The Mafia's Curse

It was 6pm but the streets was lively, people were walking about, mostly buying things from the street vendors, some were obviously lovers enjoying the allure of the sunset.

Sunset is one of the most romantic moments generously provided by nature, it unifies the colour of the world making all seem equal, it brightens dull clothes and moderately bright clothes, the breeze teasing your hair and your skin.

This was the same situation today except the beautiful colours of that sunset did nothing to brighten the black suit worn by the man walking along the streets.

It had nothing to do with the clothes. The man's aura was dark, he screamed dominance, he overshadowed those walking by his side. He's everything wanted and everything forbidden.

He made the world his audience and attracted them like bees to honey. No moths to fire is a better description as the moths end up burned to death, he wasn't beautiful, no... That will be the worst of description. He was alarmingly striking and everything tempting, he didn't make girls giggle or coo at him, no, he made them dazed and left them bewitched.

He didn't make men jealous, he made them feel small and insignificant as he walked. He didn't bother glancing at the audience, not that he was oblivious to their attention, he just found them unworthy.

Belle café, the sign read, it was a beautiful and cozy place, it wasn't crowded neither was it empty, Col didn't bother looking for a seat as he entered, he dismissed the waiter approaching him with just one glance, when his grey-green orbs settled on a man sitting in the far corner.

The look on his face was of satisfaction. The man was obviously on edge as he shook. He couldn't even successfully take his cup to his lips. He kept on looking around, his eyes darting from one face to another, until he found the approaching figure. Immediately, he lost his balance, the hot coffee drenching his trousers but he didn't even seem to notice.

His eyes were focused on the door as he made to bolt, the approaching figure hissed;

"Don't even think about it, Amigo, every human should possess at least one of these, courage or loyalty, you can't lack both" .

"Col." the other man pleaded, his eyes glassy with uncried tears.

Col just shook his head as he brought out his gun.

"Death, Miguel" he replied.

"We were friends, I still consider you a friend." Miguel cried out, it was obvious he was grasping at straws.

"Do you know what keeps me going after taking all those lives as per orders? It's the look in friend's eyes when taking the lives of their so called friends after their betrayal. That's the best part of my work, but as you said, we were friends and for old times sake, I will grant you two favours. Eternal love with your wife, and your reason for betrayal didn't go unnoticed. I will let your mother live longer. I won't even touch a hair on her head. I will even allow her share your last moment, how very generous to a traitor." Col replied leaving Miguel aghast.

As if on cue, a black jeep parked in front of the café. A beautiful blonde woman came down from the driver's seat. She made her way to the back seat and as gently as possible brought out an old woman. She wasn't that elderly, probably around 60years, the woman was wearing a hospital gown and a long coat over it, her hair was in a bun and she was on wheel chair.

The blonde bent and whispered something in her ear and she nodded in affirmation. As they entered the café, all eyes fell on her. Behind them, other men, around 5 or 6, wearing black trooped in. One looked at col, he nodded at them and they vanished behind the counter.

The TV came on and a bruised woman appeared on the screen. She was tied to a chair, her eyes, though purple and swollen due to obvious brutality was filled with tears. She looked like she was struggling to keep them at bay, to keep them from spilling.

" No, not her col, please not her, she is so fond of you Col, I swear, She has nothing to do with this."

Miguel became hysterical as the sight of his wife clawed at his heart. She was his everything. She didn't deserve to be treated this way. His sympathy for his wife overwhelmed him, pushing out every tinge of fear and rationality. He pushed the nearest chair towards Col and used his right leg to kick his ... Well, the target was his face until Col caught the leg mid-air.

"Wrong move," he said and twisted the leg until Miguel's screams, his mother's screams and the joint dislocation sound were in sync. Miguel fell back crawling away from Col.

"Mother, Mother." he begged as he crawled to the woman on wheel chair, her scream seemed to remind him that she was in the café.

