Beginner Demon

Chapter 4

House Rules

Kathryn took Jake and Tilda on a more extensive tour of the grounds. She showed them the pool out in the back and the flower garden along the side yard. Jake could hardly believe it was real. It all looked too perfect to be real. The grass was green and everything was bright with life. The sky even seemed more blue over the house. It was a far cry from the group homes and flop houses he had been sent to in the past.

When the tour was over, Tilda bid him goodbye and Kathryn and Jake went back to the house. She then took him upstairs and gave him the rundown of the daily routine. Breakfast was at seven; a half hour before the bus for school was due. The house was up at six and lights were out by ten. Eleven on the weekends. She also showed Jake the chore wheel. Everyone was expected to take some responsibility for the upkeep of the grounds. Everyone was also expected to help with the preparation of meals. Kathryn explained if everyone was going to eat, everyone had to work for it. Jake found the rules of the house were more than reasonable and agreed to them all.

Jake then retreated to his new room and just flopped down on the bed and took in the utter emptiness of it. The walls were bare. He could hear the echo of his breath when he exhaled. He got up and padded over to the window and looked out. He could see a good portion of the town from his perch. Past the trees he saw the tops of the homes in the next neighborhood and on the other side he saw the large signs from the strip mall he saw just before they arrived. He had noted it and made a mental note of checking it out when he got bored.

Jake went over to the closet, opened it up and kneeled before his bag and opened it up. He pulled out all the clothes he had and folded them up as best he could. He pulled a new shirt out of the pile and slipped into it. He headed for the door, but before he could touch the knob, a rattling shriek ripped through his brain. He fell back onto the floor and clutched his head. It was the demon. It was screaming like never before. Jake pushed past the pain as best he could and managed to balance on his knees against the wall. When the demon tore through him again, Jake spun around toward the wall and slammed his head against it as hard as he could. The noise didn't stop so he bashed his head again and again until the unholy racket finally faded. Jake looked up and he saw the deep cracks he had left in the wall as well as the threads of blood dripped along the cracks. His door blew open and he turned to see Kathryn standing before him. She looked at him and then her eyes diverted to the wall. Jake could hear her yelling and screaming at him. He could hear the words he always heard before being thrown out coming out of her lips.

"Are you all right? I heard that noise all the way downstairs!" She said with sincere concern. She ran over to Jake and examined his forehead. Her touch was gentle and soft and her tone was more sympathetic than angry.

"I'm sorry about the wall."

"Don't worry about that. It's a wall. I'm more concerned about your head. You're bleeding."

"It's fine. I just need to clean it off and it heals over pretty fast."

"You've done this before?"

"Not a lot. It's just when the demon makes noise and it gets to be too much, I have to do something to distract myself from it. It's kind of like when you want to distract yourself from one kind of pain with another." Kathryn looked back at Jake with as much understanding as she could muster.

"Are you all right now?"

"Yes. I think so. I was actually going to go out and check out that strip mall up the road. Just want to get some air."

"Oh. All right. That's fine. Go and have some fun. Dinner is at six sharp. You're getting a pass on helping tonight since it's your first night."

"Cool. Thanks."

"But I want to check your head before you go."

"Fine." Jake said. Kathryn led Jake back down the hall to the bathroom and she turned on the brightest lights in front of the large mirror. She positioned him in front of her and she pushed back his hair and checked out his scalp. She could see the bloody marks under his hair. They looked rather deep. She then went to the medicine cabinet and pulled out some antibiotic cream and bandages. She checked his wounds again, but when she did, they were nearly healed over. The blood was all but gone and the marks were closing up before her very eyes. A few moments later, his scalp was completely healed over, as if nothing had happened at all.

"It's gone." She said.

"What?"

"The blood and the scratches. They're all gone." Jake slipped away from Kathryn and headed to the door.

"I told you. It's kind of a double edged sword. I'm just going to go now. I'll be back before six. Thanks." Jake said and dashed off.