“And what are you? The prince of some alien planet! God damn it – if you truly are lord to anything other than your pretty trust fund, why would you spend your life here with a bland dumb redhead who never leaves her bed? So don’t call me the fraud, because you are the fraud. And now you act all self-righteous?” Jamie coughs pathetically when he tries to laugh. “You saw it happening before your eyes, you had your fun so suck it up, pretty boy… or should I call you your highness.”
Suddenly it makes sense to me why he had so many scantily clad models around him. It isn’t because for his love of beauty, it is because he is using them just like he wanted to use me. And his entourages aren’t his friends, after all, they simply work for him and have been using my property as a setting from their lewd videos. I can’t believe I let this happen right beneath my nose. Why am I so blind to gross insolences against me?
“Tell me where Alice is!” I demand.
“What’s the use? Stay here… let me be your pimp. That way your money will never run out. I know your mommy is rich but you can make your own bread with that thick monster you have between your legs. Plus, you will get to have any woman in the world, in any way that you want; front, back, center. I see how you do it. I know you are creative.”
My mind will explode if Jamie keeps on bubbling. All I want to know is where Alice is. I need to find her. I need to tell her that she was right after all. I am not one to apologize but when I see her, I will apologize profusely. I’ve never felt so wrong in my entire life.
“Tell me where she is!”
“It won’t help you.” Jamie gives me a demented smile. In a swift movement, I pull him to his feet and simultaneously grab his groin, twisting it so that the pain endures. The smile finally fades from his face. He gives me a pained look. He grunts. “You won’t find her now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Aarggh, please, please let’s do this my way.” I grip his groin harder and he whimpers in pain. “I will tell. I will tell. There is a camera in here so it will be fun if you do me from behind.”
I let him go in disgust. Jamie slouches on the bed, rubbing his erect groin with his hand. He looks at me with his cold eyes. I suspect he wants to smile but thinks better of it. His entourage will not come to save him. They are not his friends. They only do his dirty work for him.
“I won’t ask one more time,” I threaten.
He sneers. “Suck my dick!”
That’s it. He has pushed me beyond my threshold. A murderous rage overwhelms me. I am about to lift Jamie and break him through the window when I hear someone enter.
“STOP!” she screams.
I turn, half expecting to see Alice walking in. It is only Sandra, clad in high knees boots, jeans, and a cute pink tank top. I can’t help but wonder if she is also a star in Jamie’s pornographic videos. I regard her with suspicion.
“What the hell is going on?” she asks me, sweeping her gaze to bloody Jaime. He even has the audacity to wave at her as though everything is alright.
“You tell me, Sandra. You certainly knew about this.”
“Knew about what?” She looks puzzled.
I hold my temples to keep them from exploding. If she is going to act innocent, I might as well kill her too. I have never killed a man but I have killed animals, and to me, humans now seem like the most evil of all animals I have ever encountered. It won’t be hard to rid the universe of such evil.
Sandra turns her attention to Jaime. She even goes to kneel next to him so as to carefully examine his injuries. Jamie looks like a wounded puppy when she pampers him.
“What did you do?” she asks him.
“It’s just a silly home video,” Jamie says to her.
“What video?”
“Christ. You too? Are you going to act all innocent?”
Sandra stands up. She is tall, dark and lean. For a moment, I am lost in her long black hair that compliments her dark skin. I feel a little sad that she is Jamie’s company. I felt she was the most genuine of all his fake models.
“It was agreed. You can’t shoot any videos of our host. That is so shady, Jamie.”
“I didn’t put any cameras in his room. He’s the one who went to sleep with one of our girls in a room we had already wired. He’s dirty too so don’t act like he’s a virgin. You should watch the video-”
“What? You uploaded it?” She acts shocked.
“To over one billion people, yes. Think how much money that is.”
“You are so dumb!” Sandra bellows. She turns to me, “Erien, this wasn’t meant to happen.”
“You knew about this?” My tone is accusing.
“I thought you did too. This is our business. We love what we do, and I am sorry you had to get dragged into it like this.”
“Dragged? Are you out of your mind? I am the Prince of freaking Solasis and my ass is plastered on everyone’s screen for their pleasure. ”
She shifts her weight when choosing carefully what to say. “You are no prince, Erien. At least, not here… Don’t worry, I will pull down the video and erase it from the internet forever.” She darts her gaze to Jamie then adds, “As well as any archives.”
Sandra doesn’t wait for my response. She pulls out her phone to make a call. An image of Alice flashes in my mind. If she ever saw the video, she will leave me for good. Of course, that was exactly what Jamie wanted so that I could sleep with whoever he chose to feature in the dirty video. I know Alice. She must have left immediately after he showed her the video. She must be embarrassed by me. I clench my jaw hard.
Sandra is on the phone demanding that the video is taken down and deleted from all archives. I watch her closely. The fact that the video is gone does not make me feel any better.
