𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 ✓

𝟎𝟏

HeartBurn

Chapter One

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          If Zen Maven could look into the future, she would have never signed her alias onto the blank line. Zen would have turned away the long raven-haired woman's offer without a second thought or hesitation. However, Zen Maven was nothing more than a woman in her twenties with a Ph.D. in Psychology and a twisted past. None of which seemed to be enough to alert her of the red flags that were the contract she had signed her soul to.

          Maeve Dean would be the name she'd use for a year until the contract ran out, at least that's what she told herself. It wasn't a pin name but rather the name that belonged to one of her old patients who fell ill and passed a year prior. Doubtful the real Maeve Dean would mind any if her name was being used. After all, the dead can't speak.

          Had she known what laid behind those cement walls she wouldn't have walked through them, to begin with. While her contract didn't forbid her from leaving during the day it did give her a strict curfew, one she was unaware of due to the carelessness of herself. She knew she had to work a year in the Russo's complex, having sessions with anyone who requested it as well as weekly sessions with the head of the house. It seemed like a simple enough task in exchange for hourly pay, a roof over her head, protection from her past, and three gourmet meals a day. None of which was the treatment of her old workplace.

          Except, the part that was left out of the contract was exactly how trying her job would be. She found it odd having to sign a waiver saying it wasn't the fault of the Russo family should she turn up missing, but if she were to be working with the mentally ill she knew not to question it. The same waiver was signed at her other workplace, so she saw it as nothing more than a precaution.

Zen Maven couldn't have been more wrong.

          "When did your nightmares begin?" Zen listened intently to the man before her, fingers clenched around a pen as she wrote down every word he spoke. He spoke fairly little and always hesitated before speaking his next words. The first patient of the day and she could already diagnose him with the condition, PTSD and Insomnia. It wasn't that hard to make it out, even though he was being fairly choosy with what he told her. The gunfire he mentioned though didn't make too much sense, he was far too young to be in any war. So where was all this death coming from?

          "When I joined, maybe a month or two later. At first, it wasn't so bad, just a little drop-off and moving heavy materials to and from places. That was before.." He trailed off, leaning forward on Zen's desk and instinctually causing her to lean back. "Before Satana took over." His words were so hushed, the fear in his eyes almost caused his paranoia to spread.

( satan )

          "Do you mean Satan has joined your job?" Zen had been trained to take every word a patient said as seriously as possible. It could lead to a mental break should she ruin their delusions. The only time she needed to was when the delusions posed harm to herself or others.

          The man sat back in his chair, a loud maniac laugher pierced the ears of anyone within the room's radius. Zen noted the laughter, though she couldn't tell if he had lost his mind or if he simply found her to be a comedian. "No, more like his son. That boy, no.. that man. Aurelio is something unholy. He likes to watch them bleed, I've seen it with my own eyes. He shot a man twelve times, Doctor, and then he crouched down and began making little drawings in their blood." This caused Zen to look up from her file, eyes meeting that of the man in front of her. She wanted to believe he was testing her, perhaps he was nothing more than a man trying to play a cruel joke. And yet, when she saw the terror in his eyes she knew he was speaking the truth.