The Devils Gift

Chapter 29

I began to panic. Why did I feel like this? My breathing grew erratic and I couldn't calm myself. My head was dizzy and my vision blurred. Pacing around the room, I looked out each window. I could see nothing and no one beyond the woods itself.

My stomach gurgled. The hunger I was starting to feel took away some of the panic. I hadn't eaten in so long I was surprised I had the energy to panic.

"What do I do?!" I spoke to myself. I was going crazy. Never had I thought Sodo would do this, but maybe it wasn't him. Maybe it was my own mind and I was actually going crazy. It would make sense. The fact that my body physically couldn't open a door sounded absurd.

"It's fine, everything is going to be fine." Calm finally began to flow through me. Now being replaced by my desire for food. "Sodo will come back. He just forgot to give you your phone. It's going to be ok." The words brought some comfort. But that thought still lingered in my head. "Maybe Sodo was doing this for a reason."

I had pushed away all my thoughts. My stomach filled the otherwise empty room. I sat on the floor with my back to Sodo's bed. It seemed the most comfortable at the moment. My eyes closed as I avoided any thoughts related to my parents, Marie, or Sodo.

This didn't last long though. Even in my state of denial I couldn't help but go over every detail of Sodo from the past day. "That argument." I whispered to myself. My eyes opened but I never focused on anything. I just stared into the abyss, focusing on Sodo's body language.

I remember him being his normal protective self when Marie and Josh were there. How he had his eye on me constantly and never once looked away. The lingering stares that should have made me uncomfortable but never did. The fact I found comfort in them.

"Nope, focus." I cursed myself as I began to focus on Sodo's good parts, like how he made me feel safe. I immersed myself in the argument itself. Sodo had, like normal, put himself between me and the aggressor. The argument only lasted a minute or so but in that short span I remember myself fighting for Sodo's side.

The attachment I felt fueled my desire to stay with him. I didn't feel in control of that argument. Like my body had become a puppet for someone else.

In this discovery I had a small lightbulb moment. My life revolves around Sodo even though I never noticed. It seemed subconscious but the more I thought about it the more I noticed how Sodo was always there, in my thoughts.

"Why?" The winning question. Why did I feel this way? I followed Sodo's every word, every decision, and every warning. I never thought for myself anymore. I was the puppet, and Sodo was the puppeteer. He was the one controlling me, forcing me to push out the only family I had left.

"Holy shit!" I sprung up for my spot on the floor. The realization of everything hit me like a brick. Everything made sense now. "Wait, what was in his pocket?" I rushed through questions but that stuck out.

"Maybe he is drugging me or something. To make me follow him like some kind of doll." It was the most logical idea. It made the most sense at the moment too. I didn't see it in his pocket when he took my phone. He must have dumped it somewhere.

My search for whatever was in his pocket began, but it was more a distraction to my findings. I looked through every drawer, every cabinet, every little hiding place I could think of or see. Nothing came up. This place seemed to be just a normal room. As normal as a ghouls room could get.

I sat on the edge of the bed defeated. Nothing to back up my suspicions. I only had my ideas. No concrete evidence. I looked around the room. A few of the drawers were still open but I did my best to keep the place looking normal so Sodo wouldn't have suspected anything.

My eyes soon landed on the closet door. "I haven't checked there." I pondered. It would be the best place to look. I wasn't sure why I didn't start with that.

I got up and quickly headed to the door. Having no clue when Sodo was returning I needed to move quickly but carefully. I had no clue what ghouls kept.

Slowly I opened the door. The creak as it opened added to the creepiness of the situation. As the door opened the light came on instinctively. "Maybe it's motion censored." I told myself and moved on with my search.

The closet was just as normal as anything. It was filled with only black shirts, some gray here and there, with black jeans and sweats folded on a shelf towards the back. Dress shoes lined the floor, maybe ten pairs of different shoes. Not one the same but they all held a shininess you could only get from professional cleaning.

I moved into the closet. Pushing back chunks of hung up clothes, I looked only at blank walls. Behind each chunk of clothes nothing weird or suspicious laid out. Just a normal closet so far.

Losing motivation I was about to leave when I turned to the shelf of pants. "I should be sure." Mumbling to myself I moved toward it. I started at the bottom and lifted each small stack, making sure nothing was weird before moving up to the next.

I did this until I came to the stack about Sodo's height. A little taller than me but not by much. Not out of reach or eye level.

I stood taller and lifted the smaller stack of sweats. To my surprise I found a box. I couldn't tell anything of it so I placed the sweats in another stack and grabbed the box. It was heavy and on the bigger side but I was able to pull it out and move it.

Kneeling down in the closet I put the box on the floor. It was a simple small chest like box. A latch on the outside but that was the only decoration. Like a small pirate's chest.

I bit my lip nervously. My focus only on what I was about to discover. I never heard the door to the bedroom open. Instead I debated on if I wanted to look inside. "Do I ruin what is so almost perfect?"

"Yes, I need to." I pushed the doubt out of my head and moved forward. I opened the latch and counted to three before opening the lid.

I gasped out and fell onto my butt. My eyes widened in horror at what was inside. There were so many of them I could barely stomach it. I wanted to throw up, to crawl into a ball and hide. Yet anger coursed through me but fear quickly followed, engulfing the fear. I was right, I didn't want to see what was inside the box.