“That won’t bring back Alice to me, will it?” I state.
“Where is she?” Sandra asks.
I look at Jamie who has been counting his losses in silence. He is bent over so much that we see the spine in his back. He is awfully skinny, I realize. And for the first time, I notice the green marks on his vein points. I don’t know exactly what it means, however, it ascertains me that Jamie is sick in some way. When he notices that we are both staring at him, he straightens and smiles.
“Alice is swimming with the fishes.” He giggles. “You know, I went to look into her past. She is a little town girl who seduced every man in town with those nipples of hers. She wanted to leave town with this other guy. I found him and told him to drown her for a good penny. I hope the sharks take her up her ass!” Jamie coughs up blood in mid-laugh.
It feels as though the earth has been moved from beneath my feet. A vertigo feeling overwhelms me. Hot bile comes up my throat. I want to throw up and yet the trepidations I want to rid myself of cannot be moved. The horror of it all consumes me. Sandra is saying something. I can’t hear it. There is a storm in my head. And all of a sudden, I see red.
I do not know how I find myself at the window. I clutch the curtains and out of nowhere, there is a burst of red. In the back of my mind, I hear Sandra screaming. More screams follow, and horrid cries of ‘FIRE!’ Yes, fire. Let the fire burn it all. Let fire consume this evil planet and me with it. I hear Jamie screeching in pain. The fire has touched him too. He must burn for all the filth packaged in his being. Let the animals’ burn.
I did not know that the anger in me could actually create a live fire. I feel amazing and spent at the same time. With the flames all around me and everyone gone, I feel the anger subside. The anger is replaced with sadness.
I slump down on the charred bed. This place called Earth is really in fact hell! I have never felt so betrayed in my life. I think of Alice. It is my fault that she is gone. I failed her. I failed myself. And at that moment, whoever said that grown men don’t cry must have lied.
Chapter 35
Alice
There is smoke in the air and ashes on the ground. My cold body is periodically covered by a wave and then uncovered. There is sand in my mouth and water in my
ears. Slowly, I roll on my back to embrace the setting sun. I am home.
The setting sun brings the cold with it. I have to move if I don’t want to freeze to death. My bones are stiff. I force myself to stand up. My eyes sweep the beach. I cannot believe my eyes. Have I washed up at the wrong beach? Everything is in desolation. Where a manse stood, there are just blackened walls with a sunken roof. How did this happen?
“Erien?” I call in a hoarse voice. I clear my throat. “Erien! Erien!”
The place looks deserted. There isn’t even an animal in sight. I trudge away from the beach to the burnt mansion. I am baffled. Did someone leave the stove on? If that was the case, the destruction wouldn’t be at this capacity. It seems to me that the place was torched. Could this be Jamie’s work?
After a long trek, I reach the mansion. Warm air embraces me. A pungent smell in the air tells me that something… or someone was burnt alive. A cold shiver runs down my throat. In the setting sun, the walls start to illumine. It is as if the fire that burnt it has a life of its own. In sheer curiosity, I touch the wall. The fire is hot to touch so I quickly withdraw my hand yet I am not burnt. I clutch the warmth of my palm. The warmth of the fire radiates through me. The clothes I am wearing are now dry even though they were soaking wet a moment ago.
“Erien?” I call with uncertainty. “Are you there?”
Fear in the pit of my stomach tells me something horrible has happened here. If only I can find Erien, then everything will be alright. And what if I don’t? What if I don’t find him? Then my life would be over. I’ve only realized that this is my home. And goodness, it is a private island. If everyone has fled, as I fear, then I am stranded. I know in my heart that everything is burnt down.
“Dear God, do not forsake me.” I pray my first prayer in a long time.
As if in answer to my prayer, I hear a soft effervescent sound. I know it is risky to walk through the building while embers still and yet my feet take me where the sound is coming from. I pass through a door and a moment later, the roof collapses behind me. There is no turning back now. My eyes burn from all the smoke, my skin is sodden in my salty sweat, and I have a splitting headache from the trauma. It is all like a nightmare to me.
The nightmare starts to turn to a sweet dream when I notice a shape at the corner of what must have been a bedroom before the whole place burnt down. I step into the room and I am instantly electrified by a strong absorbing power in the air. The little hairs on my skin spike straight, my hair gets frizzed and I feel the current penetrate my bones. I freeze on the spot.
“Erien, save me.” I manage a small voice.
And out of the ashes, he rises. He is tall, magnificent, and even though his clothes are charred, I have never seen anyone look so god-like. His silver eyes are radiant, his silver-white hair flows like smooth oil down to his waist. It was never that long before. I can see the power flow through his green veins over his skin that is now ashen grey. He is so beautiful that I shed a tear. The tear cackles and evaporates instantaneously when it flows against my hot skin.
