The Demon I Used To Be

Chapter three

December 25 2012
  
    It was still dark when I opened my eyes. It had to have been morning; I'd been sleeping for ages. The air was cold and moist. Fortunately, I still had my coat on –I'd always had it on.
    I struggled out of what would have been Alyssa's grave and dusted myself up. My stomach rumbled loudly. I clutched it with my left hand and combed my hair backward with the other hand. The only noise that could've been heard there at that hour would've been from the walnut tree that used to be there, a year and a day ago. I tramped, like the tramp that I was, till I got to a lighted street; from the bright street lights hanging on tall poles to the tiny colourful bulbs hanging from wires and gracing buildings. I stopped and drew in air to fill my lungs. It didn't smell like Christmas. The air was just moist, cold, and a little dusty. I let out a huge sigh then continued my causeful journey to nowhere. Subconsciously, I searched, through my sight, for food –anything humanly consumable.
   I stopped again, by a door with a black Toyota car packed in front of it. I couldn't go any further. I was drained –famished. I stood before the door. I didn't knock. I stood.
   A few moments passed and my legs began to ache. I slumped on the car, making it wail with a loud piercing sound. I rose back to my feet immediately and ran with energy I no longer had. "Stop right there or I'll blow your head up!" I heard a lady say, fiercely. I froze, my heart too. "Now your hands in the air" she added. I obeyed. She asked me to take backward strides. I still obeyed. I felt an object poke my head through my hair. It felt like my heart jumped into my mouth as I gulped in fear.
   "You didn't think you'd get away so easily, did you?"
I could perceive the smugness in her tone. I didn't utter a word. "What're you doing, stealing on Christmas morning? Shouldn't you be in church or something?"
  "I wasn't stealing anything" I retorted. My heart was back in its place and instead of fear, sudden vexation enveloped me.
     "Oh cut the crap" she scoffed. I clasped her wrist firmly then twisted it till I turned to face her. Her arm was still twisted in my steadfast grip. "Let go of the gun" she refused to obey. I twisted it more and she squealed, "Honey!". I let go then, swiftly, made a grab for her gun.
    A young looking man with dark hair stormed out of the building in blue pajamas. I pointed the gun at him, speedily, and he gasped then gulped. He cornered his eyes to the woman in a scowl. 'What a honey!'
  "What do you want?" She asked.
  "Food, lots of em, and clothes, just enough for a week, and then...umm" I squeezed my mouth to my right as I thought. "...money!" I screamed, excitedly.
  "Food and money, we can get those. But how are we supposed to get clothes your size?"
  "Your question must be rhetorical, am I right?" I replied with a half smile, moving the gun to her, simultaneously. It was a shiny black pistol, well-polished. She gulped. She made a move. "Hey! I say when to move, get it?"
  "I bet you don't even know how to use a gun" she spoke confidently.
  "Oh really? Would you like me to show you if I can?" I asked,  raising my brows. I hadn't ever used a gun but that didn't mean I couldn't. She was scared. I could see it in her eyes. That made me proud of Anna. She and the man stood still for a while before I remembered that I was the one with a gun in her hands; I couldn't risk it getting snatched.
   "You can move. Hurry up" I ordered.
    I followed then into a medium sized parlor with a sofa, two loveseats and a settee, all wine colored. There were three windows with wine curtains that prettified the room.
   "Mister, you stay here and wait. Let the lady get my things ready."
  The man stopped immediately, raising his hands above his head on his own accord. I watched the lady ramble about –from the kitchen to a door opposite the entrance – till all that I had requested was packed up in two totes; a black and an ash.
  "So how did you get clothes my size" I snickered. "What kind of child are you? How old are you anyway?" Her voice came in a low tone. I could hear her heart throb hard.
  "A million and one years old, maybe" I replied, mockingly then cackled loudly. I reached for the totes on the chair. There was a black pouch on the same chair so I took it as well then stormed out of the house.
   It was already getting noisier in the street. The sun had started rising. I hid the gun in the pouch and hung it on my neck then marched with the totes in both hands. The next thing I needed was a place to stay.
   I got to a broader street after quite a long journey. The houses on this one were bigger and had compounds. It was about a mile from the former. A mansion painted in beige caught my eye. Unlike other compounds, it was fenced with wire gauze. The ground was covered with carpet grass, which was common to most of the houses there. Anna was dared to go in and I did.
   As I reached the gate, it was unlocked so I went in. I went round the side of the house to behind it. It had two stories from the front view and three from the back. One of the windows behind was also open. I nearly got discouraged, scared it might have been a trap. 'Could she still be stalking me?' But this time, I had a gun so there was one less problem –or at least, one more solution. I hurled my totes into the dusty room then propelled myself over the window with the pouch still hanging from my neck. I got entangled by cobwebs as soon as I got in.
"Fuck!" I swore. It was the first time I had ever used a swear word. Alex detested swear words. I thrusted my pouch in front of me, using it to get the spiderwebs out of my way. The walls of the room were green and dusty. It was filled with what appeared to have been old household materials that were abandoned; three wooden seats stacked together, a squared wooden table, a bedside lamp, disorganized bed parts, a one-armed couch and so on, all covered in dust. I took off my coat to dust the couch, one of the wooden seats and the table. The room was filled with dust as I slapped my coat against the couch. I sneezed repeatedly for a while.
   I decided to ignore the dust and settle down. I remembered that I was hungry when I woke up. I offloaded the black tote first –that was were she had packed food. There was a note in it.
   'You might get away with this today  but you'll get caught one day. Psychopath'
  I squashed the paper and tossed it to the ground then focused on the food. The bag contained four plastic plates; one with fried rice, one with salad, one with toasted bread and the last one was empty, or it's content was invisible to the naked eyes. The plate at the bottom of the bag was the empty one.
   I emptied two plates into my stomach then flopped on the table and sacked out.

     By evening I had woken up. I decided to go back to see 'sleeping' Bell. I scattered the clothes that had been in the ash tote on the couch. 'Rubbish!' I yelled mentally. The bag was filled with a pink dress, a jean skirt, a white blouse with  'Mummy's Princess' printed on it in cursive and on an ash background, a plain yellow jumpsuit, an ash hoodie and a black pair of trousers. I ruffled the clothes angrily then dumped them and left through the window.
   I found my way back to Bell's grave, with the aid of landmarks I had seen on my way. Although, my head was bowed for most of the journey and I walked by the edges of the streets. There were lots of people around at that time; partying and singing Christmas songs. I recalled the last Christmas I had celebrated, 2010. Alex baked a delicious Christmas cake. The green, red and white royal icings gave the cake a fantastic appearance. A lot of our extended family members were present too and we sang together. Christmas the next year was supposed to be better.
    As I arrived, I was slapped in the face by a wave of dusty breeze. I stood over her grave then took out the gun, my gun.
   "Guess what, Bell. I went out to look for food but I ended up ordering food, I mean, it was the people that I ordered to give me food..." I said,flaunting the gun, "...If your pussy brain would understand" I continued, saucily then fell on my knees almost immediately.
  "I didn't mean to talk that way to you, okay?" I rubbed the dust with my palm.
  "Hey kid!" I heard someone say. I raised my head but I was alone as always...or so I thought.

'Okay?'