Hell's Company

Chapter 11 (Edited)

Yawning and running a hand through my hair, I shuffled the jacket I was carrying to my other arm before trying to unlock my door. I realized while I was walking home that it wasn't my jacket at all. I had grabbed Luca's by mistake. Luca had woken up sometime during the night and hurriedly explained to me that he had to do something important before leaving me alone in his house. I was exhausted, the only way I knew how to tell we hadn't slept for very long, but soon his bed got cold and uninviting, so I left shortly after he did.

Just as my door unlocked, the elevator dinged and opened its doors. "Persephone, where have you been?"

I opened the door and let Michael inside, yawning so hard my eyes watered. "Out."

"You don't smell like you've been drinking."

"That's because I haven't."

"I went to the Pulchritudo and they said you didn't work there anymore?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Why? I thought you liked working there."

"It got boring," I mumbled the lie, tossing the massive jacket onto the couch, and hoped he wouldn't notice it wasn't mine.

"So, where did you go and why is your shirt on backward?"

I knew there was no way I was going to get out of this gracefully, as I looked down and realized that Michael was right. "I stayed the night with someone and got dressed in the dark."

"Who?"

"Didn't catch his name," I lied smoothly, not caring if that would tarnish my reputation in Michael's eyes. All he would do is give me unneeded grief if he knew it had been with Luca.

He was quiet for awhile, probably trying to process this new information through his head. "I was very worried about you."

"You shouldn't be."

"Were you safe?"

It was my turn to think about a reply, but a small smile slowly formed on my lips. I decided to balance out my lie with a truth. "Yes, safer than I've felt in a long, long time."

Michael let the air out of his lungs. "Good, that's good. That's great."

"Yeah, it is," I said awkwardly, stretching and yawning once more. "Listen, I didn't get much sleep at all honestly and I think I'm about to drop from exhaustion. You can let yourself out, or stay if you want. I cleaned the sheets in the spare bedroom the other day. Not like anyone except you uses it, though."

"No, it's fine. I'll leave. I was just wanting to check up on you."

"Noted," I yawned and closed my bedroom door behind me, getting into fresh, comfortable clothes. It took me awhile to fall asleep once I got in bed because it was cool and I didn't have Luca's body to warm it up for me. I wondered what was going to happen between him and me, if we wouldn't see each other for another few months, but I tried not to think about it.

Not thinking about it eventually let me fall asleep but I started having a wild dream.

I was back in the Pale, all bright light and white clouds. My eyes squinted, completely unused to sunlight, and I breathed in fresh air for the first time since I was damned. I was not alone here, the voices of multiple judges were bouncing around harshly. My eyes adjusted to the brightness and I was finally able to see what they looked like. They were ethereal beings, with white hair, white eyes, and snow white skin, the color seeming to be bleached out of them. Dressed in matching white robes and despite them having short or long hair, I was still unable to determine any of their genders. They were arguing and didn't seem to notice my presence at all.