Beauty in the Beast...Chapter -1-

A Chapter by niv

The drops of water fell from the rim of my hat onto my fingers as I held the hand rail and walked down the steps of the subway. It was a cold night and the drizzle had aggravated the chilled weather. A gush of wind slapped my face and numbed my senses on my entrance, as if I was unwelcome there. I made my way towards the platform, with a myriad of questions bubbling inside of me. I hoped I would be able to find answers to at least one of those, that night. I only required a sign of direction to quench my curiosity. A small gesture of any sort was sufficient to make peace with myself. This duel inside of me…the rush for explanations…the thirst for redemption…was all what I prayed for at that moment. The feeling intensified giving me an adrenaline shot and a sudden innervation to make that happen. The balustrade of the staircase did not seem cold anymore, while I took the last step away from it.

I looked around and did not find any soul but for me. I pulled my blazer tightly to fight with the piercing cool breeze. The platform seemed unending tunnel with a row of equally spaced pillars on both the edges of it. A few of those had display screens attached that flashed some inaudible random advertisements. The wall on the side of the tracks had some sort of amateur graffiti painted on it, depicting a devilish face of the mayor. The intended satire was blatant and in all respect childish. I felt pity on the kids who dared to draw it and was certain of them not to be alive anymore. How could those brats have escaped after stigmatizing the renowned Mayor? ...No matter to what extent the message was true and essential, I just hoped I did justice to those kids by giving them a quick death. At least their heroic deeds deserved an honorable recognition.

Indeed, it was ironical that I stood there admiring the art that had been the only reason for the innocent deaths. Was I a coward to accept the truth of that devilish face, when the artists were alive to second me? Wasn’t I aware of the reality, of which I was an integrated part? Didn’t the city emulated hell and its residents pagans? Wasn’t the only religion followed was the Mayor’s will and the only God worshiped was The Mayor… He had been the monarch of the place and his wish had been my command for a long time. Who was I then in the whole midst…? Why was I the sole representative of my devil’s wish? May be I was a puppet of my own past …might be I liked what I did…and loved the longing to use the never ending power over my emotions…over anyone’s wishes …over each and every single person including HER…

I stood there lost and transfixed to the face that laughed back at me. I seemed completely inundated in the introspection and almost had forgotten the reason of my presence there, when a soft voice drew my attention. I instantly looked in my watch and realized that the moment had arrived for which I was waiting…

I covered my face with the bandanna, pulled my hat a bit lower and took a seat on a secluded bench, hoping to be unrecognizable. The voice and the giggles slowly became clearer and I could make out in bits and pieces, the words that were spoken. Soon another voice- a stronger one- along with the former revealed their physical forms. The guy held his lover in his arms and walked towards a pillar…They laughed and kissed and seemed as two carefree souls, lost in their own world that had neither any ruler nor any religion. The guy wore an Armani brown leather jacket over a white shirt. He seemed to be in good shape with his perfect built. He held the girl by her waist with one hand and played with her curls by the other…The girl reveled in the dreamy land that her lover had created there and reciprocated her feelings by giving mischievous looks. The girl’s face was sunk deep in his jacket and thus was not fully visible. However, it was not difficult to presume that she looked no less than a princess, wearing a maroon frock which had roses embroidered all across the periphery . Her thick wool of black hair danced merrily with the brisk breeze. The short curls at the ends, dyed in burgundy, embellished her elegance. The fair skin glowed as she placed her palm on the inamorato’s cheeks and the warmth of her peck fought its way through the icy wind and found its LOVER…

The two love birds chirping and tweeting brought the slumberous station to life. I quietly sat watching those two …and unknowingly was taken far away from the dark world that existed. Truly, the vista of unconditional feelings for the other was something I had long forgotten…The electrifying emotions coupled with the fast paced heart beats when you brush through those succulent lips, was next to impossible of being replaced with any other forms of sensuality…you realize your worth when you know that there is someone at that moment embraced in you, pulling you towards herself and doing all she could so as to never let you go…because you had become then a part of her soul…a requirement of her breath, a hero of her dreams…something that I had in the past " a fairy that meant everything to me-but my innocent world was short lived…I was ripped off my fairy and was thrown into a gutter of this world…wherein I found my GOD…

I was transformed into a beast that had no links to humanity and experienced neither remorse nor affection. A simple soldier who fought to keep his country safe was tuned into a killing machine that lived to obey his God’s orders…There was no room to question The Mayor’s decision, since he was the one who gave this beast a roof over his head and bread for his health. The notion of the world being an injustice master and us as its victim was fed deep into the beast’s mind. All the antipathy and sufferings that he held in him was converted into a potion of hatred…that he drunk every night to fight with this corrupt world. He despised every person he met and relished every crime he committed. There was only the mayor he looked up to and the girl who was snatched away that mattered to him the most…The past memories were no more a hindrance as I had sold my soul to the devil and lost the hope to see my goddess…I remained contemplating and thinking of the monster I had turned myself into…even the image of my princess seemed to fade away from my memories…I had seen so many bloodshed and pleading faces that it was heart rending and scary to recall her image, even though I did wish her to be back…

My watch beeped thrice to make me aware of the approaching dawn. Soon the first train was going to rumble as a black serpent into the cave and would safely carry those two birds to their destination. I was precisely left with fifteen minutes to execute my task. I could have done it much earlier or at the instant I saw them, but as usual I always intended to leave behind a message…and the start of the day was the perfect period for spreading a fear-dose on all over the city dwellers…let alone each of their nightmares was turned into the reality that they would loathe. Even though I had developed a fondness towards the couple, my focus didn’t falter…it had become a perfunctory ritual for me to feel sympathetic for my prey before the hunt. I stood up and waltzed towards them…The station was dimly lit and the cold night had intensified the blanket of darkness…few of the lights hanging down from the ceiling flickered in fear as I approached towards them. The guy was unaware of my growing presence in their direction…I stealthily and quietly crossed by those supporting columns till I reached in front of him…The lights flickered once again and the guy saw my blood seeking eyes

to be continued...