I screamed.
I screamed as if they were committing a bloody murder in front of my eyes, still not taking my eyes off the mysterious young man who was sitting in my room at night, I moved back to the head of the bed.
Who is he?
What is he doing here?
And most importantly, how did he end up here?
For some reason I did not understand, he did not panic at all when I started screaming. As a rule, robbers and murderers panic when their victims begin to make noise, because of this they can be caught. But he did not look intimidated.
In fact, his grin was even more stretched out on the lips due to my cries, his behavior surprised me very much.
The door to my bedroom door swung open, my half-asleep granny walked into the room. "What happened, dear? What happened?" Her hair was disheveled and she was still wearing a white nightgown.
She was standing next to me and she could definitely see him. He was to her right.
But granny did not see him. As if he were invisible. I looked at him, now he impatiently drummed his fingers on his knee, licking his lips all the time and looking impatiently at my granny. But he did not say anything.
My grandmother walked her gaze around the room, she looked right at him, but did not see anyone.
"What's happening?"
"Avery?" My grandmother spoke softly.
"I-I'm sorry," I stammered, trembling with fright, pulling the blanket, wrapped myself tightly in it. I rubbed my eyes, hoping that when I open them, this man would leave.
But when I opened them, he was already at the foot of my bed. He was much higher than I expected. Frightened, I jerked and hit my back against the headboard, but that only made him laugh.
"She cannot see me," as if nothing had happened, he said, stepping aside. I noticed how strange my grandmother looked at me.
"Can you tell me what happened?" my grandmother asked, nervously waving her arms.
"I don't know what is going on," I said, my eyes did not leave the guy who was already standing, leaning against the wall. He sighed, waved his hand casually, "Tell her to get out of here. I was not joking when I said that we need to talk."
After blinking a couple of times, I tried to perceive all this while my grandmother was sitting on the edge of the bed. Was it a dream or not?
"Did you have a bad dream?" she asked softly.
I nodded weakly, "Yes, I had a very bad dream."
"Want to talk about it?"
"You're lying terribly," the guy added. "I instantly caught on to your lie. Your grandmother is just not a very attentive woman."
I suddenly wanted to hit him hard for insulting my granny, but I didn't. I focused all my attention on the granny, who was now pressing her palm to my forehead, trying to understand if my strange behavior was caused by the disease.
"I'm sorry to wake you," I said guiltily. "I just had a nightmare."
"Was it about what happened" She asked.
I swallowed, tightening my grip on the blanket in my hands, "Yes."
"Do you want a glass of milk? Maybe eat something?"
"No, granny. I think I need to sleep, it will be better. I am very sorry that I woke you," I said, embarrassed, smiling, my eyes unwittingly looking for that guy. Now he was pacing my room, sighing loudly. So I hear his sighs. Why doesn't my granny hear them?
"Good, dear. If anything happens, don't be shy and wake me up, okay?" She whispered in a soft whisper, kissing me firmly on the forehead. She looked around the room before gently closing the door behind her.
When she left my room, all my attention was paid only to this guy. My smile wore off, my eyes narrowed, because I was tense when his green eyes looked straight into mine.
"Who are you?" I asked slowly. "Why couldn't she see you?"
"Your grandmother cannot see me because her faith is too strong," he answered in the usual tone, sitting down on a chair and leaning back relaxedly on his back. He ruffled his curly hair before adding, "And by the way, my name is Harry. Well, this is my human name."
My eyebrow involuntarily jerked up, "What do you mean by the words 'human name'?"
"I am not human."
"Then what are you? Ghost?"
Harry laughed at my guess; sweet dimples appeared on his cheeks when he smiled. He looked so cute, one could even say childishly, unless of course the darkness in his eyes was ignored. And the black clothes he wore did not make him seem too friendly. "I'm not a ghost," he said, as if chuckling at me. But his face changed in seconds when he said, "I am a demon."
"Demon?" my heart stopped beating at the mere word.
