CHAPTER ONE: WHEN HER SHADOW SMILED FIRST
We've all been at a point in life where everything was lost and there was no hope, the future wasn't promising anymore and it felt as though the world just collapsed on us all our dreams buried and carried away like they never existed, like they never gave us hope and made us smile to the thought of the future.
I've been there and on the tip of it all I questioned my existence, I questioned the day I was born and to top it up I questioned the creator,GOD. In the midst of betrayal and heartbreaking I used my lips to curse God, the only battle I can't win no matter how much I curse him, how much I sin. I felt a heavy lump in my throat until I found myself kneeling down to pray but not to God not to Jesus........ "Let me in Eva". A soft whisper said into my ears. I immediately opened my eyes. The night was calm, too calm, I sensed a presence with me something unseen, something that wasn't meant to be there. I folded my hands again and this time I remembered what my pastor had said, 'no matter the situation, the anger, never curse HIM'. I prayed a prayer for forgiveness, a very short prayer then I opened my eyes to meet nothing,pitch black, I tried reaching for my bag couldn't find it besides me then I noticed the ground wasn't there, I was kneeling in thin air, my heart dropped as tears begun falling and that's when my eyes fell upon him a dark shadow one with the night he vanished then appeared besides me forcing his hands into my trembling fingers. "Follow everywhere I go. Top over the mountains or valley's. I'll give you everything you've been dreaming of, JUST LET ME IN" he chanted over and over while we stood up and my legs followed him. His promises were sweet words that calmed every nerve in me,I relaxed.
We stopped.
I saw him clearly a tall pale/grey grotesque figure with horns coming from his temples, his teeth dripping with blood, his fingers long, a tail so long that I didn't see the end. I pushed he's hand away falling to what seemed to be the ground and it laughed, a laugh so distorted it made me cover my ears then it stopped.
He was gone.
I begun to run tears coming down but I didn't care I'd to get to safety. I tripped and injured myself then he appeared again caressing my injured leg, he licked the blood and I screamed his saliva burning my wound then he cut himself, dropped his blood on the wound and vanished.
My name is Eva and I stayed with my aunt and uncle,Leah and Jonah. My parents travel a lot hence the reason to them not being around. I worked as a waitress at a local pizza joint.
After the events of last night my thoughts kept crashing whether it was real or not and Leah settled on lucid dreams maybe. But I knew very well that wasn't a dream I just didn't have proof. My boyfriend Ezekiel picked me up as usual and dropped me at work. A monday morning with snow falling swiftly wasn't so busy so I went outside to catch myself a breeze to reality. While standing there I saw a young man just staring at me, "sir you're not supposed to be back here", I said in between stuttering breaths.
"Don't you remember me?" His voice sounded oddly familiar. A deep voice yet so calm so confusing.
"I don't think I do sir"
He started to move towards me. I looked in his eyes,hollow, his face started to shape shift, the shadow from last night wasn't a dream. My knees got weak and he turned normal again.
"Remember me Eva? I'm the man you helped give this nice body" he smirked.
"Wh-what are you? What do you want from me?"
"You summoned me here" he grinned mischievously. "You see the breaking point you'd wasn't ordinary. Emotions are what make up a person sweety and your emotions brought me here. YOU PRAYED TO ME"
The words curved themselves into my heart.
"A simple prayer of forgiveness can't turn back what was already planted and taking root. God doesn't turn the clock back on people" he stared me dead in the eyes.
Tears rolled down my cheeks. " You're joking", I whispered, "God loves everyone............." something in me wasn't believing, it felt like lies, lieing to calm my soul, to trick myself.
He laughed. A gentle laugh. "If he did he'd be here and not me. I granted your wish. I'M YOUR GOD NOW"
My hands started to tremble. 'what had I gotten myself into?' was the question that repeated in my mind. I always got in trouble but this was something new, something I didn't want to be apart of.
"Eva, you okay?" Mira,my best friend said while rushing to hug me. I clinged to her like a child refusing to let go of her mother. Crying softly to the understanding and clashing of reality I was having. She looked at him. "Who are you?"
"Malachi. But you can call me Malak" he extended his hand smiling, a pleasant smile, heartwarming, inviting. My heart opened up to that feeling like it was right where it belonged, feeling at home. "You must be Mira? I've heard a lot about you".
"I haven't heard a thing about you", she held me tightly, "maybe you should go"
He chuckled. "I'll see you at home Eva".
After calming down, i worked my shift until closing time and Ezekiel picked me up with Mira and we went for some drinks where I told them everything.
"You must be joking", Ezekiel laughed, "a devil? In this life?" He laughed it off.
"I saw the guy Eva. He's charming" Mira complimented.
"I knew you wouldn't believe me" I said in-between tears.
As soon as I opened the front door, my eyes met his inside. He was sitting next to Jonah sipping whiskey and talking, laughing. I spotted Leah making dinner humming a melodious hymn. I stood in the doorway scared for my life, my own heartbeat felt like a threat. "Eva, honey, c'mon in it's cold out there" Jonah's wide smile snapped me back. I walked towards them but it felt like he was pulling me towards him. I found myself sitting besides him, he hugged me and I calmed down immediately the embrace felt like a strong cage building around me,my safe space.
"Eva you didn't mention you've such an amazing friend like Malak" Leah said smiling, rubbing her fingers together.
I just smiled. After dinner I helped Leah with the dishes.
"The guestroom is already clean and ready for you to settle" Leah said.
"No. I don't think I should stay. Eva might be frightened" Malak smirked. A gorgeous smirk that was.
"We insist", Jonah said sipping big on his whiskey, "I could use the company and you seem pretty great"
"Is that okay with you". He squeezed my hand as he kissed it. I nodded. Leah and Jonah then left the room and I led him to the guestroom just outside the house facing my room window.
"No goodnight kiss" he jokingly said while laying on the bed.
"I don't know what you are, I'm still trying to process things so please just leave tomorrow morning and leave my life for good"
"Feisty just what I like". He got up from the bed started to move towards me when I turned to leave the door closed and the darkness fell. He turned into that thing again. Smiling. "Eva you took my blood and I took yours, we just became one".
