Dancing With The Devil || COMPLETED ✓

n i n e

AXEL

When I was a kid, I used to admire the carnivals from afar in a hope that maybe someday I'll also be able to go inside like other children of my age. It seemed different kind of world to me where bright lights and laughter fascinated me but then I grew up not even once getting a chance to experience that kind of life.

And now, I'm here. I'm not enjoying it. If I be honest, I'm enjoying Ayla's company more than this shitty piece of rides and fireworks. They are too fucking bright for my liking.

Maybe if I lived different kind of life, I would've enjoyed it too. If I had friends, girlfriend or stable family for that matter then I'd have visited here and probably it would have been me to ask Ayla to accompany me to the carnival. But world's not same for everybody and for someone like me it was already buried six feet under the ground even before I was mature enough to realise it.

The sound of her cell phone's ringtone snapped me back to the reality. I fixed my eyes ahead when she picked up her call.

“Hey, Xavier. Uh, sure. Drop by my house tonight, I'll help you with that. Yeah, okay.”

My jaw clenched as I tried to stay unaffected by the fact that she's inviting her boyfriend to her house.

She stood up and then walked back to where the shops were. I just followed her. She looked around, snickering and rolling her eyes. She also whispered something under her breath which I wasn't able to catch.

“Axel, you're a walking flag of attention and popularity.” She said, smacking her lips and gesturing towards the bunch of girls who were looking at me.

If only I could tell her that I don't care about it all. Behind the facade of good looking face there's nothing more. The shittiest thing about all the attention I get is that it's all just illusion. If they get to know about the deepest layer of my life, they all will run away.

A fucking garbage bag. I'm nothing more than that.

And I really wonder what this girl sees in me? She had already found me getting humiliated in the bar, she found the bruises on my body. How can she still find me attractive? 

“Are you jealous?” I asked.

Her eyes widened in suprise but she nodded her head anyways. “Kind of.”

Once again that fluttering thing happened in my stomach. It was weird. I had never felt that kind of sensation before in my body.

“I'm going to try this, okay?” She said, pointing towards the fake gun which on aiming the six targets makes you win some bright cushy toys.

She shot the fake bullets from the gun and not to my surprise, she missed all the targets. She kissed her teeth and then turned back to me. “Let's go, try something else.”

I couldn't help but chuckle. She looks cute when she's pissed.

I held her arms which made her stop in her tracks. She looked up in confusion and quickly I let her go.

“I'll try.” I bought the tokens and out of ten chances, I shot nine on point.

A huge smile graced her lips and for a moment, my heart stilled.

She got a blue soft toy.

“You're perfect.” She said, admiring the toy and then gave me a thumbs up.

Fuck it.

“I'm getting late, I should go.” I said.

“Sure. See you tomorrow.” She smiled, again.

***

“He's the best here. Bet on him, you'd win for sure.” He said, patting my shoulder.

I stood there straight, looking at vacant space as the sound of crowd filling the seats echoed in the surrounding.

“He's the dark horse, off course, he'd be our first priority.” Three men, probably in their late fifties, laughed, inhaling the marijuana and gesturing me to go inside the ring.

I took a sharp breath and entered the ring as my tonight's opponent also stepped inside.

He was a young man in his thirties and if I'm not wrong then he's the one who beat me to the pulp couple of months back which gave me broken ribs.

He smirked, looking at me.

The bell rang and all of sudden, nothing mattered but the thought that I need to win this match.

He started throwing punches at me and at first I tried my best to dodge them but the second he hit me in the stomach, my body trembled in pain.

The bruises on my stomach are yet not healed.

I gritted my teeth and spit the blood. If I don't win today then they'll throw her out of the hospital.

It was advised to add thrill in the game. The more wounds I'll get before winning, the more money I'll acquire.

So, I let him hit me as much as he wants.  The crowd cheered everytime I was knocked to the floor with fresh blood covering my face.

And when I had enough, I looked at the person who hired me, he gave me a nod indicating that now I can beat him. And that's what I did, I did my best to knock him down to the ground.

All the frustration leaving my body through my punches at him. It felt good. This time, he's going to have broken ribs and even if I know the pain, I don't want to stop until I see him helpless.

I won and after all the formalities, I was handed my share of money. I changed my clothes and all of sudden the smell of lavender engulfed my nostril. Ignoring it, I cleaned my face with water and ran to the hospital.

“Here's the money.” I handed the money to the hospital management.

“Oh, Axel, don't you want to meet her?” The nurse who takes care of her asked me as I waited for the receipt.

The money wasn't enough. It's hardly enough for a week and that's it. After that, I've to bring more so that she can stay here. This is the story of every week.

“No.” I replied.

After grabbing the receipt, I walked out of the hospital.

The smell of medicine and pale coloured walls made me nauseous.

As I dragged myself to house, I lay down on the bed. Every inch of my body aches and I don't feel like checking my wounds.

I stuffed couple of painkillers and groaned. This motherfucking pain.

Every minute I spend with humanity, I hate everything even more.

This is the fucked up reality of my life. The underground fighter with life long hospital bills and free bruises.

Ayla called me perfect not knowing that my world is darker than all those bright words.