Sold My Soul *editing*

Nine - Fighting Boredom by the Hour

I stood in the wardrobe for a long while, staring at my reflection in the mirror. I debated staying in the dress; the girly part of me couldn't help but revel in the fact that I looked like a princess. However, my more rational side was telling me to turn away from this, to rebel against Lucifer. If I dressed in the clothes he gave me, it would seem as if I was condoning the situation. At this thought, I turned away from the mirror and started undressing.

I started by taking the necklace off and my hair down. I then started on the task of unlacing the dress. I felt like a dog chasing its tail, spinning around myself as I struggled to grab the laces. Finally grabbing hold of the tip of one, I tugged, and the simple knot came undone. I wiggled my torso a bit to loosen the bodice so I could slip out of the dress. As I started to walk towards where I had left my original dress, I saw that it had been removed. By whom or when, I did not know. I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself and looking around the large closet.

Sure enough, my brown dress was gone, with no trace left behind. I was alone in a sea of black, so I set off to find something suitable to wear.

A lot of digging through the racks revealed a simple and comfortable looking silk gown that flowed to the ground. It had short sleeves and was extremely light weight - and there were no laces involved.

I slipped it on, the silk creating a feeling of swimming through a warm lake in summertime. Spotting some simple black flats, I slipped those on too. Without even turning to look in the mirror, I walked out of the wardrobe.

As expected, the bedroom door was gone, leaving me with no way out of this literal hell hole.

Feeling boredom already settling in, I wandered towards the bookshelf. It was small, but books were crammed in every available space. Some looked older than time itself, others were relatively new. I was able to read some of them, but some were in languages I had never even heard of. There was an assortment of titles: Myths and Legends, Norse Mythology, El Diablo: The Devil. All told stories of Lucifer in some way or another, whether he was in the form of the devil, Hades, or even the Norse queen of the underworld, Hel.

What a modest guy, I thought to myself.

With nothing else to do, I grabbed one called Hades, God of the Underworld. This was a book based off of Greek mythology, particularly stories about Lucifer, or "Hades". As I read a myth involving him and a goddess named Persephone, I wondered if these stories had any truth to them. I felt like Persephone, trapped against my will by the Lord of the Underworld to be forced to be his queen. The thought of Lucifer doing this to another person made me shudder.

I quickly finished the book of stories and it felt like almost no time had passed. I put the book back on its shelf, but decided I was not in the mood to read anymore. I meandered back towards the bed and, with a dramatic huff, I fell back onto the bed and into a deep sleep.

--

My eyes fluttered open to stare at the broad, bare back of someone sleeping next to me. I audibly gasped and the person turned around.

"Good morning," he smirked with that boyish, half-awake look about him. So familiar...

I didn't breathe, afraid that any movement would make this moment disappear. But when he shifted around to face me, I reached out to touch his cheek. I felt his warmth, his slight morning stubble. It really was him.

"Westley," I barely said. "How?"

"It doesn't matter how, just that I'm here now. We're together now. That's all that matters," he said in a hushed tone, reaching up to grab my hand that was still lightly touching his cheek. He enclosed his large hands around mine, warming my ice cold skin.