1. Devil

People say the beauty of darkness is peaceful. That darkness helps and consoles them in their loneliness.

How peaceful it can be while staying in a room on a rainy night, all dark, along with the warmth of the blanket, looking outside the window with a cup of coffee and music giving a pleasant rhythm with the raindrops.

But...

Darkness cannot be peaceful for everyone. When a man is tied up in a chair, the rain scares him more with every passing minute.

The only source of light is a bulb above his head, which even he can't see just because someone had already removed his eyeballs like a screw and put them on a table just beside him, where other tools like a knife, hammer, screwdriver, injections, and many more were lying within reach.

The warmth anyone can crave in such an environment has switched to coldness. While the other person hiding in the dark keeps pouring cold water on the man's wounds and watching him with a cute smile. That smile could make anyone fall for it—if only they didn’t know about the person; how beautifully he can make them scream in pain.

The man keeps saying it for hours now, "Why did I do this to you? Why did you do this to me?"

That person smiled more and said, "You did nothing to me..."

Man said, "Then why are you torturing me? I beg you, please leave me."

The person moved towards the table while his boots made noise in that dark room. His hand hovered above the tools, choosing which one he should take now, and he said,

"Ummm, beg? I didn't feel anything. Are you really begging me?"

Man cried, "Please leave me. I have a family to look after, please... please... please leave me."

The person laughed like a maniac, sending a shiver down the man’s spine.

"What... what did you say? Hahahaha, God, please say it again, hahaha."

Man said, "P...pl...ease leave me. I...I have a f...fa…mily to look after."

The person suddenly stopped laughing and glared at the wall, his back facing him. "Look. Didn’t I remove your shitty eyeballs? Huh?"

Turning around, he moved towards the screwed man, slowly, with a hammer in his hand, and said in a calm voice…

"How can you look now, hmmm! It's not like you only make money for your family. No, you never make money for your family. You take money from your wife, who works hard for food and clothes. Ummm, am I wrong?"

He slowly caressed the man with his hammer from his forehead and stopped at his jaw while the man trembled against it. He continued speaking, "While your children are too small now, they will forget about you easily. And your wife, she can find someone better for herself too."

He pouted and spoke further, “So you are a perfect thing to play with... I am having fun playing with you. What about you?”

Pouting more, he leaned towards his face a little and said in a sad voice, "Aren’t you having fun with me?"

Man said, "Please leave me. Don't do this to me. I did nothing wrong to you, please."

The other male’s face turned blank, replacing the pouty, cute one. He slowly tapped the hammer against the man's skin, making him tremble and question his life decisions.

"Don't you think? Making me sad can be dangerous for you... hmm?" He spoke far too calmly, "I know what you have done more." He smirked and said something shocking to the man.

"Didn't you do that, huh!"

Man asked, "How do you know?"

He smirked more and said, "I know everything about you... And now suffer."

With a swift motion, he hit the hammer on his jaw, breaking it.

The man cried and screamed while being tied up in the chair. On the other hand, he kept on hitting him everywhere—on hands, arms, chest, shoulders, knees... breaking his bones mercilessly.

He again went towards the table, and this time he brought a knife. The man gathered his remaining courage and said, "I... I w…ould not… do this again. Please spare me."

Earning a laugh from him. While he laughed at his courage, "Awww, how pathetic and silly you can be, hmm?”

Suddenly he stopped laughing and said, "If I have to spare you, then I would have given you death the next moment when I brought you here... Like you think I fucking don’t have anything else to do and waste my time on you till now?”

He leaned towards his face and whispered, "Giving you an easy death wouldn't be tempting for my peace, while on the other hand..." he whispered near his right ear, "Taking your eyeballs out, making you blind, cutting your skin, warm blood coming out from that... that deep red blood makes me insane... beating you like a punching bag, think how satisfying this can be for my devil; he must be enjoying it, right…”

He stabbed his thigh, followed by his screaming, "I. WILL. MAKE. YOU. TASTE. HELL. WHILE. YOU. ARE. ALIVE." With each word, he cut the man’s fingers, drowning his cries in pain.

"God, I'm tired now... ufff... I am done having fun with you now." He smiled, seeing him almost dead. He went and brought petrol and poured it on him.

Man cried, "No... No... Please… No…"

He chuckled, "How pathetic you can be."

"Doesn't it feel great? Now die!"

By saying this, he lit up the lighter and threw it on the man, burning him alive. Screaming and crying were all that could be heard...

Slowly he looked around to see if he left anything as proof, but after finding nothing, he faced the man while removing his gloves and threw them on the burning body.

He waited a little more time to see the man dying in front of him. After his screams died, he smirked sinisterly and poured water on his dead body, not letting it burn completely.

He moved towards the open door of the under-construction building where everyone had left after 5 p.m., which helped him kill the man as no one was there to disturb him.

As he reached the door, for a final check, he looked back into the room; after being satisfied with his work, he left the building with a proud smile.

He walked in the dark alley while his hoodie hid half his face... No one knows how the man died, how he killed him, how painful his screams were while the knife cut his skin; nobody knows how many more are there to die by...

