Chapter 4: The Decision

It was the day before Christmas Eve. They were in the living room with their family and listening to Christmas songs while decorating the tree their father had bought a few days prior. Deck the Halls, We Three Kings, O Holy Night. In the low, warm light of light strings, they were walking around the felled tree with their sister and their parents and decorated it with baubles, candles, and garlands.

Despite the music and the lights and the smiles on their family’s faces, their chest felt heavy. This was normal for this time of the year, and especially when they were decorating, the feeling was omnipresent. After twenty minutes of chasing around the tree with baubles, some blue, others pink, a few purple, they had to sit down and rest. They had to take a look at the tree from a distance, they would always tell their family.

An hour later, the tree was decorated. Enough branches remained visible to remind them that there was a tree underneath the decoration. Only tinsel was missing because the bunny that was now living with them would eat it whenever left unsupervised.

In two days, their family would exchange presents next to the tree. Many years ago, the presents had been under the tree on the morning of Christmas Day, but now that all children had become adults, Santa no longer delivered any presents. The heavy feeling in their chest returned at the thought of the presents they had bought. They had spent hours brainstorming, searching the internet, and recalling past conversations with their family. They had given their best and hoped it would be good enough.

Their mother’s birthday present two months prior had been a framed photograph they had taken. They had tried their best to replicate her description of the sun bursting through the roof of a forest. Their mother had thanked them in the same manner she had thanked everybody else, but the image of her frown was stuck in their head.

The sun had set long ago, the tree was decorated, and everything else that needed to be done that day had been done. They had reached the daily goal they had set for their thesis, and all presents were wrapped in reused wrapping paper. They still took their laptop along to put the nearly two-hour long ride on various trains to good use and work on their thesis.

More than two hours and one cancelled train later, at half past six, they rang the doorbell of a house very unlike their own. It had two floors, just like theirs, but that was where the similarities ended. It was a nice house with triple-pane windows, a heat pump, and solar panels on the roof. It didn’t require constant upkeep, the owners didn’t have to replace most of the electrical wiring when they moved in, and the garden was not littered with bottle caps.

A woman wearing an oversized sweatshirt opened the door. “You’re late,” she said and embraced them. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“You know how it is,” they said and didn’t attempt to explain anything. She was well aware. “Good to see you.”

The two of them moved left and right in their embrace, each placing their head on the other’s shoulder. One broke the rhythm and looked the other in the eyes, and they kissed. She smiled at them and pulled them inside to close the door. It was getting cold.

Inside, their tired eyes opened wide. With cracking bones, they straightened their posture and shook the cold off their limbs. Another minute and they had warmed up enough to take off their jacket and walk through the white corridor towards the kitchen. There, she had already prepared the scene.

“You clean the vegetables, and I peel the potatoes,” she said and pushed them towards the sink. In the warm kitchen light, they cleaned the broccoli, the carrots, and everything else in the stainless steel sink. As the pile of clean vegetables on the live-edge counter grew larger, they looked at her progress with the potatoes and realised that they would have to start cleaning faster.

Together, they stood underneath the large, shiny vent that pulled air away from the six-burner stove without much noise and flipped this in that pan and stirred that sauce and heated this up just in time.

“This is good for you,” she said and pointed to the saucepan. “It’s low cholesterol.”

They hugged her from behind. “Yes, doctor,” they said and kissed her neck.

“Grab the plates from the cubby.”

They sat down in front of the TV, each with a plate, and she put on her favourite Christmas film. They weren’t a big fan of Christmas films, but some were better than others. Sitting on the sofa with her, this particular one was even good. They had dinner and then cuddled on the sofa with her head on their chest. Their heart beat slowed, their breathing calmed, and every time she was about to drift off to sleep, they woke her up. She hated falling asleep in front of the TV.

The film was over and they walked up the perfect end-grain stairs to the first floor. She was tired, and so were they, and both were looking forward to falling asleep together.

“Nine months, you said,” she said as she was undressing. “Right?”

