The Ensnared

by Palvi Sharma

  “That’s ludicrous! I can’t believe Jennifer could do that! I know her!” Melissa cried.

  Rafe shrugged his shoulders. “You think you know someone your whole life and then before you know it, she kills her own sister and gets away with it.”

  “Where is she?” Melissa asked. “I need to see her. I need to hear it from her.”

  “You can see her later.” Rafe said. “You should wear your jacket. It’s going to get a lot cooler.”

  “I want to see her now!”

  “We have more important things to discuss now. Haven’t you wondered why you aren’t dead yet?”

  “So enlighten me?” Melissa said and took a deep breath. “Am I special or something?”

  Rafe gave a malicious grin. “As you may have learned by now, there were five souls that escape hell every year. You’ve seen the tombstones.”

  Melissa frowned. “Yeah I got that pretty loud and clear. Are you going to tell me something I don’t know?”

  Rafe leaned forward. “I’m not one of them.”

  “Yeah, you’re the caretaker of the souls in hell...”Melissa paused. “Wait! Shane and Sara were with you and they were killed by Mark and his friends.” She saw Rafe scoff at her, but she ignored him. “Then there’s Fiona and Keith. Keith was...he was shot by the policeman and then he reappeared all dazed and confused.”

  She glanced at Rafe and saw him with his hands clasped and grinning widely as if he was so pleased at himself.

  “This doesn’t make any sense.” she concluded.

  “Oh, but it does.” Rafe said cheekily. “I sent Keith to you to let you know half the truth and to scare you enough so that you would stay here. It was getting a little difficult keeping an eye on you when you were running all over the place.”

  Melissa pushed herself back when Rafe spoke.

  “Oh, and about the fifth member...”Rafe whispered huskily, “it’s Kevin.”

  “What? No, it can’t be, he’s one of Mark’s friends.”

  “I couldn’t look like myself, so in order to gain the others trust; I took in the form of Kevin.”

  “But Kevin looks...”

  “Like one of his victims when he was a human.”

  She turned back to stare at the street and felt her heart sink. A demon was among the riders, and they had no clue. Mark had no idea that Kevin is one of the demons he was searching for! She had to tell him. She had to warn him! Then another thought occurred to her.

  Melissa opened her mouth and then hesitated. “After Mark killed Shane and Sara...”

  Rafe snickered. “They didn’t die! They’re demons- cursed demons! The cycle ends when two innocents are killed by them. They are confused though. They’re dragged against their wishes every year because of Mark’s curse. They don’t know who they are and what their potential is until the full moon when they come to full power and kill anyone who crosses their path.”

  “But you just said that Jennifer is...I mean she was responsible for her sister’s death.”

  “I still have two innocents saved up.” Rafe said clasping his hands gleefully. “After the initial setbacks, things have finally worked out.”

  “What? Who are you going to kill now?” Melissa asked.

  Rafe smiled. “Let me begin by congratulating you. You’re pregnant!”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Melissa stood up quickly. “That can’t be true!” she yelled. “I can’t be pregnant!”

  Rafe started to laugh and for a moment Melissa started to relax. He was kidding of course. Just a small joke to play on an innocent. But should she laugh with him? He was a demon and the joke wasn’t really that funny.

  She resisted the urge to kick herself then. When had she begun thinking of Rafe as a friend?

  “It’s a joke right?” she asked hesitatingly.

  “I think you know more than I do that what I’m saying is absolutely true.” Rafe said.

  “That can’t be possible.” she said. She couldn’t breathe anymore. Her chest ached with the heavy pressure of his news. “It’s Mark’s then. He would never try to hurt me and his child, would he? Of course he wouldn’t. I can’t be pregnant!” she screamed.

  Rafe grabbed her by the shoulders and then slapped her. Melissa felt a sharp twinge of pain and fell to her knees, sobbing out loud.

  “You need to grab hold of yourself.” Rafe said firmly.

  Melissa cried and then touched her stomach. There was life growing in there now and here she was stuck in this place. There was a child growing inside her and she couldn’t come to terms with it only because she had never thought she would be pregnant at her age and outside of wedlock. What would her parents think? They were disappointed in her when she had gone after Mark and now they would hate her when she would tell them she was pregnant.

  She could feel tranquility setting inside her as she cried. She had been so careful and she had disappointed her parents and herself. She sat up straight and looked at the sun as it began its journey to the other side. The nightmare was about to begin again and now something had changed in her and inside of her. She no longer had to only protect herself, but also the child that was growing inside of her.

  “Mark said not to trust you.” Melissa said and wiped her tears. “So please, tell me the truth. Am I really...?”

  “Ask yourself that.” Rafe said solemnly.

  Melissa took a deep breath and looked down at the ground. “What do I do?”

  “Are you really asking a demon that?” Rafe asked.

