My first week back at school was hell. I tried my best to avoid Grimshaw and his club members, but I will run into them from time to time. Mostly Grimshaw and Hector. I tried to avoid Tynan, too. But it’s like he’s following me now. I noticed him one day when I was in my drama club, and he was sitting in the back watching. I felt very anxious. What makes matters worse? I didn’t have Joz to talk to me anymore. He’s been mute for the entire week. I’m not sure why, but I felt very alone. Well, until Iridiana comes around to help me and gives me advice. As the days go by, it always feels like the end of the world is coming closer, and it might very well be so. I have yet to talk with Stacy, so I’ve been avoiding the cafeteria until I do so. The question that always burns in my mind is still burning to be answered. Do I trust Stacy? Do I even trust Paula? I know I can’t trust Tynan and Grimshaw and his club members. I just want this year to end already. I want to be free of this wretched school.
“Well, well, look what we have here.”
I froze as I turn around from heading to my club room as I skipped going all last week. Which upset Iridiana, but I explained I needed to catch up, which she understood. The last person who I ever wanted to see was standing behind me, and it occurred to me I haven’t seen him at all last week. Which was fine with me, but what does he want now? Finn looked the same as I remembered him, except he looked thinner and paler, which looks odd on him.
“What do you want?” I ask just wanting to get away from him.
“Oh? Acting brave now are we?” Finn asks as he steps towards me, but I noticed he was limping and he looked like he was in pain.
“Finn? Whats wrong with you? You look like you’re hurt.” I noted not out of concern but out of curiosity.
Finn stops as he looks at me in shock but shook his head as he continues limping towards me. I noticed beads of sweat running down his forehead, as if this was taking a toll on him and he looked like he was about to pass out. I didn’t know how I should feel about this situation. It looked so wrong. It looked out of place. I feel in my gut that this isn’t right. I don’t know why he’s pushing himself like this when he’s in so much pain, but it doesn’t seem like he would do this. I watch as Finn suddenly collapsed on the ground, and I can hear him gasping for breath. What the hell is going on?
“Finn, what the hell is happening to you?” I ask but still keeping my distance from him.
I watch as he glances up at me, but he looks like he’s in too much in pain to reply. I hate this guy, but right now he looks like he’s dying and I don’t want him dying in front of me. I ran past him to get a teacher, but there was no teacher in the hallways. So, I ran towards the first classroom but nobody was in there. I then figured instead of wasting my time, I’ll just go to Mr. Pilcher for help. He’s a neutral teacher, so he would help. I ran back towards Finn and told him no funny business as I help him up. I then half walk and half carry him all the way to my drama club. I kicked the door open, scaring everyone inside. Mr. Pilcher runs up with wide shock eyes as he saw what’s going on.
“Can you help him?” I ask, feeling myself wobble from Finn’s weight.
With no questions, he nods and takes Finn from me and brings him to his office. I gave myself a second to breathe before I follow Mr. Pilcher into his office. I knocked first before walking in after he said to come in. I closed the door behind me as I look over to where they were. Mr. Pilcher had Finn laying on the couch he had in here and has a wet washcloth on Finn’s forehead. I walk closer to them staring at them as I didn’t know what exactly happened.
“You were brave to help this boy, Lonnie.” Mr. Pilcher tells me with a sigh.
“What do you mean? I couldn’t let him die out in the hallway.” I tell him honestly, making Mr. Pilcher look over at me.
“You don’t have to worry about that. He would not die, but he is seriously ill.” Mr. Pilcher tells me, looking back over at him.
“Do you know what happened to him?” I ask, curious.
“It’s a rare thing that happens to dark users. Since you know they share blood with the demons that they summon. If the demon they summon deceives them, or lies to the once who summons them. Then their blood will let their master know. It will boil them from the inside out, making their blood feel like it’s burning from the inside. It will feel like they are dying, but they aren’t. It doesn’t kill them, and it will pass once all the demon blood they have in their system boils and dissolves.” Mr. Pilcher explains to me.
“That-uh, that sounds intense.” I say, shocked.
“No shit.”
Mr. Pilcher and I look over to see Finn awake and sitting up. I noticed he’s still pale, but he looks better. It still doesn’t explain why he got so thin, though. Oh well. It’s not my problem. Mr. Pilcher tells Finn to take it easy but Finn just slaps his hand away before standing up and limping towards the door.
“I don’t need this stupid club’s help.” Finn hisses.
“If it wasn’t for us, you would be out in the hallway where everyone would have seen how you got betrayed by your demon.” I commented, angry at how he’s being.
