Outer Demons

Intro/Backstory

Wondering if her life could ever be normal was never a worry for Cassidy Dela Cruiz. Cassidy is your typical teenager, mildly sarcastic though she never means anyone harm, she enjoys the arts and computer science, and has had a pretty stable living situation for most of her life. She recently graduated from high school last year and has taken a year off before deciding if college is the right choice for her. Not really knowing what she wants for her future, Cassidy for the most part lives her life day by day, with her occasional periods of anxious self-doubt that she will never amount to anything and that she wishes the right answer would fall from the sky. Besides all that, for the past 19 years, Cassidy has been living a fairly normal life, she would talk to the few people in her life she would consider her closest friends, experiment with new ways of painting, drawing, or even coding if she felt that urge.
But one question has always been in the back of her mind ever since the day of her older sister's funeral, why has she not felt right for the past 5 years? That one day, that one gloomy and rainy, dreadful day. The day that would be the last time she would ever see her sister again. Standing in the cemetery with an excessive amount of extended family, watching as the dark, glossy wooden casket lowers into the Earth beneath her, Cassidy cannot help but feel watched, as if she could feel a pair or two of eyes on her. She looks away from her sister's new resting place just for a moment, so her eyes could readjust to the somewhat brighter midday grayish-blue hue of the world. She scans over the rest of the gravestones belonging to past loved ones, sons and daughter, mothers and fathers to see two figures starring at the gathering, no wait, they weren't just staring at the large group of mourning people, they were looking at her.
She rubs her eyes in confusion, hoping what she saw was due to the lack of sleep and extreme sadness she has dealt with the past week and a half. Though when her vision refocuses, the figures are still there, standing slighting behind an equally towering gravestone. The figures resembled people, but in her guilt and horror ridden mind, these figures barred horns and red skin, almost as if demons were waiting to drag her own sister beyond her grave into hell, or even Cassidy herself. As her father pats her on her shoulder, Cassidy turns to him trying to show no concern on her face, 

"Well, she's finally getting some peace and quiet, lets try and get home before everyone else so we can get the house ready for everyone," her father tells her. Cassidy turns back to the same tombstone hiding the demonic looking figures, though to her fear they were not there anymore. "Oh, okay," she responds to her dad, mildly in shock and confusion.

The whole car ride home, Cassidy felt uneasy, not the uneasiness of just leaving your dead sister's funeral, an uneasiness that would stick with her like a leech that just can't get enough from its host. Cassidy felt as if she should be careful of her every move, as if she could feel as if she made one wrong decision could endanger her whole life. The second she got into her house, she bolted to her room and broke down crying in a panic attack. She screamed into her pillow, screamed bloody murder. She wanted to get rid of this feeling so badly, it hurt, she needed it gone. In her panicked state, she forgot to shut her door as she ran into her room, so it was not long until her brother, Jackson, came in and found her on the brink of insanity.

"Hey, hey, hey! Woah, what's going on Cass? You okay?," he asked, growing more concerned as he drew closer into her room, seeing the tears pour down her face, her eyes bloodshot and terrified.

He sat on her bed next to her, he started to rub her back and attempting to calm her down any way he could. When he offered his open arms Cassidy almost knocked them both off the bed with the force she sprung into his chest.

"Hey, it's okay, you're okay, I'm here," he reminded her.

"B-but I don't feel okay," Cassidy managed to choke out through her hysterics.

"What do you mean? I know today has been rough for everyone, and I know you took this the hardest out of everyone, but please you have to try and calm down so I can try and help you, okay?," Jackson confirmed to her with growing concern.