Ari was pretty silent on the walk home. Maybe she was still in awe over the waterfall, or maybe all that talk about destroying mankind had prompted her to begin plotting an evil plan to do so, but he spent the majority of the walk staring straight ahead. Michael usually only talked when spoken to - since Grace's death, at least - so he was silent as well.
Halfway home, Michael spotted a rather comical pair of people: a tall boy who looked to be a little older than Michael with brownish-blonde, curly hair held the hand of a small girl who looked to be about nine or ten. They were walking in the same direction as Michael and Ari, just on opposite sides of the road, and Michael noticed a smile cross Ari's face when she caught sight of the two. Michael could tell she was trying to pretend to be annoyed but failing.
"Oh great," she muttered, still smiling. "More people I know." Then, in a raised voice, she called. "Hey, Ash!"
The boy Michael assumed was Ash looked over and then smiled when he saw who it was. Not letting go of the little girl's hand, they both quickly crossed the road.
"Hey Ari," Ash smiled again, and Michael noticed that he had dimples much like Wolfgang's when he glanced Michael's way.
"Ashton, this is Michael," Ari pointed to Michael before Ashton could ask. "Michael, this is my cousin Ashton. And Michael - " Ari gestured to the little girl holding Ashton's hand. " - this is my little sister Marigold."
Michael glanced down at Marigold. She was wearing a very pretty pair of blue striped shorts and a white shirt with blue piping that reminded Michael of a sailors uniform, stylishly complemented by a black Fox SnapBack nestled atop Marigold's impressive head of bright red curls.
Marigold looked up at Michael curiously. "Hi. You're a little scary. Is that an eyebrow piercing?"
Michael smiled. "Nice hat."
"Thank you." Marigold beamed proudly.
Michael was suddenly struck with a terrible sadness, worse than he had felt ever before. He had just realized why he liked Marigold so much: She reminded him so much of Grace that it was as if Michael's little sister was standing right in front of him.
"So, what brings you to this tiny little village?" Ashton asked. "Just in case you're wondering, its probably small enough that you could afford it if you wanted to buy it."
Michael couldn't answer. He slid down to his knees on the sidewalk and clamped a hand over his mouth, trying to stop the sob that was threatening to break free.
I'm not going to cry, Michael told himself. No, no, no, no, no, no, no...
"Are you okay?" Ashton knelt in front of Michael, quickly followed by Ari. Marigold was already at his eye level, and her's were filled with concern.
"Michael, what's wrong?" Ari placed a hand on his knee.
Michael shook his head, trying to let them know that he would be fine, but a huge, uncontrollable sob proved him wrong. Grace, Grace, Michael thought. She didn't deserve to die.
"Michael, what happened?"
She should be alive like this little girl, enjoying her life, wearing a SnapBack, holding hands with her cousins and meeting new people.
"Michael, I'm going to get Sue." Ari stood up.
"No!" Michael choked. "No. No, I'm fine. I'm okay." he seemed to have gotten a handle on the meltdown, and he took a deep, shuddery breath. He
Wiped the tears from his cheeks and stood up.
"That just...happens sometimes," Michael said. "I don't know why." This was a lie, but Michael knew they would ask what happened, and he was definitely not going to tell the truth. His secret was going to stay a secret, forever, if he could have his way.
Ashton looked satisfied by this response, and turned away to keep walking. Ari didn't look quite so convinced, but she followed Ashton anyway. Marigold, however, let go of her cousin hand and took Michael's, smiling comfortingly up at him.
Michael closed his eyes for a moment and pretended that it was Grace holding his hand. That she was still alive and right there, because he needed her. He needed to hold her in his arms an feel her little heart beating against his chest like it had when she'd crawled into his bed in the middle of the night to sleep in his.
Then he almost tripped on the curb and his eyes snapped open.
And isn't that what life is? A walk down the sidewalk with your eyes closed? And then, at some point, you trip on the curb, and you're forced to open your eyes and see that walking down the sidewalk of life really isn't all fun and games.
---
"You're sure you don't want to go and see some other parts of the village?" Ari asked when she accompanied him back to Suzanne's.
"I'm kind of tired," Michael shook his head. "I think I'd rather just sit down and get some rest." He ran his hand over the doorframe slowly, not meeting Ari's eye.
"Oh, okay." Ari nodded. She still looked a little concerned, and Michael hoped that this awkwardness wouldn't remain between them for the rest of the summer.
"Bye." Ari smiled, and Michael was glad to see that the smile was genuine.
"Bye," Michael smiled gently back. "Say bye to Marigold and Ashton for me." Ashton was helping Marigold catch a butterfly over by the sidewalk, and Michael knew they wouldn't be able to hear him if he said goodbye to them.
Ari gave him one more smile before turning and walking down the path towards her sister and cousin. Michael slowly closed the door.
"Are you back?" Suzanne stepped into the room. "Ah yes, you are. Did you have fun?"
Michael nodded, walking towards the stairs.
"It's lunch time. Do you want something to eat?"
Michael shook his head and began climbing the stairs. Once he was in his room, he flopped down onto his bed and stared at the spiky stucco ceiling. Michael began counting each bump of plaster, and before he got to fifty, he was asleep.
Michael was sitting at his kitchen table at his old house in America.
He glanced around, seeing the kitchen exactly as he remembered it, an then looked foreword again. Sitting in the chair across from him was Grace Clifford. She looked just the same as she had the last time Michael had seen her, but there was something cold to her stare. Something icy and...inhuman.
"Guess what I'm going to be when I grow up, Mikey?" Her little smiled curved into a wide, almost evil grin. "I've finally decided: Dead."
Michael felt his heart begin to race. The sadness was swirling around him like a dark tornado, consuming him.
"Why did you kill me, Michael?" Grace asked, her mouth twisting into a sad little pout. "Michael? Michael? Michael?"
He was being shaken awake. "Michael?"
He groggily opened his eyes, an he felt tears on his cheeks. Suzanne stood over him, a concerned look on her face. "Are you okay?"
Michael wanted to tell her that he was okay, that he had just had a bad dream, but his mouth wouldn't make the right sounds.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Suzanne asked.
He nodded.
"Was it about..."
He knew what she would say.
He nodded.
Okay, I just want to get something straight: Michael does not actually get possessed by demons. The book is called demons because it's supposed to be hypothetical demons, you know? Like bad memories and your conscience and stuff like that. I just wanted to make it clear that this is not a supernatural book. I did have a authors note at the beginning for a while saying that this story was going to be a fantasy story, but that was just because I had a different plan for the story but then I changed it. That note is deleted now.
Anyway, thank you bff's!!
Loser_Luke
