Hic Est The Devil

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I brushed a piece of my hair out of my face. The cool breeze blowing on my cold skin seemed warm somehow. I could hear my breathing and felt my heart pumping swiftly. Looking up, the sky was a perfect shade of black. It hasn’t rained yet even though there were no stars in the sky. Not even the moon. It was a long way looking down. The streets were filled with sprinting lights and rushing footsteps.

Living in New York, I am used to this hustle and bustle by now.

But even I sometimes wish for some quiet which is why I bought this apartment in the first place. I need some quiet to sort things out. Clear my head, if you must. An year ago I used to live in a one storey house and here I am now.

Rooming with a girl whose father is friends with my father, she wasn’t like the peppy ones but she wasn’t a dork either. Smart is the word. It was nice of my father’s friend to take me in. I graduated college nicely and took the first job I got. The pay is good and I don’t have to work three jobs like I did in high school. I bought this flat with the money I had saved since high school. Now I live in a huge building in my own flat which is eleven storeys up. Just ten below the roof. I looked back, through the glass sliding doors into my own house just to remind myself of where I am now. But that thought soon floated away with the cool breeze.

I did this almost every night except the nights when I had to stay up late to finish some paper work. Summers and winters never made such a difference. Every day, after coming home, I would take off my heels, take a shower, change into something comfortable and rush over to my balcony. I would slide over my glass doors and hold onto the railing and take it all in. The cool air,  the whispering breeze and the dark sky.

 I decided to go back in. Two hours had passed so quickly. I opened my take away and began to eat it while watching television. It was cold but I couldn’t be bothered with cooking after such a tiring day. Their food is good even cold plus they are just outside my office where I work. The Italian pasta tasted really good. I got up and threw the packets in my bin. It’s good that I don’t have to make any presentations tomorrow or write any papers or fill any files. Days like this are like not having homework in high school. Ecstatic feeling.

Coming back, I switched over to a movie channel.

I adjusted a cushion and put my head on it. My bed in my room was comforting. But I was too tired to move a finger. I sighed and decided to sleep there. I curled up on my couch and my heavy eyes shut involuntarily.

I fell asleep on my couch with the television still on.

It was  a normal phenomenon too.

I was fast asleep when I heard a knocking at my door. The knock grew more spontaneous and more fierce. I know the security guard wouldn’t let a thug into this building but I had my own doubts about it. Seeing that it was 3 am in the dead of night, I was scared to open the door.

I picked up a baseball bat I kept hidden in my closet.

I tip-toed towards my door in a slow fashion with the bat about to swing.

I decided to look through the key hole. But the thumping stirred my vision. I just saw black standing outside my door.

I went on a hunch.

Swinging the door open and posed correctly to take a swing at the person standing outside my door, I stopped.

I realized I know the person standing outside my door. In fact, I realized I know him very well.

And that face that I had known for so long had an expression I had never seen.

An expression I never wish to see again.