1 The Devil Doesn't Bargain.
Nicki stood by the bridge, waiting to end her life. The bridge wasn't that far off from the hospital and was the only perfect place to end it all tonight. She hoped her body washes up on the shore pretty soon so her parents would give her a befitting burial before it rots away.
It was funny though worrying about her corpse when the fishes would make a feast out of her body anyway.
With a sigh, she carefully climbed over the bridge railing and stood on the ledge watching the deep waters below. She had already written a suicide note and hoped her parents would find it and understand why she did this.
There was no one around to stop her from committing suicide and to be honest, the deep dark waters under the night's reflection scared her. Nicki took a deep breath, it would hurt at first but it was better than suffering from cancer and bothering her parents. At least, she would find peace in the end.
"It is now or never, Nicki," She let out a deep breath, mentally motivating her.
She intended to jump at first but let out a foot first. Her heart started to pound heavily in her chest, Is this the way it feels when one wants to take their life?
Nicki put her foot back. Fine, she would just jump on the count of three and join her ancestors.
"Okay God, here I come, one, two, thr…" She abruptly paused at the sound of what seemed like people grunting.
With a frown, Nicki slowly moved her attention toward the source of the noise and quivered greatly in fear. Not in fear that she was caught about to commit suicide, but in fear of what she just witnessed.
It was two people fighting and one of them killed the other, literally ripping the head away from his body, and tossed it out the bridge like it was nothing.
Oh my God, what did she just see?
As if that was not enough, the man turned to her with bloody eyes and furs covering his face. Nicki choked on her saliva while shivering with fear. It had her thinking, has the devil come to take her directly to hell?
For someone pretty determined to die hours ago, it was hilarious to see Nicki hurriedly climbing over the railing and stepping away from the bridge. However, it didn't hit her that death by drowning seemed kinder than having her head incapacitated.
She also knew jumping into the river with that kind of velocity would be like hitting a bag of cement, in which she would suffer pain before dying. And would still have her head on her body.
"Run" A voice in Nicki's head warned, but her legs had become as soft as jelly and wouldn't make a move. They trembled greatly, making running seem like a far-stretched idea.
At this point, Nicki began to recall all the horror movies she used to watch as a kid and how none of them ended up in a good way.
"Run," The voice came to her again.
Self-preservation kicked in and Nicki needed not to be told twice to move.
The monster ripped someone's head off his body, she wouldn't want to suffer the same fate.
The monster in question didn't seem to notice her, yet, and was observing the corpse as if trying to confirm his victim stayed dead. Judging from the distance between them, she might be able to make it out of here alive. "Might" being the word.
Nicki turned and scurried away as stealthily as she could. The monster seems to have no idea yet that she just witnessed him commit murder, which was a good thing. It would buy her time to escape.
But then, she ran out of luck when she mistakenly stepped on a tin can. Who in their right mind litters the road with that?
Ugh!
The crunching sound was unmistakable and she knew that the monster heard it.
"Sh*t" Nicki mumbled under her breath realizing the precarious situation she was in. She's dead meat now. She's going to die!
Without a word or even daring to look back, Nicki sprinted into a run. She was not going to die this way. How heartbroken her family would be when they see her dismembered body. No, not going to happen. Not now, not ever.
It all happened so quickly, one moment Nicki could swear that the hairs on her back stood on edge as if warning her of the impending danger, and the next there was a blur from the corner of her eyes, only for the monster to stop right in front of her and she halted to a stop.
She swallowed a lump in her throat, her heart hammering in her chest. She should have just committed suicide when she had the chance, now she was going to be murdered.
Oh God, she felt bile rise to her throat as her stomach churned with dread.
This wasn't supposed to be her fate. Left with no other choice, Nicki lifted her face to study the monster's features. If she was going to die, she needed to know the face of her murderer.
The man or monster, whatever he is, was huge, that was for sure, almost like a giant, and had broad shoulders. Strength rippled from his muscles and Nicki had no doubt he would tear her apart with his bare hands if he wanted to.
