YOU'LL RETURN TO MARIE.
The voice was in his head, and it was very loud. But then other loud voices started to come from his side. His eyes flung open. He tried to turn his neck, but he felt pain,
"Ow."
He groaned.
"Gentle man, are you alright?"
A little voice came from beside him. There was an old lady seated next to him.
Because of the confused state he was in, he couldn't even answer the woman. Instead, he looked to the other side. He was seated next to a window.
He looked through. There were a couple of people and planes outside.
"An airport?"
He asked himself.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belt. The flight to Vegas is up in five minutes."
He heard the loud speaker.
"I'm in a plane. In a plane to Vegas?"
"Yes, you are, dear. Dreams do come true."
The old lady beside him said. Damien had been talking to himself because of how confused he was about where he was. But the old lady seemed to have misconstrued.
"You see, the first time I got on a plane, it was as though I would never achieve anything greater than that. And funny enough, it was an economy class just like you. But then, there's Business Class, Executive Class, First Class, and then again. There are people who own private jets."
Damien forced a smile at the old woman.
"I mean, there are times that -"
"Get up! Hey you! Get up! That's my seat!!!"
A sudden voice interrupted both Damien and the old woman. Damien should be grateful that the sudden voice got the old woman to stop talking, but then when he saw someone pointing at him, he was confused.
"When did you get here? That is my seat! I went to pick something up at the lobby before the flight time."
Damien didn't know what to say to the lady yelling and pointing at him.
"Please calm down, Miss, we will sort this out. There must have been a sort of misunderstanding."
The air hostess who had accompanied the enraged lady tried to calm her down.
"Don't give me that! Shouldn't you be able to tell who owns a seat? Didn't you see me earlier?!"
The young lady didn't want to take it easy.
"Come with me, Miss. We'll sort it out outside."
The air hostess tried to guide the woman out.
"I won't leave here until he shows me his ticket! If he shows me his ticket and I see the indication of his seat number, I'll let him go!"
The lady has big eyes, which scared Damien. But then she looked identical to someone he had seen somewhere before.
"I'm sorry, sir. But please to let this go away, could you show us your ticket? I mean your flight ticket? The scheduled flight time is about clocking."
The air hostess advised.
"Oh, yes. My flight ticket."
Damien could swear that he had no idea how he got into the plane. A few minutes ago, he was in the Manor, convincing the lady from the hall to let him return to Vegas. Then his neck had been snapped. And now he's here?
Putting his hand in his pocket, he touched the emblem. He put his hand in the other pocket. There was nothing there.
"Can you see! Throw this man out! He is a fraud! He has nothing to show for it. How dare he steal my seat! Isn't this a shame to your flying academy or whatever the hell you call it?!"
The lady kept raging!
"Sir, please, if you don't have a ticket, you would have to come with me."
Damien got up on his feet. He didn't want to cause any more trouble. But then he dipped his hand into the left pocket again. But the emblem was no longer there. Instead, there was a piece of fancy paper.
He drew it out and showed it to the air hostess. The ticket.
"What!!!"
The eyes of the young lady widened.
"This is impossible!!!! How can this be?!!! I have my ticket here."
She dug her hand into her purse. She fumbled through it, but there was nothing there.
"Miss. I'm sure you know what this means. Creating a scene on the plane and falsely accusing a customer."
The young lady turned around, paying no attention to the air hostess.
"My bag is here. I kept it here."
She hurried to one of the parts where the bags were stored. She struggled so hard that she pulled the cover with strength and all the bags dropped. On some people's heads.
But her bag was nowhere to be found.
The lady felt embarrassed and was escorted out of the plane.
HOW COULD SHE DO THIS THOUGH? DIDN'T SHE CLAIM TO BE RIGHTEOUS?
Damien was deep in thought as soon as the plane took off.
BUT THEN, DID THE EMBLEM REALLY TURN INTO A TICKET? THAT'S CRAZY.
Unconsciously, he moved his head to the side. Then he noticed a young blonde staring at him. It was more of an inquisitive gaze.
No matter how many times Damien looked away, whenever he looked back, the blonde was stealing a gaze.
He stopped looking in the direction. And immediately he stopped, the old woman started.
