not in the mood to tell him the real name.

He just shrugged at my question.

"Thank you for today." I tell him in a quiet tone, "I should leave now."

"You do now I paid for all the drinks you splattered on the expensive carpet and all the glasses you shattered." His words carried a weight.

I gulp in fear. Was he going to ask me for some.... services in exchange?

"Nothing comes free in this world, remember?" He walked back to the counter in his room and my eyes widened at his own person alcohol collection.

"Umm... I promised I will be coming to your fight every time right?" What more did he want?

He took a large swig of the drink in hand and stared at me with eyes filled with emotions I can't place and yet felt familiar.

He gestured for me to come closer and fearfully I did. His hands curved around my waist and my breathing hitched as a shock of worry ran through me. I was scared but not of him and I was insane for even thinking that. He had a pull in that moment that I felt for the first time I was watching a destination point of my meaningless life.

He set down the glass and used his other hand to caress my arms gently. I shivered under his touch and my eyes refused to meet his or else I will be ashamed to show him how I felt then. He was a stranger to me, he was dangerous I know that.

But right now the logical mind was hazy as I just let the warmth of him form a shield around me.

"You don't seem scared." He voiced out his mind and I looked up to meet his eyes.

And they didn't seem as gentle as his touch. Reality hit me and I felt fear. This time he used both his hands pulling me closer and he had no distance between us. My rapid heartbeat was not helping my failure of a mind as I stood there helpless.

"I have destroyed many Magenta, I can easily crush you." He whispered the threat and I felt his warm breath on my cheeks.

I am scared shitless. I did saw him beating Jack to death.

He brought his face closer and I stopped breathing altogether. His nose skimmed down my jawbone sensuously and I have a mixture of feelings rumble in my stomach. I find it hard to keep my eyes open.

"I can shatter your body and your soul and will not think twice about it." He kept warning me but my voice is lost.

I try finding it but no words come out, just short breaths.

It's when his hands reach down the zipper of my pencil skirt I felt vulnerable and disgusted. I wriggled in his grasp and he sneered at me.

"Now I see you get the whole point." There is nothing calming about his presence now.

"Let me go," I said the words out of gritted teeth struggling to get out while his hold just tightens.

"What about payback then?" He questioned all this while his hands around my waist.

"I am not selling my body to you," I yelled back tears threatening to stream down.

"How about selling me your soul then?" His words were filled with so much evil and cruelty that for a moment I stopped struggling and stared at him in horror.

He did play mind games and he was well capable of destroying lives.

He was the devil like his ring name and he was asking me for my soul.

"In exchange for what?" I ask and his hands drop from my body.

I hide the relief in my body but don't move away.

"You think this is a joke." He snarled but I didn't flinch at his tone.

"Tell me the price," I asked persistently.

I was dying already and no matter what I tell others or myself sometimes, I feel broken. It scared me that after a few months from now I will die without any good memories. I am dying and no one even knows. I am already shattered, what more does he need.

He took off his shirt with immense hatred in his eyes and my heart fails me. I tangle my hands tightly behind me. Could he get Jack and Sam a safe place? Get the little kids out of that place? Save girls from being sold and raped?

If he is ready for that, I am ready to sell my soul to the devil.

I would have appreciated his well-defined body if I was not trembling in fear of my sudden choice.

"Tell me what do you want?" His hoarse whisper makes me think of all my demands in my head.

"Help for my friends," I mumbled and he picks me up by my waist and literally throws me down on his bed.

This does it, I bite my lips to stop the whimper of building fear but tears freely flow down proving that eyes really is a window to our soul. My fists are clutched tighter with my virtue at stake and even though I was as broken as million pieces of glasses there is some part of me still scared of being crunched under someone's footstep.

"Get out now." His tone is deadly calm, kind of calm before the storm.

I open my eyes that were squeezed shut in fear.

"What?" I ask him not sure what I heard.

"I said f**k off you silly girl."This time the desperation seeps into his tone.

My eyes widened as I stumble out of his bed with my virtue intact and I realised as the beautiful man in front of me sighed in utter hopelessness.

He was as broken as I was.