Through Your Eyes

Chapter 20: Reese

I was truly, completely stunned. No wonder Valarie always seemed so guarded; she was worried that at any moment I would take both our lives for seemingly no reason. This also explained why she was so terrified by my lack of care for my own life or hers.

I tried to steel my expression, not wanting to show how much her story had shaken me. Everything made so much more sense now, and all I really wanted to do was take her in my arms and comfort her again. But she was so clearly shaken... and I didn't want to make things even harder for her.

Unsure what I could even do to make this situation better, I swallowed the rest of my coffee in one gulp and placed my cup in the sink. She looked up from the sudden noise and hurriedly wiped the sides of her eyes again.

"What are you doing?" she asked in a shaky voice.

I looked over my shoulder at her. "I'm going to start fixing this mess. I don't want to cause you any more problems, and hopefully this contract will give us the answers we need."

She tried her best to smile at me. "Thank you for doing this... is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Nah, just rest for a bit please. I think you should take it easy until I come back."

She gave a slow nod and slowly made her way over to the couch. I watched her sit down to make sure she wouldn't somehow fall over and hurt herself, as I was now very concerned for her safety. Once I could be sure she safely made it to the couch, I turned around and left the apartment to start my journey back home.

Well, 'journey' made it sound like a lot more work than it actually was to go between worlds. I climbed the apartment building stairs up to the rooftop and scanned my surroundings to make sure there was no one around. With only the wind for company, I shifted into my true form, flapping my wings a few times as a warm up of sorts.

I walked to the edge of the roof and peered off it, checking how high off the ground I was. With a nod, I crouched down slightly and dived off the building.

I tucked my wings snugly against my body to avoid accidentally using them, and continued diving towards the pavement. Gravity brought the ground closer to me at an almost alarming speed, but I stayed calm the entire way down.

Right before my head got crushed against the pavement, I closed my eyes and extended my wings fully. When I stopped moving, I reopened my eyes and was met with a familiar landscape.

This was the entrance to hell.

I blended in perfectly with this environment; everything was dark, red, and very hot. Fire literally lined the walkway leading up to the main gates laden with spikes.

I dusted off a few of my scales and casually strolled toward a desk that appeared empty. Only a small bell sat on the desk's smooth surface, so I tapped it a few times and waited as its high pitched ring echoed through the empty hall. A few screams copied the noise, making the echo last far longer than it should have.

I waited for a minute or two before frantic steps, followed with aggressively loud panting, drew closer to me. Only a moment later a small, pathetic looking devil leapt onto the small swivel chair behind the desk and hurriedly put down a towering stack of paperwork.

Glancing to the side of the paper, the small devil apologetically addressed me with sweat rolling down the side of their face. "So sorry. So sorry for the inconvenience. What can I do for you?"

"Oh I'm just returning home briefly. I forgot to grab a few essentials," I explained while placing both my elbows on the desk and leaning forward.

While my family was of lower status, our sharp appearances made us rather intimidating—especially to such small devils. While most of us matched the general height of humans, devils of the lowest rank were closer to the size of small farm animals and truly had no way to move up the ranks at all. Similarly, the most powerful devils towered over the rest and were feared by all.

By leaning over the little guy's desk, I made myself even more intimidating and he shrunk back from me. I truly would be forever grateful that I at least appeared powerful on the outside.

He frantically searched his pile of papers to find one allowing me to pass. Devils who were supposed to be working on Earth usually weren't allowed back home until the final evaluation, so I needed a 'permission slip' of sorts to get back in without any issues. It took a minute for him to find the right document, and he presented it to me with both hands shaking, even dipping his head slightly to show respect.

I aggressively snatched the paper from his claws, causing him to shrink back further, before approaching the gate. I held up the document, which glowed an eerily dark crimson. The gates groaned loudly before opening on their own to allow me access to the rest of hell. As I stepped through, an all too familiar feeling of fear crept along my spine.

I shuddered at the sensation, but stood taller. Show no fear, I repeated to myself. As an Earth manager, I did have a decent amount of power and influence now, but I was still no match for higher ranking devils. I tried to keep my composure while sticking to the less crowded parts of hell. I purposefully crossed fiery fields that I knew were often barren, and made it to my old home after a couple hours had passed.

Hell changed a lot over time. While it started out as a barren wasteland, devils took inspiration from human society and used it to form a 'normal' urban life for the majority of the devils living there. We had neighborhoods and cities scattered around the central part of hell connected to the main entrance. But those areas were all super crowded and constantly plagued by fights. There wasn't a single peaceful day that went by and I wanted to avoid it all, so I instead went around the cities to reach my childhood home.

As I gazed at the familiar building, I couldn't help but fear that my parents would be home. I did all of this for them, and didn't want them thinking I already lost my job or anything. Plus it would be really hard to explain the glowing eyes.

For a while, all I could do was hover my hand anxiously over the door knob. When I finally got enough courage, I grasped the door knob in my claws and turned it to enter the place I thought I'd never return to.