I didn’t really have to use the restroom. The main reason I was standing at the desk in study hall, asking for the bathroom pass, was because I just needed to get out of the cold, stuffy room crowded with students. I just needed a short, brisk walk to the water fountain; maybe check my hair in the bathroom mirror to make sure I wasn’t a dinosaur, and then a quick walk back so people didn’t think I was taking too long as to doing something illegal.
Mrs. Coleman glared at me, narrowing her dark black eyes through the golden rings of her glasses. She reluctantly handed me the pass from deep in her messy desk drawer, adding on one of her, “Be quick” demands.
Nodding, I took the pass carefully from her bony hands, adding a thank you, then turning and rushing out the door. Once out in the empty hall, I looked around, savoring the one moment of peace and quiet in the one place you wouldn’t usually find it. Taking in a deep breath, I walked out and down the long hallway.
The math class was the last in the junior hallway (I was a junior now, surprisingly), the restrooms being all the way down the hallway. It was a pain to walk so far, but it gave me more time to think and to be alone. Being alone was my specialty, even though it was sad and depressing, and I usually longed for someone to just throw their warm, comforting arms around me, hug me close, and tell me it was going to be all right. But I was my own arms, my own shoulder to cry on, and now that my mother was long gone just states away, I literally had no one.
That’s when I heard the familiar click of the door. Looking up, I found Robert walking out of the Geography class. He looked suspicious, like he was carrying drugs under that old black jacket of his. He shut the door behind him, and walked down a couple lockers to his own. I watched him as I walked, as he tried unsuccessfully to open his locker, over and over again attempting and failing. Now frustrated, he looked around, spotting me as I had reached closer to him. He attempted a smile, but again, failed, then spoke softly over to me in a voice of somewhat defeat.
“Can you, um, help me?” He breathed.
“What?” I stopped dead in my tracks, my heart beating madly in my chest. I could feel my voice go dry, like cotton was in my mouth or something.
“Could you help me open my locker?” He asked, clearing his throat and looking just as embarrassed as I was. Nodding, I walked over silently, becoming closer to him as I reached his locker. As my left elbow brushed against the soft cotton of his jacket, my hands shook as they reached for the latch on his locker.
That’s when time slowed, and everything happened in a blur. That’s when death came to me, jumped at me, actually. Pulling open his locker with all my strength, and finally opening it, I felt myself being pushed back with such a great amount of force. That’s when I felt my back hit against a hard surface, sending waves of pain and soreness racking through my nerves, my spine sounding off a rippling cracking noise, that wasn’t pleasant to hear.
I heard a scream. Maybe it was mine, but it didn’t matter. Blinking my eyes open, I immediately wished I hadn’t. I was against the wall, on the other side of the hall from the lockers. Standing on my lap was a hideous, ugly creature, one you’d find deep from the darkest depths of a nightmare. It was slimy, a smelly goo oozing off its face and onto my jeans (ones I just bought, by the way), and I froze solid.
But as soon as it screeched and threw its arms up as if ready to attack and claw my face out, that’s when my survival instincts kicked in and reached for its disgusting little arms in defense, hoping to fend myself off by holding it away from me. Whatever it was. But it was hard. The thing was a mini machine, I struggled to keep it in my grip as I barely clasped onto its slimy little wrists. With as much strength I had left, I threw it across from me against the lockers. As soon as it landed both feet on the cold tile, my eyes shifted to Robert, who immediately had a knife slit through its head within seconds.
I was then gasping, the breath knocked from my lungs, a burning sensation ripping apart my scull. I looked down at the bloody little thing lying lifeless on the ground, its eyes back into its fleshy green head, chunks of the inside of its brain creating puddles of red and green on the tile floor near my feet. I drew my feet closer, hugging my knees to my chest as close as they could get.
“What the…heck… was t-that?” I breathed every breath stinging in my throat. Still on alarm, my body was sore and numb, and I could barely move even an inch. But I kept my eyes wide open, in case anything else decided to jump out at me. I still didn’t even know if this was real or not. This kind of stuff only happens in movies and books, and even in dreams- nightmares. Not in real life.
He looked down at me, his golden eyes looking at me deeply, seriously, a fierce gaze stricken in them. He knew what was going on. He just knew.
“What’s happening?” I cried, my voice coming off weakly.
Suddenly, he walked forwards, and crouched down beside me so we were close. Closer than close. I watched him as he moved to me, then he held my gaze with such seriousness in his face.
“It attacked you.” His voice was deep, and even surprised. I just stared at him, my eyes wide, my breath still uneven. I stared at him like he was crazy, but maybe I was the crazy one. Maybe I was still in class just daydreaming? Maybe…
… “W-What?” I asked, confusion splitting my brain into two. “I don’t-
“It attacked you. Demons only attack demon-hunters.” His eyes turned from such seriousness, to much of shock and curiosity.
“W-What?” I stammered. This was just too much for me. “What the heck is going on here?” I demanded, wanting some answers, and fast, because right now, there was a lifeless demon lying behind him on the floor.
“Did you s-say…demon?” I asked, my words slurring together. I cowered my back into the hard wall behind me.
Slowly, he nodded. “That was a demon, and demons only attack demon hunters,” Suddenly, he got even closer, which didn’t even seem possible, “Who are you?”
“…Kimberlee Pine,” I said stupidly, every inch of my body still trembling with fear, “Who are you?”
He chuckled quietly to himself, and held out his hand. “I’m Robert Green,” Then he added, “Demon Hunter.”
