Deal With The Devil

Chapter 3: A Visit

I can remember every single detail that happened that day. How can I celebrate my birthday when she died right when the clock strikes midnight.

The way her fans grieved for her. The media went crazy when the news of her passing away filled the tabloids and social media. They were all over the place, that was also the time when my identity was revealed to the media. The media was relentless, having managed to uncover my true identity even when I had taken the necessary precautions to remain anonymous. It was a chilling reminder of their investigative power and determination.

All I wanted was to mourn in peace, so it surprised me when we were discovered by reporters and paparazzi. But what annoyed me even more was the woman who showed up at my mother’s funeral, asking me invasive personal questions. I recognized her from television, her interviews being a common sight, but I had no idea she could be so irritating in person.

I was sitting on my chair, staring at the small letters written on the screen, my mind was completely floating. I’m supposed to be studying tonight but I was too distracted by the continuous notifications bombarding my phone.

A year had passed since her passing and until now, several shows were begging me for an interview as ‘Victoria Eriel’s daughter’.

For what?

After her passing, her wealth and properties were divided, with the majority going to me. I decided to move out of aunt Lena’s house and purchased a cozy home in a tranquil village, even though the commute to college took quite a while. Yet, the peaceful surroundings made it worth the distance. I now live in a comfortable and relaxing environment.

There was little else I could do with the money she had left me. I had used some to purchase my own house and to cover my tuition and living expenses. The rest, I decided to save for future use. She has gained a lot of money all throughout her career and I salute her for that, it was all hard work.

My phone rang and I gave it a glance, it was Fallon.

“What is it?” I asked in a tired tone.

“Girl!” she exclaimed from the other line. I have to move my phone away from my ear slightly due to the loudness of her voice.

Before I could even utter a single word, she continued.

“Axel’s gonna be enrolling in our college,” she announced.

I blinked, not knowing what to react. Okay, Axel’s gonna be our schoolmate, so what?

Even from the other line, I could picture her rolling her eyes at me, as if she’s already expecting my ‘quiet’ reaction.

“You’re one of the reason.”

My eyebrows furrowed at the news. Axel is the son of my mom’s close friend and ever since I came out of the media ‘accidentally’, people started shipping us just because our mothers were close friends.

Axel is a handsome guy and is currently an actor overseas. Yes, overseas, for some reason he doesn’t want to start in his own country, but I understand.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, visibly confused before fixing my posture on the chair.

I can hear her sigh from the other line before speaking again, this time in a more calm tone, “Axel said he wanted to continue his studies in the Philippines because thought that it’s fun. He also said that he wanted to get to know you more ‘coz he’s interested in you.”

The corners of my lips twitched in reaction to her words. If I had been a fan of his or if he had been my type, I might have blushed or even jumped for joy. But that wasn’t the case. It was truly odd and somewhat strange to admit that I was interested in a person I had spoken to only once, especially considering it had been months since we last spoke.

But what intrigues me is where did this information come from?

“And where did you get this information?”

I placed my hand on the table and examined my nails.

There was a long silence from the other line and I already knew that something was up.

“Fallon,” I said with a warning tone.

I heard her groan before finally speaking, “Fine, he was live on his social media account five minutes ago. I was watching it.”

I pursed my lips into a thin line before leaning back on my chair, “I thought you’re studying.”

“Well, I was taking a break. It’s Axel Giovanni Hallowes, come on. He’s so attractive.”

Even through the phone, I could see her eyes sparkling with excitement, just like a child talking about their high school crush. Her voice brimmed with guilt, as if she was trying to prove something with her words.

I chuckled on that, she’s cute when she’s acting like this.

“Fallon, he just turned 18,” I reminded.

“Well, age doesn’t matter. At least he’s already in legal age. The lad already likes you anyway. Goodbye, girl.”

She ended the call without even letting me speak.

I sighed and put the phone down. Finding her a little entertaining which helped to lessen the stress I was feeling even a little bit.

§§§

I only got five hours of sleep and to be honest it was bad. I promised myself to get enough sleep and take good care of myself when I enter college, turns out it was just a discarded plan.

