A Raven Named Insanity

..meanwhile

...Meanwhile..

"Honestly though, he doesn't deverve you. You can do better. Now, just tilt you head up and let me see those beatiful eyes." I muttered as a played with the zipper of my worn leather trench coat. The women crying next to me continued to cry as though i did not speak. "Oh come on...girl... stacy! Im gunna call you stacy. Come on stacy just lift you head so i can see you!"

Stacy did not move. I sighed in defeat. "You need some time to think about things.. I'll come back later" I hated having to come back to people later but at this point i was going to age another 8 years before i ever got to check her eyes.

I stood and patted her on the back, my hand going through her effortlessly and she shivered before sobbing louder.

"Thanks Stacy. Really makes me feel important." I muttered, again to myself. I was always muttering to myself.

I walked away from the wailing banchee and through the wall to the dark outside. I didnt realize i had been listen to her cry for that long.

I shuffled, uneasy. It wasnt that i didnt belong in the dark, i was just i didnt like the people who came out at night. The drunks and junkies and the rest of my team. The were different from me. Not as kind, and certainly not as funny.

I walked away from the house and looked around for something to do. Most people were asleep by now so, there were only a few ways to get a look at their eyes. Ways i'd rather avoid.

Another difference from me and my team.

I felt the terrifying yet conferming slap of someones hand on my ass. I screamed and snarled at the wannabe version of Kenickie Murdoch who had apeared slightly behind me. He walked ahead of me and spun around to face me, while walking backwards to keep my speed. "What up, babe?" He asked smoothly, a smug grin on his face. "Don't call me babe, Alistor." He laughed and popped the collar of his leather jacket before smothing it down again. "I do love your spice, doll." He shot back. I walked up to him pushed him off the side walk and quickened my pace. "Where you goin' babe? Unmarked houses are passin' us."

"Im going to bed. You know I dont work with you three." I heard alistor start jogging after me"Thats the thing--" suddenly infront of me a mountain of a creature apeared infront of me. I yelped. His hair was black, long and stringy from grease and lacking in abundance, if we are being honest. He was pale...ish blue and the smell coming off of him was of pure death. His favorite scent. Bugs crawled in him, and on him too, sliding between his eye and eye socket, and crawling in and out of ears and pretty much every other opening in his body. And he had alot. His chest showed his black and barely working lungs through the decaying flesh and ribcage. His heart, literally shrivled up years ago, but you could see it try and beat every once and while. And that would trigger him to cough. The spotted places on his legs was where you could see his bones and he was easily a foot and half feet taller than me. "Captian." I muttered.

He tilted his giant head at me. "The boss told us we need to work as a team from now on. No more of this, rebelion. You're technically 18. Time to grow up." He grumbled his voice gruff from years of drinking and smoking. "The boss. Ooh. fucking scary."

"You should be scared, Alexandria."

I whipped around at the mention of my full name. The voice that uttered it came out of the shadows and stode towards me until she was close enough to see the damage our owner had done to her. "Cerberous, its been so long. How is the bosses favorite pet?" I spat.

Cerberous' soul had been ripped in three by the bosses many games, and so, though she was one soul, you could see three of her. Wandering around eachother, Each protraying a different emotion. One, always protraying sadness has been named Melpomene, and the other, always protraying joy, Thalia. Cerberous growled at me, baring her sharpened teeth and wielding her claws. Melpimene curled into a ball sobbing, and the Thalia giggled and played with the curled peice of hair on alistors forehead. "Watch your Tongue, little girl. Ill tear you limb from limb." She threatened. I however, was not threatened. I reached into my trench coat pocket and pulled out a cigarette, before lighting it and walking past her exhaling the smoke in her face as i did so. I lifted hand and gestured my team to follow me to the unmarked house.

Oh! And just so you know, an unmarked house is one, unchecked by other demons.

