A Demon's Past

Chapter 1

Lucy handed me Mist's leash back and she looked at me with confusion and judgment --That dog knew too much. I had that feeling ever since I got the white Samoyed. She has an old soul and a wise presence. 

After Lucy went up to get her title, I turned around, looking for those two strangers again, and found no one sitting in their places. I was filled with a foreign sense of dread that had me turning around and petting Mist.

It was probably my anxiety acting up, right?

 ____

"At what time is your flight?" Lucy said as we met up after the ceremony.

"10 pm, my parents want me back in New York as soon as possible," My parents were very insistent on me coming back home - to an empty house - and relaxing for a year before I continued my studies at Harvard. They were worried about my mental health.

"Ugh I'm so jealous," Lucy was going to meet me in New York in a few weeks, but first she had to fly back to Panamá to meet her parents. There was some sort of complicated family situation going on, and she had to be there to solve it for some reason.

"I'll be fine, I'm excited to see everyone again" By 'everyone' I meant my only two other friends. 

"Be careful, and if you feel bad at any time, do not hesitate to call me" If anyone knew how bad my panic attacks were, it was Lucy. She was the one that brought me to the hospital every time I passed out. And the one that tried to contact my allusive parents, as if they cared.

"That's why Mist is always with me," I said petting her head as she licked my hand. Mist was also the reason I could even get through my sister's death.

"And she's very capable" Lucy praised as she too petted the little beast.

With that, we both said our goodbyes and I headed back to my dorm to pack my very limited amount of possessions. It was mostly clothes and plushies.

And I took my flight.

____

As I got out of my very late flight I was exhausted, hungry, and dressed in my most comfortable sweats. All I wanted was for my parent's chauffeur, Henry, to pick me up so I could go home and cuddle with my puppy.

But instead of the quiet middle-aged white man, I was greeted by my young, attractive, and loud childhood best friend, Anika Mehta.

"Ari!" she yelled, holding out a sign that said my name that I'm sure was written with lipstick. 

I smiled and ran into her arms. Anika and her older brother, Darsh, were the only friends I ever had as a child. I've always been very introverted and never good at talking to people, but for some reason, they were the exception. They never cared if I blabbed for hours about some fairytale I'd just read, or if I said the wrong thing without thinking, they only cared about me.

"I'm so glad you are back," she said with a smile "You look amazing," she said, obviously being kind as I was sure I looked as tired as I felt. She ruffled  Mist's fur in a loving way as she brought her attention back to me.

"Please," I surveyed her, dressed to the nines in expensive manolos and a little black dress that made her olive eyes pop. "You look amazing, where are you going?"

"We are going out, to a new club I just managed to get us into" Before I could even start complaining she took Mist from me and started walking. I had already found my bags and all I had to do was follow her to her car. 

Unlike me and Darsh, Anika stayed in New York as she went to  NYU to study political sciences. Ever since we were kids, Anika had been saying she wanted to be someone in power, and I had a feeling she could rule the world if she set her mind to it.

"No, please" I begged, I just wanted to be home, I couldn't bring Mist to clubs and although I was better now, Mist always made me feel safer.

"Come on, I just graduated too," she said with a smile. She wanted to party "Just for a while, I promise you'll be back home before 1 am."

I have always been a people pleaser, so it didn't take much to say yes as she drove us to her house where we changed and left Mist sleeping comfortably in her bed.

____

"I'm not sure about this dress" While I was sure it looked beautiful on people with more confidence, the royal blue short dress I borrowed from her made me feel like I was dressing up as someone else. This didn't feel like me, not anymore.

"You look beautiful," she said as we got into the club, and just as I was about to say something to her I realized she was nowhere to be found.

"Anika?" I walked through the sea of writhing bodies and sweaty dancers until I reached the end of the dancefloor. I was nearing the VIP area, which was honestly a concept I never understood. The exclusivity was supposed to be alluring, but really the only difference was that they had a little velvet rope that allowed people entry.

I was about to turn back when I saw him. My breath caught in my throat, my stomach physically hurt because of how tight it was, and I suddenly felt like time slowed down.

 Black fluffy hair, heartbreaking smile, eyes made of oceans—an alluring and dark presence filled with shadows and dark promises.

I think I stopped breathing as I beheld him for what felt like the first time but definitely wasn't. I didn't even realize I was slowly inching closer to him, I needed to touch him, to make sure I wasn't imagining it.

This club was so dark, I could be wrong.

But the closer I got the surer I was. This was him. He was the boy that watched the girl fall, the boy that loved the girl but let her go. The boy I'd been dreaming about every night ever since I was a child.

I was suddenly flooded by a foreign feeling, and a memory of a name I'd never heard before, a name I was sure I'd never said yet I uttered a thousand times.

Andras.

And there he was as real as ever. With a woman, a woman that was straddling him.

A woman that looked like me.