Deamons

Chapter 11 The Stumble part 3

     "Let me check your eyes," she says. It is an explanation not a question. She thumbs his eyelid open and shines a bright light in. "You're ok. Go back to class," she says. "What? Can't I just stay here for a little while?" Starke asks. He needs the time to figure a lie to tell Kate. "Nope it's third period. You've been here long enough. Back to class with you. Shoo shoo," she pushes his books in hands and shovels him out the door back to class pass in hand.

"Oh no God what am I going to do?" he asks the universe bewildered as to what to do. His imagination can envision a quiet life where he carries Kate's books to class. They go for nature walks. A light fluffy simple world.

"Oh, how lovely," Rejection whispers whilst waltzing over to the inner ear. "You are nothing. No one loves you, no one will ever love you, if your mommy can't love you then how can some sweet snow dove? You soil the world around you like the shit smell stuck in your nostrils from all those dead bodies." Then Rejection points to Death having him glide down to the olfactory senses to mimic the smell of the dead. Rejection then pushes into the mind. He draws pictures then pushes them together so Starke may make daymares of them. He is already enjoying seeing himself holding hands with Kate when Rejection's first picture pushes in. It is of people whispering about Starke. Like a subliminal message in a film this first message is just a blip. Then Rejection pushes the image in again and again like changing reels the way they did in old time movie theaters.

The image sticks. Then Rejection pushes more in. Starke is still with Kate holding hands in his mind but with a crowd of cool kids circling the pair like hungry sharks. "Death boy! Does the piss on his hands make your hands stink, KATE!" Rejection is enthralled now this is his element. Oh the subtleties of misery. He looks behind to make sure another deamon is not lending into the excitement he feels. No one is there. He continues, "Do you ride in the back of the hears with him? Does his daddy drop the two of you off at the movies in the hearse? How do the three of you fit back there? You, big ass Starke and the dea."

Starke cannot take it anymore. He bashes his own head into a locker wanting to drive the images out. It does not beat out easy. He has been hit in the face and head so many times it takes a great deal of abuse to affect him. He catches the venting on the locker with his forehead. The metal jutting out cuts him, the blood runs down his face. He hits his head like this three times before the pain shuts the destructive images out. He looks like a pro wrestler who razor blades himself in the ring.

He is in the bathroom now. He cannot take long in there, because his pass is timestamped. The bleeding will not stop. Finally, he lumps toilet tissue up there until it sticks. He wads a bunch more up and shoves it in his pocket. How am I going to explain this, he thinks? He needs something. Creativity takes to the inner ear. This is an easy one, come on boy. You should not need me for something this simple. "You fell into a locker," Creativity whispers to him.

The bell rings. He is caught in the hall with hundreds of kids. Many are noticing the bloody wadded toilet tissue on his forhead. They gawk. Then here comes Kate. This is to close to his daymare. "Oh God," he whispers. "Starke!" Kate hollers. Now more people look and circle. "Nice," Rejection says rubbing his slick hands. This is working better then he planned. It is nice when you set a domino up and people set rest up for you Rejection thinks while grinning.

It is to much. If he were a machine like an elevator an alarm and light would be going off. Overload! Overload! "Just leave me alone Kate!" Starke shouts. "What, why Starke? What happened to you?" Kate asks. Reasonable questions for reasonable people. Oh, Starke and his gifts wished he lived in a reasonable world. "I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!" Starke slaps her verbally with each word. Rejection is at the eyes mouthing each lushes word and feasting and growing. "It's just you me," Rejection whispers.

Kate is crying. He has hurt her. He wants to hold her and apologize, but what would he say after that. More people are gathering. It is getting more and more like his daymare. He walks off leaving her with the crowd.