Demons Lurking in the Dark

Chapter Seven

Trigger Warning: Death

     The area around me quickly filled with smoke as I appeared home once again. I ran to my bedroom, leaped on my bed, and curled up beneath my blankets. I wanted this nightmare to be over. I wanted to feel happiness again. I wanted my mother back. I wanted to be able to feel like I had a say in my future. I wanted to know things will get better, not be the miserable life I live daily, trapped without change. I'm doomed to be in the underworld and doomed to permanent misery.

      Tears slowly began rolling down my cheek as I rocked back and forth in my bed, Blood dripped down my arm and onto my sheets.

    I smelled the smoke filling the room and the heat blaze on with it. My tears picked up even more as I rocked. My whole body shook. I couldn't stand this.

     "W-What do you want from me now, huh?! Want me to jump off a cliff?!" I shrieked, my voice quivering.

     "You are such a dramatic boy," Relandian replied. "You have one more stop if you'd ever like to see your mother again."

    "Then bring me there! Let me get this miserable day over with! I just want my mom back!" I shouted as I threw the sheets off. He rolled his eyes and covered me in the cloud of smoke again.

    I looked around as the layer of smoke began to thin out. A cabin. I narrowed my eyes as I got a good look. When I was little, my family rented a cabin every summer. We'd spent about a week in the forest, swimming and singing songs around the fire every day. Some years I was even allowed to bring Gabe with me. His family didn't have much spare money or time to take vacations, so we would bring him along. My parents loved Gabe so much that they considered him family.

     I walked up to the cabin and sighed. I slowly opened the door and walked in. Everything was the same as it had been before. Old-fashioned carpeting from the '80s and gray paint chipped paint on the walls.

     The couch had the same punch stain it had got when we had stayed there. I smiled softly at the thought my dad had been here. He was living and breathing in here.

     Memories flooded back into my head. I wished he was here more than ever. I needed his advice. I needed to feel like someone could keep me safe like I didn't have to fend for myself all the time.

    I felt my tears puddle in my eyes again and I didn't stop them. I was weak. The ghosts already knew. I would never be strong and brave. I couldn't be something I'm not. I climbed onto the couch and laid down. I closed my eyes and tried to block out everything around me but the memories of my dad kept flooding in.

    "You're so weak! Crying over you stupid dad! He wouldn't be dead if he wasn't such an idiot!" Relandian shouted.

    "He's not stupid! Your stupid!" I shouted.

     "What did you just say?!" Relandian snapped. I felt a heavy pound in my body as I was pushed up from the couch and onto my feet. I felt a sharp pain on the side of my neck and felt blood pour down my cheek.

    "How do you feel now?!" He hissed. My words weren't coming from another, they were coming out of my mouth.

    "Get out of-" I started but I was helpless.

    "You can't get rid of me!" He shouted, "I will be here to make sure your life is filled with torture and despair! You deserve no good! None!"

      He scratched me again, this time in the chest, going deeper than he had before. I fell to the floor in pain. A puddle of blood surrounded me, wetting my clothes. He left my body and cowered over me.

    "That's what you deserve! You have made me suffer over the past few years. Constantly trying to get you to give in but you never did! You always thought you would play hero instead! Live your dumb, happy little life! I'm sick of it!" He hissed. "I'm going to make sure you suffer one way or another!"

     A cloud of smoke surrounded me once again. The flames roared louder than before as the ashes flooded the room.

    "What now?" I coughed through the smoke.

    "You have one last task," Demarion replied. I let out a breath of relief when I heard it was him. All demons were bad but I had more faith in him than any other.

    "What?" I asked, desperate for an end to this all.

     "You need to die," He grinned, he snapped and sharp pain filled my whole body. He pulled the knives out from earlier and smiled at his reflection.

    "But my m-mom!" I shouted, coughing.

    "Sometimes getting the things you want in life takes sacrifices," Relandian smiled.

    "You didn't think I was actually trying to help you, did you?" Demarion asked.

     I curled up on the floor, clenching my chest as the puddle grew. Demarion looked at his brother and laughed.

     "You foolish boy! You're just as stupid as your dad! You can't work around us! You're doomed!" Relandian laughed.

      "Just as you deserve to be," Jack's voice added. He reappeared in the mirror across the room before walking out of it. He stood up straight, a grin across his face.

    I laid on the floor, my whole body covered in blood. I coughed even harder till I had no air left. The screaming from the mental hospital filled my head again, playing on repeat.

       "Just take me out of my suffering!" I coughed as they laughed in the background. My body went limp. My heart pounded in my chest, desperate for care, desperate to be okay again. My eyes blurred as the pain increased. I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't be like this anymore. I tried to move my arm but couldn't. I sat there helplessly with the laughter of Jack, Demarion, and Relandian in my ear and the screams and cries flooding my mind.

     I wanted to tell my mother how much I loved her and missed her, but I couldn't. I was going to die here. Alone. I would never get to see her smile again or hear her laugh at some stupid joke Gabe made. I was never going to see my only friend ever again. He was going to have to spend every day at school alone, being bullied constantly.

    I tried to get a tear out but I couldn't. I was empty. Crying would never help me. I was doomed and I had no way to change that.

     I let out another cough and watched as the pile widened. Blood was never a problem for me, but now it was proof I was doomed. I let out one last cough and then gasped for air. Nothing I tried worked. My heart pounded even harder till it rapidly slowed down. My eyes slowly closed, till I didn't have the strength to hold them open anymore.

    "See you on the other side," Jack laughed.