Ella :
“Ahh…”My whole body was aching terribly. I don’t know what happened to me, my eyes felt heavy but I still tried to open them, not for my own sake but for the sake of Oliver. I can't let that devil harm him.
“Ella…”I heard a soft voice, this voice doesn't belong to Oliver, nor the devil but it seemed familiar. Who is it?
I used all my strength to open my heavy eyes and finally I did. There was a very dim light surrounding me that made me open my eyes easily without flickering it. A shadow near me was proof that someone is sitting beside me but who?
I felt worried because one thing I knew for sure was that it wasn’t Oliver’s voice so then who. I tried to put pressure on my head trying to remember this familiar voice but I couldn't.
Feeling frustrated, I moved unconsciously and the shadow moved as soon as it touched my shoulder, I sat up and held the shadow.
It was shocking for me and for that shadow too.
“Ella..”A surprised cry came from the shadow’s mouth and then I gasped in disbelief, “Ethan..?”
“Ella…”He again called out and then finally showed me his face. Bloody Hell, Ethan. Is he also trapped in this basement by the devil? “Ethan… Ethan…”I cried out with joy and hugged him tightly.
He held me tightly in his arms and his hand rubbed my back to soothe my pain. I cried inconsolably in his arms.
“Wu…Wu…Wu… Ethan, why did you leave me? Why?”
“Do you have any idea what that devil did to me and Oliver?
Wu...Wu...Wu...Why didn't you come to save us?”
I complained while choking on my tears, I cried for a long time in his arms, and then finally when I felt a bit calm I finally heard his voice, “Ella, I am dead.”
I shockingly looked up at him with my eyes wide, I touched his face and babbled, “No…You’re not.”
He shook his head, his eyes closing in a way that showed helplessness and disappointment.
“I am dead, Ella. I am only a wandering soul now,” He confessed and suddenly my heart tightened on his words. What does he mean?
“What are you saying?”I sat up and looked at him curiously. To me he looked completely fine, how could he be dead and a wandering soul and still be able to show himself to me? I felt puzzled by his confessions.
He saw through me and then very calmly explained to me, “Ella, I was killed by the devil that lives in your ancestors' house and then he captured my soul and that is why I am not able to go to the other world. I am stuck here. I kept coming in your dream to help you out, I know the things that you don’t have any idea of.”
I paused hearing his words and then questioned, “Where is your soul?”
“It was kept in a small square-shaped glass bottle and it has a black color mark on it. The devil has captured multiple souls in many of the same bottles but he keeps a mark on each soul.”Ethan told me and I felt goosebumps all over my body.
The devil has captured too many souls? How many innocent people has he killed?
The reality hit me hard and I felt like being ridden under a truck and suddenly I felt a twisting pain in my heart as I held it tightly and flinched in pain. My eyes clouded with water as I closed my eyes and tears fell from them.
“Ella…”Ethan held my face with concern in his eyes as I shed tears sadly.
Why does it matter if he had betrayed me or killed innocent people? Why am I so affected by it? He is a devil and he can’t change himself so then why am I here mourning because of his betrayal? Why?
I was looking for an answer inside my brain when Ethan’s voice broke my trance, “You have fallen in love with him, Ella.”
BOOM
I felt like a huge rock was dropped on my head. I frowned while pulling myself away from him, “What nonsense?”I spat, looking down on the floor not at him at all.
“Look at me,” Ethan commanded and I sighed helplessly, F**k, I am doomed I can’t deny him.
After taking a deep breath, I finally looked into his eyes, “You love him, that is why his actions bothered you.”
I couldn’t refuse what he was saying, I tried to hold back my tears as I sniffed, “I don’t know… I don’t know what is it. He is a devil but he has never tried to harm me. He had always been gentle with me.”I sighed feeling helpless, “I don’t know what to do, Ethan.”
I leaned on his chest, again crying. I don’t know what is wrong with me, why do I keep crying all the time when I think or talk about the devil. Have I really fallen in love with him?
“You need to kill him, there is no other way to save us.”My heart froze when I heard Ethan’s words, my heart ached painfully, why does it has to be me? Why?
“You have the powers, Ella. And only you have the same powers as his. You are the only one that can finish him.”Ethan continued and I listened to him attentively.
“But how?”I asked, feeling anxious.
“He has a weakness Ella, he is afraid of only one thing and that is…”
Before Ethan could complete his sentence, I blurted out, “FIRE,”
“Yes, it’s fire.” Ethan gave me a smile that said that he is proud of me but I wasn’t able to return his smile, because the person he is asking me to kill is actually a man whom I had made love multiple times and was deeply in love with or maybe I still am.
I shrugged, the uneasiness in my heart seemed to be growing more and more while Ethan was narrating me the whole plan. Just by hearing it, I was feeling so uncomfortable and bad. What would happen when the devil would bear all these things? How would he feel then?
Would the death be painful for him, but he had already died once, but the way Ethan had asked me to kill him, would it be more painful? Would I be able to kill him? After what had happened between us, is this really what I wanted?
The end of him, the end of us?
“Ella, we don’t have much time,” Ethan told me and brought me back from my deep thoughts.
“I know what to do,” I told him firmly and then stood up hurriedly to leave but unexpectedly Ethan held me at my place, “You’re not awake.”
I frowned and stared at him with confusion as he pointed to a corner and there I saw myself lying on the ground unconscious and Oliver was trying hard to wake me up.
“If you succeed, then it would be the last time I have shown up in your dream, Ella. Take care of yourself and I love you.”Ethan said while touching my forehead before I could say something in return I was pushed back by a heavy force and then I gasped, taking in a huge amount of air to breathe.
“Ahhh…”