No Strings Attached

Chapter 13

I couldn't sleep that night. I was too worked up about Logan. There was just no way demons were real, right? But why the hell did he flip out like he did? I started regretting that I mentioned CPS. There were way better things I could have said. What have I done? I groaned to myself.

I got a pretty decent scolding from Dad when I shuffled back into the apartment. But I just mumbled a pathetic "Sorry" and slunk to my room, defeated. I'd been in there ever since, reflecting on my stupidity. And to think I could have had a friend, I thought. That's all I wanted from him. I wasn't really looking for a relationship considering my past, but he was kind. Although I had to admit he was an Asian Chris Evans. He was insanely toned and really good-looking. There's no way he couldn't handle himself even if his dad did hit him. I surprised myself. Was I actually admitting that there might be some truth to his story?

Then it hit me. The noises. His dad wasn't even home when they were erupting through the apartment complex. If he was in an abusive rage, he couldn't have remained in the solitude of his tiny bedroom the entire time I was in there. He would have at least caused a ruckus.

I sat up in bed and leaned back on my hands, my jaw slightly open and my eyes wide. Logan. Isn't. Lying. There is something in his body that is controlling him, and he doesn't know how to get rid of it. A frightening thought entered my mind. What if I wasn't even talking to the real Logan? I pulled my laptop out from under my bed and squinted as the dimmed rebooting screen turned into a bright login.

Immediately, I went to Google and searched "demonic possession" and came up with thousands of results. But the thing is, no site I found said anything about red eyes. Logan's eyes turned red. The only possible physical change was eyes turning black, maybe. That's only for really powerful demons. Activity lasting for way longer periods of time than a few minutes.

I was stuck. What else could it be? I thought my knowledge of the paranormal would be enough to figure out what it is, but the symptoms didn't match the diagnosis. I thought that perhaps new key words would bring up a result. I replaced "demonic" with "evil" in the search bar and added "red eyes" into it. The first result was an article: What is a Poltergeist? and I saw in the preview that it mentioned red eyes. That's it! I thought. It was so obvious!

I knew tons of stuff on poltergeists. They can control someone for a certain amount of time, incrementally longer as they grow stronger, and can wreak havoc for that entire time. They can interact with objects with or without a vessel, but it works better when they have a vessel. The main difference from demonic possession...burning red eyes. The kind that bore into your soul and seem to have a flame ignited inside the iris. Some folklore says that when you look into a poltergeist's eyes, you see the pits of hell. And when the victim smiles it's like Satan himself is grinning at you. But poltergeists aren't from hell, so that's just pretend. They're a lot like spirits who are stuck on this side of the realm. No one actually knows where they form, there are only theories and logical guesses. That's what makes them so mysterious and nearly impossible to beat. You can't use an exorcism or trap them in a pentagram. Those only work on demons. But they are affected by the circle of salt thing and hiss at the mention of something holy. So they are evil.

My stomach started to feel queasy. I had a crush on a poltergeist. But I mean, he's not really a poltergeist all the time. Just when he's flipping out. At least, I hoped.

I glanced at the time on the bottom of my laptop. 3:23 AM. Have I seriously been at this for two and a half hours?

I shut down my laptop and turned over on my side. Maybe I could finally get some sleep. But I realize now that I should have read that whole article before I went to bed. Perhaps I could have avoided some really dangerous shit