*Unedited*
I sat in the coffee shop in a corner by myself away from her. I had made sure everyone avoided my table and had stopped too many customers from coming in at a time. Couldn't have them exposing the fact that she was the only one who could see me. Though I'm sure she still knew that.
She wasn't alone this time. Across from her was a girl who appeared to be a friend and beside of her was a guy who had arrived late. She had noticed me the moment I entered but like me, she watched from a distant, which I was thankful for. Yes, I had started stalking her, but it meant nothing obviously. I sipped the coffee I had conjured up in front of me as I listened in on her conversation.
"I have a job interview later. Getting this job could mean a change of things. A better apartment, eventually a car," she told her friend and the guy.
"Babe, you got this," her friend replied reassuringly, "You're gonna wow them."
"Yeah, they'd be crazy not to hire you. You're pretty impressive, Mira," the guy brushed his shoulder against hers.
I didn't like the upset feeling that settled in my stomach as this human moved closer to Mira. Mira. Such a fitting name. Beautiful and unusual just like her. I loved it. It was almost soothing, as I found the unfamiliar negative feeling slowing dissipating in my stomach. Taking deep breaths, I was able to calm myself down.
"Thanks guys, I think I needed to hear that," she sighed relieved. I would make sure she got that job. Her apartment couldn't be long term, "Hey, don't all look at once, but do you guys see that guy over there?"
I looked up immediately, my eyes meeting hers across the room, daring her to continue. Her friends looked over to my empty table before frowning in confusion and turning back to her. I smirked and shook my head as she studied me. Looking back to her friends who were waiting on an explanation, she tried for words, but they failed her.
"You guys don't see him?" she finally managed, and they looked at her like she was crazy.
"Mira, are you still drunk from last night?" the girl giggled.
"I wasn't drunk last night," she sounded frustrated.
"Mira, you haven't been sleeping lately again, have you?" the guy took this as an excuse to wrap his hand around her shoulder and rub it gently, "Go to your interview, wow them and then get some rest."
"Yeah," she gave up realising they couldn't see me. Meeting my eyes once more she looked at me with curiosity, "Maybe, I'm just tired and still a little hung over."
"Of course, silly," the girl giggled once more and they all got up to leave.
She ignored me as they passed my table and continued through the door. I tried to warn her, but as usual, she's ungrateful. Getting up to follow her, I pulled on the hat I had worn to try and hide from her, though it hadn't done much because it seemed as if she was able to sense me like I could sense her. She went in a different direction from her friends but didn't walk for long before she fanned down a taxi, which carried her to her job interview.
She had been a nervous wreck, but I made sure she got the job. It paid her well and after the first few months she was able to move into a much better apartment on the fancier side of town. It was well furnished, modern and had a beautiful view of the city beneath her. She loved it and I found it rather comfortable.
She had even managed to get a promotion on her own, based on her hard work at the company and six months after that she was able to get herself a decent car. She was quite comfortable in life now. She even bought nicer clothes and went to more upscale clubs and not the street bar she had seemed attached to.
I had stalked her for a year. She always sensed me when I entered a room but apart from a glance in my direction she never approached me. We only watched each other, as she seemed just as fascinated by me as I was with her. We never spoke. She had kept to her word when she told me she wouldn't waste another breath on me. I could safely say that she had grown to hate me. Just like everyone else.
Oh, Lucifer's pity party of one.
Go away, I hissed at my inside voice. For every day that I had become obsessed with the human, the annoying voice inside my head had become obsessed with me.
I'm trying to help.
Well, I don't want it. Go help people who need your help. I just wanted to be left alone in my misery. Was that too much to ask?
You can't get rid of me like you did her, Lucifer. Go talk to the girl.
I listened to you once and that did nothing.
Because you did it all wrong. Be nice to her.
I didn't need to be nice to humans. I'm an angel, fallen or not, and they needed to respect me. I needed nothing from the confused bunch.
Nothing but their respect. Respect is earned, not given.
I had grown tired of the voice inside my head. It was mocking me now, as it did every day. I was definitely going to go crazy if I didn't start living outside of my head soon. This had to be the ultimate bottom. The great Lucifer who stalked humans as a hobby and had long conversations with a voice in his head in his free time. Your local devil. No wonder my men were starting to give me the side eye. I was going crazy...becoming weak.
