Under the Devil's Claws

Chapter 1

LAYLA:

I scream out of my sleep... just like the way I screamed in my dream.

My lungs were itching for air and so I start to gasp right inside the darkroom I’m in. Instantly I reach out for the switch beside the bed I’m lying on and the whole room lightens, making me a little less uncomfortable.

Everything about the dream felt real. So real that I thought it was happening in real life. It’s probably because I’ve gone through that experience that I cannot seem to get it out of my head.

As I am trying to ease up a little, I hear the creaking sound of the door. And I won’t lie, it got me scared a bit. Not until I saw who it was that joined me inside the room.

“Layla, are you okay?” said the newcomer — a man — who comes rushing up to my bed. The moment he gets right in front of the bed, he kneels to the floor, grabs me, and pulls me in for a hug which I give into without hesitation.

My arms wrap around him tightly as I feel his warmth ooze through me. It started to make me feel better. Works every time I try it.

About a minute later, I pull out and say, “It happened again,”

The man looks me right in the eyes with concern written all over him. “The nightmare, right?” I nod in response and he adds, “When are you going to let it out of your head, Layla? You don’t need this,”

I sigh, closing my eyes in the process. My eyes are then opened almost instantly. “I can’t help it, Caleb. That day is one of the most horrifying days of my life. It’s not my fault that it keeps flashing into my head almost every single night,”

“But it’s been two years now—”

“I know!” I snap at him, regretting it the moment I do so. He doesn’t deserve to be treated like that so I become sober and apologize, “I'm sorry. The thought of it all is getting into me and I have no idea how to handle it,”

“You don’t need to apologize. I understand what you’re going through,”

I become silent after that and I know I shouldn’t have. Because once I do, the thought of the nightmare starts to flash through my head again and I find myself getting tensed up.

“Easy there,” the man’s voice gets to my hearing and I can feel his hand on mine as well.

I take a look at him again but not particularly at him. It’s because I have my focus on his neck which was triggering the memory of the dream. The next second I have my hand on his neck as I start to feel around it.

“You could have died, you know,” I tell him, still running my hand through his neck where an apparent scar is. “And I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself if you did die. The guilt would have eaten me up so bad,”

“But I’m still alive, ain’t I?” he grabs my hand on his neck and puts it down on my lap. “I signed up for what happened then so you should not bother yourself about anything. I’ve told you that a million times already,”

“Of course,” I say. But it was not enough to make me feel better. Only worsened the situation for me in some way.

“You wanna talk about it?” the man, I mean — Caleb, says as he takes me out of my act of trying to think about the nightmare again.

I nod instantly. “I really do. It’s the one way I can get it out of my head tonight,”

What he does next is to get up from the floor and then sit by the edge of the bed. “I'm all ears," he says and clasps my hand into his.

“You sure you’re not bothered about it?”

A genuine smile forms on his lips. “If I was, I would never ask you to talk,”

I take in a deep breath as I prepare to let it all out to him. It’s about time this whole event gets out of my head once and for all. It’s causing a lot of problems for me.

“You know, whenever I’m alone and trying not to allow the thought to get into my head, the first thing that ruins everything is his face,” I start to say. “His face keeps on flashing through my head and the next thing is that I become overwhelmed. Trust me, I want nothing more than to forget about what happened in the past but it just never works no matter how hard I try to ensure I do not let it get through me,”

A burden is suddenly lifted off my shoulders even without getting any response from Caleb yet. It’s more like I needed to just let it all out without getting any response from him. Never knew talking could be this great.

“Is that all you have to say?” Caleb asks me.

“For now, yes.”

“Look, what I can only say about the situation is that you have no control over your state. It’s like a psychological effect playing out on you and the only way for you to get your mind off it is if you can face your problems head on,”

My heart skips a beat. “But I don’t want to face him. I want nothing to do with the devil. He’s evil!” I rebuff.

“Calm down, Layla. I was never referring to him. I would never let you near him. Never. The only way he will be getting to you is through me,”

The tension in me surfs away. “So what did you mean by that? Because I have no idea,”

“I was talking about facing your fears in the not literal sense. That means you have to overcome those nightmares by facing them onward. You have to believe in yourself that you can do it and I assure you that it will be gone in no time,”

Although that sounds convincing, the problem was putting it into play. I know how hard it is to get things like that in motion because of how the mind works which is why I am skeptical about the idea.

“But what if it doesn’t work?” I find myself asking Caleb a little while later.

“Then that means you have not done enough to get rid of the problem. Just do it first and you’ll see how things turn out to be,”

His hand gets to my face and I rest on it as I close my eyes. Caleb has been there for me all my life, especially since I found myself in the arms of a monster that I would never expect to invade my life.

A few years ago, about four to be precise, I was approached by the monster. He met me on the way to college along with his convoy and the next thing was him telling me that I am his woman.

It felt ridiculous at first and I did not bother to think about it until I started seeing more of him. And the next thing was that I was forced into his household without the liberty of leaving.

It was there that I met Caleb who became the best thing I could ever ask for in such a situation. He was the sweetest thing ever and I cherished having him around me.

With his help, I tried many times to escape which I eventually did two years ago, but at the expense of almost losing him. Still, he managed to survive.

Reminiscing the past events was nothing good to even process. Nothing at all to write about because it was one hell of a torture for me. The two years of my life under the watchful eyes of the devil were a disaster for me and I regret every bit of it. I regret ever meeting him in the first place.

“Caleb,” I call to my best friend as I take my face off my hand, “are you sure we’re safe here?”

His expression twitches instantly. “Why would you even ask that? Of course, we’re safe. The Dark Crescent pack is offering us more than enough protection from that monster so don’t worry about it. At least we’ve managed to evade him for two years now,”

I shift away from him slightly, a little worried that he feels so confident about the whole process of hiding away being smooth.

“What’s wrong?” I hear him ask and I turn my head to look at him.

“I just feel so uneasy. I have this gut feeling that it’s not going to go well soon enough.”

“You think he’s coming for you?”

“Yes,” I nod vigorously. “He’s coming for me. And maybe this time, there will be no way out of his reach. Maybe this time I will be condemned to be under his sinister gaze for the rest of my life. Maybe. Just maybe I could lose you eventually,”

“Why do you have to be so negative, Layla? Give yourself some optimism here that things will go as planned. Stop with the wild thoughts,”

“If it would explain why I have been having more of the nightmare lately, then I would forget about it,”

Caleb sighs as he stands up from the edge of the bed. He runs his hand through his hair and walks up to the doorway. A while later he is back standing by the edge of the bed. And he does not even bother to sit this time around.

He then says, “I have no idea why you have been having more of the nightmare lately but I can assure you of one thing. He’s not going to come near you. Remember that he would have me to tend with first if he ever makes such a move,”

“Are you sure?” I ask, trying to use his words as a means to feel safer. Nothing makes me feel safe these days, especially with the constant nightmares. So I need to know if there would be someone there for me when I need help the most.

“Mark my words, Layla. No harm is coming your way,”