Leila had opened her eyes to see darkness surrounding her.
"Is it still night?" She thought to herself.
Feeling the cold floor hurting her back, she brought her body up. She rubbed her eyes and looked around only to be surprised. There was white smoke coming up from the sides of the room. The walls were coloured with a dark shade of red. It seemed like there was some sort of faint light on the walls. The floor was black, and her bed and other furniture were gone. Leila had blinked twice before realizing the situation she was in. Actually, she did not know what situation she was in.
"Is this a dream? Where am I?" She pinched herself and slapped her face.
The pain had come running across her face. This was real, what she saw and felt was all real. The pain had only confirmed it wasn't a dream. She wrapped her arms around herself as she felt a cold breeze brushing against her. She crumpled the sleeves of her shirt with a firm grasp. Everywhere she looked was sombre. Every breath she took was followed by vapour. A sinister silence took place in the room. Leila didn't react, she simply froze for a while. When she was scared or shocked, she freezes. The sound of her trembling voice was the only apparent sound that could be heard in the unknown place.
Leila observed the white smoke and wondered, "Was there a fire? Where did the smoke come from?"
The thought of her still being in her room while the furniture burned because of a fire passed through her head. The only thing that would have remained is smoke. Though, it would be an unlikely event as she'd have woken up when the fire was still raging. It would also be strange that everything except her burned. There was also no fire alarm, which would have woken her up undoubtedly. For the time being, she had given up her quest to find a logical explanation. She simply looked around again and again before closing her eyes. She brought her knees close to her chest and held on tight. Her eyes were shut tight. Leila was scared, in fact, she was petrified. The unknown, the randomness and the obscurity of it all terrified her. She didn't find the courage in her to get up and stayed like that on the floor. After what felt like forever, a faint sound could be heard. Leila had looked up surprised. That sound might be an answer or worse, a threat. She leaned out her ear and tried to listen carefully to the sound. She remained focused. She attempted to figure out what it was. Perhaps she could even see it, but it was so dark that she could barely see her own hand. The sound became louder as it got nearer.
"A footstep," she thought.
There was another presence in the room and it seemed to go towards her. Leila had started to get a little nervous. She chose to stay in place but she was curious. Leila knew that she would get to the surface of things if she waited for a presence. She furrowed her eyebrows to try and look tough as she waited. Suddenly, a dark silhouette could be seen. Leila looked calm on the outside but inside she was panicking. She was afraid and wanted to scream but strangely she couldn't. She wasn't able to let out a sound.
The silhouette had stopped in front of her, she could hardly see.
"Who's there?" she said squinting her eyes.
A heavy sigh was heard in response. She could barely see its arm moving, It went up and then like magic the smoke turned into vivid flames and all was clear. She now saw a man in front of her. He looked young. He was tall and pale. He wore all black clothing from his head to his toes. Even his hair was black. The only skin that was visible was the one on his face and slightly on his upper arms, that part of the sleeve was made with black seethrough fabric. On his chest was a necklace-like golden design, it was the only colour he wore. On top of his head was a broad-brimmed black hat. Due to his choice of clothing, Leila feared the worst. She regretted her choice of waiting for the presence. Leila thought that she should have run away when she could. She sat in an unknown place in front of an unknown man. It felt like the world had abandoned her or thrown her away there.
He spoke, "I still don't know why I'm doing this," he said aggressively scratching the back of his head.
"I'm sorry but who are you?" she asked mustering some courage.
"I'm a demon," he answered.
"A what?" she blinked twice in disbelief.
"Didn't you hear? A demon!"
"Really a demon? And I'm in hell right?" she sarcastically said dumbfounded by his words.
"Not quite yet, you're in between earth and hell."
"You're kidding," she said with a nervous smile.
Leila took a minute to digest his words, it was hard to believe. In fact, she didn't believe him. She didn't want to. Her fear had only gotten bigger. She knew she had to do something before it was too late.
"It's a joke, right?" she said with a nervous smile as she slowly tried to stand up.
"Do I look like the type of person who tells jokes? You're in a portal to hell."
"Supposing all this is true, what am I doing here? Am I being punished?" Leila stood up.
"You are not being punished. You are my punishment." She furrowed her eyebrows in pure confusion. Leila walked backwards, trying not to look suspicious.
But she got caught, "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," she said before completely turning to run away. She didn't go far as he grabbed her hood.
"You're not going anywhere," the demon looked angered.
She took his hand off the hood. "You have to explain to me what is happening. I was lying comfortably on my bed and now I'm going to HELL!" She exclaimed throwing her anger toward him.
"The prince of hell ordered me to make a witch out of a human but more precisely, you," he calmly answered.
"The prince of hell? Me? A witch? You have to elaborate."
"I'm a demon. I live in hell. There's a shortage of witches and the first prince of hell ordered me to train a human to become a witch and YOU were the chosen one. Now get up and follow me!" He strictly shouted the last part before turning back.
Leila was flustered, she did not completely understand what was happening. She did not have the time to process or think. She couldn't consider things and make a decision as it looked like she had no other choice. It seemed so impossible, it looked like a bad dream. But this place really looked like it could be the portal to Hell. However, it also looked like the hideout of a psychopath. This psychopath might just have kidnapped her in the middle of the night and brought her to this strange place. Perhaps he is pretending to be a demon or genuinely thinks he is a demon. These kinds of thoughts have been turning around Leila's head for a while. No matter what, she wasn't going to let him take her choices away.
"I'm not coming. I'm going home." She said as she turned around to start walking.
"You have no choice. A mere human cannot go back to earth alone."
"Who says I'm a mere human. The fact that I was chosen for this weird thing means that I'm special, no?"
"I highly doubt it. They probably picked a random person."
"Well tell them to pick someone else."
Leila walked around trying to find an exit but there was nothing. Pure darkness and void filled her surroundings. Panicking, she ran to all sides.
"An order is an order. I can't defy the prince of Hell's order. I am bringing you with me!" the demon had lost all patience and walked with heavy steps. With each step, a crack was made on the floor of rocks.
"It's your order, not mine!" she said running and trying desperately to hide.
"Wherever you are, stop!" he shouted. Leila did not respond in fear that he'd localize her with the sound of her voice. "If you come out now, I won't hurt you and everything will be easy."
"I don't believe you," she quietly said.
"It would be safer for you to follow me. There are dangerous creatures in hell that love to torture humans, some even eat them." He said with a smirk.
Upon hearing his words, Leila hesitated. He didn't look very safe either, she recalled he also called himself a demon. Though he looks more like a human than a demon.
"Aren't you a demon? Aren't you going to torture me and eat me?"
"I have better things to do than torture a mere human. Also, humans taste bad."
"That means you already ate humans!"
"I'm a demon what did you expect?"
"I didn't expect anything because I didn't even know that Hell and demons existed."
"Come out now," he said clenching his teeth.
Leila had cracked and decided to come out. She was now in front of him but looked at the ground. She couldn't handle looking at him.
"I guess I'll come…" She quietly said.
"Follow me." The demon walked in front as Leila followed from behind. As he walked, he used the same trick as earlier, a flap-like movement with his arm. But this time the flames disappeared leaving only smoke. Leila had let out a small scream as she was scared of the sudden darkness surrounding her again.
"Just follow my silhouette," he said before walking. Though it was dark, Leila mustered her courage and followed the dark silhouette. They both disappeared into a path of darkness.
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