"Huff, huff"
Out of breath, I sat back down onto my chair.
She looked like she wanted to say something, but she ultimately closed her mouth in the end.
'Hah... Was I too harsh on her?'
I contemplated to myself as I leaned back into the chair. An awkward tension hung in the air as we both sat opposite each other.
"Look Lucy, everyone has their own problems and stories that trouble them. I am not saying that yours is any worse or better than others, but that is why I am here to help you."
With a smile, I softly spoke to her.
She bit her lip and her hands trembled.
"Ok."
"In that case, let's start this psychiatric session for real now."
I asked her to change into something more comfortable while I took out my notebook to write down notes.
'To think I almost wrote her off as being fine... Even if I am hired to treat them for the supernatural incident, I should at least do my job all the way.'
After she finished changing, she once again sat opposite me, this time her expression less guarded.
"Come Lucy, tell me your story. From the start."
Inside the harsh and strong exterior of this young girl was a fragile, broken person. If I truly wanted to treat her, I had to start from the beginning.
She seemed to hesitate for a moment, but spoke in the end.
When she was seven, her father died, and when she was twelve her mother abandoned her. From then on, she survived by eating scraps from the street and relying on the friendly vendors that sometimes gave her free food.
She could only beg during the day in an attempt to earn money, and she had to endure the harsh cold during the winter season using scrap paper and cloth to make a makeshift shelter.
It was when she was fifteen that the manager from the Red Grand Hall noticed her beauty and decided to take her in. Of course, as an investment.
He fed her, clothed her, and protected her for just one condition: when she reached the age of eighteen she would work, and the profits would go to him to pay off the cost of raising her.
Left without a choice, she could only accept his offer if she wanted to live.
When she finally reached the age of eighteen, she was a big hit at first. Thanks to her beauty, many men flocked toward her, ranging from low-class residents seeking a night of pleasure to high-class people who could not buy her out due to her contract with the manager.
Tycoons, labourers, professors, middle-class workers. All types of people visited her until she eventually became numb.
Was it right for a young girl like her to have to go through all this? No.
But what could she do?
The world abandoned her, and she too wanted to abandon the world.
"What was the point of living? That was what I could only think of at that time..."
She had a sad look on her face, her hands tightly clenched together.
"But you did want to live right? That is why you are here right now."
"Yes."
One day while with a customer, she realised that something was wrong.
He was not like the others who lusted after her; instead, he seemed obsessed with something.
"He locked the door to the room and closed all the curtains, cutting out the light. I at first thought that he was just some pervert that enjoyed certain types of situations. But then in a blur he knocked me out, and the next thing I knew, he tied me to the floor in an unfamiliar environment and started a ritual."
"With only a few small candles illuminating the room, I could barely make out his figure while he was drawing something around me in blood."
"It was then I thought that I was really about to die. I had lived a horrible life, one full of sin. I haven't accomplished anything, I was just..."
"Trying to survive. You wanted to survive."
She looked up toward me, showing a smile filled with pain as her eyes started to quiver.
"Yes you are right. In that moment I wanted to survive."
After all, who in this world that has been given life wants it to be taken away?
No matter how determined you are to die, or how hurt you are because of the world, you can never truly abandon it.
The reason is simple.
The world is the one who gave you life.
"I shouted for help and pleaded for him to spare me. No one came and eventually he finished drawing and started the ritual."
She described how the circles of blood started to glow bright red. The sounds of screams could be heard, slowly growing louder and louder. The hooded man could barely be heard chanting something.
He slowly took out a silver knife from his coat, the sound of his footsteps drawing closer and closer to her.
"It was painful. I could feel the blood draining out from the wound he created, the vortex in front of me was swallowing the blood, turning it crimson."
"The sound of screams only grew louder and louder; maybe it was due to the demon almost being summoned, or it was my screams added to the sound."
"Eventually, it appeared. Unlike those stories and depictions told by the churches, it wasn't some evil red man with horns. It was much worse."
"Dressed in a black cloak, it somewhat resembled a human. All of its body was black bandages wrapped tightly, but what was most apparent was its lack of a face, just a pair of glowing orange eyes."
"The man, once seeing the demon, for some reason wasn't happy; instead he was shouting about why something was not working. While needless to be said, he was killed quickly."
She watched as the demon tore him apart limb from limb before shoving the pieces into the abyss that was its face.
The blood splattered all over her, and an intestine even landed on her body.
Just when the demon finished devouring the man and turned its attention toward her, the Bravehearts burst into the room and attacked the demon, saving her.
Of course, this was with casualties, as back then there were five of them, but one of them died in the fight with the demon.
"Have you seen someone die in front of you too Amon?"
"Yes... I indeed have. In fact he was a close friend of mine, who similarly attempted a ritual to summon a wraith and succeeded but ended up dying straight away from a blow to the head."
"I see..."
After hearing my words, all of the little suspicion left in her disappeared. She completely left her guard open toward me.
"How long ago did that happen?"
"Four days ago."
Her eyes instantly widened at my words as she was completely filled with shock.
"How... are you able to get over it so quickly?"
"It is not that I am over it completely per se. More like my way of coping with the loss is wanting to find out more of the supernatural. That is why I took this job, partly because I want to learn more so that I can protect those I value from these things."
"How noble... unlike me who is stuck--"
"Of course the pay is also super good, that is mostly why I took this job! Well, and I just also want to satisfy my own personal curiosity."
I cut her off with a big smile.
She laughed at me.
"You really are kind..."
"If I was truly a kind person I would offer to support you and give you money."
"No... That isn't what a kind person would do."
Currently, she was no longer in a contract with the manager as Carrow's organisation bought her out and gave her some money as compensation. But that was the extent of it.
After two years the money of course was running dry, and she had to find work again. But who would want to hire a girl who had no background?
No education.
No experience.
She only had her beauty, and that was the only thing she could take pride in and use.
'What a poor girl... She really could not do much in this situation. But still selling herself...'
I thought about the young girl in front of me. Delicate like a glass sculpture, easily broken.
'She is right, if I just give her money and offered to support her that is not being kind. I would be no different than those who just pity her.'
What can I do?
The only thing I could: understand and listen.
"Listen Lucy, I know I am in no place to tell you this but stop working as a worker. If you want to truly escape your situation you can't continue like this. I won't offer you money or give you a job, but I will try my best to help you."
I stood up and walked toward her, reaching out my hand.
"So, why don't you come with me."