The Good Demon

Chapter 1

When I stepped outside I saw a thin layer of snow on the ground. Naturally, it was cold. I was decently dressed for the weather.

I wore a dark blue trench coat, black leggings and warm white boots, I looked down and inspected my shoes. They were old, you could tell by how it cracked at the front and despite being white boots they were yellowish

Jean, my aunt, then came out of her house, I looked at her. She was your typical aunt, fat, weird earrings and short hair. She actually dyed her hair jet black.

We didn't acknowledge each other. She walked past me and got into her car and started the engine. I waited outside by the doorstep for my cousin.

My eyes wandered to the bushes in my aunt's garden, they reached to about my height and had lost a majority of their leaves. In one of the thin branches close to the ground was a little caterpillar, slowly crawling towards a lone leaf.

I thought about how good the light of the morning sun looked. It shined on the caterpillar in just the right way. The caterpillar had a unique yellow color to it, adding to the nice contrast to the snow and branches.

These kinds of moments are exactly the ones my mom would tell me about. I sighed and pulled out my phone, I may as well try to take a picture.

I opened the camera app and crouched down. It took me a while to find an angle that I liked. And even longer to decide on the pro settings.

Then everything somehow clicked together. The caterpillar had sort of positioned itself upwards, as if it was looking at me.

When I took the photo I stared at it in awe for a moment. It's been a while since I've taken a photo I was happy with.

My attention went away from the phone and I looked at the caterpillar, who was still positioned upwards. It was like we were making eye contact, and in a way I saw myself in the caterpillar.

I wondered why there was a caterpillar in winter. Then I realized that this caterpillar would probably die soon. It was a sad fact. I absorbed it as a sad fact yet I still didn't feel sad. I didn't want to cry or even that my chest felt tight.

I know that might be an overreaction. But it matters to me.

Because I'm pretty sure I'm a psychopath.

That thought sat with me for a while. I don't know how long I sat there crouched down on the ground before Madeline came out of the house and interrupted my thoughts.

"Good morning, Diana." She said, I nodded and waved to her.

Many people confuse us as sisters, even more now that I live with her. I guess I could see the resemblance. But honestly not really, I think it's because we're both ginger that people think we look more alike than we actually do.

She was taller than me and lankier. The best way I can differentiate us is that she's more stiff and angular while I'm more rounded and curvy. I had long and frizzy hair, she had curlier hair and always wore it up.

Her mom honked the car. Madeline walked past me,

"Come on, let's go." She said with urgency in her voice.

As I was about to stand up, I felt a weird sensation, my hearing increased, I heard the wind louder, my cousins footsteps were louder. I felt my body pull towards the caterpillar.

This strange feeling I would get is what I called the nerves, I feel it when there's a demon nearby.

I was staring at the ground, focused on the sensation. Then, I heard the rustling of the bush branches next to me.