Demon Within

Chapter 8

"Come on! Adventure awaits us!"

Tray looked around for the voice. It was definitely younger Kailee's.

He saw Kailee, but she was younger, six maybe. He also saw Demon, but he was smaller too. Otherwise, they both looked the same.

Kailee was in a park with a few other kids, but she only paid attention to Demon.

"What do you want to do?" Kailee asked.

Demon stared at her. Kailee huffed. "I know, I know. I just want to play one game before we move on."

He remembered Kailee saying she was homeless, but he forgot that she was a runaway before Miss Mona took her in.

Demon stared at her, then wagged his tail and barked.

Kailee clapped her hands together. "Yay! I'll go hide and then you count! When you find me, I'll count and you hide. Then we can leave."

Demon wagged his tail, turned the other way, and closed his eyes.

Kailee snuck off and he watched her go off to hide.

After a minute passed, Demon opened his eyes and sniffed the ground, searching for Kailee.

Tray watched and followed behind the dog. Demon found Kailee under the merry-go-round.

"Aw! You found me! Okay, now you go hide!" Kailee ushered the dog away.

Kailee put her hands over her eyes and Demon trotted off to find a good hiding place.

After counting to sixty out loud, Kailee took her hands off of her eyes and looked around for Demon.

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" Six year old Kailee sung in her small kid voice. It was cute, Tray had to admit.

Kailee found Demon in a ditch, lying on his belly to stay undetected.

"Found you!" Kailee laughed and hugged the small, puppy Demon around his neck.

Demon yipped and licked her cheek. Kailee giggled. "This game made me hungry!"

Demon glanced at her, and Kailee got an exasperated look on her face, but Tray didn't know why.

"Not that kind of hungry, Demon!" Kailee rolled her eyes. Then she frowned and spoke quieter. "We just had our fair share of that for the day."

Tray didn't understand what Kailee meant, or why it depressed her, but it was obviously not good.

"How do you think we should get food?" Kailee asked her little German Shepard.

Demon cocked his head, and gave her a confused look. "Well, you don't know either, I guess." Kailee sighed. "I guess we'll go hungry for tonight. Let's go find a cozy spot to sleep tonight. We'll get moving in the morning."

Demon got up and followed Kailee down the sidewalk. Tray hurried to get in front of them.

He watched as Kailee stopped and tears slipped down her face. She quickly wiped them away. "Not now. I'm strong. I'm not going to cry." She closed her eyes and her lip quivered. He turned to look at Demon. "I killed them, boy! I killed my family!"

Demon whined sadly and rubbed his head against her leg since he was too small to reach her face without Kailee bending down.

"I killed them." Kailee's lip shook and tears rolled slowly down her face. "I killed them and I had no control. I'm a monster! I'm a demon!"

"I wonder how I can even be around people, let alone when I'm hungry. I just don't know what to do anymore." Kailee wiped her face with her ripped sleeves.

"Then again, maybe I never did."

Tray bolted awake.

__________________________

He rubbed his eyes. What was that? Was it Kailee's memory? Demon's? And why did he dream about it?

Curious.

He felt the emotion wash over him and immediately looked to the side to see the demon dog.

"What are you doing here?" Tray asked, exhausted. "Again."

The demon stared at him, curiously. Tray blinked. "Did you give me that dream?"

Approval. Denial of dream.

"I'm right, yet you're saying you didn't give me a dream?" Tray asked.

Approval.

"Are you calling it a memory?" Tray huffed.

The demon smiled and wagged its tail. "Whose memory?" Tray asked.

The dog raised a brow. "Is it Kailee's?" Tray asked.

The demon nodded and waited for an answer from the blonde boy.

"Why would you give me a memory of hers?" Tray wondered.

Helpful. Acceptance.

"Do you want me to...help her?" Tray asked, and when the dog nodded, Tray frowned. "I don't know. We haven't been very close recently, due to an incident."

The demon stared.

Knowledge.

"You knew?" Tray eyes widened and the demon nodded. "Can you tell me why she killed them?"

Denial of control. Accidental.

"How did she not mean to kill someone?" Tray asked, angry.

The demon shook its head.

Denial of control.

"Are you saying she couldn't control her body?" Tray asked, now slightly worried.

The dog nodded for the hundredth time.

"Why?" Tray needed answers.

The demon shook its head.

Sorry.

The demon disappeared.

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"Hey Tray!" Henry smiled and walked up next to him. "What's up?"

"What's up?" Tray growled. "What's up is that you don't believe me and think I'm psycho and suddenly act like everything is A-okay the next day!"

Henry sighed. "I thought you were over that. Tray, demon's aren't real. What's it going to take to get you to realize that?"

"Having the demon dog leave me alone, but it literally came into my bedroom last night and implanted a memory into my head, so I can't really say it was my imagination." Tray shrugged.

"Implanted a memory into your head? You sure you're not taking this 'demon dog' thing a little too far?" Henry asked, concerned.

"It's not really my choice, Henry. The dog's not going to take NO for an answer. It's persistent. It's going to take this as far as it likes." Tray informed his friend.

"I give up!" Henry groaned. "Good," Tray said. His voice turned dark and tainted. "You really don't want to get involved."

Tray walked away and Henry stood there, unnerved by Tray's tone.

Henry turned around to go up the stairs to grab his supplies, but saw something on the stairs.

It was a glowing green skeleton dog with glowing green eyes, green smoke rising from its nose, and a glowing green tongue. Its eyes had no pupils or whites.

Henry froze and the demon stared at him. Then it disappeared.

Henry's heart beat a million miles per hour and when he could finally breathe, Henry screamed. "TRAY!"

Henry saw da demon doggie! And he's terrified! New chapter coming soon! Bye my doggies!