Sold My Soul

Zacky’s assumption that Brian’s mood would improve didn’t turn out to be very accurate.

His announcement at the beach earlier that day had brought in quite a crowd, way too many people to fit in Jimmy’s condo. So the party had spilled out onto the beach - lucky that Jimmy’s patio went right out onto the sand - and everyone else seemed to be having a good time.

I was sitting with my friend Val, her sister Michelle, and a couple of her friends around one of the three bonfires that had been started. Val was dating Matt, another one of our good friends, but if you asked anyone they’d tell you they might as well already be married. And speaking of...

“So when are you and Brian finally gonna get hitched?” Michelle asked me, taking a sip of her strawberry cooler. “You’ve been together practically forever, right?” She was a “professional” party planner, specializing in weddings, and it seemed to me that whenever I saw her, weddings were all she ever wanted to talk about. Ironically - or, maybe not - she was single, as far as I knew anyway.

Talking about this kind of thing, especially these days now that Brian was so distant, always made me a little uncomfortable. “I guess, if four years is forever. And I don’t know, there’s really no rush.” I glanced over at Brian as I said that. He was talking to Jimmy and Johnny, beer in hand, but the look on his face suggested he would rather be anywhere else. I sighed inwardly and turned back to the fire.

“Well, when you do get engaged, and I know you will, just hit me up and -”

“She knows ‘Chelle.” Val rolled her eyes playfully and put a hand over her sister’s mouth. “We all know. Let’s change the topic, okay?”

I gave Val a grateful look. She always seemed to know when someone was feeling uncomfortable, and did her best to change it. One of her many charms.

Michelle just shrugged and pushed Val’s hand away. “Fine, fine...” but then she grinned and turned back to her sister. “Let’s talk about your wedding instead!”

“But we’re not getting married!” Matt had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He sat down behind Val, pulling her onto his lap. “We don’t need a silly certificate and a piece of metal to declare our undying love!”

“You know I want to get married someday.” Val poked his chest. “So we will get married, Matthew.”

“Tough words from such a little lady.” he grinned, before leaning in to steal a kiss.

I couldn’t help but feel a little sad again, and a little more as well lonely as I continued to listen to their conversation, staring into the fire. We don’t have that anymore, so why are we still doing this?...

Sadly, the answer was pretty obvious at this point. For at least another three hundred and eleven days, Brian didn’t really have a choice but to stick around. And I guess, in some sort of weird role reversal, I didn’t either.

I noticed Matt pull Val to her feet out of the corner of my eye, and they headed off down the beach, hand-in-hand. Not wanting to be left with Michelle and her wedding ideas I stood up as well, brushing the sand off my shorts. “I think I’m going to get another drink, anyone want anything?”

When the general response was a “No, thanks anyway”, I left my only half-empty can of Pepsi - I almost never drank alcohol - in the sand and headed back towards the condo. The lower floor seemed deserted, but not wanting to accidentally walk in on anyone, I headed upstairs. All that was up there was a storage area, a bathroom, and an office-typed room. Closing the bathroom door behind me, I turned and looked intently into the mirror.

I wondered if Brian would still be around now, even if none of this demon stuff had ever happened. I really wasn’t anything special, and didn’t do much to make me seem otherwise. Dyed dark hair, pale skin, probably too much eyeliner, a faded black AFI hoodie, and shorts that went down to my knees. Every other woman at this party had the “California Girl” look going on, and to my knowledge that was the thing most guys went after. In this town, anyway.

It probably wasn’t a wise idea to knock my self-esteem down any more pegs tonight, so with a sigh I turned away from the mirror. Moving to open the bathroom door and head back outside, I paused when someone knocked on it instead. “Hello, is anyone in here?” a male voice accompanied the knock, and it didn’t sound familiar to me.

I opened the door. “I was just leaving, it’s all yours.” And sure enough, I had never seen the guy in my life. Wearing only a pair of cargo shorts, his muscles and the tattoos up his arms and across his chest were obvious. However, they looked kind of tacky, without any thought put into them. Along with his shaved head and full beard, definitely not my kind of guy.

He grinned, but not in a reassuring way. “All ours you mean, right Sugar?” he rested his arms on the doorframe, effectively blocking my way out.

Oh God, this kind of stuff only happens in the movies, right? “Excuse me, but people are expecting me outside...” I pushed against his arm halfheartedly. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t move; at least, not in the direction I wanted him to. Instead, he grabbed my wrist and walked forwards, forcing me to stumble along with him. He closed and locked the door with his other hand.

“What’s your hurry?” he laughed lowly as I made another attempt for the door. It was useless though; he still had a grip on my arm, and mid-stride he turned me around and instead pushed me up against the door. “Believe me, you don’t really want to go out there anyway.”

I raised my arm to slap him, hit him, anything, really, but he caught it when my hand was midway to his face. He forced my arm down down my side, the sickening grin not leaving his face. I didn’t know if I should feel relieved or not when I couldn’t detect any alcohol on his breath.

I switched tactics quickly, trying not to show how terrified I actually was. “Please stop, I really need to get back outside...” I mentally cursed myself when my voice shook.

“No, you really don’t. We’ll have lots of fun right here.” he pressed himself up against me, and I was pretty damn sure it wasn’t his cell phone digging into my hip. Effectively restraining both of my wrists with just one of his hands, he used the other to quickly unzip my hoodie before sliding it under my tanktop.

I held back both nausea and tears as he began sloppily kissing my exposed neck, and couldn’t help but sob a little when he suddenly bit down, hard. I’m no stranger when it comes to hickeys, that is not the way to do it. If this were Brian... my mind began to wander, but I stopped myself quickly. Um, hello! Not the time to be thinking about that!

The guy took half a step back and let go of one of my hands so he could attempt to pull his shorts down, but I didn’t waste my chance. With the small space between our bodies I had room to bring my knee up sharply, and with a roar of pain he stumbled back, holding himself. “You fucking little bitch!”

By that time I already had the door unlocked, and I stumbled out into the hallway. I wanted to cry with relief when I saw two people near the stairs. “Oh thank God...” One of them turned towards me, another bald guy, and any other words I was going to say died on my lips. No fucking way...

He gave me a sympathetic look, but it was mocking. “He told ya that ya didn’t want ta be out here. So why so surprised ta see us, Princess?”