maybe I'd be free from my suffering.
The knock came again but I didn't move….y face was still buried in the side of my grandmother's old mattress, smelling the faint, familiar scent of her lavender soap mixed with the harsh, metallic tang of the cheap sickness that had stolen her away.
My eyes burned and became swollen and dry from hours of crying until there were simply no tears left inside me. My right hand was still squeezed tightly around the heavy silver amulet she had given me with her last breath. I was holding it so hard the metal edges dug painfully into my skin, but I didn't care, it was the only piece of her I had left.
"Kaelen! Open up, man! We saw the ambulance downstairs," a voice shouted from the hallway. It was Darius, his heavy fist pounding against the thin wood again.
I forced my aching body to stand up as my legs felt like they couldn't carry my body anymore and my stomach twisted with a sick empty guilt. If I had just stayed awake... if I had just skipped that delivery shift... maybe I could have saved her.
Every step down the hallway felt like i was dragging weights… I reached out and unlocked the the door
Darius and Riven were standing there in the corridor. Riven took one look at my face and saw the red puffy outline of my eyes and the absolute emptiness in my stare and his own stormy grey eyes went wide.
He didn't ask a single question…he just stepped past Darius and closed the distance between us and threw his arms around me in a tight embrace because he knew I was entirely broken.
"I'm so sorry, Kae," Riven whispered with a deep, personal understanding of grief. "I'm so damn sorry."
For a second, the coldness in my chest died down and I just leaned into him. Riven was practically my brother since we were best friends ever since we were kids and after the death of both my parents my grandmother practically raised the both of us…he knew exactly how I felt and knew what it was like to lose everything. As for Darius we just met him in the neighborhood when we were 15, Unlike him and I…Riven and him got along very well.
Darius closed the door behind them, he he looked around , his amber eyes locked onto the empty bed in the corner, where the sheets were still messy from her final, painful hours.
He let out a low sigh running a hand through his short dark hair, the huge scar on his left cheek tightening. "The hospital guys passed us on the stairs with the gurney. They were putting the white sheet over her, Kae. What happened? I thought the new medicine from the alley clinic was supposed to buy her more time."
I pulled away from Riven wiping my face with the back of my hand. "I didn't have the money for the new batch," I said, my voice sounding completely dead, the only thing that was left to die was me."It was twelve hundred dollars… I went to the restaurant manager early this morning to beg for an extra night shift and possibly a loan or and advance so I could pay for it. Instead... he fired me because I was twenty minutes late yesterday…necause I was at her bedside."
Riven slammed his fist against the drywall, . "That absolute piece of garbage," he growled, his messy black hair falling over his brow as his eyes flashed with rage. "You ruined your body working for that shit hole place!"
"It doesn't matter anymore," I whispered, staring down at my feet, feeling a dangerous wave of numbness washing over me. "She's gone….and it gets worse. When I walked up to the door ... the landlord had taped an eviction notice over the lock. I am three months behind because every single cent I made went to her clinic bills. I have forty-eight hours to clear out our stuff before he calls the police to throw me on the street."
Silence fell over the room,it was the absolute rock bottom and funny enough the three of us were a perfect team of miserable, broken kids…but in that moment, I felt entirely isolated in my ruin.
Darius slowly walked over to the small kitchen table, his heavy boots clicking loudly against the floor. He reached into his leather jacket, pulled out a folded piece of paper, and laid it flat on the wood.
"Then it's a good thing I came over," Darius said, his voice dropping into a low, serious tone that felt off. "Because the universe just handed us a way out for both of you too… look at this."
Riven and I walked over to the table. Darius unfolded the paper, revealing a printed photograph of an ancient, terrifying bangle. It was a bloody, sickening red color, wrapped tightly with black, thread-like lines that looked like veins. All around the edges were sharp, thin spikes that curved inward like the legs of a spider. Just looking at the picture made a cold, unnatural shiver run down my spine.
Riven's eyes widened instantly too as he looked at Darius then at me then back at the paper.
"Infiltrate the museum and still a demon artifact?! Darius, you've gotta be out of your freaking mind. We can't infiltrate the museum , you know the demon museums are heavily guarded by elite forces. Once we're caught, it will be game over before it even gets started."
Darius grunted and rolled his eyes, a mocking smile touching his lips. "See, that's your problem, Kae. You lose your balls easily….I have it all figured out. Well, my client has it all planned out mind you, my client isn't just some ghetto scammer from the slums he is a big, big, top-tier mob boss with serious connections. And that's exactly why I asked you and Riven to be my allies on this."
