The Devil's paradise

The wooden door creaked open when Officer Thomas Richardson kicked it with his boots. He strongly gripped a pistol for the safety measures and progressed into the darkness of Mrs. Catherine Earnest’s basement. It was pitch black and anything could be hardly witnessed to the human eye. When he stepped in, a strong pungent odor smashed his breathing ability. Officer Richardson covered his nose and mouth by a small piece of napkin from his pocket. Slowly behind him, two other officers walked into the basement holding torches. The beam of flash managed to wipe out the darkness and guide them further. It was an eerie environment like a deserted place. No noise was echoed except their footsteps. There were broken and old furniture shattered all over the basement. The walls were roughly painted; the wallpapers were torn and it was cold inside there.

When one of the officers focused the torch on the wall, eerie filled their guts. A part of the wall was completely scripted of creepy texts like, ‘God will not forgive you’, ‘You’re a sinner’, ‘A demonic child’, ‘Burn out alive’ and many in red colors. Officer Richardson rubbed the red paint in his fingers for testing it. A strange pungent odor had grown from the walls. Three of the officers were stunned like a corpse before the walls.

“Blood!” Officer Richardson whispered to the other cops. Promptly he witnessed a gradual movement behind the cops inside the darkness. His blood turned cold glancing at the strange figure from nowhere behind them.

“Move!” Richardson yelled at them aiming a pistol to the figure. The cops rushed beside and flashed the light at the area before Richardson triggered the bullet. The light beam unveiled a slender figure wearing a night gown, hiding it’s visage behind the hair. She screamed at the peak pitch when the flash dashed on her bare skin exposing the scratches and wounds it reserved. The eerie screaming echoed all over the basement, breaking the forbidden mirrors and introducing frightful sight to the surrounded officers.

Seven years later…

Beton Cakes and Gifts…

Every Sunday morning was busy there. Weekdays were the employees’ favorite as it bargains their hardwork with some leisure time to sit and chit-chat some interesting topics, but the Sundays, sometimes it hard for them to breathe. The shop opened sharply at eight in the morning and extended until ten in the night; the Sundays have extra work hours; occasionally it would be extended past the midnight. Mrs. Mary Beton, the owner of the shop was not kind to be mentioned but not rude too. She used to maintain a balance between her good self and the evil one.

Corresponding to the other Sundays, the cabin was filled with frequent orders of cakes, breads and morning coffees. High-pitch noises were shrieked all over the place to make everything tough to the employees. Cake tins were constantly filled in the oven and the coffee machines continuously filled the cups. Some of them talked about politics and some about film industry. A gang of university students occupied a table and discussed about a new vacation and another table was filled by a family. A corner table was booked for a young couple and a lone table was for an introvert. They were types of people; one was different from another. No one had similar approach like other; obviously they were humans. Suddenly, the cabin went dead silence when a news reader appeared on the screen with news about a famous idol of their country.

“Another astonishing success to the TRIDENT CORPORATIONS in designing a brand new artificial intelligence program to the world.” she continued the news and the world was frozen until the news was completely acknowledged. When the news reader turned the topic to another the gossiping noise resumed in the cabin and the workers were begun walking to fetch the customer’s orders.

“He did it again; I envy him!” a man gossiped.

“I would never mind of going to hell for sleeping with him for a night.” a woman whispered to her friend and they chuckled together.

“I won’t support him; we are already lost our track with nature.” an environmentalist expressed his anger by slamming the table.

“If I were him, I will spend all my wealth and power with girls and properties.” a stranger claimed his greed.

“Someday I will beat him down.” someone proudly commented and others laughed aloud. Somewhat the seven deadly sins significantly played their role among them. But none of them were acknowledged of a gentleman who visited new for that day. He was randomly wandered his eyes here and there in search of someone. The cashier politely greeted the gentleman with a warming smile on his face to which the gentleman responded a smile too. He approached the cashier and asked, “Where is she?” in a low voice.

“Inside the owner’s cabin; getting scolded for what she did yesterday.” he responded in a worried tone. The gentleman sighed and occupied an empty two seater table at a corner. The messy morning grabbed his attention until a woman of his later 50s noticed him while leaving her. He recognized, Mrs. Mary Beton and offered her an awkward smile.

“Oh! Officer Richardson! What a surprise visit; you barely make your visits on Sundays, don’t you?” she embraced him holding a blushing smile on her face. Richardson embarrassed at her welcome.

“Ah! actually I came here to visit her. Where is she?” he asked patiently. Mrs. Beton sighed.

“I just scolded her. Do you know what happened yesterday? She once again offered a free meal to a homeless and asked me to deduct the cost in her salary. Well, Mr. Richardson, I am worried about her future. She almost spent half of her earning to charity and dreamed to study medicine. How that even possible if she used to spend everything to others. I tried to increase her salary to certain dollars. The more I increase her salary, the more she spends on charity.” she sighed after narrating a long complaint to the officer. Suddenly, his heart weighed; an invisible pain acknowledged from nowhere. Mr. Richardson sat calm hearing Mrs. Beton’s complaints. Her words gradually numbed her senses; a personal guilt was pushing him with sharp edge.

“Forgive me Mrs. Beton. I have an urge to go before that can I meet her quickly?” he rushed. Mrs. Beton did not mind the sharp words; she was too innocent to acknowledge them. She constantly continued with her reputed smile.

“Sure!” she agreed and went in again. A few minutes of her sudden disappearance drawn out a young woman of her early 20s. She wore a frightened urge until she glanced Officer Richardson. They exchanged a comfortable glances and the young woman approached him with a hidden expectation of hopes and dreams. She had a kind innocent glance that anyone could draw their act of humbleness towards her. Her gripped lips trembled to ask Richardson something.

“The scholarship for your studies has been declined.” Mr. Richardson thudded a bitter truth on her head. Her innocence was overlapped with a notion of disappointment in instance. She hoped for the best to be happened, but, everytime when the ship sails a huge hurricane compressed it deep into the sea. She loosened her tight grip and sighed in grievance. Mrs. Beton placed her hand over her shoulder as a sign of consolement. Her beautiful eyes silently mourned for the failure without leaving the tears out.

“Thank you Officer!” she embraced her gratitude for attempting his best fulfill her desires.

“Sarah, it you say a word, I am ready to sponsor your higher education. You helped me a lot; accept this as a gratitude.” he humbly embraced his request. Sarah smirked gratefully.

“You did a lot of favor to me Mr. Richardson. Moreover, I am the one to be grateful for you. By the way, thank you for trying.” she claimed with a broken smile. The adults were depressed to see her drained figure after the confession. In Contrast, she regained her magical smile back into her face and asked, “I am bringing you, your favorite cold coffee.” and brushed away without looking at them even. A sight of exclamation haunted their eyes witnessing the sudden twist of happiness where the depression played a major role.

“An angel in human disguise.” Mrs. Beton claimed.

“Wherever she is, she brings happiness!” Mr. Richardson wondered.

“Mr. Richardson, can I lend your time for a valuable cause?” the lady asked politely. The officer nodded his head where a serious discussion head on secretly between the two of them. But every time Mrs. Beton convinced him for something, his eyes voluntarily captured the image of Sarah preparing cold coffee with the same excitement.