When Dieties Watch

Eva's POV

I drive, speeding past my usual limit as tears stream down my face. I wipe angrily at the flow with one hand while I hold the wheels in a death clutch with the other.

How dare he take my heart for granted?

How could I have been stupid with my heart?

Was I so blinded with my crush that I didn't notice the signs that I was never his?

I remember our first kiss. I had almost melted into the ground with stars dancing behind my eyelids, and fireworks bursting loud in my ears.

Did he have the same reaction I had? I had no idea as I had my eyes closed during the kiss and five minutes after it, still reeling with excitement and too shy to glance up at him.

I remember our first date. I had been excited about spending time with Tony that I hadn't cared that he had taken me to a neighborhood small restaurant instead of the high-end ones he took his exes to.

I've stalked him so much that I know everything about him and love him so much that I don't mind discussing on phone more than meeting in person when he said he was busy with work and proposed the idea.

Silly me. I had thought I knew him. Just as I thought I knew Eve.

How could I not have seen the signs that my supposed other half was my enemy and a snake in disguise, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike me?

Just as you can't see the truck you are about to run into, my subconscious yells but it's too late.

I scream, my vocal chords mourning with my heart and not functioning as loud as I expect it to.

I'm going to my death as silently as I've lived. I won't get to see the world as I've always wanted. Heck, I won't even get to have my twenty-fourth birthday in the next five months.

Too bad for me.

I feel pity for myself, the life I never lived, my comatose sister I thought was going to die before me but now has to mourn me, and my parents who just lost their ticket to financial freedom.

I stifle a groan, feeling my lungs fill with blood as the car somersaults. My head bangs, a shrill sound echoing in my brain as the world goes silent.

I stumble into a room that seems as long as a deep vacuum.

Am I truly dead and in heaven?

I'm not shocked that I'm in heaven. I've lived a mellow life without any confrontation, living to please everyone but myself.

I hear the cracks in my heart as I push my legs forward a step after the other.

I think of home. Have they found my corpse or did I burn to ashes with the car?

I watch as a man in black walks toward me. I can't see his face and it's a relief that I can't. His attire covers him from head to toe and black smokes wafts from the space that is meant to be his face.

“Follow me.” He croaks, sounding like a sick frog.

My heart thuds hard and I hate that I'm as much a coward in death as I was alive.

“Stop!” A voice cracks behind me just as I am about to obey, deeper than thunder.

Another man walks towards us and I feel tension seep out fiercely from the first man.

“Send her back.” The second man says as he joins us. “She isn't meant to be here yet. Her cries of pain and agony keep disturbing the gods and they sent me here to tell you that.” He disappears immediately after.

I gasp, making the grim reaper turn to me. I can see his face now. It's as hard as I suspect.

“You must have lived an unfair life. Let's see if you can make a difference in your second chance.”

I'm going back?

I'm definitely not going to live the same cowardly and pitiful life.

“There are conditions.” He raises five fingers and I arch my eyebrow, waiting for the impossible conditions he is going to hurl at me.

“One, you must change your fate.”

I scoff, amused that the conditions are simple. That is a no-brainer. I'm definitely not going to love that cheating cowardly asshole again. I'm going to end the engagement, tear that horrible wedding dress just for the fun of watching Melinda hyperventilate, and give Eve a slap that will leave her scarred and unattractive for life.

He continues, glaring at me. “You must take the revenge your soul is crying out for on those who hurt you or you will die a more brutal death.”

“What is the third condition?” I say, shivers running through me.

“You will have a nasty nightmare every two weeks. That is because you already died and remnant of your soul is attached to the otherworld.”

My soul sinks, fear firmly clutching my heart and squeezing it so tight that a deflated balloon looks healthier than it.

He smirks, as if reading the thoughts in my head. “You may as well follow me now if you can't live like that. You never had any spine anyway.”

The insult pricks me. Revenge also rears its ugly head, pushing fear to the back of my mind like it never existed.

I can't let Tony and Eve have the happy ever after they want. Traitors shouldn't be allowed to be happy.

Over my dead body.

You are already dead. My subconscious sneers at me.

I shake my head. “I can do it.”

He sneers, reeking of doubt. “You may leave then.” He points to a path. “You will see a dark river when you get to the end, dive into it.”

I don't trust the grim reaper but I don't have anyone else to trust. “The remaining two conditions?”

“I will let you know when you get to earth.” He grins.

My heart skips a beat. “I will be able to see you when I get to earth?”

He gives me a blank stare. “You will be able to see and hear ghosts when you get to earth. That is Hades’ punishment for escaping its clutches.”

Isn't Hades unnecessarily petty?

I wonder what the two other conditions are but whatever they are won't stop me from taking revenge on the two people I trusted most who decided to betray me.

“Eva,” I blink into consciousness as I hear my name, expecting to see the unfamiliar face of a doctor but rather I'm staring into the eyes of a familiar devil.

What the heck is going on?