The Souls Hunter

He was prince charming. As he passes by, he hypnotizes all souls staring at him. As he passes by, heart beats are heard echoing in the place like drums, eyes flare up with passion and desire, and voices tremble as they announce his arrival.

He enjoyed these looks and this atmosphere. They gave him a certain kind of pleasure and they satisfied his ego and pride. In fact, that was what he always worked for. That was the core of his life. He had always been taking care of those who fell for him. He took very good care of them that he helped them attain eternal rest, or, at least, he thought he did.

He never, practically, approached anybody; however, he was the one that drove them all towards him. It was all his doing. Even though, hearts, desperately, longed for him, they wouldn’t have taken one step without him having a word with their minds. He was so smart that he knew how to drag every single soul. It’s true, they were different and unique on their own ways, yet he treated them similarly and his method was always the same. He was not creative, yet women were never cautious and never saw it coming and, even, when some of them did, they still chose to surrender.

Women to him were nothing more than a game. A fierce one. He would start it off by lies and deceit and they would all believe him and follow him blindly. He was so organized and determined. He would take them to a fairytale, to a magical world where all dreams come true and to where they shed tears of happiness. But then, he cuts through their chests and tears their hearts apart and they shed tears of blood. He seduces the innocent soul of the woman, owns it, and exhausts it that she can neither think nor walk away. After that, he murders her so that she would always be his and so that he would not have to deal with her again when he is off to the next one. He takes her motionless cold body to the house yard, buries her beneath mud and dust and on the top of her grave he plants a flower.

Years pass by and his yard is a beautiful flowery garden that bears deep inside memories with the smell of death.

He kills their bodies, yet their souls remain. They wake up only when they are dead. They begin to see only when their eyes are forever shut. And for the first time, they follow him without him asking. They follow him without him manipulating their thoughts. They haunt him.

In his big crowded house he sees them wandering around, he feels them and feels their pain, but he stands watching. Their cries don’t move him. He knows he’s safe, he knows he’s beyond their reach. He buried them with his own hands and waters their flower every morning. They haunt the house, cry out loud maybe he would hear them and for once in his lifetime have mercy on them. But all in vain. It was useless. They see his new life, they witness his successive crimes and they welcome every new soul. Eventually, they realized that he doesn’t see them anymore. As if he saw them before. They remain in the house hoping they would someday get hold of him, torture him and avenge their pure souls.

One fine morning, he wakes up to meet his downfall. He goes out, walks along the seashore and, suddenly, he is stunned by her beauty. Her eyes shine like stars in the dark sky, her hair is as radiant as the sun and her body flies by like a cool summer breeze. A smile is drawn on his face. He found a new prey. He works his magic, he follows the exact same steps, and he captures the heart and invites the mind. She falls, but this time something is different. She falls deeply in love with him that she does his job.

He becomes everything to her, the air she breathes, the dream she’s living for and he, even, becomes life itself. He sees her beauty and her love, but that doesn’t mean anything to him more than a bigger challenge. Her true love gives him ecstasy, extreme satisfaction and feeds his gluttonous pride. Her true love makes her the most special soul he had ever craved.

He lures her into his house, persuades her to stay and makes her believe it’s all hers. Innocent as she was, she obeys. She lives in the illusion others experienced before, however she loves him and has faith in him like no other. Happiness makes her heart ache with excessive passion.  Conceit makes his heart ache with excessive pride.

With every new day, the end draws nearer. She feels her dream growing real and becoming stronger day by day while he is preparing her departure. He leaves her every night to dig her grave in the moonlight. He goes out in the morning to look for the best seed for her flower. He watches the wretched souls roaming and with an excited laugh promises them a new companion.

Unlike the former souls, her eyes were opened. She realized the truth. She saw it coming and knew he didn’t want her anymore. She couldn’t bear it, she was in tremendous pain. She loved him so much to the extent that she couldn’t accept staying when he wanted her to leave. She saw the grave. She didn’t want to trouble him with her death the way she troubled him being alive.

One night while he was asleep, she went out of the house, walked towards the grave. When she got there, she lied down in it, got a knife out of her pocket and stabbed her heart. He woke up on her ghastly shriek and seeing her lying breathless in her deathbed, he felt a shiver run down his spine. He rushed downstairs, ran outside and knelt down in front of her corpse. He noticed a piece of paper almost soaked in her crimson blood. He reached out his hand and his whole body quivered as he grabbed it and started reading:

 “I knew it wouldn’t be hard for you to get rid of me, but I didn’t want you to even bother. I started getting this feeling that you stopped loving me a while ago-that is if you have ever loved me. I saw you digging my own grave and it killed me to know how much you longed for my disappearance. You could’ve just told me though. I wouldn’t have stayed. I wouldn’t have done anything against your will. Now you read this and I’m gone. Forever gone. I don’t know how I would feel a couple of minutes from now, but I do hope that I would still be able to keep you in my heart in my death as I always did in my life. Now you are free. Now you don’t have to worry about me anymore. All that matters is your happiness. This is the last time you will ever see my face. Hide it. Throw dust on my face and hide it for good. Farewell, farewell my love. “

His eyes were opened wide staring at the piece of paper and tears started rolling down his ghostly white face. He sobbed till his eyes bled. He got up and held her tight, started shaking her body violently and calling out her name. “Don’t go, I’m sorry, just don’t go” is all his stiffened tongue could utter. Rain started pouring down on them washing away the blood and mingling with the tears. He knew she’d never be back. He placed the piece of paper back in the grave, said goodbye, closed the grave and planted the seed.

Every morning he would wake up to check the last flower he planted, but somehow, it never grew. He kept watering it and waiting and still it never grew. He missed her so much that he remembered the flying souls in his house. He ran up and down the whole place searching for her soul. He asked every soul he met, but none of them had an answer. They all agreed that she never came. It became more melancholic each day. He could hardly bear it.

His nights became sleepless. He spent them all lying down in the yard waiting for either the flower to grow or her soul to visit. He would crawl towards the grave and weep painfully “where are you dear? What happened to you? I’ve been waiting for you day and night and you’re never here. Come to me, don’t leave me like this. I miss you and I need you. I have a lot to tell you. I want to show you how sorry I am. I want to make it up for you. Come to me. Haunt me. Dear come to me and haunt me. They all came back to me and are filling the entire space, why aren’t you among them? Even your flower refuses to grow.” And he would bury his hands in the mud, grab a handful of it and scrutinize it. “Grow. Just grow” he would whisper to the black particles.

Time passed by so slow and he grew pale and weak. His hope, gradually, faded away. Finally, he made up his mind to burn the whole house down and end all its memories. Flames ate through everything and smoke rose up to the sky.

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 “Daddy, daddy look what I found” a little angel came up to him with a white beautiful flower. “It was there in front of the door, I just found it now. Can I keep it?” He raised his watery eyes, looked at her and at the flower and smiled.