Beginner Demon

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

First Night

My first night in the house started a little rocky, but as I slid onto the bed, I was feeling better about it. Amanda and Nathan were going to be challenges, but I wasn't there to make friends. I just had to make sure to keep my mind in one piece until the time came that they would decide to banish me.

I was staring at the ceiling waiting for sleep to come, but all I got was the hammering cackle of the demon. I reached over to my bag on the floor and pulled out my portable tape player. I popped the headphones on and fired it up at top volume. The strains of death metal flooded my ears and drowned out the demon. My eyes began to grow heavy but suddenly everything stopped. I looked up and saw Kathryn standing over me with my headphones in her hand.

"I could hear this from outside your door. Why did you have the volume up so high?"

"It's the only thing that drowns out the demon. It's the only way I can sleep."

"With this blasting in your ears?"

"I know it sounds weird, but it works."

"I think you may find it easier to sleep without the rock music."

"It won't work. Really. Please. Just for tonight?"

"How about you go the night without it. If you can't sleep, I'll give it back. Just try." It was hard to say no to her. I knew every hard decision she made was in the best interest of others. She just didn't understand. How could she? No one really could. It was my cross to bear.

"Fine." I said. She flashed me a smile and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. I ran over to the door and listened carefully until I heard her bedroom door close. The house was calm at last I ran back over to my bag and found my back up player. I settled into bed and turned it on, but was careful to keep the volume just a bit lower than normal. I hated to defy Ms. Reyes, but while she thought she knew better, I actually did know better.

Sleep finally did win the night. I had a few hours of peaceful rest, but eventually, as with every night, the dreams came. Normal people would get the usual crazy visions which were really just the accumulated mental crap in their brain being expelled in some random sequence. My dreams were vastly different. They felt different and they looked different. It was like I was living through them in real time. When my dreams began that night, I found myself in the middle of some weird factory that looked like it had been abandoned for centuries. Chains were hanging from the rafters above and I heard the echo of rats scratching along the floor. I had seen it before. At a certain point, the dream scenarios began to form a pattern. I guessed the demon was trying to bring my nightmares and fears to life in my dreams. It seemed to want nothing more than to destroy me utterly, and every night was a new battle to be fought.

I walked through the empty factory, but with my first step, the whole building began to shake and the floor split apart and opened up to a lake of lava below. I was standing on a flat rock in the flow and two large bubbles began to form. They exploded and two serpents rose up and towered over me. As my eyes focused, I saw the serpents had Amanda and Nathan's faces, but their jaws were greatly extended and were sporting some very sharp looking teeth. They thrashed around at me, hissing and spitting at me.

As they approached me, chunks of the rock I was on began to break away and sink into the lava. As my rock shrunk, the serpents grew. Their hissing became roars that shook the sky itself. Their breath was ice cold but the lava was growing hotter beneath me. I felt the last bit of rock sink away, but I leapt up and grabbed onto the serpent that looked like Nathan. As I dug my nails into its skin, it whipped around with a great shriek. It bucked and jerked as it tried to force me off, but I just dug in deeper. Green blood began to seep out of its flesh. I looked over my shoulder and the Amanda serpent was snaking toward me and it opened its jaw and flew forward, intent to bite, but as it came upon me, I jerked awake. I was back in my bed and I was breathing heavy and I was soaked in sweat. I looked over at the window and I saw the morning sun pouring in. I fell back down on the pillow and let out a deep breath.

tVBz7O xmm