The Punishment Plan

Demon Free

"Oh c'mon! You haven't moved from that couch in days!" My head turned away from the demon, he was an imp sure but he was my best friend. My hand reached for the spray bottle of holy water "don't even think about it! You know I'll just come back with a human" holy water to demons was what stray fire embers were to humans, they burned slightly but they didn't do any harm without the proper ingredients

It seems life had just lost all appeal recently, my crappy pottery business was failing and I could barely pay enough to keep my apartment so I'd decided just 'enjoy' my living space while it lasted, all my human friends had lost their minds and were attempting to summon an incubus a few blocks away for a 'fun time' - originally they invited me too but I refused

They joined demon-only events, I joined illegal fight clubs to get my anger out. The kind that prioritised in girl fights instead of the classic guys-only where we were allowed no further than the door. To be honest, I was homesick - a few years back I'd moved with said friends from Hawaii where I'd grown up to the US, it was supposed to be a our 'great adventure'

It wasn't that I was disappointed but most people didn't like a Pacific Islander living here or a few of them so at first we got told to go home and many other things...but we stayed. We were just five Hawaiian friends ready for something new, and we found that! I made sure to FaceTime my parents at least once a week and visit at least once a year unlike my roommates

"Hey, what happens once they summon an incubus?" The question was simply to make conversation, my mind was recalling how it felt to surf the waves back home and the way we did the hula together late at night "I mean, what happens after? They just bring it home?" I took a piece of li Hing mui pineapple and put in my mouth

"Well yea, what else can they do? You can always come stay at my place...look it's not gonna be easy but since you didn't summon him, he should leave you alone, mostly" after almost choking on my food, I packed up some of my stuff I'd need for about a week then walked out the door leaving a note in my native tongue so the incubus hopefully wouldn't understand

I went down to the beach house we all shared and flopped in the hammock watching the distant tides roll further away before racing back as if they wanted to greet me, it was so tempting to slip into my bikini, grab my board and be one with nature...in the end, after much debating and contemplating with the imp, that's exactly what we did.

My eyes fell closed as we sat together on a board in the middle of the ocean "this, this is where I want to be" the smell of salt everywhere and my legs dangled in the luke warm water as the evening drew near, the sky was lit with sunset ambers as I noticed a board floating towards me in the distance while one of my roommates paddled towards me

"'Hele i ke kahakai no kekahi manawa', I got the note - wow it's pretty out here (Gone to the beach)" I agreed as she made her way opposite me staring at the sky "Eli, we're all homesick - thats why the others decided to do the whole summoning thing, as a distraction" my eyes shot to her in surprise, so she hadn't gone to the summoning?

"You didn't go too?" Elikapeka was my full first name but most my friends just called me 'Eli' over here. My name meant 'promise of god' which was ironic considering the state of the world. Akela was half Hawaiian and half Nigerian and one of the sweetest people I'd ever known, a lot of things my parents didn't teach me - she did so we were basically 'partners in crime'

"I'm not dumb enough to mess around with that stuff! I went to get fries instead, then I came back to the apartment to find my main cuddle buddy missing, tragedy I know! Just a note in the kitchen on the counter and I strolled down here to join you - so can I? Or are you going to turn me down for your small friend?" I held out my hand for her to take silently letting her know she could stay as long as she needed to

There wasn't enough tide to actually full on surf but just sitting here together was more satisfying for me, appreciating the things in the world that had stayed the same - the lifeguard was a regular horned demon but he was a nice guy, his name was 'Martin' I think? We'd never been caught doing anything wrong or out too late so there was no need to cause alarm

That night, Akela and I shared a hammock staring at the sea like we used to, "do you think we'll ever end up going back? To the island I mean" she shrugged on my chest as I ran my hand through her hair "do you ever think about it?" I smiled having the idea to disturb her rest by singing songs loudly in the language we shared which ended up with her slamming her hand over my mouth as I giggled then we continued together giggling into the night

Everything seemed so perfect...