Page 5 of Soul Food

Crumbled fences.

Here lies rattled chains,

Stolen kisses,

Forced upon commences.

I wonder how it feels to stand ten feet tall. Does it hurt it when you drag your hands through the sewer of that blackened heart?

Does it hurt when you close your eyes, swallow your drugs, and look the other way?

Does it hurt when you force your hands in places it should have never been?

Does it hurt when the thing you touched turned to ashes, gone up in smoke?

Here lies silent tears,

Because no one heard her

So her end was near.

Something pressed against my lips. I opened my eyes to see an extension of the shadowy man pressing against them, to what? Silence me?

Words. Rhythm. Songs were my comfort.

I couldn’t stop myself from singing, just like I couldn’t stop myself from breathing even when it felt like I was suffocating. My dreams, even my life might have been taken from me, but this voice—I prayed it echoed in Heaven and Hell for everything that it was worth.

“Ten years,” he muttered.

Blood-red eyes descended upon me, and I felt his overwhelming presence touching every part of me.

“Your soul is not the same as when I first saw it, it’s fractured. A broken soul is a nasty soul.” He stepped away from me. “Do you want what was stolen from you so badly? I can give it back to you. Your voice lights your soul. I’ll give it all to you for ten years.”

“What?” I wiped my eyes and stared, dumbfounded.

“I’m saying I want you to have everything you ever wanted, but only for ten years. Then I’ll take it all away.”

I sucked in a breath.

“What will it be, Ruth? Shall I eat your soul now or in ten years after I’ve given you everything you’ve wanted?”

“Either way I’m dying?” I choked on my words, those god-awful tears of mine returning.

He hummed pleasingly. “It’s amazing how well you’ve adapted to your fate. Yes, human, you’ll die today or ten years from now. The choice is yours. Either way your soul is mine. I’m just letting you pick the date for when I devour it.”

When I remained silent, the shadow moved. Something pressed into my chest, and I gasped. Looking down, I saw a black cloud of darkness resting there. Was that his hand? The darkness slipped inside me, and I could taste something akin to decay.

“In case you needed a demonstration. Choose Ruth.” I stared up at him, and the countdown began. “Five, four, three—”

“Of course I want to live!” I screamed as the tears slid down my cheeks.

“Good choice.” He pried his limb from my chest, and I slumped forward. “Your soul is too vibrant to waste when it’s bitter in betrayal. I’ll give you everything, Ruth, so that when I come for your soul, it will purr as I sink my teeth into it.”

I wish I was numb like I had been before entering this building. How could this be happening? Was I dead? Did someone drug me? Why did this feel real? Were the tears running down my cheeks really there?

Or was I as crazy as my ma after all?

I couldn’t tell, but every part of it felt real.

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