Chapter 4

The sky was slowly clearing up as the clouds moved away from the moon. The gentle moonlight gave hope to those in darkness and Layla was one of them although she couldn’t comprehend the faint light she thought she had a glimpse of. Thunders and flashes of lightning also disappeared and left no traces except the terror it brought just a while ago. It was like a nightmare that no one ever wanted to experience again. Yet fate had something in hand. Just when everything became silent… a new disaster was about to be witnessed. Not by everyone but only those who were chosen by fate.

“You’re the first one to ask me a favor without bowing your head. Well, not that you can bow at your current state. Since you decided to offer your life with no resistance, I might as well listen to your wish. But you have to answer my question first,” he said.

The young lady smiled when she heard what he said. She knew she was at death’s door, but she felt calm like it was not a big deal to die at all. “It’s because I hate it, that’s why. If I can’t even see what it looks like before I die, I won’t be able to forgive myself. I need to see it to bury its image in my head. I need to remember it even after I die… this world… after enduring everything just to see this world... If I can’t even achieve that least, my life will be really what it calls- worthless,” Layla replied.

“Wish granted.” She heard him say and in a swift motion, a pair of sharp objects clutched on the fabric tied around her head and pulled it off to free her eyes.

Her heartbeat went rapidly fast, and she felt feverish with excitement. She wanted to open her eyes immediately, not wasting her time while she was still alive but an unexpected turn of events brushed away the glimpse of hope she was holding on to. A loud growl on the face was what she got before she could do what she intended.

“Ah! Are you planning to kill me after all?” She asked. Her body wouldn’t stop shaking when she felt a wet and rough object brushing her face… or more like licking. It wasn’t painful though it drags a little on her skin. She didn’t like the sensation nor the idea that something seemed to salivate on her. But she was the prey and her predator was someone or something powerful. If she ended up dead in any seconds, she wouldn’t even have time to complain. “Just kill me,” she whispered and pursed her lips. ‘He never planned to fulfill his promise in the first place. Demons or humans, they’re all the same,’ she thought with a bitter smile on her face.

“I will once you open your eyes. I never said I won’t kill you.”

‘He’s right,’ the lady thought to herself. ‘Granting my wish to see the world doesn’t mean I could live until tomorrow.’

Layla got used to the sensation but it was still uncomfortable. “C-can you stop what you’re doing? I can’t open my eyes like this,” she said. “If you can keep at least a small distance away from me. I promise I won’t run.”

“Oh? Another request? What do you exactly want? First, you want to see the world, so I removed the obstacle for you but now you want me to stay away and you promised not to run. Do you expect me to do everything you want, little girl?”

The pointed object shallowly sinking on her right earlobe made her skin prickle with fright. She let out a groan which caught the other’s attention.

“Just choose one or I won’t let you have any,” he whispered on her ears.

A sigh escaped Layla’s mouth. ‘Can’t I have both?’ she thought to herself but dare not to say it out loud. “I want to take a look around…but if you stay right in front of me, you’ll be blocking the view,” she stated. She was becoming shameless to ask for more demands, but she believed it was reasonable especially for someone like her who was about to die anyway.

“Hmm… you aren’t that stupid despite looking like one. But I couldn’t grant you another wish. If you want to see the world before you perish then open your eyes and that’s that. You can look up above or down below rather in front when you know I’ll be blocking your sight,” her predator said. His tone was packed with authority. He had no plans to bargain anymore. “I wonder why you would waste your final moment watching the world at this time when you can just look at me and hate me instead of before I kill you afterward.”

‘Oh. This one isn’t easy to deal with. Demons aren’t that stupid either despite being called demons. I thought their race was made of flocks of stupid beings,’ Layla told to herself. She coughed. The dryness in her throat worsened. The bottle of poison she took earlier burnt her insides. She could feel the burning sensation from her stomach, elevating the heat out of her mouth, nose, and in every possible way out of her body.

“I understand. I know now what to do,” she said. Slowly… Layla unfolded her eyes… slowly… like a bud starting to bloom into a magnanimous flower. She didn’t know why she could move her both eyes when the other should have been severely hurt. Layla went on until the loving moonlight enlightened her world.

‘Damn! So it’s nighttime and the demon’s suggestion to look up instead of looking around was a wise one. I would not be able to see anything around me in the first place. But the moon above was sparkling… I’m glad to finally see such bright light in this world of evil and darkness… I can now die in peace,’ she thought.

Layla was staring at the moon for a few seconds when she felt something began to change inside her. Her mind was filled with thoughts of gratitude that she forgot about her other eyes which were supposedly blind. By simply looking at the ball of magnificent, white light, she felt satisfied.

“Now that your wish was fulfilled, are you willing to pay the price?”

“Yes,” she answered the demon’s question. Layla flashed a sweet smile at the creature in front of her. She was happy… too happy to even wonder why the demons whom everyone was afraid of was a giant beast with white fur and gray eyes. Nah, she didn’t mind at all and didn’t have time to think about it. Not that she had any memory of what demons looked like. It was just that the being standing in front of her was no demon in her sight. He was simply a beast who was looking ferocious yet having sadness in his eyes.

Layla knew sadness too well. She didn’t know if it was just her reflexes ruling over her body but when she looked at his eyes, she couldn’t help but reach out to him. She felt a little warmth as she embraced him, and it made her feel truly alive. “Thank you for making me happy before I die,” she whispered with a tear falling from her left eye.