NB: The Girl from Hell (GirlxGirl)

Chapter 8: Demon Rising

I wake up in bed alone. 

Jess already left for work.  I said goodbye to her an hour or two ago.  I haven’t been sleeping well.  Jess has been staying up working on a case.

I just lie in bed alone, curled up in a ball, trying to keep the fire trapped inside me.

My dreams are worse now.  They wake me up and I still want to burn everything.  I’m afraid that one day soon, I’m going to hurt Jess.

Why is this happening to me? I think.  I hate that I’m becoming this thing.  I don’t want to be so angry.

I get ready quickly.  I don’t have the patience for my normal morning routine.  I look in the mirror.  Good enough.

I go outside to get the elevator.  Irving and Rover are there.  I wonder if they’re always going up and down or if Irving hears me getting ready and waits by the elevator to make small talk.

He smiles at me.

I force a smile on my face.

“How are you doing?” he asks.

“I’m good,” I say, keeping my eyes on the elevator.

Where is it?

He’s quiet for a moment.

“I heard some noises coming from your apartment the other night,” he says.  “Is everything alright?”

I hate the world we live in.  He couldn’t have just knocked on my door to see if everything was alright.  He needed to wait to catch me by the elevator to see if I was shot to death or not.  What type of noises was he listening for in the first place?

“I’m fine,” I say.

“And Jess?” he asks.

“She’s fine too.”  If there was something wrong with her, I wouldn’t be fine.

The elevator makes the binging sound and the doors open.

When Irving gets close, Rover jumps on me.

“Can you keep him off me for once?” I say in a short curt manner.  I walk out of the elevator and take the stairs.  Irving says something, but I don’t hear him.  I know I’m being rude, but I can’t deal with that mutt.  

Right now, I need to worry about keeping everything inside.

On my way to the library, I stop for some coffee.  I can’t believe a cup of coffee costs five dollars, but I buy it anyways.

I start to walk to campus again.  There are a bunch of people waiting at the intersection for the light to change.  I take a sip of my coffee.

I hear a woman scream.  I look around until I spot her.  She’s on my side of the street.  I can see her clearly.  A man’s trying to grab her purse.

“Help me!” she yells.  Everyone around me looks, but no one does anything.

Why isn’t anyone doing anything?

Everyone’s just standing there like idiots.

I can feel the fire burning in me.

The woman struggles to keep her purse until the man punches her in the face.  She falls to the ground and he starts to run.

I won’t let him get away.  I run after him, but he has a head start.

“Wait here,” I tell the woman as I pass.

After a hundred meters or so, he starts to walk.  He looks pretty generic.  He has dark hair and a long brown coat.  He’s probably hoping to just blend in with other people on the street.

He turns around and sees me chasing him.  He starts to run again.  I keep following him.  He turns into an alleyway.  So do I.

He’s standing there waiting for me.  He smiles.

“Hasn’t anyone ever warned you to stay away from strange men in dark alleys?” he asks.

I can feel the fire burning inside me, and I’m finally going to get to let it out.  I smile too.

“Give me the purse,” I say, “and I won’t hurt you.”  I hope he puts up a fight.

He laughs.  So do I.

He runs at me and grabs my arm.  He thinks I’m weak and doesn’t want to let me run.  He can’t imagine what I am.

He swings his arm and I let him punch me in the face.  I feel a momentary twang of pain as I heal.  I almost enjoy it.

He motions to swing his arm again.  This time I block his punch.  It’s my turn now.  I punch him in the gut and he collapses to the ground in agony.  I enjoy his pain more than mine.

He looks up at me with fear in his eyes.  I smile.  He’s so weak.

I can feel my power.  I reach my hand out and let my anger flow.

The man gets knocked back.  It feels so good.

The man is unconscious.  I’m almost disappointed he didn’t put up more of a fight.

He’s as pathetic as I always thought men who hide in dark alleys should be.  I kick him in the shin for good measure.  He probably deserves worse.  I take the purse and go.

The woman is waiting for me.

“Are you okay?” she asks.  She seems worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say.  I hold out the purse.  “This is yours, right?”

“How did you get it back?”

“He dropped it while he was running,” I say.  It sounds more plausible than the truth.

The woman hugs me.  Apparently she has some very personal information in it.  That’s why she was fighting so hard to keep it.

It occurs to me that I dropped my coffee when I went to chase the thief.   I’m going to have to buy another five dollar cup.

As I walk back to the café, I realize that I’m feeling good for the first time in days.  I can’t just ignore what’s happening to me.  I’m have to call the nurse, Mike.