Damsel Of The Damned

Chapter 3

I woke up after the same dream had plagued me yet again. But this time the dream had changed. The soft voice had simply stated "he is here" and that worried me greatly. Who is "he"? I figured that worrying about it wouldn't change the future. Whoever he is would make himself known eventually. Until then I needed to be more cautious as I wasn't sure whether "he" was dangerous or not. I did my daily routine and headed to work.
The cafe sat as it always did but for some reason it seemed more sinister. Darker. It had an aura around it that spelled foreboding. Maybe it was whatever caused me to have a bad feeling yesterday.

I unlocked the door and as I walked inside it was completely empty. Sophie wasn't there and neither was the cook that usually resided in the back of the kitchen. I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. She answered after the fourth ring.

"Hello?" She asked with sleep heard thick in her voice.

"Hey Soph.  It's Ava. I was wondering why you aren't at the cafe?"

"Oh dang I forgot to let you know that Mark, the cook got sick last night so we had to close up till tomorrow because I couldn't find a replacement for the day" she replied.

Would've been nice if she had remembered to tell me so I didn't have go through all the trouble of coming out here I thought.

"Alright thanks for letting me know. Bye Sophie."

"Bye doll" she said and hung up.

"So much for getting out of bed today" I sighed.

As I turned around to leave, a spirit materialised in front of me momentarily shocking me. This was not a friendly spirit. It's aura was one of the darkest that I'd ever seen. This was not good. There was only one way out of the cafe and the spirit was blocking it.

A fire hazard if you asked me but right now I had bigger fish to fry.

I slowly backed away but I knew I had no place to go. I would be trapped in a corner and that probably wouldn't end well. Maybe I could trick it and get around it then I would be able to get outside.

"What do you want" I asked in hopes of distracting him.

"Hmmm many things but you a mere human couldn't provide any of them" it replied.

"Then why bother me?" I asked.

"Because it's fun. I wasn't expecting you to be able to see me though. What a strange one you are. Now why is it that you can see me?" He asked.

"I just can" I replied because honestly I didn't even know myself.

Suddenly he reached out as if to run his finger through my hair but stopped short just before touching me.

"I wonder" he mused and grabbed a lock of my hair.

He jumped back as if I had burned him. Not that it was even possible because he was already dead and didn't posses a physical body.

"How is this possible?" He exclaimed. "I've never been able to physically touch anything."

At this point I was shaking in fear. I noticed an ominous glint in his eyes.

"I think you're going to be my new pet" he said.

"No" I told him.

"No? My dear I'm not giving you a choice" he stated as he grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the door.

I knew that no one would be able to help me as I was the only one able to see this spirit. At this point I was beyond scared. I had never had this happen to me. Usually I had a conversation with the spirit and it would leave. I wasn't that lucky this time and I had no escape plan. So I did the only thing I could think of. I screamed as loud as I could.
The ghost quickly covered my mouth making a tsk sound at me.

"Now now we'll have none of that" he said. "If you don't behave I will have to shut you up permanently and what a shame that would be because you look oh so amusing" he told me.

He resumed his strides towards the door, his grip on me tightening ever so slightly.
Just as his hand went through the door all the lights in the cafe went out and a voice boomed out from somewhere to the left of me.

"Release her now Lamar."

So that was the spirit's name.

Lamar quickly released me and I backed away from him.

"My lord what brings you here?" Lamar asked with a small tremor resounding in his voice.

"That's none of you're business now is it?" "But I see you are causing trouble again" the voice replied.

For some reason this voice sounded slightly familiar and what did Lamar mean by my lord? I watched as Lamar visibly shook in fear. Why was he so scared? He was already dead, so it's not like the man the voice originated from could do anything. Right?

"I humbly apologise my lord. Please forgive me, it won't happen again" Lamar pleaded.

"It's too late for that now. You've had your chance. I'm sending you back into Tartarus" the voice simply said.

Right before my eyes the spirit disappeared screaming "NOOOOO!" as he went and I was left alone with the unknown man.