Riley's Box

Part 60

I awoke to a spectacularly sunny morning, the warmth of which gave me the strength to get out of bed. 

Quickly getting ready for the day ahead, I was soon able to make my way downstairs for breakfast. 

I found Otius waiting for me in the kitchen. 

"Otius knocked on the door this morning," my mom explained. "At least, that's what your father told me. He said the two of you were going to school together?" she said the last part as though it was a question. 

Confirming this with a nod, I wandered over to Otius. I really needed to make a better effort to remember that the Sins were magical beings, which meant that they could essentially appear out of thin air. 

I had touched the box. I had opened the box. That meant that I was the one that had granted them the ability to access the human world again. It was a good thing that I trusted them, really, otherwise that could have gone on record as one of the most irresponsible things I had ever done. 

While I got myself a slice of marmalade toast, Otius made his way over to me to tell me that the Sins were working on their powers and weapons to use to take down the final shadow spirit. 

"What's all this about shadow whatsits, anyway?" my mother asked from the living room, drawing my attention to her. 

I wandered into the room to see that they had mentioned the shadows on the news again. 

Well, they had mentioned one. It had been seen briefly the previous evening, but later into the night there was no sight of it. 

"is this a video game thing?" she asked. 

"Uh...sure, mom," I said. 

I had expected her to see right through it, but my mother didn't ask any further questions. 

Finishing off my toast, I was soon able to return my attention to Otius with a friendly smile upon my face. 

"Do you want to come to school today?" I asked him. 

"Sure," he said in agreement. 

We were on our way out through the front door when Otius instantly stopped. 

"Wait. I forgot something," he said and rushed up the stairs, before I could ask him what he had forgotten. 

He returned a few moments with a pillow. 

Ah, I should have expected as much. 

I opened my mouth to ask a question, but Otius quickly spoke instead. 

"Just in case I get sleepy. Don't worry- I'll use my powers on the pillow so they won't see a random pillow floating around the school," he said. 

Well, that was certainly a relief. I wasn't too sure how I would explain that one. 

"Thanks for being here, Riley," he said, as we wandered to the bus stop. "You're really easy to talk to for a human." 

"Well, you're much nicer than I ever could have expected a being from Hell to be," I said. 

I hoped that Otius wouldn't get offended by it, but he just smiled. 

A couple more moments passed and the bus soon arrived, so Otius and I went to sit down on it and the engine soon growled away as the driver took us to school. 

After a few more minutes, it was time for us to exit the bus and Otius and I wandered in trhough the front entrance of the school to find that everyone was busily chatting away about the next exams. 

Exams. I had almost forgotten all about those. 

With some nerves about the exams fuelling my steps, I quickly made my way to the library and pulled out a textbook. 

I studied, while Otius got some much-needed shut-eye. 

"Hey, Riley," a girl in my English class greeted me. "Do you know where the textbook for this semester is?" she asked me. 

Giving her a nod of my head, I pointed towards a nearby bookshelf, where she would be able to find it. 

"Thanks, Riley!" she said. 

"Wow. You're so popular," Otius said through a yawn, as he sat up in his seat again. 

"I just try to make it easy to talk to me. Some people can be a little...intimidating," I said, as my thoughts went to Eric for a moment. 

I finished making the notes on the chapter that I had been studying from and then did a quick look around the library to check that no humans were around. Luckily, nobody else seemed to want to study much today. 

Turning to Otius with a kind smile, I asked him what he wanted to do next. 

"Food," he said. 

That was a very good suggestion. 

"I'll get you something," I said. 

"You're a good friend, Riley," Otius said, in a sweet voice that honestly could have melted my heart. 

"Do you really think so?" I whispered to him, as we started to walk in the direction of the cafeteria. 

"Of course, I do! You're the best," he said. "I'm always honest," he told me. "Besides, it's important to be open with your friends. You can always tell me if there's anything bothering you." He then gave me a lopsided grin and I felt myself smiling, too. 

Otius really was just sweet. 

"You're a sweetheart," I said. 

"I think that's you!" he replied. 

Soon after that, the bell rang. 

I sighed. 

"Guess we're going to have to get something from the cafeteria later. Hey, I have a chocolate bar in my bag- want to share it?" I asked Otius, as we started to move in the direction of my next class. 

"Like I said before, you're honestly the best, Riley," he said, extending a hand. 

I passed him a piece of chocolate and continued on down the hall. 

At last, we reached my English class. 

Otius and I quickly walked inside and sat down. I made sure to sit on the side nearest the aisle, so nobody would feel tempted to sit on top of my friend. 

Once Miss Richardson had provided us with our task for the day, I got to work.