This devil....

He vanished; no one knows where he went…

Cold weather

Early in the morning, the warmth of the room can make anyone leave their work and sleep more. Dim lights of the room were the only source of light while the windows were closed. A manly figure hid inside the blanket from the cold.

Blankets are the ultimate barrier and protector between humans and the outside world. Whether it's a ghost or the coldness of the rainy night.

Suddenly a phone call disturbed his sleep. He groaned in discomfort and growled, trying to pick up his phone from the nightstand.

After getting it, he said, "Hello! Who are you?" in a low morning husky voice, which probably sounded like a buffalo complaining about the disturbance the other person caused.

"It's urgent... come fast," the other person spoke.

"What happened?” he asked again.

"Just come fast. You sound like a buffalo right now, and you wouldn't understand it, so come fast." The call ended without waiting for his response.

He looked at the name of the person on the phone, almost glaring at it.

He cursed under his breath at that person who called him, ruining his sleep. He didn't want to get up now, as he had slept late last night.

He looked at his side table, searching for his watch, but no, it was also missing—like his sleep. He got up and saw his clock inside his blanket, and it was 7 o'clock in the morning.

He stood up and went inside the bathroom to get ready for the day. After getting ready, he went towards his office table. Gathering his things, he threw a glance at the walls in front of his table and then left his room along with his apartment.

He got inside his car, started the engine, and left for his destination. After driving for 20 minutes, he finally reached his office—or we can say police station.

He was part of the crime branch. More likely, he had special work, not like others. As he went inside, he saw his colleagues rushing here and there, and he knew it was really urgent.

He slowly walked farther but stopped when one of his female colleagues called him, "Mr. Sharma." He turned and went near her table. Jaya Bhatiya, his junior but older than him, asked, “Mr. Sharma, what happened? It looks like we got—"

He couldn't finish when a person pulled him inside the room. He glared at Dhruv, who was smirking widely. "Dhruv!!!"

Dhruv said, "Yes, darling!"

"Why the fuck do you do this, yo—" He snapped, but Dhruv said, "Oh, come on, Raghav, you took so long already and wasted my precious time by making me wait more when you were clearly standing outside." Dhruv said it so sweetly with a devil's smile.

Raghav sighed deeply and asked, still throwing daggers, "Why did you call me like that, and what do we have now?”

Jaya too came inside after him. "Mrs. Bhatiya, we will call you; you handle that file, please." Dhruv said this with a smile, and Jaya left them alone while Raghav frowned and said, "Why did you ask her to leave?"

Dhruv pouted dramatically and said, "To spend time with you, darling."

Raghav was done with him now, but before he could punch him, Dhruv spoke, "Ok, ok, just kidding! Darling."

“Now spill the tea.”

"We got a case. Boring for me, so you take it; I will just overlook it." He yawned while saying it.

"Stop being like this; be serious!" Raghav rolled his eyes, and Dhruv spoke further, "You know me; here, take these photographs."

He slid some pictures; Raghav took those pictures and looked through them. "Damn, the killer really knows how to torture," he said with a displeased expression.

Dhruv rubbed his eyes and asked, "Do you find anything? Like a mark," he yawned again.

Raghav looked at those pictures for some minutes and said, "Bro, we can't say this, Dhruv... Did you send his body to the forensic department? They can only tell us about this…”

Dhruv said, "Yes, they did. Surya told me half an hour ago."

"Did we find anything else at the crime spot?" Raghav asked while sitting in his chair beside Dhruv's table.

"The team has gone there; let's wait till they come."

He nodded and leaned back on his chair while closing his eyes.

"Dhruv, can you ask someone to bring me a coffee... I really need it."

Dhruv frowned dramatically and said, "I call you darling; that doesn't mean I'm really your wife, huh!"

Raghav once again glared at him; Dhruv chuckled and called someone for the coffees.

As the daylight, which had been hidden by the clouds from the very start, came to an end by now.

Even though it was getting dark, the rain hadn't stopped since yesterday evening. Everyone could see how moody the sky was.

For a moment, she too smiled and let people drown in her rain, enjoying her, dancing with the droplets...

But in the next moment, everyone could see her anger... No one dared to even come near her or go outside…

Raghav was also standing inside his office, looking at the anger she showed to everyone... Nobody knew why she was being like this all of a sudden...

Slowly Raghav's gaze moved from the sky to the cafe beside his window.

People can’t say that it's a big and luxurious-looking cafe, but instead it's a cozy, warm, small, and beautiful cafe where some people came to relax, like him and……her.

It's not like they had never met before. They had known each other for years. He met her there by coincidence in that cafe and later got to know she too came there every day to relax like him. The cafe owner, a middle-aged lady, told him that, and now Raghav could see her every day. Even if he didn't go to the cafe, he could still have a glimpse of her from his window. That single glimpse of her was enough for him. His heart felt the home he always needed.

Who is she?

𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

𝐃𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 (*´˘`*)ー❣❣*･ﾟﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*ﾟ:*:✼✿