I knew very well who the demons were. They were the opposite of angels; they should hurt people as much as they can. Angels helped people, demons destroyed them. And my fear was fully justified when he said this.
"You don't look like a demon," I whispered.
"That's because I'm in human form," Harry answered. "When I'm in demonic form, I don't look so hot. Well, if you know what I mean," he grinned again and winked at me, but this did not produce the expected effect on me, I just frowned.
"You came from ... Hell?" I asked.
"Don't you know anything about demons?" Harry asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, he was still grinning at me.
"I know what they do. They want to harm people," I muttered.
"Ah, no, thse are only demons who want to take control of people. You see, there are many kinds of demons. And I'm not such a demon," Harry answered.
"What demon are you?"
His eyes full of darkness sparkled with my question, he again stood at the foot of the bed, leaning slightly towards me to whisper quietly, "I find lost souls. And your soul, Avery, is one of them. You are lost."
I felt uncomfortable under his heavy gaze. I pulled out a pillow in front of me, hoping to be fenced off from his piercing gaze. "How lost?"
"Your faith in Him has greatly weakened," Harry answered. "You're drunk with anger, because your family was killed, right? You cannot believe that they deserve it."
"Of course they don't deserve it!" I objected.
"And you get angry that the police can't do anything about it. They can't give you what you want," Harry continued. "They cannot do what you so desire to find those who killed your family. You want revenge, Avery."
"Revenge?" I whispered. "I don't want revenge. I just want them..." I shut up, feeling guilty.
"You just remember how angry they were killing your little brother," Harry pointedly reminded. "They don't really care that they killed him, do they? They ruined your life, Avery. And you want revenge. Do not lie to yourself."
"But it's not right to want revenge on someone," I muttered, although my heart sank at the thought. Frowning, I gripped the blanket more firmly, "My faith is still strong, I just-"
Harry's disgusting laugh filled the room, shaking his head, he said, "No, no, no, as I said earlier, your faith no longer exists. Why do you think you see me? I can't get close to souls whose faith is strong. But your faith evaporates before my eyes. I'm feeling it; my job is this. And just by looking at you, I can say that you are lost."
All this time I looked at him. Didn't I see him in the mall and at the funeral? Wait, it was definitely him, wasn't it?
Having quickly folded my hands in front of me, I began to pray, but my words had no effect. I understood that I was doing this only because I was scared - not because I want this. When the prayer was over, I looked up to see Harry sitting in front of me with a cheeky grin on his lips.
"How sweet," he said mockingly, "she prays."
"Get out of my room!" I said, trying to push him out of bed. I was disgusted to touch him, but, even with all my efforts, I couldn't budge him even by a millimeter. He was terribly cold, my whole body began to tremble when my skin touched it, my eyes widened from the shock!
"Too late to pray," Harry announced solemnly. "Too late."
"Just leave me alone," I grumbled, running my hand through my hair, noting to myself how fragile he had become.
"Hey, I'm not here to scare you, okay?" Believe it or not, I'm here to help you.
I froze. "Help?" I asked quietly, forcing myself to look at him. His eyes looked at me almost adoringly, there was a soft smile on his lips.
"Yes, in fact, I'm the only one who can help you," he answered. "I know everything there is to know about the men who killed your family. They are part of a gang, and they have been instructed to do a 'dirty job'. And unlike the police, we will not follow the laws and regulations" his eyes sparkled when he said this, and the grin became even wider. "I know exactly where they are. And I can find them at that time, as the police just shrug."
He closely watched the expression on my face, because it immediately perked up from such good news. For all this time I already believed that I could not restore justice, but this can happen now; if this does not happen, then these men will continue to live, completely not caring that they once killed an innocent family.
Moreover, when I have a person - no, a demon who knows absolutely everything about them.
"Then tell me where they are, and I will hand them over to the police!" I said, sitting down on the bed.