Finn froze as he stood there by the door, and I noticed something else that I hadn’t earlier. Finn kept holding his right side, like it’s bothering him or something. Mr. Pilcher mentioned nothing about a demon betrayer physically hurting their summoners. So why is Finn limping and holding his side in pain? Something fishy is going on. I know Finn won’t tell us, but he’s a bad guy, so it won’t be so bad if we blackmailed him to tell us, right?
“Finn, you could at least thank Lonnie before you leave.” Mr. Pilcher says as Finn opens the door.
“No.” Finn plainly says.
“Don’t thank me. I don’t care, but I want to know why you’re so hurt when it should just be your blood gets affected by a demon’s betrayer, right?” I ask, looking over at Finn knowingly.
Finn slams the door close as he turns towards me enraged as he hisses, “Do not bring that up McPurthy!”
“I won’t, if you tell me why you’re so hurt.” I say, crossing my arms.
“Why do you even care?” Finn asks, getting frustrated by his situation.
“I honestly don’t care, but I’m curious about why you got so hurt when it should’ve just been your blood getting boiled.” I tell him seriously.
“It’s none of your business!” Finn hisses.
“Okay. Don’t tell me. I’ll just go out and tell everyone out there what happened to you.” I tell him as I head for the door.
“Wait!” Finn yells, grabbing onto my arm.
I look back at him with a glare but then soften my expression when I saw the hurt and scared expression written across his face. Maybe I’ve gone too far? I thought as I turned towards Finn. I turn towards Mr. Pilcher, who’s standing there wide eyed at the entire scene. I ask him if he could leave us for a moment. Mr. Pilcher raises an eyebrow at me but nods as he walks out of his office. Huh. That was easier than I thought. I realized as I turn back towards Finn and froze as I saw a single tear sliding down his face. I placed my hand on his cheek, making him freeze before he shoved me away. I bump into the door as he stumbles and crashes into the desk with a painful groan.
“Finn. I get it. You’re hurt, you’re scared, but you’re trying to keep up this big bad boy act. Why? Who are you trying to impress?” I ask keeping my distance from him.
“You still don’t get it, do you?” Finn asks through gritted teeth.
“What could I possibly not get?” I ask, not believing that I missed something.
“You must already know about the ritual that Tynan and his father are planning to do at the end of next month. Right?” Finn asks, refusing to look at me.
“Yes, of course.” I tell him, rolling my eyes.
“Then you know that Tynan’s father wants to summon the devil?” Finn asks once again, making me roll my eyes.
“Yes, yes, get on with it.” I tell him, getting annoyed.
“McPurthy. I don’t want them to do that.” Finn nearly whispers.
“I-wait, what did you say?” I ask, almost not believing what I just heard.
“I do not want them to summon the devil.” Finn tells me again, but slower and clearer.
“Is this a trick? You’re on Tynan’s side, aren’t you?” I ask, not believing him.
“McPurthy, he’s the most dangerous and powerful dark user besides his father. I had to pretend in order to get close to him and learn what he was planning. When I did I tried to stop him.” Finn explains as he sits back down on the couch.
“If this is all true, then that means Tynan beat you up for trying to stop him?” I ask, surprised, but not.
“Would you get surprised if it wasn’t Tynan who did this to me?” Finn asks, looking up at me.
“If it wasn’t Tynan, then who was it?” I ask crossing my arms.
“Grimshaw.” Finn simply says.
This school and their students keep getting stranger and stranger. After my chat with Finn, we all parted ways, and now I’m back in my room. My only place where I can call my haven. But there are so many questions building up with no answers. The new one now is why the hell did Grimshaw stop Finn? I know they hated each other, but it makes little sense that he would stop Finn, who was trying to stop Tynan’s plans. Unless everything Finn told me was a lie? Ugh! I don’t know what to do or think anymore! Everything was so much simpler back in Alabama. No magic. No rituals. No dark or light users. No demons or demon blood. I knew who I could and couldn’t trust. I feel like I’m in my personal hell. I just want it all to end. I want to be free from this place. I miss home. I miss my parents. I even miss Joz.
I let out a sigh as I plopped onto my bed, staring up at my dark ceiling. I hate these dark colors. There’s too much of them, and not enough light colors. I can remember how my old room looked back in Alabama. Wooden floors, white ceiling, dark blue walls, and a queen sized bed with a matching pillow cases and blankets. My favorite color was blue, so my dad got me a lot of blue stuff. He even painted my room a dark blue to contract my light blue bed set. I remembered when my dad passed away. I told my mom I didn’t like blue anymore. I told her I outgrew the color, but in reality, my room just reminded me too much of my father. The man who would always get my favorite things, and try to get them in blue. I even painted my room a gray color to get rid of the blue. I wish I never did.
