Death is Not an Option
Octavio left the blade in her back and held Ajay against him as her body drained of its life force. It was one of the hardest things that he had to do but it had to be done. There was no other way around the situation that he could possibly think of. He couldn't let her stay here in this place. He held back tears and kept a stoic face when he heard the familiar haunting laugh bubble up behind him.
He closed his eyes and lifted Ajay into his arms, locking is arms underneath her knees to cradle her against body like a baby. As he turned around so did the whole realm they were in. He was now standing in front of a gate that led to the Che household. An iron clad gate surrounded the mansion and eerie fog crept through the black colored bars. Darkness shrouded him and figure the stood before him.
Deviant crimson and abysmal eyes met Octavio's emerald eyes. "Tsk tsk tsk." The man's voice echoed as he leaned his right side against a walking cane. The cane looked very elegant and ancient all at the same time. "What, do you want? More candy old man?" Octavio was obviously trying to get a rise out of him but he wasn't having much luck.
The man's voice was dripping in a Haitian accent, "Candy was only to get you in. You're lucky I even let you in at all. Outsiders are not welcome. You, beautiful junkie, had a guest pass courtesy of Ms. Che." Octavio tried to shrug it off 'beautiful junkie' he hadn't heard that one in a while. "It's Mrs. Silva." He paused for a moment, "She's my wife and she doesn't belong in whatever the fuck this fucked up place is."
Octavio wanted to roll his eyes but he didn't but resisted the urge, "She can't stay here. She needs to come home." The man gave Octavio a sharp toothed grin before tapping his chin with his free hand. His nails were long and unkempt, "You made that decision for her. She will not be happy with you. This is here place of comfort, not yours. You are only a guest."
If Octavio had not been carrying the love of his life in his arms he would have been willing to throw down with this deity but he didn't have time for these games he needed to get out of this place. He really didn't know how long he and she had been here and he knew that Ajay was clinging to life onto life on the other side.
"You don't know what Che wants. You don't even know her. So kept her name out of your mouth." The man tilted his head back and let out a blusterous laugh that echoed throughout the entire realm, "I know what Ajay wants. I know more than you do. I know everything about her. I know every facet of her life." The man was now looking directly into Octavio's eyes again.
Octavio gripped tightly at Ajay's lifeless body, "What makes you think you know more about her than me amigo?" It was silent for a moment before the man took his left hand used his long boney fingers to retrieve keys that were attached to a ring on his left side. "It's always been the Sliva and Che show. We have been together forever. I haven't heard about you once dude." The keys made small clanking noises as he moved them.
They keys all looked like skeleton keys as the man held them in front of Octavio but the closer that Octavio looked the more he noticed small intricate details etched into each of the keys. Some of the keys were even different colors. There were hundreds of keys on the large ring dangling before him. "Do you want to know the truth about why she is here? About why she keeps coming back here?" The man jingled the keys in front of Octavio like it was a game.
Octavio really wanted to know but was it really his business and what about getting her out of her and back to wherever she was in their current time, or was this their current time The longer he spent here the more confusing it became. He had no timeline and… his thoughts halted, "She will be fine on this side and the other. This is my only offer. I will not allow you here again or offer you this chance again." He jingled the keys once more like Octavio was some sort of cat that would follow him.
"Fine. Fine. Let's go." The man gave a sneaky smile and leaned his forearm against his cane so that he could free up a hand to quickly sort for the appropriate key. Once he found the key he grabbed his cane and made his way to towards the gate. Octavio reluctantly followed as the man inserted the key into the gate unlocked it. The gate opened inward and disappeared as they all passed through it.
What Octavio thought would be the yard of the Che mansion was actual the entry way into the mansion itself. He saw 13 year old Ajay Che standing at the staircase and Cherisse in the other room. It was like he was watching a movie of his best friend and her life story. It took him a moment but then he realized it was the day that they were supposed to go skateboarding and watch movies while her parents were out of town.
He watched the brutal exchanged of words between Ajay and he Cherisse, he really hadn't seen her stand up to her mom like that before, at least not when they were younger and definitely not in front of him. He cringed when Cherisse grabbed at Ajay's clothing, trying to pull it from her body. He never knew that their relationship was bad but this bad except at the night of Gala.
He then watched the glass vase hit the floor and Cherisse blame Ajay for it and then his mouth dropped when he saw Cherisse force Ajay's face into the mess of broken glass. The screams that came from Ajay made his heart ache and his blood boil, but he knew that there was nothing he could do, it was just a memory, but it was all real.
He hated everything that came out of Ajay's mother's mouth. She was such a fucking cunt to her daughter and he had been too blind to realize it. And why this moment? Why did this man select this moment for him to watch. It was killing him inside to see his best friend, his wife, being tortured by her fucking mother.
It was hard for him to watch Ajay sitting in glass, bleeding, and trembling in pain from it and shaking from her fucking mother. Octavio watched as Ajay picked up a large, jagged piece of glass and exchange more words with Cherisse. Then it was almost too much for him to watch as Ajay forced the glass through her right wrist and up the length of her arm.
There was blood, a lot of blood, and glass everywhere. Ajay had collapsed into shock a seizures while her fucking mother watched all of it and it didn't even phase her. Then he watched as Cherisse called the hospital and then told Ajay to clean up the mess and when the proper punishment would be decided. He could see that Ajay was fading and Cherisse was leaving. He want to go to her and help her.