Anyway,

I walked inthrough the wall and walked up the entrance to
stairs to a hall. Two doors on the right, one on the left. i took a drag of my cigarette.

I went left and alistor went right, and i heard captain follow close behind me. I came up beside the bed and brushed my hand against the little girls cheek. My hand, predictably fell through it, with a shiver from her end. "Wake up little one.." i whispered, knowing she would not wake up. Captain however had transforms into a shadow of himself, his eyes red and skin, clothes and mist rolling around him, obscuring his waist, and he was black as the void itself.
He crawled onto her bed and i turned away just in time to her the girls horrified scream before hearing Captain go flying out of the room, with a slam of the door. I heard the shaky and uneven breath of the little girl Captain had woke up. she mumbled a small word, before tears started to fall from her eyes. "Mummy?"

I turned to her, her blonde hair poking out from under her blanket which she had pulled up past her head. "shh. It's okay. its just silly old us. i promise i wont let my friends hurt you." i whispered more to myself than to her. and though my words could have been comforting --If she could actually hear me-- they were not, and she continued to cry softly into her pillow. I turned back to the door, the sudden scream and grunt of the couple in the other room ment that the team managed to wake up one of them. i walked into the hallway, finishing off my smoke just in time for a lanky man in striped briefs walk briskly from his room to his daughters to check on her. when the sounds of her soft sobs were heard he rushed in to her side.

my team had long left so i wandered out of there house to the next unmarked one where they where walking to. i was a ways behind them and couldnt hear everything but i knew Alistor was boasting about something he probably didnt do. Thalia was riding on Alistors back while Melpomene clung to Cerberus' leg in lazy dispair. i guess, they looked like a normal group of weird friends, Cerberus, fighting her soul to keep up while Captain probably grunted in solem aproval of his team mates. i however, couldnt stand them. not because of them as people, when it was just us four and we had set up camp in a patch of trees or something, they were nice people. i enjoyed them. but in the night. when our purpose came into light --or shadow..whatever-- then they became monsters. without care of who they hurt. they only care that our job gets done.

i broke into a jog until i caught up with them and tuned into their conversation. "Im only saying Cap that you should have really thought your career choice through. i mean look at you! your literally a decomposing Pirate. doesnt that bother you that you could be getting a tan in hell but instead you are rotting looking for a pair of pretty eyes?" Alistor questioned Cap, probably with little care of whether it was a sore subject with him. we are all kinda of sour with how we got here, since it was either by accident or by force. Not that i knew how Cap or Ali or Cerberus got here, but i dont think any of us are super hardcore satanists willing to give our souls to do some demons dirty work --which, if your wondering, is look for a mysterious prophet with pretty red eyes, thats neither human nor imortal-- for as long as our contract is. we were all silent as we realized how personal of a question Alistor had asked and even Melpomene quit wailing for a moment and listened for Cap answer. the huge beast of a man slowly smiled releasing a swarm of cockroaches to crawl to a new place to sleep. "i guess when i took over my first ship at age fourteen, i should have asked if i wanted to suffer in the afterlife." his voice cracked and contorted to a laugh and his joke made in hindsight made us all laugh. Cerberus laughed, in a almost bitter tone if you can believe that possible, But Thalia was wiping tears away from her eyes as she clung on to Alistor laughing her heart out. we walked through the door of the new house and i had almost forgot we were working. the three of them disapeared into the house and oddly not a single person screamed after being awoke from whatever horrors the three had unleashed to the unsuspecting household.

soon they all mustered at the front door where i waited and shook their heads and we left. our night continued that way, going into houses, them doing all the work and then us walkign and joking on our way to the next house. soon the sun decided to make an apearance and started to rise, signaling the end of our work day. i wasnt hard to find a playground where we all sat down in, ceberus, Thalia, And Melpomene all curled up together and cap as far away from us as he could get without being rude. and alistor. "are you sure you dont want to be little spoon babe?"

"i will put this cigerette out on your neck, Alistor."

***