Erien strides toward me, his arms open. He reaches me and I embrace him tightly. Even though his skin is scalding hot against mind, I dare not let go. The tears pouring from my eyes are hot as well. It’s like everything is scalding and yet I do not burn. Erien removes himself from my grasp. He cups my face in his hands. There is a slight smile playing on his lips.
“Why do you cry, my love?” His voice is silky.
I sniff back my sobs. “I thought I lost you.”
“No. I am the one who lost you—Alice, don’t you ever run away from me okay?”
“I didn’t. I never would. It was Jamie…” I study his eyes. A cool wind blows and his hair goes asunder.
“It doesn’t matter now. Jamie is gone.”
My eyes widen. “What did you do?”
He doesn’t answer. He says instead, “Alice. I love you, I want you to remember that.”
“Stop! Why are you speaking like this?”
And right before my eyes, a portal opens. It is a gaping black hole in the wall behind us. From beyond it, I can hear a cry as if a thousand winds are being sucked through it. It is a terrible sound. And then, I realize what this means. I trap Erien’s hand in mine.
“No. You can’t leave me.” Now I have a real reason to cry. “Please, you can’t go.”
“I have served my sentence. For this portal to open, it means my father is ready to receive me. I will not stay in this hell any longer.”
“You are wrong. This is not hell. There is so much good in the world. I can show you, I swear.”
Erien throws his head back in thought. I want to know what he is thinking. I want to convince him to stay; to stay with me, because there is no way in hell that I will go through that portal without being torn to pieces. I love him so much it hurts. I will die if he leaves me.
“My grandmother once told me that the bowels of hell are full of pretty things. Pretty damsels who will promise you lust and wealth, then when they give you that – they suck the life out of you. I refuse to fail this test, I-”
“Your grandmother lied!” I scream.
My accusation riles him up. Erien raises a hand and tosses me away. My slender body flies backward until I fall to the ground. How can Erien discard me over a stupid bedtime story his grandmother told him? The ground scalds my skin. I do not have the strength to get up. He has discarded me. How can I have any strength when the only man I love has rejected me?
“It wasn’t supposed to come to this,” I say quietly. “How did it come to this?”
“I knew this was hell the moment you refused to return to Solasis with me. Creatures of hell cannot survive there,” he says in a rough voice.
“I am not a creature of hell!” My voice breaks.
“Prove it!”
“Prove it?” I echo.
“If you really love me, if you really put loyalty before gain, then prove it. Come to Solasis with me.”
My blood runs cold despite the heat. He is asking me the world. I may not have solid family or friends here but I can’t imagine living anywhere else but on Earth. I left my mother’s home to find myself, and I know for certain that if I go with Erien, I will lose myself forever. And the worst part of it all is that no one will look for me. Ever.
Chapter 36
Erien
The moment Alice appears to me, I feel alive. If she hadn’t appeared any sooner, the whole private island would be ablaze by now. A serene feeling encompasses me when I see her blue eyes wet with tears. I hate to see her cry. She will not have to cry if she comes to Solasis. And if she decides to come with me, she will never get lost either. The reason I could not find her here on Earth is because she is not a Soleroid. When she comes to my planet, I will never lose her again.
My desire to return home causes a portal to open. It will lead me back to my world. I feel a heavy weight lifted from my shoulder. Here on Earth, I am only a foreigner. Back home, I am a prince. Here, I have only been pretending to fit into a role I do not know. In solasis, I know exactly who I am, and everybody knows me.
I know this is hard for Alice, and yet I truly believe that if she ever did love me then she will come with me. Her adamant choice to not come with me back to Solasis is making me question everything we did together. I know for certain that she has no obligation to stay on Earth. There is no reason she shouldn’t come with me unless it was all a lie. I have no choice left. I challenge her.
“If you really love me, if you really put loyalty before gain, then prove it. Come to Solasis with me,” I say to her.
Tears cloud her bright blue eyes. It breaks my heart to see her sad and lost. I imagine the end. If she says no, I will be devastated but I’ll know that her love was a lie. If she says yes, well, I only hope she can breathe in Solasis. I hadn’t thought of it until just now. Humans have weak lungs and we Soleroids breathe a different kind of air. Really, I should count on her saying no otherwise I will kill her should she travel to
Solasis with me. I am about to retract my challenge when Alice takes my hand.
“I will come with you,” she says. She stands up. I feel really bad that she fell.
“No! Stay!”
“I will come with you!” Her tone is more demanding now.
“And die? What if you die there?”
“Then at least I will know I died loved.”
Without missing a beat, she closes the gap between us, stands on her toes. Our gazes lock before she kisses me full on the lips. I know I don’t deserve it. It only makes me love her more. I push my tongue into her mouth and suck her slimy tongue. Our lips are locked in intimate passion when I feel the pull of the portal on me. It is time to leave this hell.
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