Italics- thoughts/ flashbacks/ dreams

Bold- author talking

Underline- narrator talking, known as the main character

Normal- normal story

2729 words.

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I wake up from my heart beating so fast and out of breath. Memories from last night come trailing in and put a choke hold on my heart.

Every other part of me hurts with fear and anxiety. I'm too scared to open my eyes. I don't want to wake up somewhere else.

I cried myself to sleep last night. Probably the worst thing to do in this situation but I couldn't help it.

Eventually I do open my eyes and see my bedroom with the familiar art work. Pikachu is in my arms.

I sit up and squeeze the fuck out of him like it'll do something. And I cry for every torturous feeling I can't even begin to explain.

After what felt like 20 minutes I just stared at the wall 5 feet in front of me.

The tears are dried on my face and they'll stay there till I decide what I'm going to do with myself.

I'm not going to classes today. 

I still have to pay the lady next door for feeding my fish all last week.

Can I just tell him no?

Try to be friends with him like I would with all the people that would try to hack my online friends so they'd get spared? It worked every time. I still believe they were lying. Lying bastards.

Maybe I could just cry and get sympathy points, it worked with a teacher once in 9th grade.

My phone starts buzzing but I ignore it.

After it going off a few times I hear someone unlock my appointment door and walk in.

She walks around some before walking to the bedroom. I can't even look up. It's a depression episode all over again but this one has an actual reason.

"What's wrong? You look like shit and wouldn't respond to my calls or text. You're so late for school."

I don't respond because I don't know what to say. My lips are stuck together in a frown that resembles only a fraction of the distraught that deeply carves into my heart and tangles itself around my body.

Knotted at the ends so I can't get rid of it.

"Are you alright?"

I shake my head.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

I shake my head again.

She walks over and rubs my right shoulder blade, "that fucking sucks. Well if you need anything let me know."

I nod. She walks out of the room and leaves.

I was going to be productive today, like cleaning the fish tank. Well I still have to do that regardless of whatever happens to me. They're more important.

Time to get ready for the day. I wear a yellow oversized t-shirt and black bell-bottoms that cover my feet.

I take the mop bucket and pump thing to empty 80% of the water out of the 50 gallon tank. This is going to take forever.

I put one end in the tank and suck on the other till the water comes. I quickly throw it in the bucket so I'm not drinking shitty fish water.

I walk across the apartment to the kitchen sink and start filling this giant judge thing I bought just for filling the tank back up.

I walk back over and empty the bucket.

After repeatedly emptying the dirty bucket I start filling the tank with the same temperature water.

After an hour and half I finished. I wash my hands and turn on the TV to watch Criminal Minds.

Ignorance is bliss.

I make like 4 bags of popcorn and put it in a big ol' bowl.

I take my big ol' bowl and binge watch criminal minds while stress eating.

Probably one of my worst habits but whatever.

I also realized he only comes when I sleep so I won't sleep.

After an hour or so there's taping on the window again. It's so faint that it must be a bird. Of course it's a bird. Or I've gone mad. The bird has driven me mad.

Or a tree magically grew there and the branch is knocking on the window.

I might not even doubt it at this point. Sleep paralysis demons coming from nowhere, why not have magical trees?

Speaking of the devil, the obnoxiously tall weirdo hallucination appears in front of me, blocking the TV.

Bitch. I love this scene.

I lean to the sides but he's so damn big it doesn't work. I hit his hip because that's all I can reach while sitting down and try to push him over but it doesn't work.

"Move dammit."

He doesn't move. I look up at him with a judgemental face but he just faces me.

"I'll throw a cross dipped in holy water at your endless abyss of a face if you don't move the fuck over."

He gasped, "you wouldn't."

"I will. Then I'll get a crane to move your big ass to get baptized and force you to repent for your sins."

He disappears from in front of the TV and sits on the couch to the right 3 inches from me. Go away, you goof.