They nodded. “And it’s just attendance credit that I should’ve got this year, but then my thesis got a bit overwhelming.”

You are reading story Duke of Hell at novel35.com

“Talk about overwhelming. This last bit of nursing school is killing me.” She came closer and gave them a little kiss. “And that’s how it’s always gonna be from now on.”

“That’s one hell of a job. Mad respect.” They returned the kiss and made it a bit longer.

“All according to their abilities,” she said and sat down on her bed. She stretched her arms out towards them. “Come ‘ere!”

Her head rested against their chest, and this time, when her eyes fell shut for a few seconds, they didn’t wake her up. If her parents could’ve gone on more pre-Christmas and pre-everything else visits to distant family, that would’ve been great. Her bed was warm. They liked the warmth in her room.

“I might even have a job lined up,” they whispered, but she was too close to sleep to respond with anything other than a warm “Mmhmm.” She dug her nose a bit deeper into their chest and dozed off, and soon after, they, too, fell asleep.

 

Dinner on Christmas Eve was loud. They sat at a decorated table with their family, but despite the festive looks, dinner was kept simple that day. Two bowls of potato salad and boiled sausage were all they had on this day of the year. It had something to do with their German ancestry, but they weren’t sure what exactly.

Their father coughed, not because he was ill or had choked on something but because that was what he always did. He sat next to them, and they had to fight the urge to raise their hand to their ear and hold it shut every time he inhaled a bit deeper than usual. Later, after dinner, the entire family sat down in the living room and watched TV. Their grandmother had to leave them soon because she was too tired.

The film they watched was the same as the night before, only this time, it was louder. Had the songs been this shrill before? Had Santa’s laughter been this ear-shattering? They could’ve asked their family to turn down the volume, but they had resigned already. It would have disturbed the peace. “Go and see a doctor if that’s too loud for you. I can’t hear anything when they’re talking.”

“Who’s that guy again?” their sister asked.

“Who?” their father replied. “Oh, that one.” He coughed. “They showed him in the beginning, but I’m not sure. I think…” and he started explaining, and he raised his voice a bit to make sure he was understood, and their mother grabbed the remote with a frown and turned up the volume to understand the film.

At ten-thirty, they were in their room, finally alone. They had managed to hold their left ear shut for most of the film, but now that they were sitting on their bed in silence, the ringing was louder again. It would calm down over night, but they knew it would cost them sleep.

On their table, they spotted their laptop sitting in front of their computer’s monitor. They had lost a lot of time they could’ve spent working on their thesis. And on Christmas Day, they would lose even more. If they could’ve just skipped tea, that would have been wonderful, but they couldn’t despite the deadline in just over two weeks. They could have worked right then and there, or they could have gotten up a bit earlier the next day, but instead, they kept sitting on their bed for minutes, and after some time, those minutes turned into an hour. As long as the lights were on, it didn’t feel that cold either, but another fifteen minutes later, even the warm light couldn’t keep up the illusion of heat any more.

They changed into their bed-time clothes, turned off the light, and slipped under their blanket. One arm reached out into the cold, dark air again to pick up their phone from the bedside table. They browsed social media for a few more minutes, until their fingers were numb from the cold. It would be well below freezing that night. They got up again and walked towards the window, and the bells that ended the last service of the day became inaudible behind the two glass panes. They turned on the heater to seventeen degrees; any lower than that and it wouldn’t heat the room enough to prevent condensation on the walls and window.

Instead of hurrying back under the blanket, they kept staring at their phone. They had been given till the end of the fourteenth day.

They picked up their phone and turned on the torch. On a small business card, there was a telephone number. They held their phone to their ear and waited.

“Yes?” Lucifer’s voice answered the phone.

A second passed. Breathe in. Two seconds. Breathe out. Three seconds. “I’m in,” said Agbar.

You can find story with these keywords: Duke of Hell, Read Duke of Hell, Duke of Hell novel, Duke of Hell book, Duke of Hell story, Duke of Hell full, Duke of Hell Latest Chapter