"If I tell this to the police, they can be sent to prison, and most likely, forever." "Do you think they regret what they did to your family? No. They are just cowardly bastards, and they will remain so for life. And they will never change."
I swallowed nervously from how strange Harry was looking at me, knees drawn to his chest, I asked, "What are you trying to say?"
"You are full of revenge, Avery. You do not want justice. You want to see the suffering of these people for what they have done. This is visible in your eyes, and it is clear to everyone, like a white day," I closed my eyes, but when I opened them, he was already towering above me, his hands were on either side of me, he examined my face with enthusiasm. "Let me help you. We can restore justice, they will pay for what they have done."
"No," I muttered, suddenly paralyzing from his piercing gaze. Nothing was visible in his eyes except deep darkness. Of course, this was not strange, because he is a demon. He has no soul.
"If they found you in the closet, they would have raped you before they killed you," Harry whispered. "They would have destroyed you without remorse. They are not at all bothered by this, and perhaps they will continue to do so with other families. Do you want this to happen to someone else, Avery?"
The thought that someone else would feel this monstrous and disgusting pain made my heart tighten and bitter tears flow down my cheeks - No, no one deserves it.
"So let me help you," Harry called me carefully, in a smooth voice, like honey. I closed my eyes when his cold finger touched my cheek, gently rubbing it. "All I have to hear is one word; one word, and we will take care of those evil people. Only you and me, Avery. Only we."
It was hard for me to make a decision. I knew it was dangerous to negotiate with the demon about something, but the fact that I saw him was even worse. Was my faith so weak or did he just fool me? Demons are very evil and cunning; he could lie right now, about everything, and I would not even know about it, because he tells me everything that want to hear.
He was not stupid, he was smart, very smart.
But for my part it was extremely stupid to even consider his words. Nevertheless, when in front of my eyes stood the image of those men with eyes in which full horror and fear were read, a light of sick patient satisfaction flared up in my body. Yes, this could not be denied. I wanted them to feel what I feel now. I wanted them to pay back for what they did to my family - especially Chris.
Think of Chris.
I promised Chris that I would find them. It was obvious that with the help of the police, I would not get what I had planned.
The only way to accomplish this is to accept Harry's help.
"How can I be sure that you are not lying to me?" I muttered under my breath.
"There are a lot of things I can lie about," Harry answered a little impressedly to my question. "But this is one of those things that I dare not lie to you about. I know exactly where these men are now. And I will help you take care of them. You only need to say one word."
"I agree," I said on the exhale, feeling a little stunned. Despite his gaze, calm poured in my chest.
He grinned because of my agreement, "Fine. But first, I need you to sign here and there." He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to me, and then the pen. I unfolded a piece of paper and there was only one blank line on which I should put my signature. He grinned. "Before, people signed blood, but times are changing."
I swallowed and signed, as soon as he saw that I had finished, he grabbed the paper from my hands and put it in his pocket.
"Now you can go back to sleep," he told me. I'll be here in the morning, but now I need to go. "You need a good rest; tomorrow we are leaving, Avery." He ruffled his hair and headed for the door.
"Wait," I said, goosebumps began to climb my arms when I realized what I wanted to ask. "Is there some catch here?"
Demons never made deals for nothing, especially if they needed a signature.
"Oh, for sure, I completely forgot to mention it." Harry turned to me, depicting an innocent expression on his face, I did not know what he was preparing for. If I knew what he would demand for it, I would not hesitate to decline his offer. "When a person makes a deal with a demon, he sells his soul to him."
My face turned pale "Wait, what?"
His face again assumed smug features, he went to the bed and hung over me again. My cheeks flushed, flashing with bright red paint, when he parted my knees to stand between my legs, his eyes sparkled in the affirmative on the expression on my face. Apparently, he liked the fact that I blushed.
He stroked my cheek with his finger again, but this time his touch did not seem so cold to me. I was as if under hypnosis, closed and captured by the power of his gaze.
"After we deal with those men," Harry whispered hoarsely, "your soul will be mine - forever."