I Accidentally Summoned a Demon and Named Him Fred

Maybe Spirit Therapy?

Poke...

Poke..

I can feel my eyes crack open.

"...Fred," I muttered, dragging a hand over my face. My voice came out rough, sleep–starved.

It shouldn't have been a shocker that I didn't sleep. But I was hoping that I could at least sleep in.

"If you try to jam another shitty sandwich down my throat—"

"I would never," he said, offended.

Liar.

"But...I got food...This time not from the trash," he added proudly, lifting what looked like my bedsheet bundled into a sack and slung over his shoulder like a demonic Santa.

He said what? My stomach curled immediately.

"... You disgusting asshole! That food yesterday came from the trash!"

"It's been a while...I forgot what humans eat," he corrected, unbothered.

He dropped the bundle onto my bed.

Food spilled everywhere.

Bread. Fruit. Yogurt cups. Cereal boxes. Packets of jelly.

Way too much.

"... You planning to feed a small village?" I asked.

"We're leaving," he said simply.

Just like that.

The words hung in the dark between. That made me pause.

A part of me—

A big part.

Wanted to say yes.

Yes, let's go.

Let's walk out of this creepy fake Hogwarts, ditch the haunted dorm, and pretend this was all some fever dream.

But the thought of talking to my mom again was right at my fingertips.

Get the answers needed.

Get out.

But what do I do about Fred?

He wasn't my friend.

He wasn't a pet.

He was the thing that crawled into my head and smiled when I almost jumped off the bridge.

He enjoyed making me suffer for his amusement.

He'd admitted it. He practically bragged about it.

If I left this school with him... would I really find out what happened to my mom?

I swallowed.

"I'm staying," I said.

The word dropped between us like a stone in deep water.

Then—

"...what?"

"I'm not leaving yet."

The air in the room changed.

Subtle.

But sharp.

Like someone had dropped the temperature ten degrees.

Fred didn't move.

Didn't blink.

"You're joking," he said finally.

"No."

Something flickered across his face. Something... darker.

Older.