OH FUCK! WHAT A BUNCH OF WEIRDOS ON THIS PLANE.
After a long time, the plane came to stop and everyone got off. He had walked out and was trying to get a cab when he heard someone calling at him. Turning, it was the blonde from the plane.
"Bruh, what the fuck is happening today!"
The blonde got to him.
"What do you want? Did I also steal your ---"
"How did you do it?"
The blonde interrupted. Damien's eyes squinted.
"Did what?"
"Was it a sort of VFX effect for T!ktok content?"
WHAT THE HELL IS SHE RAMBLING ABOUT?
The blonde suddenly reached and grabbed him.
"Please teach me. I have been stuck in 1k followers all my life. If you could teach me that disappearing trick, in no time, I'll hit a million followers."
She pleaded desperately.
"Please let go of me. I don't want to hurt you."
Damien warned.
"Okay. I understand. You don't want to talk here. How about you give me your handle, I'll just add you up and ---"
Damien snatched his body and ran towards a cab which had stopped. He opened and jumped in.
"Drive!"
He yelled and the driver did.
"What a bunch of crazy lots!!!"
He panted.
THIS MUST BE THAT CRAZY LADY TRYING TO FUCK WITH ME.
Suddenly, the cab stopped.
"What happened?"
"Are you going to tell me where you are going?"
The man asked.
"Oh, sorry, Boldyville Estate."
"That'd be $300."
Damien knew that that was costly, but he didn't say a word. The man drove off.
After all, Boldyville was one of the many investments he owned.
What matters the most was the fact that he had finally arrived at Vegas... the real Vegas!!!
"What's taking so much time?"The yelled at Damien; Damien had been fumbling through his pockets for a while now. He had agreed to pay the caber forgetting that he had no money on him. "I forgot. I have no cash on me. I only have my card."Damien lied. JUST GO AWAY. PLEASE. "Then take me to an ATM stand and let's withdraw.""What!"Damien didn't expect that. "Oh, you don't want to pay? Is that why you are pretending? You are delaying me because you have no money? Is that right? So, you decided to bring to Boldyville to impress me?"At that point, Damien was lost. He had no idea what the man was talking about. "How can someone dressed like you vist Boldyville? You are one of those wannabes who just love to front, eh? Why did I even take you seriously in the first place? You must have ran away from that lady because you stole something from her. Or was it also because you couldn't pay her?"Damien was speechless."You don't even know me. How could you say those things?"Damien felt
"Twenty years are gone now?""What has changed?""What did these girls do to my estate? What did they do to Boldyville?"Damien looked across the small motel room to the bed. The old man from the pub was snoring so loudly it would be mistaken for a raving motorcycle.He turned to the window and lifted the blind. "The day is bright. How did it happen so fast? It was just as if I took a nap."He stood up, stretching his body. "Where could they be? They are obviously not in the estate. Where are they hiding after stealing what belongs to me?""I never wanted to trust them. I always knew that they were shady and evil. How could I have taken such a ris---"A realisation dawned on him. "It wasn't by choice. If that crazy lady hadn't sent that bastard to take me away to the realm, all this wouldn't have happened. But then how could two days equals decades?"The old man grumbled, almost rolling off the bed. Damien walked to him and helped him lie properly. Tucked him in, then walked towar
"It's you, Elisa, isn't it? You are Elisa."Though it was a voice in his head that had given a clue, yet staring at the lady and analysing the features of her face, Damien was slowly putting together the memories. "You have changed a lot. You have grown into a very beautiful woman."At that few seconds, he was mesmerised by her features and looks. Elisa was more curvy, bustier, and her skin clearer. "But then, what's this that I---""Excuse me, I don't know you. I think you have the wrong person."The woman snapped and turned around at once, walking away. Damien watched as she walked briskly away. She almost lost her balance with the manner at which she stomped. "She is the one. I'm positive."Damien nodded firmly. He hurried to catch her. He grabbed her arm and spun her around. "It's you, Elisa. Why are you lying to me. I know it's you. Though you are fully grown now, yet I couldn't have missed you in a glance."The woman eyes were bulging. She looked stunned and surprised. Then
