Against The World

Chapter 2: Things that Crawl in the Night

"You okay honey? You're picking at your food. You only do that when something's wrong."

I said nothing, but knew my parents were glancing at each other in worry. I poked at the steak I hated. The words that were spoken between them earlier repeated in my head over an over again.

I wanted to know my brother. What would he look like? What would he act like? Was he nice? Was he funny? Did he have a family of his own now? Did he even know I existed? Probably not and I found myself angry, sad, and disappointed.

Angry because I was never told of him. Sad because I never knew him. Disappointed that my mother acted like she hated him. How can a mother hate their own child?

I looked at my mother and father.

"What's his name?"

My mother frowned.

"Who?"

"My brother. You had no right to hide him from me."

She scowled at me angrily.

"You brat! You can't yell at your mother like that!"

I scowled back and stood up.

"I wasn't yelling! This is yelling! Tell me what his name is! I should be allowed to know who my brother is!"

She stood up and leaned towards me across the table.

"If you don't stop right now I'll slap you!"

I growled and held the table tightly.

"You slap me and I'll slap back! No one slaps me!"

My father separated us with a smile of amusement. I huffed as my mother kept screaming at me. My father laughed and patted the top of my head.

"Now, now, we should all calm down. Amber is right Michelle. She should be allowed to know about her brother. He adored her after all."

I frowned.

"I don't remember him."

"You were a baby at the time." He turned back to my mom. "Michelle, leave us."

She nodded and walked off angrily. My father shook his head in exhaustion and dragged me outside and pulled me to sit next to him on the old swings. I looked up at the sky as the sun started to set.

"I want to know what he's like..."

"Amber... You've noticed it right? You are very different from others. As a eight year old, despite your academic skills being bad, you had the maturity level of a young adult. You were quiet, observant, understanding, and very bold. Nine years later and you are even more determined and blunt, but you are trustworthy and would fight for what you believe is right, correct?"

I nodded.

"What does this have to do with anything?"

He chuckled light-heartily.

"It has everything to do with it. I'm not... particularly human. I have a heart that beats, skin above my bones, and I'm a sexy man of course. I mean, where did you think you got your adorableness from? Despite that you have seen me when I'm mad and have witnessed what can happen. The point is that I'm a demon."

I stared... Then laughed my ass off.

"I-I can't take it!"

He stayed silent with his lips in a straight line. His faced held nothing, but honesty and seriousness.

"I am not joking - it is not the time. I know it is hard to believe, but you have to. You are half-demon."

I stared at him again. I wanted to scream at him to stop messing around, but I felt content knowing this. It was not rational. I didn't believe in god and the devil or angels and demons, but my intuition told me he was telling the truth and everything I believed was fake was real.