Good For Gone

The Chase

He didn't go directly after the person like I thought he would. Instead, he veered into an alleyway and disappeared.

I followed and only caught a glimpse of him disappearing around the corner. It was hard to keep up with him, he was faster than he looked.

As I got around the corner I saw him intercept the thief almost perfectly in front of a different alleyway across the street.

He shoved them into it, away from the public eye. I was close behind.

"Peter!" I huffed, nearly out of breath, it had been a while since my running days.

He didn't even turn around. The thief stumbled and was trying to get up too fast, which caused them to trip over their own feet just long enough for Peter to grab them by the roots of their hair and pick them up.

A scream had only begun to exit their lips when he punched them in the throat, stopping it half way.

"So you wanted money?" He hissed, grabbing a hand full of coins that spilled onto the ground, "Well here you go."

He pressed the person, who I could see now was a rough looking woman, against the wall. With one hand tangled in her hair and his chest crushing her into bricks, he began shoving the dirty coins into her mouth when she opened it to scream.

She began choking on them but he pressed harder, "You can go when you swallow them all, bitch."

I saw tears begin to roll down her cheeks and I stepped forward and yanked on his arm.

"Stop it!" I did my best to sound commanding. He lost his grip on the woman for a second and she lurched forward spitting coins onto the ground.

He glared at me and then pushed me away with enough force to send me toppling into the opposite wall. When he saw that I was distracted by the cuts on my palms and the bruise on the back of my head he turned his attention back to the woman.

He put a foot on her back and forced her to the concrete.

"You missed a few."

When all she did was whimper he spat on her face and repeated his instructions until she began eating the coins off the wet ground.

I stood up, a little dizzy from hitting the wall and went to push him off of her.

He could see me coming, so my hands on his chest didn't make too much of an impact. But it was enough for her to slip out from under him and run away.

He let her go, focusing his attention on me now.

"I missed you, he never lets me out to play when you're around." He smirked.

I laughed nervously in response, "I definitely didn't miss you."

"That stings," he said, "But you should probably get used to it."

"Why is that?"

Before answering he bent down and collected the remaining bills and coins that were littered on the ground and then shoved them into my hands.

"I'm finally free for once without being stuck in that sewer, and I don't have any urge to give that up anytime soon. Lucky for me there's no alarm clocks out here."

I groaned, "And what do you intend to do?"

"Whatever I want." He smiled.

I sighed, "Well have fun, I'm not dealing you."

It kind of felt like a lie when I said it. I mean I couldn't just let him roam the streets like this. But I also didn't want him to think I'm going to help him.

"I wouldn't be so sure," I crinkled my eyebrows at him, "Granted you obviously don't like me, but I'm also still in your friend's body. And I know for a fact that he wouldn't enjoy waking up in jail."

"For a fact?"

"I mean I can hear him. It's gotten quieter as time has gone on, but he's in there."

I felt a pang of sadness in my chest. I'd known that the demon could hear me when I was with Peter, but for some reason, it hadn't occurred that Peter was still there when the monster took over.

"And he's saying he doesn't want to go to jail," I said, still rubbing the back of my sore head.

"Not really," he said, taking a step towards me, "He's mostly begging me not to kill you."