Chapter Four: He Caused My Fall:

I don’t know how this could happen. I hadn’t expected to see that Devil again. He was supposed to be a drifter that passed through our town and never came back. That didn’t happen that way. My shift was over that night.

“Good night, Grandma!” I called.

“You too,” she said. I nodded and walked out of the bakery. I always walked through the woods on my way home from work. When I was smaller, I always wondered what was back here. My parents warned me not to go.

“Stay away from the woods at night,” they warned me. “The monsters from the outside world roam there. Stay in the lights.” I did do so as a child. But as I got older, I realized that walking through the woods at night was alright.

My parents were right on this particular night.

I adjusted my ponytail as I walked along the dirt path. I soon became aware that I wasn’t alone when I heard someone whistling in the dark.

“Hello?” I asked. The usual crickets and frogs answered. I turned around when I heard someone snickering behind me. I narrowed my eyes as a flashlight hit my face. A shadowy figure of a boy my age walked towards me in the dark.

“Well, well, well,” I heard them say. “What do we have here?” Wait, I recognized that voice.

“You’re the guy from the bakery,” I said. That Devil walked up to me with his flashlight in hand.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked. I put my hands on my hips.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I said. He smiled and put up his hands.

“Fair enough,” he said. “You got me.” When did he get so close to me? He towered over me with his eyes locked on me.

“Wow…” I murmured.

“Heh,” he said. “I know I am beautiful but you don’t have to stand there staring at me.” He should make me angry with his cocky attitude. I should’ve pushed him away. But something about him drew me in deeper. Then he said something that would be the start of my troubles.

“Can I kiss you?” this Devil asked.

“What?” I asked back. He leaned in and kissed me on the lips. My heart jumped into my throat. I couldn’t move. My instinct told me to push him off. But I just stood there. I think I might have enjoyed it.

Before I knew it, he and I lay on the thick grass. He was on top of me kissing. That Devil smelt of cigarettes and that expensive cologne that I would smell on the richer men that passed through the village. Our clothes were scattered around us. I didn’t stop him. Not once. To this day I don’t know why. I kept letting him go further. It hurt when he shoved his member between my legs. There was no stopping either. Everything started spinning around me. I tried in vain to grab onto the grass below. When that didn’t work, I grabbed onto the one thing that I could.

Him.

“I don’t even know your name!” I cried. He looked me in the eye.

“Does that matter?” he asked. I couldn’t answer him. Before I could gather what had happened, he came inside of me. We lay there in the grass covered in sweat. Looking back, that was the best and worst night of my life. It would set off my own ruin and awakening to the lies around me. But for now, I was happy.