The Toxic Deal

BLUNDER - 1

BRIA

I was staring at the broken decorative glass piece for the past hour. I didn't get enough time to look and admire the beauty of it when I threw it at Gabriel, which he luckily managed to dodge. But the broken and disoriented pieces were enough proof that it was indeed a beautiful piece. And expensive also if my guess was not wrong. It must have been made with care and handled with gentleness to bring a smile on it's owner's face. But were all those efforts really worth when it shattered into hundreds of pieces in a blink of an eye?

My life was no different. It was treasured by my family, handled with care. Benji did his best to made me a good person to put smile on people's faces with my existence in their life. But was it all worth when I, myself destroyed that perfectness with my own hands? Granted, I did all this for my family to keep them safe and have a second chance to live a better life. But was striking a deal with the devil my only option?

Same thoughts were constantly riding on my mind for the last hour. My fingers automatically found my pendent and started playing with it. What should I do? I knew that getting out of here was out of the question. If I dared to set my foot outside the devil's cave his blazing anger would directly aim at my family. But what if he did not complete his end of the bargain? What if he faked his compliance to the deal and hurt my family after taking my signatures? How could I trust such cunning criminal?

Ughh! These what if's were driving me insane. And they started making me doubt my decision. After balling my eyes out for an hour and making sure that I emptied my tear tanks to the very last bit of drop I stood up, glancing around the room.

It was a decent sized room but bigger than my own room. It was neatly decorated and very cleaned. There was a wardrobe on the right side and beside it was a door which I assumed was a bathroom. A simple vanity was placed beside the bed which was placed along the large wall. A large circular decorative piece was giving the modern yet elegant look to the grey coloured wall. And the most beautiful part of this simple room was a large window on the left side which was giving a stunning view of outside night sky filled with twinkling stars and a crescent moon.

I sat on the bed and couldn't resist the temptation to lie down, covering my body with soft covers. I continued to stare outside at the beautiful night sky and tears welled up in my eyes for umptienth time in last 24 hours. How was I going to survive in this strange place with many criminals for three excruciating months?

I missed my kids already. And all I wanted in that moment was my head on Benji's shoulder and him assuring me that everything was going to be alright.

Dimly lit hallway.

Fireplace... fire crackling in it.

Walls full of pictures.

A man with black hairs and piercing blue eyes.

A woman with wavy brown hairs and warm brown eyes.

Their little princess.

Baannnggggg

Baannnnnggg

Blood.

It was blood all over the place.

Cody. His lifeless eyes. His crimson warm blood.

I woke up with a gasp and heavy breathing, panting. My body was soaked in sweat and tears were flowing freely on my cheeks. My shaky fingers found their way to the pendent in my neck to get some calm. Benji... I need you.

The same nightmare has startled me but this time it was more horrifying as it also contained the face of Cody.

Cody. The person who lost his life without any fault. The person who trusted me every time I said everything was okay. He was dead. Gone. And that was all because of me. I was the reason of his death, reason behind every pain my family was going through.

I placed my head between my hands tugging the black locks in frustration. I shouldn't have slept.

After calming myself a bit with the help of the breathing exercises that Benji taught me, I got up from the bed. I opened the bathroom door and splashed cold water on my face.

The girl in the mirror was looking at me with anger. She was not used to giving up so easily. She was a fighter. I stared back at her and soon a glint of determination flashed in her eyes.

I will return every favour with interest to Devil and his goons. That's my promise to Cody and my family.

After washing my face and getting ordered from my growling tummy monster to feed it, I decided to get something to eat. If I was going to stay here for long time then I could definitely use some food. I was pretty sure that they must had good food as good as this mansion was.

I tried to open the door but it was locked. Ugh! Expected! It was early in the morning and I doubted that anyone was up at this hour considering the serene silence outside. I thought about waiting until someone opened the door but my tummy monster was one hungry creature.

 Hey! When you live with six kids for your entire life you acquire their childish habits like calling hungry stomach as tummy monster. It doesn't change the fact that I was a grown-up mature adult, does it?

I knocked on the door softly but loudly enough to grab someone's attention. After five minutes of useless trying I gave up as my tummy monster was getting angrier. I tried the second option like a mature adult and started shouting at the top of my lungs. My attempt was disturbed by coughing and hurting throat. I looked around the room for water but couldn't find it. They didn't bother to keep even a glass of water in this room. What kind of hospitality was this?!

My coughing was nowhere near to stop and I was frustrated enough with hunger and thirst. So, I opted the last resort that a mature adult would do.