Schoolworks and reviewing is enough to stress me out. In reality, I considered myself fortunate to have gotten five hours of sleep, while many others were barely scraping by with any rest at all. Still, I couldn’t deny that my situation was less than ideal.

I went back to my room after taking a shower and took off my towel, revealing my body to no one but me.

I put the towel on the hanger and hang it on the door so I can put it outside when I’m fully clothed.

I stare at my body in the mirror, my body’s not that bad. My arms are just skinny, as well as my legs but the tummy is bloated. I could be a model if it weren’t for my height and body.

My eyes landed on the burn on my left hip. It’s not just a regular burn, it’s an unknown symbol. But I have a theory that it’s a satanic symbol. It really does look like a branding iron was pressed on a cow’s skin, but it’s actually on mine.

I couldn’t recall how I had gotten this symbol. I had confided in aunt Lena about it, but she brushed it off and even offered to help with laser tattoo removal. However, I had declined her offer. Aunt Lena doesn’t believe in spiritual or satanic things, being an atheist, thus she thought I had just been pranked or attacked when she found me passed out in front of our house and even reported it to the police but none of them even got a trace of who did it to me. Even the cameras surrounding the house mysteriously got broken in that night so we just let it go.

But no, it was clear in my memory that I was waiting for my friends to drive off inside the taxi after doing our reports but I don’t remember a single thing about someone approaching me or knocking me out.

I sighed before grabbing my phone to check for messages regarding of my schoolworks. I was just about to open my messages when a message popped up on my notification bar. My eyebrows furrowed almost instantly. it’s just a message, without a number and a name.

‘The time is almost up’

I feel a sense of dread crept up inside me as I read the message. It could be someone who was just playing a prank on random numbers or someone from my college school. But the feeling I’m feeling right now suggests that it's not. I don’t have any idea on what the reason might be but my heart is beating abnormally fast.

It hasn’t even been a minute since I received the message when I heard a loud thud behind me and I immediately looked at the mirror. My eyes widened as I saw a glimpse of what seemed like a shadow went out of my closet and went straight to my veranda where it completely vanished in the air.

I immediately turned around, noticing the slightly ajar door of my closet. I couldn’t dismiss it as a hallucination because I could clearly see something emerge from it, and I heard a loud thud come from the same direction.

It’s impossible—too impossible that it’s a human, there’s no way that a human could just vanish like that.

With trembling knees, I slowly walked towards the closet to investigate it. I’m shaking with fear and anxiety on what I’m about to see or if someone or ‘something’ is about to attack me. I now understand the main characters in horror movies that I often called stupid for letting their curiosity get the best of them because I’m doing the same stupid thing as in the movies. I will die because of my stupidity.

With shaking hands, I reached for the door handle of the slightly opened door. I took a deep breath, preparing myself for what’s about to come before opening it.

An air just brushed against my face from opening the door too fast but nothing was inside the closet aside from a black paper with what seems like a golden dust sitting on top of it with a rose thorn. Just a f*****g rose thorn. Not even a single petal or a whole rose with thorns, just a single thorn with golden dust.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion before I reached for the rose thorn, only to wince in pain as the sharp spike pricked my finger. Blood began to slowly trickle down, evidence of the stinging sensation. I pulled out my hand, the blood dripped on the black letter before I put it inside my mouth to suck on it.

“You’re really stupid, Lili,” I muttered to myself before swiftly snatching the letter without touching the thorn.

I flipped it and read the contents of the letter. As I read it, I couldn’t help but feel my blood become frozen as I stood there, with my body trembling with fear. The letter is disturbing, as if the one who sent this is demanding—no, forcing me.

In that moment, I can feel a cold presence behind me. It was so close that it’s enough to make the hairs on my arms rise up. I could feel an eerie presence behind me and I know that if I make a wrong move, my life will end.

As if it could sense my fear and to purposely add more to my fear, the unknown creature from behind me spoke in the coldest and lowest tone I have ever heard, it almost sounded like a goddamn growl. Despite my fear and panic, I can sense a familiarity in its voice.

“Read it loudly with your pretty mouth”

With trembling lips I heard what is stated on the letter.

“Prepare to suffer an eternity under my command for the Devil claims you as his, and your fate is sealed.”