He then takes a handful of my popcorn with a gloved hand. He has hands? Demons have hands? Or is he a ghost? Well either way I watch him with disbelief.

"This is mine, make your own." The audacity of this guy. He apparently has no life if he's randomly bothering me and then the audacity of him to take it.

He shakes his head, "why would I make my own if you already made some?"

"Jerk."

He starts laughing, "here I'll compensate."

I watch in interest. He pulls a Tootsie roll sucker out of his pocket and hands it to me. There's pockets? I take it.

"Not enough."

He sighs before handing me a bag of Swedish fish.

"More." I'll take as much free candy as I can get. It might be poisoned though. Whoops.

"Damn women and their sugar addiction." He mumbles to himself before handing me a Snickers bar.

He's the one with candy. Is he a woman? "More."

He turns towards me, "I don't have anything else with me."

I just stare at his tall ass self before turning back to the TV.

"So are you going to willingly give me your soul or do I have to fight you?"

I turn my whole self to face him, "I ain't giving you anything."

His voice is gravely low, not like last night but in a threatening way, "you sure about that? I can make you change your mind in an instant."

To say I got the shivers is an understatement. I put the bowl of popcorn behind me and just look in the abyss of his hood. "I'm not giving up my life."

"You silly little girl." 

Rude much? "I'll stab you with a sword if you don't leave me alone." I don't have one.

I try to get away up and leave cuz this is hella weird but for some reason I can't.

"You are lucky I've learned patience throughout my life. Younger me would have taken you by now without even asking. You would have gone kapeesh." The TV violently flickers when he says kapeesh.

I don't know what to do or say or think. What does someone do in this situation?

I start crying because that's what my emotions tell me to do. I'm such a big ass baby, ew.

"I've waited 18 years and like 8 or 9 months. Stop crying."

I take one of the 10 bracelets off my wrist through teary eyes. I hold it to him. "It has my name on it. It should be a good replacement and leave me the fuck alone."

"That's a good idea but you know that's not how this works. Now this is the last chance you have before I have to fight you, give me yourself."

"No." He could paraphrase this any other way, it sounds so weird. I read too many books.

He whispers in my ear, "So should I make you watch your best friend die." An image of her holding a gun to her head briefly appears. Maybe I should break your pretty little nails." He grabs my hands and starts bending my red and silver nails.

I bow my head and start quietly praying to make this all end. "Please God don't let me die like this. I'm sorry for not praying to you every day like my grandma said I should. Please don't let me be a slave to a crazy man. Please don't let my life end like this. I'm sorry for every wrong thing I did. I'm sorry for getting my guardian angel killed. I'm sorry for being mean to my sister. I'm sorry for being mean to other people when I was younger. I'm sorry that I didn't take care of my first fish properly. I'm sorry for complaining about work and school. I'm so sorry for not believing in you when I was at my lowest. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm-"

He starts shaking. I turn around to see him fall back on the couch, leaning back. "Oh the pain you cause me. How could you get God to stop me?" He flails his arms and I get up as soon as I can.

I run to the kitchen and grab a giant steak knife. I slowly walk to the front room holding the knife in front of me. I stop a few feet behind the couch.

He just lays there motionlessly and it's dead silent except for the TV.

The TV then turns staticy while the sink turns on behind me but he doesn't move. So fucking dramatic.

Oh my God did I get him killed? Did I get the demon killed?

Would that send me to heaven or hell?

He suddenly appears in front of me and I gasp, taking a step back. I keep walking backwards till my back hits the counter. Ow.

"You really thought that the ancient spirit had any control over me? He wouldn't have had Gabriel kick me out of heaven if he could just control me. He takes a step closer, "he wouldn't fear me if he was stronger than me." Personal space much? He takes another step closer, "I wouldn't have this curse if they could have changed me." He takes one last long step and bends over so his face, I think, is a few inches from mine, "I wouldn't be here if they cared about me." He then takes the knife from my trembling hand and stabs me in the stomach.

I stand terrifyingly still. This is how I die. From whatever the hell this is. So embarrassing.

