The Devil's Harem

Chapter - 75

"Hmm...? What am I doing here?" Alex talked to himself as he looked around. He was standing at the same crossroad, in front of the convenience store where he saved Annie. Didn't know how and when Alex got here, but it was nothing like the afternoon. He looked up, and the sky was covered in dark, red, bloody clouds. No was on the streets, no cars, no people, not even a rat. It looked more like a ghost town right now.

Alex looked around, trying to spot a single person, but all there he could find was deadly silence.

Just when he was about to lose his patience and run away, Alex saw a little girl with her back towards him, wearing a pink floral dress, standing in the middle of the road. Alex could not see her face, but from behind, she looked familiar. With small unhurried steps, Alex's legs on their own moved towards the girl.

Alex thought that it was Annie who was in front of him. Before he could focus on who the girl was, out of nowhere, the ghostly roads were filled with cars zooming past one another at unbelievable speed. He tried his best to call out for her, but he could not even let out a whimper. Alex waved his hands to try and get Annie's attention, but nothing worked.

Alex tried to run, but all he could do was beat a snail to a race. Nothing was going in his favour. His legs were not listening to him, his vocal cords seems to have burst, Annie was not paying attention to him, and he was like a ghost to everyone around him.

In this terrible and chaotic scenerio, he could only turn towards the almighty for help. There was no other thought in his heart except to save Annie. And maybe because he was true in his heart, the Almighty listened to him, and all the invisible shackles that seem to have been constraining him broke away.

Alex couldn't care less about what happened. The moment he felt free, he dashed straight towards Annie. Dodging the cars, Alex inched closer to Annie. As soon as he reached Annie, Alex picked her up in his arms and steered away from the traffic.

"Annie, are you alright? Did you get hurt somewhere?' Alex asked as he put her down and inspected her from head to toe. Without even looking at her, Alex turned Annie around to check her from every angle.

Only after he was satisfied did he sigh in relief.

"You scared the shit out..." Alex said as he helplessly looked at Annie complaining to her, but when he looked at her face, he was left speechless. It was not Annie in front of him. The little girl was gone and in front of him stood a female, only a head shorter than him, wearing a blue denim jacket over her white top and black jeans. The female was unknown to him, and with her face blurred and hazy, her hair blowing away with the wind, no matter how much Alex ran his brain, he could not remember her. But one thing that struck him was that the features of the female looked familiar, making him feel nostalgic.

"You said you will never forget me, but look at you now. Looking so lost, trying to figure out who I am," The girl said with a chuckle, but all Alex could feel was sadness, hurt and agony in that laugh. That laugh pricked his heart. He suddenly felt breathless and suffocating because of pain, and tears formed in his eyes.

"Who are you?" Alex, with great difficulty, managed to squeeze out those words from his mouth.

"Now, you don't even remember my name. Calling me with a name of a little girl," the female figure said with sarcasm in her voice.
"How do you know who Annie is?" Alex was alarmed.

"You must be very happy with your life, with Martha, George, Margaret, Karen, ohhh... So many beautiful girls around you. So is this your revenge? Is this what you meant when you said we can't be together because you longed for revenge? Is living happily, forgetting all about me your way of revenge? Answer me, dammit... Answer me, " The girl ignored Alex and grabbed him by his collar as she hysterically asked him.

"Who are you? Why do I feel so painful listening to you? Why do I feel more guilty with every word you say? Who are you to me?" Alex wanted to know what was going on. He clutched his chest, the pain in his heart was growing exponentially with each passing second. He knew what it was. It was the feeling of longing, void of sadness, hurt from betrayal and the thirst for revenge. But, longing for whom? Sadness because of whom? Betrayal from whom? Revenge against whom? Alex didn't know. Or he knew but needed to remember.

"Leaving me alone in that hell, taking away my only solace, you don't deserve to be happy. You should just die..." The girl said, and out of thin air, a knife appeared in her hand, and she stabbed Alex without giving him even a chance to process this shit.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"No..." Alex screamed as he woke up in cold sweat. Gasping for air, it took him more than a couple of minutes to calm down.

'It was all a dream?' Alex thought as he looked around and found himself back in his room, on his bed.

'Why would I dream of something so weird? Who was that girl?' Alex couldn't help but let his thoughts drift, remembering that girl in his dreams.

Alex, in a rush, reached out for his phone, thinking of calling Claire, but when he looked at the time, he stopped. Then he looked at the clock on his bedside, it showed twenty minutes to six.

'Calling at this time might look weird, and she might even think of me as a creep or a paedophile,' Alex thought, and ultimately put the phone down, 'I will call her in the afternoon.'

Alex then laid back again. There was no need to go downstairs so early. His parents won't be waking up soon anyway, and he had no intention of disturbing their sleep.

With these thoughts, Alex again pulled the quilt over him, hoping to get a quick short nap.

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(You can always join the discord server here for more fun discussions: https://discord.gg/jFbF2c4nG6

Discord link also in the synopsis.)