My friend, Demise

Chapter 18

By the time I got home, my house was on fire and my cat was sitting in front, hurt but still okay. I shoved her to Adam and ran inside, holding the bottom of my hoodie to my mouth so I could breathe through the smoke.

It's too hot. I can't breathe.

I made it to my parent's room and opened the door, flinching when I saw my father leaned over my mother's limp body. She had burns covering most of her skin. "Mom!" I pulled my hoodie off and ran to her, holding the cloth over her mouth and scooping her up in my arms as best I could.

"Get her outside, I'll meet you out there."

"No. Come with me." I grabbed his wrist but he pulled it away.

"Go." He glared at me. "You shouldn't be in here".

"Dad, I'm not an idiot. Come with me."

"You must be." A deep voice filled my ears, my head being slammed into the ash covered wall. My mother slipped from my arms, blood creeping down the side of my face. "If you weren't so stupid, you would have known I'd be here."

"You fucker." I turned to glare at the familiar man, watching as he picked up my mother and draped her over his left shoulder. Fucking with Demise was bad enough but this made my blood boil. He was trying to kill them both.

I grabbed my moms ankles and pulled her away from him, watching her head nearly hit the floor before dad cushioned the blow with his hand. "I've got her."

"I know. You always have....get her out of here."

I'm not sure what exactly happened after that, my hands forcing the man who destroyed me onto the bed and tying his wrist to the headboard with my belt. He didn't struggle and actually smiled at me. "I'm going to kill you for good this time. Even if that means I take the blame for this."

"Like I give a shit." He grinned. "You're naive, like always."

"Shut up." I straddled his lap and held his other wrist down to keep him in place as a few pieces of debris fell from the ceiling, all of them on fire. Smoke filled my lungs, making them scream at me to leave. But I couldn't. I couldn't give him a chance to survive this and keep causing harm to those I love. "You hurt me and I don't care about that anymore. But this...this is too much. Even for you."

"You're going to die if you don't get out."

"Good riddance." I scoffed, tears slipping down my cheeks as I stared at him. "You're the only one who doesn't want me to die. I'm killing two birds with one stone."

"You're crying."

"Of course I'm crying." I laughed emptily. "I'm going to die." I leaned my head against his chest and swallowed roughly, coughing a bit afterwards.

"Taking one for the team? That's kind of pathetic." Demise ran into the room and yanked me off of him. My head hit the ground and my ears began to ring, vision blurry as I tried to focus on his words.

"Demise-"

He walked back to me, his hands now bloody as he pulled me to my feet. "Come on."

He helped me out of the house, my knees hitting the concrete as I coughed my lungs up to my throat. He tried to wipe the soot from my face but ended up mixing it with the blood on his fingers. "You okay?" He asked.

"You're bleeding."

"No, I'm not." He smiled. "It's better I live with another murder than you live with only one. I took care of it."

"But-"

"He's not going to live. Don't be scared." He placed a bloody hand on my cheek, tears welling in his own eyes as he saw the deep burn mark on my jawline.

"Don't cry."

He laughed, jaw tight as the happy sound turned into gentle and pained sobs.

"Demise..."

He kissed me, tightening his other hand at the base of my hair. "I can't do this." He pulled back before I could even kiss back, leaning his forehead against mine. "I'm scared..."

"Scared of what?"

"Of being like my dad!" He let the tears fall down his face. "I don't like the way you look at me like this....you're looking at me like I'm scary."

"I'm not scared of you."

"You're hurt and all I could do to help was take someone's life....I'm just like him- I hate it!"

"Demise." I pecked his lips and wiped the tears from his eyes with my fingers, smearing black on his face. "Look at me."

He took in a deep, shaky breath before pulling back enough to look at me. "Sorry I-"

Despite the situation at hand, I actually smiled at him. "I have no idea what you're talking about. You're as intimidating as a white butterfly stuck on a melting popsicle."

"W-what?" He frail voice hesitated, cocking his head. "You're happy?"

"Thank you. I really didn't want to die yet."

My father stepped over and bent down to him, wrapping his arms around the shaking boy. "Thank you, Demise."