I spent only a short time in prison. Once again, my innocence was proven. There was no evidence linking me to the crime scene. No fingerprints. No witnesses.
Still, I was marked.
Evil does not require proof.
I returned to my home with nothing waiting for me—no job, no lover, no future. Just walls heavy with silence.
The demon came back, whispering promises of power and purpose. I no longer believed him. In truth, I no longer believed anything—not God, not demons, not myself. What grew inside me instead was rebellion. Cold, precise, patient.
I decided to let the demon think I had surrendered.
That was the first step toward destroying him.
"Fine," I told him one warm summer afternoon. "I'll give you souls. But only men's."
He laughed, flames flickering in his eyes.
"I don't care whose souls they are," he said. "I want them."
His voice no longer frightened me. Fear requires hope, and I had none. I felt like stone—heavy, unfeeling, immovable.
One day, wandering aimlessly through the streets, I noticed a small shop tucked between two abandoned buildings. The windows were dark. The air smelled wrong. In the display, a book on esotericism caught my attention.
Neo once spoke to me about magic—not as belief, but as curiosity.
I went inside.
The bell chimed softly. Dusty shelves surrounded me—spell books, jars of dried herbs, crystal balls clouded with age. Behind the counter stood a small, unpleasant man. His eyes lingered on me too long.
"I want to learn about demons," I said. "And how to get rid of them."
He smiled thinly.
"You've come to the right place."
"Tell me."
"Perhaps we should speak in the back room," he suggested.
"No," I snapped. "I want to outwit the demon hunting me. Can you help me, or not?"
His smile vanished.
"That's impossible," he said quietly.
Rage surged through me.
"He wants souls," I said. "But I don't want to kill anyone."
The man hesitated, then leaned closer.
"There may be another way—"
The room shattered.
The demon burst through the air itself, claws tearing reality open. The man screamed, reaching for a talisman, chanting a spell that never finished.
The demon killed him instantly.
I saw his soul tear free and vanish into the demon's jaws.
"You're wasting time," the demon snarled. "Go and do what you're meant to do."
Then he was gone.
The body slumped forward, blood spilling across the counter and onto the floor. I stared at it, transfixed. The hunger stirred.
Then I heard a voice.
"Leave. Don't drink the blood. Don't condemn yourself again."
It was calm. Male. Gentle.
I saw him in my mind—a mature man with blue eyes filled with understanding. He did not demand. He did not threaten.
I obeyed.
For a while, the demon left me alone. Maybe he was satisfied. Maybe he was watching.
I found work cleaning a woman's house. Physical labor helped quiet my thoughts. Routine became my shield.
At night, I thought of the man with blue eyes. I didn't know if he was real or just another fragment of my fractured mind.
But for the first time in my life, I hoped.
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THE MONSTER INSIDE ME (#ONC2024)
Horror#ONC2024 Round two Ambassadors' pick. :D SHORTLIST ONC 2024 My prompt is number 3: Your greatest fear is monsters in the dark. The last thing you expect is to become the monster in the dark. Arabella Dagon was always afraid of the dark. In the dar...