I had to put an end to all of this. I needed to prove myself to my men who kept questioning me...I needed to remind the humans why they feared me.
No.
I ignored the voice as usual and stepped into the dark of the night trying to figure out my next move. It had been so long since I had engaged in any serious, major mischievous behaviour. If I didn't do something soon, people would forget...I would forget...forget the reason I was thrown out of heaven in the first place. Forget my mission of torturing His beloved creations while I endured my own torture.
The night was unusually hot, I noticed as I stopped by a large, skyscraper apartment complex. By the size of the building, I was certain it hosted over a hundred people and while that might not be my highest number yet, it was enough to make the impact I wanted. There was a man on the lower grounds by the bushes smoking, which told me exactly what I needed to do. Stupid humans, they always made it easy. Vulnerable bunch.
Don't hurt them.
I watched as the man, who had decided he was done with his smoke break, throw the half-smoked cigarette on the ground and barely step on it, not checking if it was out before he entered the building. I grinned at the opportunity and acted quickly, lifting my hands and letting the building catch fire easily. I let the fire spread rapidly and wildly, feeling somewhat better, as others endured the same loss and pain I lived every day.
This is not the way, Lucifer.
It's the only way. This is what I represented to them anyways. Chaos, loss, and pain. I entered the building, travelling from floor to floor to look at the damage I had caused. People pushed pass me, some of them children who were crying out for their parents as they tried to get to safer grounds. The firemen didn't take long to show, and they tried their best to out my flames. I eventually let them, but only after there was significant loss.
Look at what you have done!
I walked by several burnt, dead bodies until I arrived on the top floor. There were cries coming from one of the room, which the fire seemed to have reached last. I entered the room and found two unconscious humans, a man and woman, probably husband and wife. They had seemed to be trying to get to their baby but passed out before that was possible. They weren't dead yet, but they would be by the time the firemen got to this level.
You can still save them.
The baby, however, was still crying as I walked over to it's crib. It was a baby girl and she looked precious. I leaned over, studying her as she cried but as if she had seen me, she suddenly stopped and cooed in my direction. I froze and stared down at her, frowning when she reached for me. Stepping back quickly, I placed a protective ward around her so that the fire wouldn't reach her but would instead burn everything around her. The firemen would get to her soon enough.
I quickly left, not being able to stay in the building any longer but instead remained downstairs until they retrieved the child. She was alive and well, along with forty survivors who managed to escape. The firemen were obviously confused about how she was alive and the reporters questioned it as well. Nobody could explain how this baby had somewhat survived such a huge fire while her parents who were in the same room, died.
One of the humans who survived said it was a miracle from God, that the child had a guardian angel who stood over her and protected her. That made me even angrier. Not even the few times I had done good, could I receive the credit for it.
You don't deserve credit.
It is what it is. My role was no longer to protect the humans, I had long become the person they needed to be protected from. Saving the baby was a mess up on my part...and it would never happen again. A life was a life, regardless of whose it was. They were all the same; man, woman, child, innocent, criminal. Their actions and biological make up didn't change the fact that they were all just energy forces which made me stronger. And if I could no longer get strength from their belief in me, then I would have to get it some other way.
My men greeted me upon hearing what had happened when I returned. My actions seemed to restore their faith in me and my men gathered around for further instructions, excited that their leader was back.
The fire, the baby and the after effect made me realize one thing, something I had always known but had ignored for all my years on earth. Taking lives, and causing such pain, didn't stop me from feeling my own. It didn't make me happy nor did it make the hurt go away. It only feed my bitter heart. Saving that child, it meant something to me. The way the baby trusted me and was soothed by my presence, it meant something to me. It reminded me of the honour I had before, the love people had for me. It reminded me of all I had lost because of greed and jealousy. It reminded me of all I could have still had...
Redemption is what you seek, and you had the opportunity.
The girl, I thought. But what was I to do with her? How was she to help me? It didn't matter, it was probably too late to save myself.
I didn't expect for this to be easy, Lucifer.