He stands up and laughs like killing people is funny. "Oh my crippled venomous butterfly, you can't believe I actually stabbed you."

These fucking weird ass names. He holds his hand up to show a perfectly clean knife. I look down at my stomach and see nothing. "What?"

"I stabbed you with the handle, the blade was facing me."

He walks past me like this is something he normally does and puts the knife back. Now I outta bleach it.

He then stands behind me on the other side of the counter. "You have to breathe, you know."

I start breathing again and turn around to see him standing with his gloved hands folded together like this is some meeting or he got in trouble in class and the teacher took away his chair.

"So now back to the only reason I'm here, why do you think you'll die?"

I just look at the counter not knowing what to say for so long he starts tapping his fingers on the counter. My brain starts brain-ing. "You're a crazy psycho, demon weirdo who won't tell me who you are or anything and you just harassed the ever living being out of me and tricked me into thinking I died. You also made up some random thing to kidnap me or something."

"I didn't make up anything and I don't want to kidnap you. This is how the universe works, I don't make the rules. My job is to take souls from dying people. I'm the Angel of Death." He sighs as if this is common knowledge.

"My pardon, random whoever, if you don't wanna kidnap me then go. I don't wanna be part of your murdering frenzy."

He does that tsk thingy again, "your church sucks at teaching you. I don't really kill people, I take the souls of people that the old willow tree tells me to. If you're mad at anyone dying blame the tree, not me."

"A tree?"

He nods. "I might bring you to the tree one day if you don't make me go mad by then. What do you think me claiming you means?"

All my amazing book knowledge can be used now. "... You own me like a pet or bond to me by fucking? I don't know."

He snarls. Fucking snarls like a cat. "Don't compare me to fucking vampires. Those things shouldn't have even been created. And the books you humans write about the supernatural aren't that accurate."

He lays his giant hand, palm up, on the middle of the counter, "give me your hand."

I put my shaking hand in his. He's gonna pull me over the counter and kill me.

"You will get these black markings along your hands and around your body that show you are mine. There is no fucking or killing, no soul sucking either. There is an option to sign a contract but it's boring to hold 150 papers in front of you like some boss or teacher."

"What are the black markings? I don't want people to look at me weird." Why am I talking like I wanna do this? Is it my subconscious telling me he will leave me alone if I do whatever?

"Humans can't see them and they show that you have a part of my soul and I got a part of yours."

I raise an eyebrow, "have you done this before?"

He just faces me and stays dead silent.

"Alright then... What happens after this whole thing? Do I have to leave my life behind and live in a cage in your bedroom?"

"I'm not a damn vampire and no to all of those. You will live with me but you can come here whenever you want. I'll follow you wherever you go outside my house because you will see the evil side of this planet a whole lot more and it'll make you susceptible to them seeing you too, not that they never saw people but you will stand out."

"I don't want to see demons..."

"Why do you draw such evil things and fucking stalk me for so long if you are such a Christian?"

"I love the paranormal and ghosts. I didn't know who you were or anything. I wasn't stalking nothin'."

He hums as if doubting me. Jerk. "So what do you say?"

I take back my hand and look him over slowly because he's so monstrously tall and just huge all together. "Yea..."

He perks up like a dog hearing their leash to go out.

"...no."

He slumps his shoulders. "Why?"

"I don't want to be followed all the time and I don't want to leave Athena. What if she comes by in the middle of the night? I won't be here for her. And I don't even know what you look like. Why do I want to spend the rest of my life with a fucking murderer?"

He talks all mad and hurt, "look who's talking. You write crazy stories and read worse ones." He walks around the counter much calmer than expected and leans down to face me. 

My heart is beating like crazy. 

"I could knock you out right now and just claim you but I want you to see the process." His voice softens so very much to a whisper, "it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen and I want you to see it, you imbecile." His whole body twitches and he disappears. The TV goes back to normal but the lights go out.

I stand in the dark thinking about what just happened.