affliction | 5sos * supernatural

one

If there was one piece of wisdom I could share from my 20 years of living, its that when the devil comes knocking, don't answer the damn door.

Trust me.

Selling your soul isn't worth it when the time comes to pay the piper, as luck would have it, it was now my time to pay the piper.

Long story short, I was desperate. On the brink of losing a parent, the only parent I had. Calling at a crossroads was a myth, or so I thought. Nearly peed my damn pants when the guy showed up, all bearded and British and in desperate need of a shower. Of course it didn't take me long to realise this guy only cared about his own personal gain, couldn't really expect much else from a demon that I summoned in the dead of night to ask for help.

Either way, I got what I wanted. He would give my mum a long and healthy life if I gave him my soul in five years. I mean, it was a soul, do you really need one?

Well, it turns out that you do. Without one, you're kinda just a little bit screwed. But cmon, how bad could hell be? At the very least it would always be warm and I'd never have to worry about wearing a coat, when you were told by a pompous demon ass, that he would be back to collect your soul in half a decade you kind of learn to find the silver lining in things.

After all, if you're told you've got five years to live, do you really want to spend it whining like a little bitch when you could be out being awesome? Didn't think so.

Anyway, today was doomsday, quite literally and freaky shit had been happening to me all day. Visions, hallucinations, hearing voices... You name it: it happened to me today. Wasn't really anything left now, except defenselessly sit at home and wait for those hell dogs to rip me apart like a large and juicy chew toy.

I'm sure many people would question my actions at the current time. Ask me why I'm not doing anything to stop it but, it was inevitable. It was me who'd made the decision to sell my soul to a stranger in the middle of the road and my mum was doing great, even had herself a new husband. I guess there just comes a time where you have to take responsibility for your actions, and now it was my time.

Shivers ran up my spine and sent goosebumps rising all over my skin as the sound of a hungry howl pierced the silence I was currently sat in. Everyone hates silence until the moment they lose it, suddenly they crave it like a drug. With every millisecond that passed the howling got more intense and louder until it surpassed the sound of my heart which was thumping like a jackhammer against my ribcage.

And then it was outside my door. I guess the sound was one I would never forget, one of those spine tingling, toe curling, blood heating sounds that sets every nerve ending on your body on edge. I squeezed my eyes firmly shut until there were spots of colour behind my lids, this wasn't a feeling I would wish on even the worst kind of person.

Scratching. Hard, forceful, petrifying scratching. Every muscle in my body was tensed up and I could hear my own pulse beating in my ears. Comfort could at least be taken in the fact that soon, it would all be over. I refused to open my eyes, physically I was unable, it was like my body had frozen entirely. Incapacitated.

The door burst open with a crash, smashing into the wall and making a nearby picture frame rattle which only added to the library of sounds that had suddenly become so loud to me, fear really brings out your senses. Even though I knew the beasts were merely inches from me, I didn't want to open my eyes, it would just seem that much realer. It wasn't a reality I was so ready to accept just yet. Now I could hear the snarling, the heaving breath of a mammoth sized creature and the sound of its paws padding heavily on the rotting wooden floor. The snarling wouldn't stop and I could sense them edging closer, circling me like an eagle with its prey which is essentially what I was to them, another slab of steak to be dragged back to the doghouse. Except the steak was me and the doghouse was the flaming pits of the eternal underworld. Great.

I felt a swipe at my leg that was followed by a searing pain and the hot, damp trickle of blood emerging over the fresh slice in my jeans. Well, that was certainly a new way to get ripped jeans I guess. All the adrenaline that had decided to spark up and pump its way through my body was a realistic distraction from the pain which should be hurting like a bitch but instead just felt as if a cold breeze was brushing past my leg.

Another swipe. This time below my elbow as my hands were squished together tightly in my lap as I braced my back against the chair. This one hurt more. They were just glorified guard dogs but the claws attached to them felt like scalpels and the easiness of their sharp claws against my skin was as easy as a butcher slicing ham. I sucked in my cheeks to distract from the ache in my arm that felt like it was pulsing heavily, I could feel the the thick substance seeping through my shirt, inevitably leaving a scarlett stain on my pale skin.

But then everything rushed by so fast. There was a swooping rush around me and all that I knew was pain, searing pain, unbearable pain... Death seemed like a friendly welcome to me now. There was no way anything could be worse than this, it couldn't be worse.

It couldn't be worse...

And then it was worse, indescribable. And then it was over. Silence. Devastating silence once again except for the blistering ringing in my eardrums and a very distant roaring that wasn't familiar to me. Maybe I was dead after all. It took me a minute to realise I was on my knees and the ground beneath me was hard and dirty, I could feel the dirt particles pressing into me. Then footsteps.
"Hey, you! Get up!" A deep voice boomed at me, it made my heart race. After going so long in that silence, sound was a stranger. "Hey. Cmon kid get up." I physically couldn't bring myself to look up at the man, instead fixing my eyes on the floor and looking only at his shoes which were regular work boots that were covered in a dark stain. Blood. I couldn't control the pounding in my chest or the sweat that was pooling on my forehead and it seemed breathtakingly slow as I felt one drop of sweat roll off of my nose and collide with the dirt underneath my hands.

Suddenly a rough hand grasped at the back of my shirt and yanked me vertically, forcing my weak knees up off the ground so I was stood before the man. Honestly, he didn't look how I expected. He looked... normal? A regular man. His hair was a mixture between a dark blonde and a brown and his eyes were deep in the sockets, the eyes of a man who'd seen horrors beyond compare and he was dressed averagely too, jeans a black jacket. Like a regular Joe heading to work. This was weird. "Kid, are you gonna make me hold you all day or are you gonna stand the hell up?"

I couldn't put together a sentence that would even make sense so I opted for silence and balanced my weight so I was stood, barely, by myself. "Good job kid. You can stand by yourself. Gonna be great here." I may have been new here and this may have been a stranger to me but I was no stranger to sarcasm.

"Who are you?" I managed to mumble out, noticing a distinct dryness in my throat that made me frown in uncomfortableness.

"I'll ask the questions." He said firmly, his stern face not letting up even a tad. "What's your name?"

"I'm Michael, Michael Clifford. That's my name." I nodded quickly, I didn't really want to go pissing this guy off just yet. I mean, we were in hell. Don't need to make it worse for myself.

"Names Dean Winchester. Welcome to hell..."