DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

CHAPTER 15

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You were disturbed. Your recent findings about how you became popular was making you restless.

You held onto your hair, "how on Earth did I get myself involve with the devil?"

"Hey, I'm back", came Roy's voice from the door.

In as much as you wanted to talk to someone and feel comforted by their words, you also wanted to be left alone and think of a way out of the mess you ignorantly created.

"Yay", you said as weak as ever without even looking at him.

"Well, someone is really excited to see me", he spoke sarcastically.

Your mind had traveled far, you couldn't hear the annoying voice of Roy anymore. Your thoughts were as empty as space.

"Y/N", Roy called your name softly.

You sluggishly raised your head to face him.
"Yes?"

"I'm really worried about you. From your weird behaviors of recent, I can tell that something is going on with you. So... what's wrong? You could talk to me about anything"

Even though you wanted to tell him everything you felt inside, you couldn't. You couldn't bring yourself to tell him the embarrassing and shameful thing you've done just to be popular.
Instead, you hugged him tight, enjoying the protection his strong arms were providing, fading away with the comforting scent that oozed out of his body and relaxing under his warm breath.

After several minutes of silence, you instantly asked, "do you believe the devil is real?"

"You're back with your ancient Greek mythology nonsense or whatever it is. How am I supposed to know?"

"It's not mythology Roy, I just want to know your opinion"

"My opinion huh? Stop worrying yourself with unrealistic things like this, you're still too young to be acting old"

You couldn't believe how unreasonable Roy was and yet, you couldn't blame him.

The day went by a little bit slow, with you expecting a call from your parents or your worse nightmare, the devil. All you hoped for was to spend the night with Roy, to feel comfortable for once, at least.

Unexpectedly, you fell asleep.
This time around, you saw your body hanging from a building, with a pool of your own blood underneath you. You struggled to free yourself from the rope around your neck even though you knew your attempts were hopeless. A strange man who you couldn't see his face, as usual, just stood a distance away from you, watching you.
What was more strange to you was the more blood dripped from his hands, the more blood dripped from your almost lifeless body.

"You are finally dead!", he said and laughed menacingly.

You screamed and jostled up from your bed, panting with teary eyes. Your whole body trembled, your teeth gnashed and your heartbeat raced faster than a sport car.

You scanned your body to confirm if you were really dead. After seeing that you were very much alive, you turned to the other side of the bed, only to find an empty space next to you.

"..Roy", it came out almost as a whisper.

There was no way on Earth you could continue to live like this, you were slowly losing your mind.

You drank a glass of water and laid back in bed, unable to fall asleep again.
Everything you felt was nothing but regrets. Even the popularity that got you into this mess couldn't save you now.

Still in your dilemma, your room became extremely cold. You looked at your closed windows, 'if they aren't open, why the sudden cold?', you thought.

You heard a growl and the lights went out.
You gulped forcefully, thinking it was just a sound from your head. You immediately lit up a candle.

"You are the reason I can't think straight", a deep voice from the corner sounded.

You brought up your knees close to your body and wrapped your arms tightly around them in fear.
'RUN', was the first thing that came into your mind. But to where?

"Aren't you tired of running away from me? You can't run away this time", the man said.

In as much as you wanted to know how he read your mind, you fell out of bed and ran towards the exit.

You heard his laughter from behind, it mocked your actions.

"When I said you can't run away from me this time, I meant it", he spoke in gritted teeth and you stood still in your position. Not moving, not flinching, it seemed like you were controlled.

He let out a dark laughter and you fell to the ground. You crawled quickly, looking for a place to hide.

Even in the dark, he still spotted you easily.
When you noticed his movement was towards you, you threw a chair at him and instead, the chair broke into several pieces.

You began to withdraw from him as the air around you seized. You coughed out, sweating, panting, hoping that this was just a nightmare and you'd wake up.

But no, it wasn't a nightmare this time.
You planned to die a peaceful death, where people, mostly celebrities (your words), will place expensive flowers on your grave, not dying like a rat.

You inhaled your last air and gave up.

...
...

Bright sunlight poked your eyes.
You rubbed your eyes as they tried to adjust to the brightness of the sun rays.

You scanned your bedroom, you weren't sure of what you were looking for but you remembered everything that happened last night, a part of you knew it wasn't a nightmare.

"It wasn't a nightmare", you said as you saw the broken chair.