Deal with the Devil - Fear the devils series book 1

Chapter 6

Sudden anxiety came over Celine, different scenarios of the outcome of her visit played in her mind over and over again. Is he ok? How will he react to her present? Will he invite her in to get to know her more or will he demand her to leave... no the second option is not like the Michael she knows or imagines him to be.

When the taxi stopped in front of his family's property, she took a deep breath before getting out of the car.

It already has gotten dark so on the way to his house, no lights were switching on. Not even the ones which go on by motion detectors.

Now she is standing directly in front of his house, starting to hyperventilate. She could ring the bell only on her second try because of her constant tremble.

She has done it;

She just pressed the button and there's no turning back now. A part of her hope is that nobody is home so she could simply go home. The taxi was still in the gateway because she told the driver to wait in case this scenario would happen. It took a while until Celine could swear, she has seen something moving through the glass of the door when she just peaked in. Too startled by what is about to come she took a few steps back when the door finally opened and Michael was standing in front of her with his disheveled hair and topless, that was the first thing Celine noticed about him. For days she was concerned for him but there wasn't a sign of him being ill at all.

"Celine? What are you doing here?"

"Hey, I noticed you didn't come to school for days and was concerned if you were sick. When I asked some friends of yours if they knew anything about you, they had no idea..."

"Hold on. What made you come to my place? We don't even know each other. As you see I'm perfectly fine. You can go now. Or is there another reason why you're here?"

"Yes and sorry. I wanted to give you a little something after your game but I couldn't find you."

Celine reached for her back with timid movements which made the zipper stuck and she had a vexed expression.

"How long will you stand here? I have more important things to do. " Michael commented aggressively which made her more skittish but somehow, she found the item and held it in front of Michael with a nervous smile.

Michael on the other hand looked disgusted at the self-made night light of hers but still snatched it from her hands fast and observed it for a short time. Then he looked back up to her with indifference and maybe even with condescending. Celine began to get queasy at that and feared of what would come next. This scenario right now is not what she had in mind at all. Where is the popular cute boy she had met? She thinks.

"You should have put more effort into what to give me as a present. To be on the same page, you're present is hilariously, primitive and ugly."

Celine was too stunned to speak due to his reaction. Was he on drugs or what is wrong with him? She wanted to ask but before she could open her mouth to speak up, Michael went on with his malicious speech.

"Are you aware of how dangerous glass can be? It could fall any second and hurt me, was that your intention?" he almost growls at her.

"No! No, I didn't. I promise..." it came subdued out of Celine, on the verge of crying but trying to hold back.

"Oh really? Let me demonstrate how menacing this object is, shall we?" he challenged.

"What do you mean?-"

With his entire force, he reached out to stroke her night light against the door frame of his house where it shattered into a million pieces and scattered all over the floor. Celine could have sworn that with this humiliation of his, a piece of the splitter went straight through her heart. To make matters worse, right immediately afterward a female voice from inside was not to be ignored and approached them right after.

"Babe, what is that sound and why does it take so long? Come back to bed." The anonymous voice pointed out.

It turned out to be a tall blond-haired girl who came to light looking confused at Celine and then back at Michael.

"Who is this girl?" demanded the girl to know, the question dedicated to Michael.

"No one, just a little loser who has a crush on me and is under the impression of being worthy of my love or whatever. Spoiler alarm: She isn't." The girl and Michael started to grin at each other, clearly enjoying the harassment.

Then his eyes wandered back to Celine who was so broken inside she went numb and pretended to not care at all.

"Back to you, let's be honest why do you think someone like me would ever be interested in someone like you? Nobody even likes you and we all call you weird behind your back because you are, you ugly historian freak.  Now go where you came from or I call the police on you."

With these words, they closed the door in front of her face. Some seconds later the light went off and she still stood in full darkness in front of the door, not being able to process what just happened to her.

The only wish she had was to go home and lock herself in her room for the rest of her life and never come back out again. She didn't even acknowledge her feet carrying her back to the taxi. All of her emotions were restrained from the drive back to her house. When she was home again, she ignored her parents and went straight to her room, locked the door before any one of them asked her any questions she doesn't feel like answering, and went to her bed to cry it all out, not even bothering to switch on the lights.

"Sweetie, wake up. It's time to get ready for school." Her mother knocks but there's no answer from Celine so she tries to open the locked door. "Celine, would you open the door, please? ...Hello?"

Celine could hear someone else approaching, probably her brother Joshua.

"What's going on?" he asked their mother.

"Since her arrival yesterday she wouldn't come out of her room." After that, it has gotten quiet which made Celine relieved but after some minutes it knocked again.

"Is everything ok? I told mom you will take this day off and shouldn't bother you for a while. I need to go now but I hope that we can talk or at least sitting in silence and me being there for you. You know I will always be there for you. Love you, big sis in age."

Then he left for school like her parents for work. They won't come back until late afternoon. So, she stayed in bed and eventually fell asleep again.

She woke up again to the sound of her phone ringing. She had no intention of answering but when she looked at the caller id, it was Mrs. Pepperwood. She didn't think twice and answered straight away.

"Good morning, Celine, I'm happy you picked up. I wanted to ask you if you could come earlier today and maybe could take over the library for today. Not because much is going on, the opposite. My daughter was brought to a hospital and I don't like to close the library for the rest of the day. Would it be possible, darling?"

Celine was about to decline the offer but that would be rude and selfish considering the emergency.

"Sure, I can be there in 20 minutes. I don't have classes today anyway." Celine assured her.

"Wonderful, see you." Mrs. Pepperwood's relief to be heard in the change of her voice ended the call.

Celine didn't waste any minute and took a fast shower and changed into comfortable girls and ran to the bus stop. Luckily, she didn't miss it this time.

What could go wrong being alone in the library with a possibility unlocked door which leads to the forbidden room?...