The Demon in My Head

Positivity

Next thing I know, I'm in a forest. It's dark and wide and empty - nothing but me, the wide-spaced trees and the moon, leaking a faint white glow all around me.

Something calls me from the depths. Not a voice - a feeling. Like something is reaching out to me through the tall, thin trees. A hand, palm up and fingers outstretched.

I lift mine, searching for grip on this imaginary hand. My fingers close around nothing. With a pang in my chest, I take a step forward.

Still, the feeling calls to me, so I keep walking, roots and underbrush crunching underneath my feet. I need to find whoever it is who beckons me. If I find them, I am free.

I brush against a tree, stumbling into a patch of moonlight. I look down. Below me is grass, as thick and lush as velvet, bleached grey and silver in the moonlight. A sweet little glade in the middle of the forest.

I turn my head to the right.

A moonlit lagoon spreads out in front of me, nestled in a rolling hill. The water laps at the rim; even in the dark it seems cool and sweet - perfect for a dip. I can't remember the last time I wasn't burning.

This is what was calling me. Pure, fresh, clean water to quench my thirst, to dive into so to cool my burning body.

I walk to the edge, onto a small hill looking out across the rippling mirror.

I close my eyes and let myself fall forward.

'Eve, no!'

Something hits me harder than a battering ram, knocking the wind out of my lungs and throwing me back. I swear my neck cracked.

I'm gasping, for some reason nearly sobbing, my heart pounding. For a split second I think this is somehow the demon's fault, but then I come back to myself, and I'm being hugged, smothered in red hair.

Emma. She's got me in a choke-hold. Now she's crying. Her tears drip down my shoulder.

I peek behind her. The stairs stretch down beyond her. Taking a leap headfirst down them would have been very painful indeed.

Another murder attempt from the demon in my head.

*

I give up. School is no use in this equation. Aaron hates me. I'm dying from exhaustion. I just need a bloody day to be me and myself again.

If I can ever be her again.

As it was, a new strategy has been decided. I am being babysat. The latest possession has Emma beyond the point of no return; she needs a way to control this. Control me.

Mum agrees. Tonight I am sleeping in my mother's bed, which I haven't done since I was a toddler.

Dad had been in it too back then.

Either way, tonight I am protected. In the morning my alarm doesn't ring and me and Mum spend the day chilling out.

We're stretched out on the sofas, watching Grease. Mum loves this movie. Perfect for a day like this.

I've seen this movie so many times I start zoning out in the middle. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see my phone resting on the coffee table.

I glance at Mum. She's watching the TV.

I stare at the device. How had I done it in the hotel?

Taking a deep, silent breath, I reach out with my mind. I hit something dark and hateful and evil, and try to touch it.

With a chuckle, the thing touches back.

I can barely swallow the noise I make as the whole world flickers and surges, the burst disappearing as quickly as it came. On the table, the phone rattles like it's been shaken.