  “Does Mark know?”

  She saw Rafe hesitate again and felt her limbs getting numb with cold. “Why did he send me to you?”

  “He couldn’t take the responsibility.” Rafe said. “He didn’t tell me this, but I know what he was thinking. He’s too young and he has his whole life ahead of him. Besides, this whole curse thing hasn’t been solved yet.”

  “He...he sacrificed me?”

  “He couldn’t do it himself.”

  “But you didn’t.” she said quietly and felt her throat closing in. Suddenly she could feel herself being unable to breathe. Just relax! Her mind screamed. Think of your baby! She took a few open mouthed breaths and relaxed her shoulders. First it was Jennifer who had turned out to be someone she hadn’t even imagined and now Mark? It was fate that had brought her here so that she would find out who her friend and boyfriend really were and this was her punishment for running away from home.

  “But I couldn’t kill a mother.” Rafe said, his face softening suddenly. “Not again, anyway. My wife was pregnant with our child and I didn’t care about her or the baby. Then I got drunk one night and hit her. She didn’t survive and neither did the baby. Even then I didn’t care about anything. I was so drunk that I didn’t even make it to the funeral.”

  “That’s terrible.” Melissa said.

  “I died in a car accident, killing two teenagers too.” Rafe said. “It was in hell that I started to repent for my mistakes. I was a really bad person, but it was too late to redeem myself. But my remorse gave me the position of taking care of other souls; those that showed hope of redemption.”

  Rafe grew silent and clenched his hands into fists. “This is my chance to save those souls from damnation. But the curse has to be set right. Two innocents have to die by their hand.”

  “So how is Mark innocent?” Melissa scoffed. “He’s helping them kill innocent people and he sacrificed me. Didn’t he even have the guts to kill me himself?”

  Rafe stood silent, looking away into the distance.

  “Is there anyone else left apart from me?” Melissa sobbed.

  “Well, Carl’s still here.” Rafe said. “The guy who brought you soup, remember? He has a nice soul according to my accounts. Harley is another one. But you and your child...”

  “How could you possibly know about Carl?” Melissa asked. “You know what; I don’t even want to know. You were obviously keeping an eye on me. You always have a back-up plan don’t you? So there we go now, the riders o
r you have to kill me and Carl and then the city is saved!”

  Melissa picked up a rock and threw it at a tree where it bounced off and went into the water. She saw Rafe looking at her with a cocked eyebrow. “Oh dear, am I not an innocent anymore now that I flung a rock at that tree?”

  “Sarcasm won’t do you any good.” Rafe said dryly. “Besides, you wouldn’t be alive if I didn’t need you.”

  “So you have a plan for me?” Melissa said.

  Rafe nodded. “It’s more of a theory. But it might just save you.”

  “What do I have to do?” she asked.

  “Marry me.” Rafe said.

  Chapter Twenty

  As night arrived, Melissa made her way quietly towards the restaurant. She walked as softly as possible and was glad that it wasn’t as dark as it had been a few nights ago.

  “Marry me!” Rafe had told her blatantly. “You and your child will live and atoning for my misdeeds would give me a chance to live as a human again.”

  She had heard the wind swirl around them then, cooling her and sending a shiver up her spine. Her head had started to feel lighter and she resisted the urge to ask him if he had indeed asked her to marry him. Her first thought was to call him crazy and run the hell out of there, but he was a demon; she had seen him in his true form and the last thing she needed to do was to piss him off.

  “I need time to think about this.” She had lied and hoped like crazy that he couldn’t read minds. She tried to control her thoughts and when Rafe had agreed she had let out a breath she hadn’t been aware she had been holding.

  As the sun set, she had asked to see Mark before she made her decision and when he had agreed, she walked as slowly and casually towards the land, to avoid being caught by him.

  Melissa closed her eyes and took deep breaths. The real reason she was here was so that she could see for herself how Mark had betrayed her. The two most important people in her life turned out to be the complete opposite of whom she thought they had been and it was breaking her. She wanted to confront Jennifer too, but for some reason her heart told her to see Mark first. He was the one who had broken her trust and used her.

  The restaurant looked deserted from the outside, but she knew that they were all inside, probably laughing at how they had fooled her. His ‘friends’ were probably be applauding Mark’s performance as he gave his speech on how to pretend to care about people and then sacrifice them to demons. The very thought was making her sick!

  She stood outside the door and decided she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t bring herself to step inside and see Mark relaxing in his chair and commending himself for pulling off the perfect betrayal.

  She touched her stomach and gently ran her hand over it. This was no longer Mark’s child. From today onwards, this child was only hers and she would protect it at any cost.

  Melissa turned to go and uttered a gasp. “Mark!”

  Her first reaction was to grab him by the lapels of his leather jacket and demand to know why he had played with her trust and then sacrificed her to a demon. But before she could even open her mouth, Mark gathered her on his arms. "I am so sorry!"