Some people tried to go out as they couldn't bear to see what would happen next but every exit was locked with two men guarding the door. Without any argument, they went back, trying to keep as much distance as they could from the ongoing hiatus.

Miguel's mother crouched on the floor hugging her son and crying hysterically, her sobs coming out in broken gasps. "Please forgive my son, please spare him, please Col, don't do this, please." She cried as she tried to kneel properly with her son's head on her lap.

Col just nodded his head and a remote was passed to him. Immediately he pressed a button, a sound came from the TV.

"Say your final words to your husband." was heard from the television.

"Miguel, it's not your fault. You did nothing wrong. I love ..."

BAM, the gunshot was heard, the bullet traveling straight into her head causing the blood to splatter around and trickle down her fore head. Her lifeless eyes stared back at them as she fell to the floor.

She had just died, the love of his life had just died, and with that he lost it. He left his crying mother's lap and lounged at Col.

"You monster, just kill me. She didn't deserve such fate! She loved you even more than she did me, she would always say there was some good in you and that you weren't all that bad, but you are bad! No! you are the worst of them all. Just kill me too!" He said, shaking him violently.

Granting his wish, Col brought out his gun.

"Say your last words to your mother." he whispered to him.

Miguel looked dumbfounded, struck to silence as if he just realised what was going to be his fate. The tears in his eyes hung there and refused to fall.

"Please," he whispered. "Not in her presence. It will shatter her."

Those were his last words before he fell to the ground, a bullet engraved in his head. The tears in his eyes and blood trickling as if dancing to a dirge. The people's cries were buried by his mother's screams.

She had managed to reach her son as she put his head on her lap hugging him and begging him to stay with her.

Her white hospital gown was now stained with her only son' s blood as his lifeless body laid on her lap.

"Take care of the mess, and her too. Make sure she is given enough care by the best doctors." Col ordered as he made his way out of the building he had turned bloody on his arrival. After all, he was the messenger of death.

The sun had set with the earth totally backing it. The beautiful orange colours had faded, giving way to the dim light of the moon, concealing the blood shed, the tears, and camouflaging the dark aura of the man in the bath tub.

Everything in the bathroom was white, maybe to feel better or to conceal the darkness around him. He decided to lay in a white bath tub in a white bathroom in a white isolated house.

The silence was haunting but it masked the voice of conscience in his ears. With his eyes closed, his body began to relax beneath the sea of foam.

He wasn't reminiscing the day's events, no he wouldn't do that to himself. If he dared that he would be seeing Caroline's fiery blue eyes. He would see how the life had slowly slipped out of her, how those eyes from vibrant blue had become cold, lonely and lost.

Caroline was a dear friend, dearer then Miguel to him. After all, she was the first woman to love him truly without expecting anything in return. She had married Miguel for him, just to stay close to him....

"You should learn to close your doors, you have no idea what might crawl in." A raspy voice said.

Col didn't even bother to flinch, he just replied as calmly as possible.

"Something willing to die, I'm sure."

A rather screeching laughter echoed through the walls of the house. "That's why I like you Col, confident with a cause."

At this, Col opened his eyes to see the short man towering above him, fit and clad in a black suit. The man smiled a crooked smile, showing off the golden teeth replacing his incisor.

"I don't think you came all the way here to sing me praises, Boss." Col stated, his face as neutral as possible.

"Straight to the point, I see. As you wish, Col."

Immediately, men barged into the bathroom, completely ignoring the fact that col is totally naked beneath the sea of foam, they surrounded the bath tub aiming their guns at an unfazed Col.

"Any last wishes, Col?" Boss asked.

"Why?" Was all he uttered, looking at the man straight in the eyes.

"The rule of betrayal is to kill everybody associated to the traitor, anybody capable of thinking of revenge. You are a friend to Miguel. A friend more than capable of revenge."

A deep laugh erupted from Col, throwing his head backward as if he was watching a blockbuster comedy show.

