The Devil Walks Among Us; Book l - Completed 4/21/22

Future Endeavors

Mia awoke the next morning with a gut feeling something was wrong. Fluttering her eyes open, a chill fluttered over her legs as she realized there was a thin blanket over her, the original sheets stripped from her bed as she realized she never had the chance to put clean ones on her bed. Warm beams of Autumn sunlight kissed her cheek as she looked around hesitantly, not feeling the familiar warmth next to her, indicating that Michael was gone.

With a frown, she looked at her nightstand, seeing her phone laying there - battery half dead. "Fuck." She grumbled, lifting her phone to look at the time. Seeing that it was seven a.m., she groaned as she realized that she had to work that day, knowing she would be late if she continued to lay in bed. Stretching her arms above her head, she sat up, her breasts catching a cold chill as she was completely nude. Bringing the blanket around her body, she looked in the doorway to see Michael standing there, his mask emotionless as usual. "Good morning, Michael," She smiled, relieved that he stayed. "Did you sleep good? I sure did."

He didn't respond but approached her as he watched her attempt to stand up, he knees almost instantly buckling as her legs felt like they had no nerves at all left in them, Michael smirking sadistically as he reached his hand out in an attempt to catch her if she fell completely, knowing she was like this because of him. "What happened last night?" She giggled, vaguely remembering their lovemaking the night before. He tilted his head, almost as if he was asking why she was asking such a stupid question. Although if he had to think back on it, she was fighting sleep by the time he got done with her, her moans and whines for relief seeming to never subside as she encouraged him to continue, time after time again.

Wrapping the blanket around her torso, she kept the blanket closed with one hand as the other reached up to clasp his shoulder before pressing a kiss to his masked cheek. "I gotta go to work in a couple of hours, okay? I'll be gone for a while, but I'll make dinner tonight. I need to go take a shower and make my lunch. Do you want to help me go feed the horses this morning?" She asked, knowing her response from him would either be a tilt of his head or judging by the gleam in his eye. She was surprised to see his head nod slightly. She smiled, balancing on the soles of her feet as she went to walk away from him towards her bathroom, giggling as she felt his hand graze her rear as she walked away.

Words couldn't describe how happy she made him.

After her shower, she rushed to the kitchen, furrowing her brows as she saw her lunch bag sitting on the counter, zipped up and seeming stuffed full. With a soft grin on her face, she approached her lunch bag, seeing that it was in fact packed for her. She giggled as she began removing some of the items in the bag Michael had put in it:

A sandwich bag full of cereal, two bags of potato chips, an apparent handful of candy, two cans of Dr. Pepper, and an apple.

She felt bad for unpacking half of the things Michael put in for her, knowing she wouldn't eat it all. As she went to take a step backward, her back collided with his chest. "Thank you for making my lunch, Michael, but I won't be able to eat all of this," She giggled. "Have you eaten anything?"

He didn't respond, hoping she wouldn't ask him again as it was his plan to scavenge her fridge when she left. He looked at her, his eyes gazing at her soft and wet skin, seeing a six-inch scar along her collarbone. Furrowing his brows behind the mask, he traced the pad of his thumb over it, watching her observe his action as if he were asking what happened. "You don't want to know, Michael."

He tilted his head before bowing it forward as if he were nodding yes. He was invested now and needed to know how she received such a harsh wound on her innocent skin. He rubbed his thumb over it again before looking at her, asking her to tell him.

She sighed, putting her hand over his that lingered on her, "I was in a bad relationship a couple of years ago. Turned out bad and I got hurt, but things are over and taken care of now." She frowned.

He tilted his head to the side as he dropped his hand from hers, giving her the space he thought she needed as he could tell it was a sensitive subject for her. Instead, he took a step back, watching her wipe a pending tear before turning around to continue packing her lunch free of junk food before rushing back towards the bathroom to finish getting ready for the day.

Throwing her now dry hair into a loose bun, she exited her bedroom to find Michael as she promised him to let him help her feed the horses that morning. Frowning, there was no sight of him in the house. Deciding that going to find him will cause her to run late, she went to the barn without him, only to find him standing at the shed, every bag of feed she had purchased the day before stacked into a garden cart.

She smiled as she approached him, seeing his grip on the cart's handle tighten as she got closer to him. "Thank you, Michael."

He studied her as his response, his hand not moving as she tried to take over, but instead, he wanted to help her, not watch her do everything herself. She nodded, motioning for him to follow her with the cart as her horses approached, nostrils flared and ears forward as the sight of the feed bags got them excited. "Hey, babies!" She smiled as she opened the gate for her and Michael to come through. "I brought you a friend."

Michael stood tall as he watched Mia interact with the horses. Watching how she held her hand out, he repeated the same motion, tilting his head in curiosity as the brown horse touched its muzzle to his palm, disappointed that Michael didn't bring a treat. "Here, Michael. Harlow loves treats and I always give him one when I see him," She smiled, handing two soft peppermints to him, setting them in his palm as Harlow pricked his ears forward towards Michael, ignoring his intimidating stature as Lilo, the other horse, stayed back nervously. "Here you go, Bubba." She smiled, giving her horses the treats, watching Michael as he stood still while Harlow took the treats from his hand, chewing on the peppermints as Michael slowly and gently ran his hand up the horse's head, genuinely curious about the horse's nature as Mia proceeded to open the feed bags to put them into their containers, putting two scoops of each feed into the horse's buckets, Lilo taking notice first while Harlow was still curious about Michael's nature as he continued to run his hand up and down the horse's head.

"Alright, Michael, I have to go to work now, okay? I'll be back around seven tonight. Please don't go out and cause trouble. I got you some clothes and some personal things while I was out yesterday. I have a surprise for you later, so be good." She smiled, pressing a kiss to Michael's masked cheek as she grabbed her bags and keys as he followed her to the front door to watch her leave.

oOo

"Nice to see you back, Mia." One of her colleagues smiled as she clocked in for her shift.

"Thank you. You too! How are you?"

"Well. It's been busy the past few weeks. How was your time at Smith's Grove?"

"It went well. I was only up there twice a week all of last month," She chuckled. "Well, I'll see you later. I'm going to go put my food in the break room."

Clipping her name badge to her shirt, she tucked her hair behind her ears as she entered the staff lounge, seeing one of her closest friends, Karen, sitting at the table, her head laying on her crossed arms.

After putting her food in the fridge, Mia sat across from Karen. "You alright?"

Karen grumbled, "Y-Yeah. I'm just tired." She sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Is everything okay? You look like you've been up all night."

"I have, Mia," She frowned. "Mom's been up since the thirtieth with paranoia."

"Oh," Mia frowned. "I'm so sorry. How's your daughter handling it?"

"It's sad to say, but she's handling it better than me. I just... I just get so irritated with my mom sometimes. She's convinced someone is after her and has literally made a fortress of her own home. She obsesses over it."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure this time of year is just a trigger point for her."

"It is. It's when she got attacked forty years ago."

"Attacked?"

"Yes. By Michael Myers."