He had furs covering his face. What kind of human has furs and not beards on his face? Nicki has never met or seen such a person in her entire life until this moment.
The man's face was splattered with the blood of his victim. Nicki swallowed at the sight, her stomach coiling with tension.
Would she be the next victim to die in his hands? This wasn't some sort of horror movie playing out in real life, was it?
"Stay strong," A voice said in Nicki's head, which pretty much sounded like the one from earlier. How was she going to stay strong when there was a man, no, this monster on the loose?
Like the voice told her, Nicki tried to be strong but her eyes met with the man's, and it sent cold shivers down her spine. The red eyes were gone but his eyes were hard and still as scary as hell.
"Oh my God…. What are you?" She gasped in fear, gradually stepping backward.
"You…" The man pointed straight at her, covering up the distance Nicki was creating between them as she kept on moving back. Even at that, he caught up to her in a blink of an eye, and Nicki couldn't make a muscle for fear of being killed.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't dismember you as I did to that guy?"
"Eh?..." Nicki's mind promptly went blank. Did she just hear the word 'dismember?' or did her ears stop doing their job?
The man, not being the patient type, didn't mind if the lurking human got his question or not and forced his claws out. He needed to be done with her and get the hell out of there.
With nervousness and fear overwhelming Nicki, she nearly lost her footing when she saw the claws and stumbled as she began pleading with him.
"No!, Please don't…I.. don't..want to die…not this way, " Nicki wailed, using her hands as a shield to cover her face to prevent it from getting dismembered. As if that would stop him if he wanted to.
The man retracted his claws, his brows now raised in amusement. If he could remember clearly, she had been close to ending her own life while he was dealing with that bastard.
"Humans sure are fickle. If you didn't want to die, what then were you doing over there?" He pointed to the spot he saw Nicki standing on the bridge.
"I wanted to die…. I want to die…just not like this. I..I. I want it to be suicide.." Nicki confessed to him, having a feeling the man wouldn't tolerate lies.
He looked at her saying, "You already know that I'm not human and I don't like interfering in mundane affairs. However, I'm curious, why would a young human like you want to take your life?" The man's voice which had once been cold and dreadful to Nicki instantly sounded concerning and warm to her.
It made her open up to him as if he was someone very close to her.
"I…I have cancer, and my family has a history of it and unfortunately, it got to me. No one in my family has ever survived it and I clearly won't survive it too even if everyone keeps believing that I can. I have insurance and all, yet none of it stops the hurt and the pain. But it's not that, the point is that...I've always been a sad kid and I just want to… end everything tonight".
Nicki felt her heart ache with pain at her condition while the man burst into laughter. He laughed so hard that it made her feel stupid for opening up to him. Was there something funny in what she said?
Guess this is what she gets for opening up to a stranger and one that's not human at that.
"I'm sorry but what is funny about me having cancer?" She was offended.
The man retorted, "If it didn't sound funny, would I be laughing? You humans are so strange, especially the young ones. What's your name and how old are you?"
"I'm Nicki and I'm nineteen this year" Nicki responded, a bit relieved with the way she was communicating with the man. If they keep on vibing this way, then he might just forget he threatened to dismember her not too long ago.
"So young and so smart and yet so stupid." The man let out a sigh, shaking his head in sympathy for Nicki's lack of will to fight cancer.
"It's okay if I'm stupid, I just want to end the hurt, it's killing me, " Nicki bent over when a wheezing cough without warning attacked her. Other than the sympathy in his eyes, he didn't even offer to help her.
The man said instead, "Listen, child, death doesn't end anything, but only the beginning. I can help you out, make the pain go away. But it's all up to you. It's your choice. Are you willing to accept help from me or not?"
He stretched out his hand for Nicki to take and she stared at it, conflicted. Should she accept the offer coming from this monster or not?
The devil doesn't bargain, that much she knew, but Nicki desperately needed the pain to end. And he just said he could make the pain go away, what if he's not the devil as she had thought? But her very own messiah that God sent to save her from death?
