Daughter of the Demon (I)

Daughter of the Demon-22-Where She is Now

Chapter 22: Where She Is Now

It was dark and quiet on this side of town. Usually at midnight not a soul roamed the streets, for it wasn’t a particularly pleasant place to live. Broken streetlights flickered weakly, and old signs on storefronts creaked eerily in the breeze. One didn’t want to find themself alone in this specific town of Southern Virginia. No one but one particular girl.

She walked calmly, for she felt too empty to care if anything happened to her. If she got jumped, so be it. Shot, so be it. At least then she would feel something.

This girl wore her special black converse and dark blue skinny jeans, a black blouse and a cross necklace. The necklace gave her shreds of hope when she felt like she was lost wandering, and nothing was going to turn out okay.

She was looking for answers, and she wasn’t leaving until she found them. She wanted the truth, because she knew too much about lying and the time for lies was over. She wanted the truth, and nothing but it.

Memory claimed she stop beside a seemingly abandoned shake. She did so, taking in everything all at once, not missing a single detail. The rotting wood, the broken steps, the missing sign. A few windows on the front were broken, some panes dented or stained, but for some reason it spoke to her. It spoke to this mysterious girl of about seventeen and goaded her to come nearer. She hesitantly took one step on the broken first step, hearing it moan and groan beneath her. She didn’t care if she was heard, but she doubted there was even one person in this ghost town.

The girl jumped over the remainder of the steps, landing on the moldy front porch. Her left foot broke through the wood and she gasped slightly, calm, gently pulling her foot out. She backed up carefully to the front door and pressed her palms against in. She didn’t expect it to swing open behind her, and when it did she stumbled back in surprise. A creepy shack in a creepy town, it was so fitting.

She peered inside the dark two-story building, not even daring to speak or call out. She didn’t much like noise. Silence gave her so much more comfort, so much more room to think freely for herself.

The girl found herself wandering aimlessly around the lower level of the enigmatic building, not entirely sure what she was looking for, but knowing she would find something. She didn’t know how she knew she would, she just did.

She found a bookshelf and strayed over to it. It was dusty and sent her into a coughing fit, but in between gasps and with tears tracking her face from the stinging dust and mold, she brushed off the dust particles and glanced at the spines. Of the titles she could read, there weren’t many she knew. Then there were history books and encyclopedias and biographies and, she noticed, classics. It jolted her back to a town miles and miles and miles from where she was, in a different state, somewhere she knew eventually she had to return. It reminded her of an Aunt who maybe loved her and a soon-to-be uncle who would learn to love her. It reminded her of a boy who was part of the reason she left, because he kissed her and she knew he probably wasn’t thinking at the moment. Still, it confused her so and she didn’t understand his actions, which led her to believe she really should leave, even if just for a little bit, to find out more about herself, or at least remember who she was before everything fell apart.

The girl remembered a project from a school on a day that seemed like a lifetime ago. She knew her partner was probably already finished with it, and she had yet to find a classic. But nothing fit him, and she knew there was so much more to him he never told her.

And yet she revealed so much to him.

In a way, she contemplated to herself, she supposed it helped her heal.  Talking with another being who felt near as much as she did was comforting, and even when he shouted at her or gave her that worried look, he understood. And that meant so much.