Through Your Eyes

Chapter 19: Valarie

I yawned as daylight woke me up. And when I tried to stretch out my arms, I realized that something was holding them down. Confused, I blinked my eyes open and scanned my surroundings. I wasn't lying down in bed, instead still sitting on the couch. When I looked to my left, I met Reese's eyes and realized that they were what prevented my arms from moving as they held both my arms down.

Still half asleep I mumbled, "What... why...?"

"I'm trying to protect my eyes this time," they said with a laugh.

My face burned as I remembered our first meeting and how the first thing I did was punch them in the face. I gave a meek "sorry," before sliding off the couch and stretching out my arms once I was a safe distance away. They chuckled softly behind me and followed me into the kitchen.

I turned on the coffee maker and rubbed the side of my head. It hurt slightly from sleeping in an awkward position all night. I glanced over at Reese and they still had a soft smile on their face, so I smiled back before grabbing two cups out of a drawer.

"Sorry for... punching you in the face when we first met," I apologized with a sigh.

Their smile changed to a smirk and their eyes shined. "Nah, don't worry about it. It was probably a good thing you attacked me so I knew how dangerous you are!"

They laughed at their own joke while I rolled my eyes. As a literal devil, they were far more dangerous than I ever could be and they clearly knew it. But as that thought came to me I remembered something else. This devil's job forced them to commit crimes and murder humans, which was our main problem.

I had been trying to find solutions to allow them to keep their job without putting other people at risk, but I barely even knew where to start. I knew next to nothing about hell, let alone their strange job. My gaze shifted over toward the little cactus sitting on the counter and an idea came to me.

Reese quietly watched me think through this the entire time and waited patiently for me to explain what was going through my head. They followed my gaze to stare at the cactus and grew even more curious as to what I was planning.

"Sooo?"

"Oh, yes!" I looked back at them and started explaining my new idea. "I may not know how hell jobs work, but you do sign some sort of contract or agreement when you're hired, right?"

"Yeah, I signed a contract."

"Do you still have it?"

"It's in my house."

"And that contract has the details of your job and how it all works, right? Because if it does then we could use that to find loopholes to exploit! Is it possible for you to go back real quick and grab it?"

They glanced to the side and leaned back against the counter, clearly debating if it would be possible to get the contract. As they planned, I finished preparing the cups of coffee and offered them one.

They took a sip from it before deciding, "I mean I can try... but would that really help?"

"Well what if you can do well in your job without committing crimes? It's gotta say specifically what your job entails, so if we find the specifics of it all we can find a different solution."

They raised an eyebrow, their interest piqued.

"Maybe your job actually has nothing to do with crimes at all and that's simply what everyone else thinks they need to do. If it's not an actual requirement we wouldn't even have an issue!"

"That could work..." they agreed. "But how could such a major misconception about this job spread? It's literally called the crime job."

"Well a lot of jobs aren't exactly what they seem. I know my sister really wanted to be an inventor, but couldn't really find any jobs for it. She decided to still pursue her dream though and created things all on her own. She actually made this coffee machine here." I patted the side of the machine I used every morning, reminiscing the day Olivia first gave it to me.

"Wow, your sister's super impressive. If you don't mind me asking... Could you tell me more about her? She's clearly really important to you."

I continued to stare at my coffee machine as memories of my sister flooded my mind. She truly meant the world to me, and opening up about this would mean exposing a lot about myself to Reese. Could I really trust them enough to share such personal information?

But then again, they already shared their biggest secrets with me about being a devil and why they were really on Earth. And it's not like I had much to hide.

I was just... scared.

I sighed softly and couldn't help but smile as an image of my sister flashed in my mind. Glancing up at my soulmate, I watched the figure reflected in their eyes watch me expectantly. Taking one final sip of my coffee, I began describing the most important person in my life.

"She was... my best friend. Well, really my only friend for most of my life. We did everything together like twins would, even though she was two years older than me. We went to every celebration, every party together. And we supported each other through thick and thin.

"She was my world, my everything, and I would have been fully content just watching her grow and accomplish so much each day. She was top of her class throughout school and had such an impressive, creative mind. The whole inventor idea connected to this, while also allowing her to accomplish her other goal of helping others—just as she had done for me.

"Olivia was like a ray of sunshine, brightening people's lives and always seeing the best in the world. That's why I always gifted her items with sun-related designs on them, like that key to the apartment I gave you. She made life so easy, so fun, and I loved every moment we spent together. That's why we were always inseparable.

"I just loved her... I loved her so much..."

I stopped in the middle of my story as tears slowly streamed down the side of my face and my words got stuck in the back of my throat. I stared down at the floor to hide my sadness, but Reese pulled me into a hug to comfort me, gently rubbing my back and offering comforting words.

"She clearly meant a lot to you..."

"Mhm," was all I could say in response while holding back even more tears.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"It was her dumbass soulmate!" I couldn't stop myself from shouting.

Reese flinched slightly when I screamed this, but said nothing in response. As more tears escaped my eyes, I let all the rage flow out alongside them.

"He just randomly showed up out of nowhere, acting all 'gentleman-like' with big smiles and over-the-top bouquets, and, and he looked like all those stupid sales guys on TV! I- I should've known he was trouble!

"And he clearly wasn't right in the head! After they got married he started revealing his true colors. He was the real monster! He looked like a total madman by the end of it too. His brown hair grew disheveled, his button-up shirts untucked, and even just that strange look on his face was scary. He always gazed off into the distance with a haunted expression—as if he felt guilty for something.

"I should've taken notice of this! I should have stopped him! I should have saved Olivia!!!"

My face burned; my whole body felt as though it was set ablaze. I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from completely exploding and took a few deep breaths before continuing in a calmer tone.

"It was when I had to take my final exam that he took her driving to some random, remote location. And I've never figured out why, but he took out a gun he bought only recently and shot my sister right between the eyes to kill her without any chance of escape.

"And as soulmates... they both died that day."

I pulled back from Reese's embrace and laughed as a way to avoid some of this pain. Concern was written all over their face, but I ignored their expression as I explained one last thing: "That's why I was so scared of you."