The creature stood before her, contemplating a scarlet eyeball that she held between her long fingers like a precious jewel. Her eye.
"An acceptable sacrifice," the creature judged, bringing the eye to her lips. She swallowed it in one gulp, like one would swallow a candy.
Nausea overwhelmed her, but she managed to contain it.
"I will send you back to your world now," the creature explained, delicately wiping a drop of blood from the corner of her mouth. "In reality, no one will notice the absence of your eye, but you will never see from that side again."
She took a step back.
"You will be facing the old man again. Find the object that binds him to your world and destroy it. It should be easy in his case." Her tone suggested that she knew much more than she wanted to tell.
"How can I destroy the lollipop when he constantly holds it?" she asked.
An enigmatic smile stretched across the creature's lips.
"I will briefly interrupt his powers—a fraction of a second, no more. It will be your only chance. Make good use of it."
She raised her hand, preparing to snap her fingers.
"One last thing," she added. "If, by some miracle, you survive this ordeal... beware of what you have left behind with that woman who poses as a nurse. Some losses are permanent."
Before she could ask what the creature meant, she snapped her fingers and everything went black.
She was back in the train bathroom, suspended in the air, her broken body screaming in pain. The old man stood in front of her, his red lollipop twirling between his fingers, unaware of her brief journey to another world.
"Your tibia now," he repeated, exactly as before her departure.
She felt the absence of her left eye, although physically, it seemed to still be there. It was like looking through a black veil on that side.
A fraction of a second, the woman on the throne had said. A single chance.
She concentrated, watching for the slightest sign.
The old man raised his hand, preparing to break another bone.
And that's when she felt it—an imperceptible flicker in the air, as if reality itself flinched.
For an infinitesimal moment, she regained control of her body.
With all the strength she had left, she extended her leg toward his hand, aiming for the lollipop. Her plan was simple: make it fall and crush it under her weight, despite her broken bones.
But everything didn't go as planned.
Her fingers barely brushed the lollipop, but it was enough to dislodge it from his grip. Instead of falling to the floor, however, it flew toward the bathroom door, sliding onto the corridor floor.
"NO!" roared the old man. His face contorted into an inhuman grimace, his features stretching beyond what flesh should allow.
She fell heavily to the floor, her broken bones wrenching a cry of pain from her.
The old man threw himself at her with bestial rage.
"WHY?" he screamed, grabbing her by the throat. "Why won't you let me watch you suffer over and over? The day of the contract hasn't arrived yet!"
His fingers tightened, cutting off her breath.
"Why do you struggle? WHY? WHY? WHY?"
She fought desperately, scratching at his hands, but he was far too strong. Her vision was already beginning to darken at the edges.
His hideous face drew closer to hers, his saliva dripping onto her cheeks.
"Your last memory will be the sweet smell of my saliva and the image of my face anchored in your memory," he whispered, his fetid breath enveloping her like a shroud.
She was suffocating. Her lungs burned. Black spots danced before her eyes.
It's over, she thought. I'm going to die here.
But at the moment when consciousness was leaving her, she felt a foreign presence invade her mind. A presence both icy and familiar.
She was there, inside her.
Her mouth opened, but it wasn't her voice that came out.
"Amin me la kpa woufe, pegi yo," these ancient words thundered, resonating with a power that could never have emanated from her bruised throat.
The old man froze instantly. His eyes became two wells of absolute terror.
"No," he moaned. "No, not you. Not now. The contract—"
"Has not yet expired, I know," her mouth replied with the voice of the woman on the throne. "But you broke the rules, Amin. You touched what now belongs to me."
He abruptly released her, stumbling backward.
"I didn't know! I didn't know she had given you her eye!"
"Ignorance is no excuse," replied the voice, implacable.
The old man's body began to disintegrate, as if an invisible force was tearing him away particle by particle. He screamed—a sound so shrill that it should have alerted the entire train—then disappeared completely, sucked toward that strange world that she had briefly visited.
She collapsed on the floor, gasping.
To her great surprise, she found that her body was intact. No more broken bones, no more pain.
Only the absence of vision in her left eye persisted, a permanent sacrifice to the woman on the throne.
She rose slowly, still trembling, and opened the bathroom door. The train corridor was deserted, except for one person.
The little girl whose yogurt she had knocked over earlier.
She was crouched near the wall, staring at her with an innocent smile. And in her hand...
An empty lollipop stick.
Her heart skipped a beat when she understood. When the lollipop had gone out of the bathroom, the girl had picked it up and eaten it, thus inadvertently fulfilling the second condition necessary for the old man's defeat.
"Was it good?" she asked in a hoarse voice.
The girl nodded happily.
"Super good! It was cherry!"
An immense relief flooded her, quickly replaced by worry. Had this little girl just consumed the essence of an evil entity?
As if to answer her silent question, the girl tilted her head slightly to the side and smiled more broadly.
For an instant—so brief that she could have imagined it—her eyes seemed entirely black.
Then she jumped up and walked away, skipping and humming a childish melody.
She remained motionless, the blood frozen in her veins.
What had she done?
And what was this mysterious "contract" that everyone seemed obsessed with?
She shuddered, knowing deep within herself that this story was far from over.