MY NAME IS SIMON CROSS

The rain came down heavily on the dazzlingly city of Summerville chasing away many night walkers from the street to any shelter they could find except for motorist who were fully secured from the rain inside their cars which aid them from getting wet by the rain. Few hours passed before the rain went down and the empty streets became crowded once again even though it was 9pm in the noisy night filled with rowdy cars resounding their horn below the tall skyscrapers especially a cab owner driving a fawn haired gentleman clad in a blue overcoat close to Clampton street, whose car eventually got stuck in traffic that doesn seem to be moving free. The frustrated cab owner sounded his horn a third time, telling the driver in front that was sitting down comfortably on the front seat in his black Volkswagen, to move forward but he got no response from the ignorant driver while the gentleman behind him began to grow impatient and requested to alight the vehicle.

”Hey, Mister. I wanna get down and heres your fare ”, The man said,

”Be patient, my friend. The traffic will soon clear out ”,

”I know but weve gotten close to where I wanted to get out ”, The impatient man replied stretching forth some cash to the reluctant driver from the backseat. The driver hesitated and shrugged after deciding to surrender to his fervent demand.

”Alright, if you wanna leave so badly, I ain gonna stop you ”,

”Thats good to know. You want the cash or not? ”,

”Yes….I do ”, The driver muttered, and slowly turned his head around to look at the handsome face of the young gentleman staring at him before taking the cash from the passenger and the young man got down from the cab, stepping his brown lace-up shoes on a pool of dirty water but he didn make a fuss about it and only walked to the side door and bent down to take a peek at the black driver.

”Thanks, Old man. Im really sorry for leaving early ”, he apologized and walked away from the cab, heading straight to the underground subway tunnel while the driver gazed at his back until he was clearly out of sight. The young man made his way through a rowdy crowd of passersby exiting from the subway as he went down the opposite way to an awaiting train whose passengers were still waiting inside for the next stop. He eventually entered the train and took his seat beside a woman in a weird outfit, near the door which closed as soon as two other individuals entered after him before the train started to move.

The train made its last stop for the night at the western part of the city just before midnight and dropped off the remaining passengers including the young man who made his way out of the subway tunnel along with the rest of the exited passengers and walked to a nearby street, squeezing his damp overcoat tightly against his body as he went through the dark slums until he arrived at an unkempt building where few hoodlums as well as old vagabonds dwelt in each broken cubicle on the first floor of the untidy apartment. Few minutes later, he had already made his way to his locked door at the fourth floor of the building which was pretty much clean than the first two but something strange turned his countenance pale and oblique when he noticed that the doorknob was a bit broken and the door slightly ajar revealing a portion of the sitting room utterly scattered in sheer disarray.

A heavy fear came upon him at once and his hands began to tremble profoundly as he stealthily entered the muddled room only to see a complete mess of things inside but the intruder was nowhere to be seen except a huge pile of furniture, pictures and cartons containing books turned upside down. He stood for a while peering at the mess, ruminating on who might have broken into his home until a horrified thought came into his mind which filled him with dread and caused him to scurry into the bedroom in a frantic effort to find something which may not be there since the bedroom including the bathroom was totally rummaged by the intruders who seems to have left a sign of his unwanted entry. After searching his scattered wardrobe, the young man found a little black metal box which he had hid in a hole underneath the red carpet below the gigantic wardrobe which had an erected lid, covering the hole and sat down on the bed to check if the precious item which he had kept inside was still intact. He hadn fully open the box when he heard a noise from the other room and dropped the box on the soft bed before heading towards the noise of attraction which took him back to the living room, instinctively following the sound but found no one else and blankly looked around mess with his panting eyes until his eyes fell on an open window that had its venetian blind rolled upwards, allowing a sheer amount of the cold wind to enter through. He walked up to the window avoiding the messy furniture which blocked his path and shut the window as well as the venetian blind which was concealed by the curtains as soon as he drew the red drapery over it without perceiving a dark shapeless figure that was watching him behind his back. He turned around and halted immediately his fretful eyes fell on an opaque figure, shaped in form of a deform human with pointed eyes which glared at him, glowing in the dark, standing near his bedroom. His mind told him to face the intruder despite the horrid look on his pale visage which had come upon him the moment he was fully aware of the strangers presence but two more dazzling eyes entered the small cubicle from within in the same form as the first though much bigger, both in shapeless form and heighten figure. The air pressure in the room suddenly became tight and compressed all around him as pale drops of sweat began to fall down from his cheeks since he knew right there that these creatures whom he had tried to keep off his tail for quite a long time, had finally caught up with him and he knew that there will be no escape this time around and a bitter price of bloody death will be paid once the three demons make the first move.