I curled up into a ball on my bed as I felt my heart ache and tears sliding down my face. I hate this place. I hate my life. I wish they did not bring me back to life. This isn’t fair. Why must I suffer for their gain? I don’t want to be alone in this. I want my parents back, my home. I want my beautiful blue room back that my dad painted for me; I hate this dark room. I want it to go away! It’s just not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair.
I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was darkness. I then felt coldness but warmth at the same time. It felt familiar. I slowly sit up before looking around, but everywhere I look was dark. I must be in my mind again, but then where’s Joz? I look around once more before standing up. It feels so empty, which creeps me out. I then saw a wooden door, but it wasn’t any kind of door. It was a blue wooden door. No way. That can’t be the door from my childhood, could it? I thought shock from seeing it again. I glance around for Joz before walking over to my old bedroom door.
When I pushed it open, it almost felt like I stepped back in time. It was my bedroom back in Alabama. My blue bed. My dark blue walls. My white ceiling. My wooden floors. My bookshelves with all of my books and my mirror in the corner. My wooden desk, which my dad made and painted blue for my tenth birthday. I even saw my stuff animals collection in the other corner, half of them being blue. I felt tears rolling down my cheeks as I didn’t want to leave here. It’s my room. It’s my childhood room, which I loved and missed so dearly.
“So do you like it then?”
I turn around and saw Joz leaning against my door frame casually. I felt too happy to be mad at him for being mute last week. I nodded quickly before running up to him and grabbing him in a tight hug. I felt his body tense, but I didn’t care. I was too happy and grateful for what he did for me.
“Thank you Joz.” I say so happily.
“Uh yeah sure, no problem.” Joz says before coughing awkwardly and pushing me away.
“Where have you been, anyway?” I ask, breaking my favorable moment.
“I was still here.” Joz tells me like it was obvious.
“Why didn’t you talk to me when I needed you?” I ask hurt that he ignored me.
“I’m a demon, dear Lonnie. You shouldn’t want to depend on me, or want my advice. Isn’t that right?” Joz asks sounding irritated.
“What are you talking about?” I ask, confused.
“Don’t you get it? Why are you always acting dumb when you obviously know! I’m a demon Lonnie dear. I use dark magic, so I’m a bad guy. I’m just like all those wanna be dark users dimwits excepts I have actual power and am stronger! You shouldn’t count on me. You shouldn’t want me to help me! So stop asking for my advice!” Joz yells at me angrily.
“Joz, if this about what I said about dark users being the bad guys, I’m sorry.” I apologized.
“Why are you apologizing? I’m worse than them! You should fear me! You should want to figure out how to get me out of your fucking mind!” Joz yells, angry at me.
“I do fear you, Joz! I’m afraid that one day you will take over my mind and possess my body. I’m afraid one day you will actually convince me to kill someone or use your magic on someone. I’m afraid that one day I’ll wake up and you won’t be here anymore!” I yelled at him with tears sliding down my face, making his eyes widen.
“Lonnie dear, you shouldn’t be worried if I’m still here or not.” Joz tells me with a sigh.
“Joz. I didn’t know what to do or who to trust. But when you first appeared, you helped me get by. I didn’t feel so alone, and you helped me get braver and understand why I’m so different.” I tell him seriously.
“You are only different because of me, Lonnie dear, and your braver because of the power that’s coursing through you. I haven’t really helped you in anything.” Joz tells me honestly.
“I do not believe it. You help me if you believe it or not, and even if you say you don’t, you care about me too.” I tell him, poking his chest.
Joz grabs onto my hand as he looks at me with a funny look as he says, “Care about you? I’m a demon, we do not care, especially towards mortals.”
“Then explain why you let me see my old bedroom again?” I ask, catching him off guard.
Joz opens his mouth but closes it as he tries to think of an excuse. I smile as I knew I would get him, but I don’t understand why he’s trying to push me and keep his distance away. I glance up at him as he lets go of my hand as he turns and walks out of my room. I glanced down at my hand and the warmth from his hand immediately went away, and my hand was cold again. I felt alone again. I don’t know how I can get him to talk to me again. I have to figure out what’s going through his mind. Maybe I could ask someone. Who would know what’s going on with a demon?