"So you are killing me because you are afraid I will destroy you, is that it?" He asked, mockery lacing his tone.

"You are outnumbered and highly unarmed. You were worth all the trouble Col, It's a regret we wouldn't be working together anymore." The Boss said and then he brought out his gun, fixed the silencer and aimed at col. "Before you die col, I'll let you know, Caroline was pregnant."

The colour drained from col's face, his usually expressionless face held shock and disbelief. Taking advantage of his distraction, the boss smiled and pulled the trigger, the bullet speeding through, piercing a little below his left nipple.

The bullet found a resting place in his heart, the pain seeping through him as blood seeped out quite ungracefully colouring the white foam red. With the stop of his heart, he lost the grip on the bath tub and sank below the pool of blood, deep inside the pool laying beside his two guns buried in the water, the last memory running through his mind was...

"I finally finished originals and I want a child more than ever, a child can be anybody's salvation." Caroline said looking at the vast view of the city as she stood on the balcony of her house, her brunette hair swaying with the wind.

"If you want a child, tell Miguel to screw you harder." Col replied nonchalantly, his gaze not leaving the view he was watching.

Caroline giggled as she lightly hit his arm.

"You have no filter, Col, you should start learning. You are going to be the child's God father, I wouldn't want you teaching him vulgar language."

She paused, then continued again, now her voice held the grief she had been trying to hold in for a very long time, her vibrant blue eyes went shades darker mirroring her pain.

"The salvation I've been seeking desperately for the past 7 years of marriage is yours, Col. I should be able to give you back your humanity before it's too late." She bowed her head, hiding the tears she tried to keep at bay. Col hated her tears, he would beat himself for something that wasn't even his fault.

Col turned to face her, holding her shoulders, then using his index finger to raise her head, forcing her to face him

"I'm not your responsibility, seek for your own happiness and stop bothering yourself with my affairs. A child will come. You are barely 28. Till then, I'll work on the filter and I want you to know, you are the only reason keeping me sane, keeping me alive and that is much more than you think Caroline," he concluded, ruffling her hair and smiling a bit as he walked out.

The child had finally arrived and he had died in the hands of his own Godfather.

Somewhere, that same night, an old woman in a blood stained hospital gown laid on the floor cradling her son's picture. Her eyes blood shot red, her face swollen and tear stained, her hair standing out everywhere, her grief making the room gloomy.

The only noise interrupting the haunting silence was the beeping of the computer and the quiet sob of the heartbroken mother. Clad in those sobs was an earnest prayer, more like a curse onto the reason for her anguish, her raspy voice strong and eloquent enough for those above to hear.

"Col, you will feel what I am feeling today, I beg for you the same pain you had subjected me to. The same anguish my son felt and the same sentence you had given me, I beg for you to feel just what I am feeling and what I'll keep feeling till the day you let me die, Col."

Once people die,what happens next?

Col never bothered himself with something like that, but perhaps, if he ever did, he would most likely be of the opinion that we will be manure for the soil, vanishing to the nothing we were before us.

Well, anything but what he was experiencing now.

Col was sure he was dead. He wasn't some stupid, delusional person to believe he will come back to life after being shot in the heart and left to drown in a bloody foam. When he saw himself diving into an endless hole however, he knew this was an after death experience. And for reasons well known to him he was scared.

If truly he was going to be held account for all he did in his lifetime, then he was in deep shit. He knew he deserved it, so he tried to brace himself, ready to answer to whatever he had to. He had chosen his Path, and he wouldn't regret it now. It was already too late.

Suddenly, he landed on a hard floor.

Surprisingly, after all that journey upside down, he didn't feel an element of vertigo. In fact, he was standing upright in an office he would describe as fragile because everything was made of glass. There was no reflection of his image in the glass and as he looked closer to exami e kt, he heard a voice, a deep calm voice, void of emotion.

