AMIDST the DEVIL and the ABYSS of HIS SOULFUL GAZE

To unfortunate beginnings I Anna stole a glance at the wall clock over the entrance to the restaurant as she cleaned a spot on the counter. She had been doing so ever since this new guy she met at the store earlier today asked her out on a date. Date? Yeah right! He was cute, she wasn’t going to lie, he had beautiful icy-blue eyes, and she always fell for the eyes. He was also very soft-spoken and nice, he even offered to pay for her groceries. So she thought, why not? Heck yeah! She was going to give the date thingy a try. But now that she was in a clear state of mind with only minutes away from his arrival, she began to see reasons why not. We’re trying to keep a low profile, aren’t we? She glanced at the clock again, it read a few minutes past eight. Her shift was almost over and the blue-eyed hottie would appear anytime soon. She had to make a run for it while she still had the time. “If you're not careful, you'll wipe that particular spot so clean that we're going to have to put it in an exhibition for the cleanest counter in the whole of McFees’ restaurant” Anna’s thoughts were interrupted by her boss Kasin. He was also like a father to her. If she had a dollar for the number of times he had come to her rescue, she would be vying for the position of the richest person in the world. “Hahaha, very funny Kasin, my mind just drifted that's all. I'll get on with it.” She said and moved on to other spots. “Are you good though?” Kasin asked with concern written over his face. Anna simply nodded and offered a small smile. “Okay, but always remember, I'm here if you need anything, alright?” “Sure”, she said a little too eagerly and continued cleaning. Then she stopped, “Hey Kasin, could I may leave right now. You know my shift is almost over and I gotta get home early to do stuff”, she said as she fiddled with her fingers. Kasin chuckled and shook his head, “are you sure?” “Umhmm” “Alright. But you know you can always leave anytime, out of all my employees you work the hardest. Cassidy and Harriet are the laziest human beings I've ever had to pleasure to hire. You can't keep covering for them.” “It's nothing Kasin, I promise.” “You’re sure? You're sure you want to get out of here because you want to be home early or are you just avoiding?” Kasin asked studying her. She feigned surprise, “What? Avoid? You're talking crazy Kasin, I promise you I'm not avoiding anything. Who the hell would I be avoiding anyways?” she spat out the words so fast. “I don't know, maybe that nice-looking guy over there that has been staring at you since he walked in five minutes ago?” Anna turned around to see who Kasin was referring to, and there he was her blue-eyed hottie, standing only a few feet away from her, right on time to pick her up for their “date”. Oh s**t! “Hi”, his deep, yet soft voice floated towards her. With his low-cut fade and chiseled features, he looked strikingly handsome. “Hi”, she smiled back at him, and quickly spun to face Kasin. “Quick, hide me!” she whispered. “Like hell, I will,” Kasin laughed and put his hands on her shoulder, “you're always avoiding these things Anna, I watch you throw every good guy you meet under the bus because of some reason I can't comprehend”, then he glanced over at the guy, “he looks decent enough to give him a try don't you think?” Anna sighed and slumped her shoulders in defeat, “fine!” “Hey there young man, I'm Kasin, Anna's boss and I have only one thing to ask of you, take good care of her alright? She's the best we've got”. Kasin introduced himself as he shook hands with him. “Namon. I'm Namon” he replied as they shook hands, “and I promise, I'll make sure she gets home safe.” “I'm not making any promises,” Anna chipped in as Kasin shoved her towards Namon. They left the restaurant and got into Namon’s car. “So, your boss seems nice,” he was trying to make small talk and Anna could see it. “Yeah he is,” she said and went mute, in her head, she was calculating the best escape route. “So where do you wanna go? The park? A restaurant? I heard there's this new” “How about we go to my place?” Anna interrupted him. He looked at her, confused for a second, “your place?” “Yes”, she nodded. “Uh, okay, why not?” he began to smile. Anna could feel her insides tingling. She could swear that he was too. But she wasn't sure if hers were from the excitement or something else. She dreaded the thought, so she pushed it to the back of her mind. They arrived at her apartment and as they got up the stairs she found herself unable to keep her hands from shaking. She tried to hide them, but Namon already spotted them. “Hey are you okay?” he asked concerned. “Umm, yeah, yeah I'm fine. Don't worry about that.” she waved him off with a nervous chuckle. He wasn't buying it, “that didn't look fine to me. Are you cold?” he asked as he took off his jacket to place over her, “here.” “It's not the cold Namon, for God's sake, it's like a hundred degrees out here,” she shrugged his jacket off. “Then what is it?” he asked smiling, then slowly, the smile disappeared, and a look of hurt replaced it, “wait. Is it me? Are you not okay with me coming to your place?” “No, it's not that, it's just that-” “But you were the one who decided that we come here, I could leave right now if you want,” Namon said and turned to go. But Anna grabbed him by his arm and spun him around to face her. “Wait, Namon, don’t go, I’m nervous okay? I haven’t brought anyone here, you’re the first person I’m bringing here and I don’t know how to feel about it.” He stopped, brought her close to him, and hugged her. “I promise I won’t do anything to hurt you.” He released her from the hug and their faces were only a breath away from each other. She could feel his gaze softening towards her. She hated it. She hated being pitied. She looked up at him and in that moment that their eyes locked, he cupped her face in his hands. Looking at him this up close and personal, his features weren’t as needy and pretentious as the other guys she had been with. They only wanted to get into her bed and be done with her, not that she minded anyway, she wasn’t the type to commit. But blue-eyed Namon over here, he was different. He wanted her. All of her. Yet she wasn’t sure she could give him what he wanted. “I want to kiss you?” Now that, she could give. She drew him closer by his jacket and their lips collided in a steamy kiss. She let him kiss her some more before she broke off and led him to her room. He kept raining kisses on her cheeks and down her neck as she giggled like a teenager while rummaging through her purse for her room key. “Found it?” He asked in between kisses. “Umm-hmm”, she held it up and kissed him again. As she opened the door to her apartment and turned on the lights, she completely froze. There was blood everywhere. The walls were tainted with blood and the ground was covered in it. She looked around and there was blood dripping from the ceiling. When she looked up, she went white as a ghost. HELLO GRACIE, was written boldly in blood. Anna screamed. “Hey, hey, hey, what’s the problem,” Namon, who had been wondering why she went stiff all of a sudden, asked as he turned her to face him. Immediately she looked at him, she let out another blood-curdling scream, “Get away from me!” She yelled. “Leave me alone! You’ve taken everything away from me, what more do you want?!” She began to hit him. “What the hell? Anna calm down, what are you talking about?” Namon asked confused. He made an effort to shield himself from her fists as he tried to comprehend what just happened. “Anna listen to me. Stop this!” He yelled. The commotion attracted some of her neighbors who held her back and helped Namon get to his car. “He was going to kill me!” She kept yelling and crying. “Check my room. There’s blood everywhere. He killed my family already. I don't know how he found me!” she was hysterical now. One of her neighbors, a middle-aged man, decided to go into her room to see for himself. “Anna could you come in here for a second?” he called to her from inside her apartment. She dried her tears and slowly walked inside, dreading the sight of the bloodied room, but what she met instead, left her speechless. “what the hell……” her voice drifted. Her room was completely spotless.