He turned his eyes toward Riven hoping he'd would back him up, but Riven remained completely silent with his expression unreadable.
Darius leaned closer to me his tone sounding almost hypnotic. "And trust me, Kaelen, once we get the pay for this mission you will be completely debt-free, my guy. You won't ever need to do your miserable little low-wage jobs anymore. You can pay for a proper and beautiful burial for your grandmother, and you can buy a real apartment where you will love your life without a care…Just trust me, okay?"
A horrible uneasy feeling rupted inside my chest. Just at the picture of that bangle my soul felt like it was going to leave my body… It felt evil.
But then I looked toward the empty bedroom. I couldn't even afford a casket for my grandma…that's the least I could do for her to give her a propper goodbye. If I didn't do something about it her body would be buried in a nameless, unmarked public grave for the penniless and I would be freezing on a sidewalk by Friday.
But as Darius kept talking about maps and money, out of nowhere a sudden spike of grief-fueled anger snapped inside me. The sheer disrespect of it turned my blood to fire.
"Are you serious right now, Darius?!" I shouted, my voice cracking violently as tears finally spilled out of my eyelids again. I stepped up to him shoving my hand toward the empty bedroom.
"My grandmother's body isn't even cold yet! The hospital just wheeled her out of here ten minutes ago! Her scent is still in the blankets! And you walk into my house, lay out a map and expect me to go pull a high-stakes heist tonight?!"
Darius blinked like I was blabbing nonsense…. I pressed my palm against my chest, right over the amulet.
"I am grieving! I am completely broken!" I screamed, the tears still falling as my voice shook with pure agony. "I want to sit in the dark and scream, Darius! I don't want to go rob a museum! How can you even ask me to do this right now? Have you completely lost your mind?!"
For a split second Darius's face twitched. His amber eyes completely darkened, giving a predatory look straight at me that made my breath catch in my throat.
He straightened and just as quickly as it appeared his scary demeanor switched back and he slapped a cheerful, friendly smile onto his face.
"Riven, please talk some sense into him," Darius said turning to his side. "This is fear talking…he is trying to find a way to get out of this. Look this is an epic deal, you can't let him—"
"It's alright D," Riven interrupted, his voice flat as he stepped in front of me physically shielding me from Darius's gaze.
"If you want the two of you can go ahead and do this without me. Kaelen's grandmother just died, man. I feel we need to have respect ….. His little jobs might not do much for him right now but he's my brother, and I'm not willing to risk his life or mine if his head isn't in the game."
Something inside Darius completely snapped. I could practically see his blood boiling beneath his bronze skin, his fake smile stretching so thin it kinda looked painful. He hated losing control, and he hated being told no.
"You both are being so incredibly ungrateful!" Darius shouted suddenly, slamming his heavy fists down onto the wooden table. The loud BANG exploded making me flinch violently and my heart hammering against my ribs.
"I know a lot of desperate people in this city, but I chose you two!" Darius hissed, his chest heaving as he stared us down. "I chose the two of you because you're like my brothers. Not even like... YOU ARE MY BROTHERS! MY BROTHERS!"
He pointed a shaking angry finger directly at my face ignoring my tears completely. "Kaelen, look at reality! You will be legally evicted by the end of tomorrow and if you don't do this you are going to end up sleeping in the freezing dirt as a homeless piece of garbage. And how are you going to bury her then? With what money? You have a mountain of medical debt that will take you your entire lifetime to pay back, and you are letting an offer like this pass you by?!"
Before I could even process the cruelty of his words Darius spun around turning Riven.
"And you, Riven... think about your life," Darius whispered . "You know your parents have a severe alcohol and gambling addiction. They don't care about you and they don't care about your little sister… don't you remember what happened to your baby brother ? Don't you want a better life for yourself and for her huh Riven ? Do you want your innocent little sister to grow up in a broken, abusive house just like you did…. Think about her, Riven."
The words were brutal…but they were absolute facts. Every single syllable hit us exactly where it hurt the most ripping open our deepest and rawest wounds.
Riven froze, his eyes widening as his breath hitched. He looked down at the floor and clenched his fists so hard that his nails dug into his palms. I looked at Riven, seeing the agony on his face and then I looked back at the crumpled eviction notice on the floor.
Darius had backed us into a corner now… He was using my dead grandmother and Riven's little sister and dead brother to chain us to his plan, and the worst part was... we didn't have any other choice.
Darius straightened his jacket, his breathing slowing down as he looked at the two of us one last time.
"I am going to ask the two of you one last time," Darius said, his voice cold, steady, and demanding. "Are you in... or are you out?"