"Those are there to save us the trouble of having to explain to your kind that you are dead," he paused and looked at him. "Though you seem awkwardly calm for somebody with a hole in the heart."

This made Col look at his chest, there was nothing there. He turned around to face the man talking to him. The sight before him startled him.

The man was wearing a long white coat over a white trouser. He had buttoned the coat just a little above his waist as he stood tall and graceful, his long shiny black hair, pulled back and tied at the nape of his neck.

He looked heavenly but not peaceful. He was wearing white but his aura was dark, his tone calm but unsettling and he was downright intimidating.

Such thoughts were foreign to the mind of Col, so for the first time in his life he didn't know what to do next. As if reading his mind, the man spoke up again.

"I am Leon, and here is the "in-between". It's between heaven and earth. You see, the main purpose of the "in- between" is literally in it's name." He gave a dark chuckle.

"It's an in-between, for in between people, people the superiors are unable to classify as good or bad. What humans call grey characters. They are sent here, where they become messengers of death, something you've always prided yourself to be. Well, the saying; be careful what you wish for was not for show. The motive is to make you either pay for your sins, find salvation or just pure torture...."

"So I am not classified as bad."

Despite himself, Col let out a bitter chuckle. "You guys must be inefficient then." he concluded, looking at Leon straight in the eyes, as if challenging him.

"You are a terrible person worthy of hell. You've killed the old, young, adults, children, teenagers, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters. Just about anybody you were ordered to. You killed without mercy, you killed a woman who loved you enough to sacrifice her child as salvation for you. You killed the innocent child, you killed the husband who loved her unconditionally in front of his own mother and subjected her to living a life with such horrors in her mind and refused to let her die so she can find the peace she desperately seeks. You are Worthy of all 11 phases of hell. The only reason you are here is because of 3 wishes, your stupid boss who killed you and the stupid rule no:153."

"What is rule no: 153?"

"Whomever dies in the hands of a fellow human died an unjust death and will be compensated with 1 wish granted. So don't come here and think you can exert the same dominance you did on earth. It wouldn't take minutes for me to break you and remake you. Now come along so I can introduce you to the team you will be assigned to." Leon stated,his voice harsh enough to send chills down Col's spine.

It felt like a bucket of ice poured on him, awakening him. Slowly seeping into his mind were the lifeless blue eyes of Caroline. Quickly he blinked, pushing the image from his head as he followed Leon into a larger room.

There, he was greeted by a lot of people behind a lot of cabins in a lot of sections. The room seemed to be endless. The sections were demarcated by glass doors.

"This is section 1; my section. I am the team leader and general overseer of death domain, Leon." Leon said formally introducing himself, a hand on his chest another on his lower back as he straightened himself, puffing his chest out.

"Brace yourself, there are a lot of crazy people in there"

Before the warning could sink in, Leon opened the glass door to the section, a woman dressed in white jumpsuit jumped in front of them, her hair bouncing in the same fashion down her back.

"Finally! I thought you had kidnapped the fine man." She pouted, her green eyes peering at him as she tried to see the man Leon had intentionally hidden behind him.

"Move, Leon. Don't be a spoilsport." she ordered, pushing the daunting man out of the way.

She let out a gasp and squealed.

"Nick! He's way better than he looks on the screens."

"Yeah, yeah, Alisha. At least, I'll have you off my back." A gruff voice replied from behind a cabin. The owner of the voice peered his head from behind what Col assumed to be the screens.

His white hair fell on his face. He was dressed in a black coat yet he still looked bright all thanks to his white hair, his fairness, bright features and extremely bright blue eyes.

"Just like Caroline's." Col thought.

"I'm Nicholas, You can call me Nick. Welcome to 1." he introduced himself.

"Oh. Forgive my manners. Welcome to 1. May I add, the best in death's domain. I am Alisha, the brightest, friendliest and if i may say so myself, the most beautiful in death's domain."

