Death Dancer

Chapter Ten

The stupid cake. With the stupid candles and the stupid smile that it was presented to me with. I had just stood there. Seething in anger.

Stupid me.

My first friend, and I had gone and ruined it with my mood swing. Served me right. I didn't deserve anyone anyway. I didn't deserve such a nice surprise after the things I had done today.

She had stood there, cake in hand, staring at me expectantly after I froze in her doorway.

And I had to say those words. Those stupid words. I don't really remember what I said. I just know they were stupid because the next thing I know, my one and only friend looked at me with a face of thunder and I was being pushed out the door, cake shoved into my hands and the door slammed into my face.

People often don't think about my feelings. In fact, no one has ever taken my feelings into account. I was created for this job; my thoughts and feelings were never considered.

I have never had a family, I have never had a hug, I never went to school or got to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. I have never aged a day since I was created.

I had never had a faithful friend before, I had never had a home cooked meal, or had a cake baked for me, to celebrate a birthday. Until today.

But I had to go and do something completely stupid and self-destructive. As usual. A drop of water dropped onto my cheek, followed by another and another.

Crying was something I did when I was alone. after I had carried the ghost of a child too young to leave its parents to the after world, or the ghost of a lover the morning they were supposed to tie themselves to another for the rest of eternity.

I mourn for lost loves and broken families every day. I carry their weight on my shoulders.

I slumped forward in my large, plush chair, pushing the plate with the cake away. I live in the underworld, the cold and dark surrounding me, eating me from the inside, drawing what is left of my energy away from my reach.

A quick succession of raps on my door and I looked up warily. Wiping my face with the palm of a hand as though I could just wipe away all my sadness I stood. No one ever knocked unless they were summoned, and I hadn't called for anyone.

I opened the door, expecting it to be a demon who for some reason was ignoring my chain of command and had come to seek me out themselves. But it was not one of my demons that stood in front of me.

One of my angels. Stood in my doorway, sheepishly rubbing her hands together as though she knew this was not somewhere she should be.

"Ellie?" I asked, shaking my head to rid myself of the hallucination of her, because surely, she could not be here.

"Hi." She whispered back, glancing behind her into a long corridor, the retreating back Dagon just visible.

"Dagon jumped you here? Why?" I asked, utterly perplexed as to why she would willingly come to me after everything I had put her through.

"I asked him to." She shrugged, her hands finding her pockets as her feet scuffed the floor.

I watched her warily. My eyes tired and my head pounding from the emotion inside of me that wanted to be set free. This was some sort of trick no doubt, to make me feel even worse than I already did.

Ellie sighed as I made no attempt to talk to her.

"I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for what I did. I thought it was for the best, but I didn't stop to think about what you wanted. I only thought about what I wanted you to have." She said, looking me in the eye, a small sad smile playing on her lips.