𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗻𝗲𝗱, 𝗶 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 | michael langdon x oc

01x02 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹

October 3rd, 2015

6 Years Earlier

"Get outta this house, ya damned demon! I ain't got no patience to deal with ya no more!"

Clutching the handle of her small bag of belongings in her hand, Jessica hurried, no - darted - to the exit, before the harsh mental wounds from the words of her aunt will turn into even harsher physical ones. Running through the front door, she almost stumbled, and yet picked herself up, like she always did throughout her life. Always chased, always haunted. Always have to outrun the voices, the snares, the judging, even if it wasn't her fault she was born a demon. Filthy, cursed witch, a Devil's spawn - that's what she was used to hearing the moment her powers awoke.

The first time it happened, she just wanted to save a puppy - after suddenly becoming a witness to some unruly delinquent kids torturing the poor thing just for the fun of it, the 12-year old Jessica broke it off, rushing to help it. It was just lying there, barely breathing, and she called and took her aunt Myrtle to help, but barely even looking at it, the middle-aged woman replied there was nothing they could do, and its soul is soon going to heaven, taken by God in the natural order of things, bla bla bla, all the usual lectures about God's will that Jess was already used to hearing. The young girl just thought it was unfair - if going through the pearly gates of heaven requires to experience life cut short by such cruelty with nothing to justify it, she doesn't want to let God take this puppy's soul. So Jessica took the soul herself, cradling the barely breathing puppy in her small hands, ignoring the protests of her squeamish aunt, and she cried, yes, the tears couldn't stop falling, onto the bloodied grass, onto her new white and pristine dress, onto the nearly lifeless wounded tiny body.

And then a miracle happened.

The puppy opened its eyes. The open bloody wounds started to heal, close, disappear, leaving only blotches of fur with dried blood on them. Wide eyed, Jessica stared at it, not even blinking, as the puppy escaped her hands, tail waggling in happiness, as if it was fine and nothing at all just happened to it. Mouth agape and slowly turning her head to her aunt, she read the same surprise and confusion in her eyes. But...over the years, of course she realized it wasn't the worst of it.

For one, she could say with confidence her rug caught on fire definitely over 5 times for no reason at all, every time she came angrily into the room, upset by one thing or another. One time, aunt Myrtle's whole porcelain China tea set collection broke, the moment she hit Jessica across the face. And each one of those instances, of course, earned a further beating and a crucifix shoved in her face, as her god-fearing aunt would keep on reciting prayers. People feared what they couldn't understand, and at some point, Jessica has come to fear herself too. As time passed, the incident with the puppy was suppressed by her, shoved into the deepest corner of her mind, as if she didn't just create a miracle worthy of Christ himself.

No...She was a demon, after all. A monster, who has no place in a proper home. Running along the streets, the raven-haired 16-year old didn't know what to do with her life now. Where will she live now? Can she come back to school? Is she destined to starve and die on the streets, like a kicked out dog? The survival instinct in her kept telling her to keep going forward, find a shelter. Do foster homes accept runaway older teens? She didn't know, but immediately thought against it. She is not allowed to live near normal human beings...Not again. So, that leaves the only option - fend for herself. With a deep sigh, Jessica picked up her pace again, her sandals clattering against the grey pavement of a middle class suburban maze, with identical white idyllic homes to the each side of the road. It's true she has no place there. This picture-perfect California-dream suburb is not for the messy, fucked up likes of her, and so today it finally spat her out, leaving her in this cold cruel world all alone.