"What was that?""What are you talking about?""Can't you see it?""I can't see shit.""Look closely. The shape of a man is following that car!"A guy in a blue shirt who had been arguing with his mates walked to the mate. "You need to see the doctor. But first, stop watching a lot of fantasy movies."The guy in blue shirt scorned the mate and walked away. "I swear I can see a man. Like Flash. Something like that. Or am I hallucinating?"He turned to look at his mate, but the fellow was walking away. "Hey, will you wait for me?"The car drove into a less busy road. The road was sort of dirty and dusty. Damien kept following, merging with the wind. Because the speed of the car had been significantly reduced, he he had a hard time keeping up the infiltration. Then, finally, the car drove towards a large building. A building that no one could have imagined existed in such a rural area. Damien found a perfect hide and hid himself away as Elisa climbed out of the car and hurried tow
MIRA. A voice said in his head when his gaze fell on a woman in a fluffy white gown. Then his eyes moved to the woman next to her,EVELYNThen, to the next, who had a neighbour, JADA, TENDZELA woman who had a muffler around her neck, with a shade of worry,LAURETTEThen to the one who looked to be a little mature than the rest. ALLISONHis eyes lingered for a while on a melanin skinned woman amongst the rest of the group. She was the only one with a different colour skin. Of course, he knew her even without the voice in his head,AYISHAHis eyes fell on a petite woman grabbing the arm of another,LISA. Staring at each of the girls brought back a lot of memories. Memories which to him happened days ago. But in reality, it was decades ago. WHERE IS CLAIRE? DID SHE REALLY DUMP THE GROUP?He wondered. There were supposed to be ten of them. Elisa was not part of the nine girls. But it seemed as though Elisa had replaced Claire. After all, Elisa was naturally Claire's aunt. A FAIR BA
Elisa led the way, and the rest of the women followed her into the motel room. Damien was almost pushed out of the way. But before that could happen, he had stepped out of the way for them. He looked from one lady to the other. Each lady had a bag. If it wasn't hanging down their shoulders, it was a fancy small one in the left hand. "Don't tell me this is where you live."Lisa started all of a sudden, looking around the room. It was shabby and hardly presentable. So, Damien understood the contempt in their faces. He did know the girls. They were easily smitten by flashy things. He wasn't surprised. He had known them almost all his life. "The mighty and strong Damien is living in this lowly and filthy place. What an irony."He heard Allison say. He looked away from her to the next person who was about to gloat,"What has life done to you, though? Did you lose your mind alongside every other thing?"Damien wasn't really sure of what meaning to make of what Tendzel had just said. Not
Damien walked briskly through the hallway to the small lobby and out of the motel. He halted outside the motel. There were nine sport cars parked across the road. And he could see each of the ladies walking to each of the cars. He scanned through for a while. Then, as soon as his eyes fell on a particular lady, he resumed walking. Briskly. There were already several people hanging around and taking videos of the cars and the ladies. "Oh my God! I can't believe my eyes.""Are those not the elegant queens of Vegas?""I have never seen them from up this close. It feels like a dream.""What could they be doing in a lowly neighbourhood such as this? Did the owner of the motel offend them?"Damien walked past two teenage girls who were commenting on the activity. He walked to a lady who was about to enter into her car. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around. "Who is that man?"One of the teenage girls asked. "Damien..."Jada gasped when she saw Damien. He was staring deep into
It's been three days, and Damien was all alone in the brothel room. The door of the room opened suddenly to the old man. "You are back."Damien raised her head. The man walked towards the bed. Damien's eyes squinted when the man got to him,"You are sober today. What a good thing. I'm glad you listened to me. It's good for your health."The man stood at his front as he spoke. Then suddenly, the man walked away towards the wardrobe. He opened an angle where there were only a few clothes.With one hand, he collected the clothes and walked to Damien. He threw the clothes in Damien's face. Damien jumped on his feet at once. He was stunned."You have done me more harm than good ever since you came."The old man started. Then, he walked towards the window. There was a cigarette in his hand. He lit the cigarette and puffed a loop of smoke. "It will do the both of us good if you leave at once. Those are your clothes."The man turned to him fully. "I have no idea why a fully grown man like