The Good Demon

Chapter 5

I was surprised to wake up in Madeline's room. I sat up on my bed and looked around for my phone. It was by my nightstand where I always kept it. I turned it on to check the time. 2 am.

After confusingly staring at the time on my phone I looked around the room. It looked normal. My bag was next to the bed, I wore a funky shirt and underwear for pajamas. Madeline seemed okay too, she was fast asleep.

I couldn't remember what happened the last 12 hours.

I scratched my head. Trying to remember something from today. The last thing I remembered was... Aubrey. I remember her face, we were talking after math class. She added me on social media. My memory of it was very hazy.

Who knows how long I sat there. Thinking. Trying to remember. After that moment with Aubrey the rest of the day felt like a blank. Not even a glimpse of what happened.

Nervously, I tapped around my head checking for any blood. I was sure I hit my head. Thankfully there was no blood but still. Unfortunately I couldn't ask Madeline about my day. For many reasons.

She was sleeping. And as I looked at her for some reason I felt my blood boil. The schizophrenia, her attitude, her back talking. But I shook my head, I didn't want to think about that right now.

Slowly I let myself fall onto the bed. And I held myself. Although the temperature of the room was fine just a minute ago I felt a cold air creep around my body. Embracing every part of me. I wrapped around myself tighter, trying to find more warmth within. My hands clenched into a fist.

I felt so stupid. I beat myself up for caring too much.

Then without hesitation I got out of bed and made my way downstairs, on my way down to the living room. I brought my thick blanket with me. As I walked down the stairs I wrapped the blanket around me, and the comfortable warmth came back.

Once I reached the living room it felt almost surreal being down here at 2 am all by myself. It reminded me of when I used to sleep over here.

I remember one time me and Madeline were really hungry one night and we snuck into the kitchen to get some snacks. But then we got caught by her dad, and even though it was my idea to sneak into the kitchen Madeline still took all the blame.

I missed that.

I walked over to the green couch and made myself comfortable. I stretched myself all over the couch, it was big enough to where I could fit inside without touching the edges.

The material of the couch wasn't that soft. It was rather rough and uncomfortable. But the living room had the benefit of not sleeping with Madeline.

I laid there for a while, drifting in and out of consciousness. Both thinking and not really thinking. But then I got to thinking too much. Thinking too much about the demons.

When I saw them in that classroom, when I heard their conversation. I knew they were talking about me.

The demon is targeting me.

I felt a shiver go through my body. Just thinking about the other demon made my nerves tingle. It pulled my attention to the front door for just a moment.

The anxiety was getting to me. Demons, Madeline, Aubrey and even aunt Jean.

I groaned and sat up. There was no way I would be able to sleep in this state of mind.

As I sat there with tired eyes a memory popped into my head. My old guidance counselor once said that journaling can really help with moments like these. After some great hesitation I quietly went back upstairs and brought back my school bag. I set the bag next to the coffee table downstairs and pulled out a pen and a notebook.