Octavio watched as the man next to him step away and walking over to Ajay and kneel down. "You poor child." Ajay barely focused up at him. "Are ready to leave this place forever?" Octavio raised an eyebrow to the whole interaction. He thought this was a memory; how was this man even interjecting himself into it. Ajay tried to speak but blood dripped from her mouth. "Shhhhh." The man whispered to her and played with her hair.
She laid in the glass, almost dead while the man played with her hair 'what the fuck man' Octavio thought to himself. "Sliva." She whispered. The man move his hand from her hair to her hand, "Come play with me. You will never have to be in pain again." She barely shook her head and whispered again, "Silva." The man smiled at her, "You can have both then." He paused, "You. You can have everything."
Ajay gave a small nod, trying to keep her eyes open. Octavio was still confused by their interaction. "Give me what I want and I will give you what you need. Then when you are done with this world you can come play in mine forever." Ajay nodded and closed her eyes. The sounds of sirens from ambulances were distant but growing closer.
The man bent down and kissed Ajay's forehead before standing up and making his way back over to Octavio. By the time the he closed the gap they were both outside the gates of the Che mansion again. Octavio was clutching Ajay tightly against him, "None of that made any sense other than that I was a bad friend for not noticing that shit sooner. I thought that was supposed to be a memory."
The man laughed, "This is true. It was but a memory. One, in which, I was part of. Ajay was supposed to die that day but instead she made a deal. She made a deal so that she could be with you. Knowing that her future held more and more hurt and pain." Octavio shook his head, "What deal?" The man leaned against his cane and stared at Octavio, "What is the one thing that everyone has. It's priceless. It cannot be seen but it can be offered and almost everyone wants it."
It only took Octavio seconds to figure out what the man was talking about. He began shaking his head in disbelief. "No. No. No! She didn't. She wouldn't." The man licked his lips. "She did. She traded her soul for this life with you. But when she dies, when she truly wants to die, this is where she will end up. In my playground. Forever." The man had a serious undertone to his voice.
It's not that Octavio didn't believe in an afterlife or maybe he had never really put much thought into it but now that the realization had set in that she had given up so much for him and that she would be stuck here after she was gone he couldn't bare it. Why would she want to relieve this fucked up life forever and ever. Fuck he didn't even want to imagine her gone.
Octavio continued to shake his head, "No. Just take my soul instead. She doesn't deserve this shit." The man shook his head, "I don't want your soul. The souls of tortured children are what I collect. You have nothing to offer me. Besides, she decides the life that she wants to life here. She likes to punish herself for someone reason."
Octavio was on the verge of tears but he wouldn't let this monster win. He eyed the keys that were attached to the side of the man's waist. "I want to see the rest. I have to know more." He thought maybe if he knew more that he could help her or maybe that he could get her out of binding contract. He had been in plenty of contracts that wiggled his way out.
The man slid his fingers along his straw brimmed hat that Octavio had realized he had been wearing until this point. It was like the man was only showing him pieces on himself that he wanted him to see when he wanted Octavio to see them. "Come on man. You said I wouldn't be allowed back here. Let me see the rest." Octavio had spent however long chasing Ajay through her own past memories but he had yet to see anything that she didn't want him to see.
The man gave a small shrug and pulled the keys from his side. He retained three from himself and handed Octavio the rest. Octavio gently placed Ajay on her side on the ground with the kunai still in her back, it seemed heartless but for now he knew that she would be safe. He snatched the keys, "What about those?" he pointed to the three keys that the man had kept from him.
"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You cannot have everything. I did make certain promises to Ms. Che." Octavio rolled his eyes. "You might not like what you see. Are you sure that this? I this what she wants from you? To see her life? The way she lived her life." Octavio gripped the keys hard in his hand. He really did know what was he was so concerned about. There was only one thing he had to see, one thing he had to know for sure.
He began to flip through the keys in his hands, looking through the makings and pictures as if he knew what he was looking for and actually he did. Everything on the keys made sense to him because he knew Ajay. He was hers and she was his. He finally came across the right key that was green and red with some etches of syringes in them and shoved the key into the gate lock.
The key was a perfect fit and with a deep breath he turned the key and opened the gate, walking through it with less anticipation than he had when he first thought of his idea. It didn't take him long before he was back at the gates and handing the keys back over to the sharp tooth grinning man. "Ah, that was fast, even for you." Octavio kneeled down next to Ajay with a look of disappointment across his face, "I got what I needed." He stared down at Ajay and brought her into his arms once more.
"Good. Now you can leave and never come back. I will not be so accommodating next time." Octavio knew exactly what the man meant. Ajay had made allowances for him to be here. That's the only reason why he was even here in the first place. Octavio cradled Ajay in his arms and stood up. He kissed her pale forehead and eased the cold kunai out of her back. "Let's go home Che." He whispered to her.
There was a haunting, echoing laugh from the man once more. His eyes flared red, "Are you sure this is the best idea." Octavio nodded, "She needs to go home." The man was becoming less visible, "Remember, she didn't not want to leave. You might not like what you get when she wakes up. She might not even be the right person you took from this place." It was too late to ask any questions because the man was already gone.
With a certain rotation of his hands Octavio used the kunai to rip a portal in front of them. He tucked the blade away into his waistband and held on tightly to Ajay as he took her with him through the time tear. He didn't like the last statement from that deity but he didn't care, he needed Ajay home.