The Devil's Harem

“Why don’t you take me with you?” The girl held on to the boy’s arm and asked. She was desperate to follow him wherever he was going, even if it meant following him to hell.

“This has got nothing to do with you,” The boy grabbed her hand and pushed it away, “I have been waiting for this moment all my life. I am this close to finding it out, and I don’t want something to hold me back.”

“Am I a burden to you now,” the girl asked, disbelieving what she just heard, “I... I am willing to dedicate my whole life to your cause, and I am holding you back? Tell me, what more should I do? Should I kill someone? Who? Tell me...” The girl grabbed the boy’s shirt, pulled him towards her, and asked, looking straight into his eyes.

“Just don’t get in my way,” The boy got his shirt out of her grip, “You are the only person I trust and want to be safe. But there is one thing I hold dear more than you, and it’s my revenge. I have spent fourteen years running around trying to find clues, and finally, I have one. I can’t let this chance go.”The boy held the girl’s face between her palms and said in a tender, pampering tone.

“I am not that weak little girl who needed your protection,” the girl feeling his touch, closed her eyes, “I can fight side by side with you... You know what I am capable of.” The girl softly said.

“I know, and you are the best thing that has happened to me since I have been here,” the boy smiled, looking affectionately at the girl, “And that is why I can’t ask you, even more, to follow behind me.” The boy pulled back his hand.

.....

The girl opened her eyes and looked at the boy with hurt and anger in her eyes.

“I don’t know who I am up against,” the girl ignored the glare from the girl and turned around, “I have a doubt, and if that comes true, then there is a great chance that I won’t even make it back to you,” the boy sighed.

“... So even after knowing the possible end if I take you with me, I won’t be able to forgive myself,” the boy got a bit emotional in the end, “Don’t make me choose between you and my revenge, because I know what I am going to chose, but it will hurt you all the more.”

And with these words, even the girl knew that the boy had made his choice, disheartened she ran towards him and hugged him from the back, “I don’t want you to go...” The girl sobbed as she managed to get those words out, “I don’t want to lose you...”

The boy could feel his back turn wet, but he did nothing to comfort the girl. He let her pour her heart out. It would make it easy for him to leave her behind then.

They stood there, with the girl hugging the boy for some time before the sobs began to wither. Sniffing, the girl turned the boy around, “You have made up your mind, and I know I am not part of your future anymore. But...” The girl paused as she looked at the boy, hesitating to ask something.

Hearing the girl agree to him, the boy turned around and looked straight into her eyes. He wiped the tears down her cheek and asked, “But what?”

“I... There is something I want from you?” The girl pushing away her nervousness, asked the boy.

“What do you want?” The boy did not think much about what she was going to ask. Whatever it was, he was ready to give it to her.

“I want...”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Hey, wake up... Hey...” Alex heard someone smacking his shoulder, “Wake up, sleepyhead, we are here...” It sounded familiar.

Annoyed, Alex opened his eyes. With his half-closed eyes, he could see Rebecca standing by his side, trying to wake him up.

“What is it?” Alex asked.

“What are you being grumpy about?” Rebecca placed her hand on her hips and asked, “We have reached our destination, the flight has landed, and we need to get off. Heheheh... Don’t tell me you want to set up your house here,” Rebecca laughed, making fun of Alex.

But Alex did not fund it funny. And to be honest, he did not even find the situation remotely pleasing, “What so funny about it?” Alex asked, “Couldn’t you have waited for a minute?” Alex rebuked Rebecca, “And who asked you to wake me up?”

‘Has he gone mad?’ Rebecca had this thought as she looked at Alex, “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but get up, we are the last ones remaining.” Rebecca said and tried to pull Alex, but he threw her hand away.

Alex picked up his stuff and, putting his jacket over his shoulder, he made his way towards the exit, leaving Rebecca behind. Meanwhile, Rebecca found it odd but chose to push it aside, thinking he must feel grumpy after a nap, as many do.

Getting past another round of security checks, everyone was finally out of the airport. But this time, there were no two separate groups. In that six hours of journey, everyone from Theation and ‘AR’ had mingled up to a significant extent.

“Let’s do a headcount and check our luggage before we head to the resort,” This time, Rebecca did not dilly dally like the morning and was quick to take the lead.

“One... Two... Three... sixty-three and there, sixty-four,” Rebecca said, pointing towards Alex, who was standing away from everyone, lost in his own thoughts.

“Now, all of you check if the items you are in charge of are with you or not?”

“Everything is accounted for...”

“We have everything we brought...”

“Good, then let’s make way for the resort,” Rebecca said and then turned towards Alex, “Let’s go.”

“Someone should be here to pick us up,” Alex did not move an inch, “Look around, and you will find someone with placards for Theation or maybe ‘AR’.” Alex told them, and just as he finished, a middle-aged man walked up to them holding a placard with Theation written on it in big letters.

“Theation?” The man asked Alex, inquiring.

Alex nodded, “Mr Doodle Joe?”

The man smiled, clearly a bit embarrassed by his name.

“The cars are parked there,” Doodle gestured, “Let me call my guys to help you with the luggage.” Doodle said and pulled out his phone to call his guys.

Soon they were on road, on their way to the resort they had booked.

The weather in Thar was totally different. While it was soon going to be bone-chilling cold in Elenor, Thar was scorching with the sun. Everyone wanted to shed as much of their clothes as possible to avoid being fried in the heat. The slightest of the redemption was from the air-conditioning in the bus, but that didn’t help much either.

“It’s really hot in here, don’t you think?” Rebecca tried to initiate a conversation between them.

But Alex chose to ignore her even though he heard her. He continued to look outside despite there being nothing but sand till the eyes could see. Now, this was the first time this had happened, that they were not conversing. Despite them locking horns all the time, they never ceased to talk. Slowly, Rebecca felt that whatever happened to Alex in his sleep was not something as simple as leaving him grumpy.

‘It was like a movie,’ while looking outside the window, Alex thought, ‘The girl was the same, but who was that guy?’

‘He kind of looked familiar, like me,’ Alex started to draw a resemblance, ‘But why would I leave such a beautiful girl for some revenge? And what was that revenge all about?’

‘So the story is like I left my girl behind for some revenge on someone, and things went south, which I don’t know yet how, but I ended up here in Elenor with the Rutherfords,’ Alex summarized everything, ‘Well, on the premise that, that guy is me...’

‘But if it that’s not me, who was it? And what was I doing there?’ Numerous questions rushed into his mind.

‘It’s so annoying,’ Alex scratched his head, ‘But that girl... She was so beautiful. And she was willing to leave everything behind just for me. Anyone would be lucky to have a girl like her. Badass, yet loving...” A smile bloomed on his face thinking about the girl. When Rebecca saw him smiling to himself like an idiot, she could not help but frown.

‘What’s with him today? Oscillating between moods?’ Rebecca thought, and her gaze involuntarily moved down, ‘Don’t tell me he is also having his periods.’

Unaware of the weird thoughts going through Rebecca’s head, Alex pulled out his phone. As always, the girl managed to make Alex remember Margaret. he had texted her after he had left his house in the morning, but there was no reply from her yet.

Still, Alex chose to let her know about his whereabouts.

‘Just landed... On my way to the resort,’ Alex typed and sent it to Margaret.

Sending the message, Alex was about to put his phone back in when it buzzed.

It was a reply from Margaret.

‘That was quick,’ Alex was happy to get the reply.

‘Take care of yourself, <3,\'

* * * * *

(A/N: You should also check out my Fan-Fic, Against The World, All Alone)