A Deal With the Devil

4

I don’t ask for much. I ask for nothing but to be alive, safe and relatively happy. Those are not very intricate or difficult things to want. So why can’t I ever get what I ask for?

    I walked briskly out of Phoebe’s apartment complex not wanting to stall and attract any unwanted attention. The streets were empty for some reason, and I couldn’t find a taxi. Great. I began to walk towards a slightly busier street, but on the way there I realized I had to pass a dark alley leading to an abandoned warehouse. I never went towards that place, not even in the daytime. Something about it gave me the creeps. Maybe it was the junkies I knew probably lived there, or the fact that it connected to the sewers, or just the fact that it was abandoned and old. Either way, I did not want to go anywhere near that place, but I had to in order to have a chance of getting home.

    With a deep breath, I psyched myself up, double-checked that my valuables were still in my pockets and began to book it past that place. My dumbass felt my phone fall out of my pocket so I quickly turned around to get it. As always, I did not get what I asked for. A group of men came out of the warehouse, and from what I could understand, were speaking Russian. Oh shit. They spotted me.

    “Hey. You’re not supposed to be here!” One of them shouted.

    A cold, cold numbness spread throughout my body. I was about to run until I heard a clicking sound. A gun being cocked.

    “Hey, put it down. There’s no need to kill her, who knows if she even saw anything.”  One of them spoke.

    “We can’t be risking anything. ‘He’ is already mad at the bosses for being too careless.” The other responded.

    “True, but we could just have a little fun with her before we kill her. Then, she’s not useless.”

    “Yeah, you’re right.”

    “Hey, girl.” One of them shouted in English. “Where are you going this late at night?”

    I did not respond. I did not move. These men were armed and dangerous. It did not take a genius to realize that these men were part of the Russian mob.

    “Come on, don’t be difficult. We just want to help you get to wherever you need to be.” He walked towards me. I felt my heartbeat in my ears. I could not move.

    “So, let’s make a deal. We help you get to where you need to be, and you help us in the way women do best. How does that sound?”

I could not move. I could not speak. I could not breathe.

“Ugh, this bitch. Just make her undress already, Alexei.”  The other spoke.

“Shut up. We have to make her warm up to us first.” He responded. “I’m waiting for an answer, woman. What will it b-”

He didn’t finish speaking. I heard a thud shortly after. The rest of the Russians sounded panicked and angry. I did not move. I did not speak. However, I could now breathe. 

I heard the sounds of violence. Bodies hitting the floor, men cursing, swinging punches and screams. I smiled. 

I heard a voice ask about someone named Vladimir Ranskahov, and then screaming again, and then silence. I softly laughed.

I turned around slowly and faced what I knew I would face. The man in the mask.

“Thank you.” That was all I could say.

He didn’t move.

“You should get home.” He finally managed to mumble.

“You too. Take care of yourself.” I responded, like a fool. What was I saying? This was a terrorist. Why did I want him to take care? What was wrong with me? There are unconscious men on the ground around me. Men that he knocked out.

Yet I felt alone again when he left without another word. Something in me found happiness in his chaos. Maybe I found comfort in the way he expressed violence. He did so with such freedom and fearlessness. And he did the right thing. Maybe not all nights, but tonight he did. To me he did. He had achieved a level of divinity through the means of heavy sin, just like me. I did the right thing too. I learned something about the masked man that night that caused me to change my perception of him from then on. He reminded me of myself.

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Hey yawl 🥶💯🙏 this chapter kinda gives a hint of insight to Sasha's character, a lil more than the first chapter where she glosses over what happened. I hope u like the violence 💪