  "For what?" She asked stoically. Perhaps Mark was finally going to tell her the truth.

  He pulled back a little, not letting go. "I couldn't find you in time. The minute that demon took off with you, we were attacked by Kevin."

  "What?" And that's when she noticed the bandage on his shoulder. On his neck were small bruises and a cut just below his jaw. "Oh!"

  "He was one of them!" Mark removed his hands from her shoulders and slapped his head. "How could we have all been so naive!"

  "Is he...?"

  Mark gave her a weak smile. "It was a tough fight, but in the end we subdued him and burnt him." He pointed towards a large trash bin and Melissa noticed that it was on fire. She could catch the smell of rotten eggs and something heavy and bitter wafting in the air. She covered her nose as her nausea returned and then recalled what Rafe had told her about being pregnant.

  "But before that we were able to get some answers from Kevin. He lied to us!" Mark cried. "That Bastard betrayed us!"

  "Rafe?" She choked back a sob.

  "Yes!" Mark looked down and hesitated. "There is something you need to know. This all is happening because of me."

  Melissa swallowed and felt her hands go numb with cold. She wanted to stop him and tell him that she already knew, but if Marks story coincided with Rafes, then she would know for sure that she was being told the truth for once.

  "The riders were responsible for my parent's death. I mean I thought they were..."

  "I know...Rafe told me."

  Mark looked shocked and he took her hand in his. She had expected his touch would be alien to her considering the way he had broken her heart several times, but all she felt was a combination of strength and warmth that for some odd reason made her feel safe.

  "Did he tell you that he played with me?" Mark asked bitterly. "Did he tell you how he made me believe that the riders were responsible for my parents' death and made me curse them?"

  "What do you mean he made you?"

  "He lied!" Mark said out loud. Behind him, his friends were watching them warily. "He concocted this whole thing just so that he could escape from hell every year and look for a wife for himself!"

  Melissa sucked in her breath. "Are you...sure?"

  "Kevin confessed." Mark said and shook his head. "I've been such an idiot!"

  Melissa squeezed his hand. "He asked me." Mark looked up at her in confusion. "He asked me to marry him so that he could redeem himself."

  "I'll kill him!" Marks eyes darkened.

  Melissa grabbed Mark's arm before he walked away. "There's something else."

  "What other lies did he tell you?"

  Melissa took a deep breath. "He said I was pregnant."

  She could see Mark process this piece of news and the hesitation that followed. She stepped back when Mark still hadn’t spoken. Was he going to leave her now? She felt her heart breaking into tiny pieces.

  “Did you find Jennifer?” she sobbed. “At least tell me you were really trying looking for her.”

  Mark looked at her for several seconds without replying and then held her arm. “We have to go.”

  “What?”

  “A friend of mine will come to take you away.” Mark said and walked her over to the fence.

  “I’m not leaving until I speak to Jennifer.” Melissa insisted, but Mark ignored her request.

  “Does he know?” he asked.

  “Who? Rafe? He’s the one who told me.” Melissa replied and tried to pull her arm away from his grip.

  Mark stopped and squeezed her shoulder. “Do you know for sure if you are pregnant?”

  Melissa bit the inside of her cheek and realized that Mark was actually implying that Rafe was lying to her. She thought hard and inhaled deeply. “I think that I am. I don’t know how I know this but I feel like I maybe am.”

  Mark nodded and shone a flashlight at the fence. Melissa blinked as another flashlight was shone back. The fence was then pulled back and Melissa gasped as she saw an opening. “You’re letting me go?”

  Mark didn’t answer her and instead spoke to the other guy. “Take care of her. Get her out of this town.”

  “Sure.” he replied back and gently took Melissa’s arm.

  “Thanks, Phil.” Mark said and started to close up the gap in the fence.

  “Wait, I’m not going anywhere without Jennifer.”

  “I’ll do what I can to save her.” Mark replied.

  Melissa broke free of Phil’s grip and walked over to Mark. “Come with me. You need to tell me what the hell is going on! I won’t leave you until you tell me!” she screamed.

  “Can’t.” Mark said.

  “I need answers!” Melissa said. She shoved him on his shoulder. “Now!”

  Mark looked at her and Melissa saw how terrified he looked in the dim light. “Rafe is using you. He’s playing us. He never
cared about the souls. All he cared about was finding a replacement for his wife and kid.”

  “He said the only way all this can be stopped is if they killed two innocents.”

  “Then it has to be me.” Mark said.

  “No. “Melissa started to cry and then a thought occurred to her.” Rafe said you weren’t an innocent because you cursed the souls.”

  “But I also asked for forgiveness from God and tried to amend my mistakes.” He said.

  “You still need another one. I could be the other one. You need me.” Melissa pleaded.