That, he didn't agree with, for far behind in a secluded corner, was the most enchanting woman he had ever seen.

Her blonde hair tumbled in beautiful waves down her arm, her eyes were like honey and fire. How that combination was possible was beyond his imagination. Her skin smooth, oily and glowing. She was an image created from his deepest desires, and in that second, Col forgot all his sorrows, all his worries and even where he was.

All that mattered was the smoking hot blonde enchantress in front of him. As she made her way to him, he could see her dress, revealing and tempting. Maybe that's what heavenly lingerie looks like but wow, goosebumps were now evident on his skin as he allowed his eyes to roam down her body.

"That's enough." Alisha or Ariana stepped in between them distracting him, forcing him to tear his gaze from the enchantress he had just found.

"Yeah, you can be angry but you will thank me soon enough, that's superior lust. Though, I prefer to call her lost with the 'o' instead of 'u'.

Whatever she was saying wasn't really settling in his mind as the enchantress or superior lust as they called her walked forward, her luscious hips swaying, the way the fabric glided against her naked curvy, hot body, her brea...

A slap landed on his cheek and before he could react, Alisha turned his head, making sure his eyes settled on a man crawling after Superior lust.

He looked like a lost puppy hungry for bone. Col could swear he saw his tongue wagging and he involuntarily shuddered.

"Now, that I've gotten your attention, if you fall for lust, if you allow any of those beauties and temptations you see make you fall in her trap, just one intercourse will render you that way."

Now, that got his attention as he looked at Alisha,

"I don't understand." he whispered.

"Superior Lust is like the Temptation. She becomes one's dirtiest desires. Whatever you see in your wet dreams, in your dirtiest fantasies. What ever that is. If you fall for her, with one intercourse, she sucks your soul out and leaves you lifeless and lost, with only one lifelong need, her attention." Leon explained

"So that's how the name superior lost with the " o" came about." Col said nodding his head.

"You should learn to resist her. She's approaching and you can't refuse her hand, so try and turn away from her when the introductions are done." Nick added from his cabin.

"We can't have anymore useless bodies to cater for." he stated.

"You guys are being spoilsports. Can't a lady have some fun?" Superior Lust cooed in the most calm, seductive voice Col had ever heard.

"This is going to be very difficult." he thought.

"I am superior lust, you can call me anything you wish though, something like...enchantress." She winked at him, drawing her words out in a seductive manner and biting her lips at the end of her speech. She gently brought out her hand, her fingers slender and long, her nails painted dark red, a beautiful combination with her glowing skin.

Col swallowed a lump in his throat as he tried to control his wandering mind and eyes. He tried to channel his thoughts elsewhere.

He didn't want to end up like the man crouched on the floor. As he forwarded his hands to hers, he tried not to look at her and while roaming his eyes everywhere in the room, he caught Nick's eyes.

Those blue eyes just like Caroline's, just like that, he forgot about Superior Lust. He didn't feel her presence anymore.

All he could see was the slow change of Caroline's vibrant blue eyes to the cold lifeless ones he had given her. By the time Alisha snapped him out of his thoughts, Superior Lust had long gone back to her cabin.

"You did it!" Alisha clapped. "More than 80% of men had fallen at her feet even before she gave them a hand. You are a hero." She concluded, jumping around him.

For a little while, he could feel her joy getting to him. He felt like he did something good, a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time.

"Okay then, get settled in the empty cabin and rest as much as you can. Your trial is tomorrow." Leon said, turning his back to Col as he made to walk out.

"Trial? What do you mean by trial?" Col asked, completely taken aback.

"Your sentence has to be decided. Some superiors will be here and it will be decided if the "in-between" will take you in, for how long, your punishment, for torture, salvation or pay for your crimes. A tip, do not even think about lying to the superiors. You saw for yourself." he said, pointing at Superior Lust. "They can read your mind."

With that, he was out the door, leaving a very confused and terrified col.