Unlucky for him, before he could put up a good defense against his adversaries, two of the three demons had surrounded him in a blink of an eye, much swifter than he could ever imagine and at once he knew all hope of escaping has left him already for he felt ensnared by the two dazzling eyes which met his fretful gaze the moment he failed to run for his dear life since part of him was still yet to respond to his spellbound demeanor especially his legs that felt stuck to the ground tenaciously, very much unable to move in a fast motion than his cold feet that had been trembling within him tremendously the first time he spotted the familiar odd shape in his abode. Two quicker blows in the dark from his foes, directed solely at his face came quite quickly than expected, rendering him senseless and pale with a little bit of guts to withstand the next one which hit him harder on his lower torso sending him staggering backwards before collapsing with a loud thud on the carpet after struggling to regain his balance which he inevitably lost in the end.

Feeling a bit victorious that he had fallen on the ground like they wanted him to, his ferocious unmatched opponents wasted no time in grabbing both of his hands which they gripped and stretched tightly before hauling him up to his knees facing the third foe who seemed to be the leader amongst the three deformed demons. He did not quite tussle with them as they pulled him up to his shaky knees since he had felt the their coarse limbs sharp hit his partially face now partially disfigured one side as well as his belly. He was panting heavily as he prayed hard for help which he knew will never save him from their clutches with hot sweat shrouding his entire skin profoundly till he heard a much deeper voice which filled him with dread and fear that gripped his heart within him.

”I won ask twice. Wheres the last one?

The voice questioned him but he didn respond though he knew that it must have come from the rough lips of the third demonic intruder standing before since he could only see the glossy red eyes of the demon dazzling above his pale face that was covered with sweat.

Another ghastly blow struck his abdomen thrice, this time, more painful than the first three hits which sent him groaning in pain.

”Spill out the truth unless you want to be sent back to the underworld ”,

”Answer him, fool! ”,

”If you don , well rip your arms off ”,

The two other demons grasping his arms whose voice sounded a bit weaker than the first voice, importuned vehemently. He moaned deeply when he tried to mumble out something from his lips since the pain hadn yet subsided inside of him.

”Say it unless you want my minions to tear you apart ”,

”Please….. ”,

He stuttered when he tried to speak. The voice chuckled and repeated its earlier statement.

”Tell wheres the last one? ”,

”I… don know ”,

”Sure you do. Now tell me or else your right hand will come off ”,

The voice threatened. The victim knew deep inside of him that letting them know the whereabouts of the last sacred item which he had given out to some odd fellow dwelling in a continental city located at the other side of the distant ocean several miles away from Summerville in exchange for something he needed to cure his old wounds, would be catastrophic.

”Only the lost….stone of… Larzi.. Is in my possession ”,

He said trying to dissuade them using the item he had concealed inside the metal box.

”Nice move trying to get our minds off what we are actually looking for which we know that you are aware of its whereabouts ”,

”No…I don ”,

”Then Rymus, rip his head off. Hes not going to tell us anything ”,

”My pleasure, my liege ”,

”As for you, Danok, search for that item inside his bedroom ”,

The voice ordered and somehow withdrew from the victim who was pleading for mercy but his pleas fell on deaf ears before his head was pulled off from the neck region by the demon. Few minutes later, the other minion returned back in a jiffy with a metal box he luckily found lying on the carpet outside the wardrobe and opened it as soon as he came close enough to his Master, revealing a glittering stone mixed up with some rare herbs inside but something else fell from it on the ground beside the masters feet.

”You dropped something. Pick it up ”,

”Yes, master ”,

Danok obeyed only to pick up a card from the floor which luckily had the senders name scribbled in italic fonts on it alongside a message.

”Master, I think this thing belongs to someone else. Here look at this note ”,

”Read it ”,

”For your health, and a heartfelt thanks for receiving your gift, from SIMON CROSS ”,

Danok read the note aloud leaving his listeners smiling maliciously especially the master who smirked hopefully in the dark.