After the Turning [c o m p l e t e d]

Chapter 9

AN: Thank you to Charles for my awesome playlist banner! Couldn't stop laughing when I realized that he really added the old man (aka. the music artist of the song) into the banner .____. thought he'd put some vampire-ish picture instead. LOL But it still looks really nice so thanks again! HAHAHAHAHA

Chapter 9: Little Encounter

We were all seated around the big LCD screen. It was night. My head cooled down after a few hours of thinking and moping on the rooftop. Hollie and Adan said that I had to let the death go, because it was a significant part of my world. It was still hard to accept but I was trying. They were talking about leaving just half an hour ago, but now they were silently waiting for something to arrive. Who knew what it was.

Patrick answered the telephone. “Is this the Krusty Krab?”

“No, this is Patrick,” the starfish replied.

Two of the most powerful demons alive were sitting on a big couch, watching SpongeBob SquarePants. It was strangely odd and interesting at the same time. I didn’t think that they were paying attention, since most of the time their expressions remained dull. Furthermore, they were propped lazily in their seats, looking too relaxed to be paying attention to anything. That was what I thought, until Adan talked.

“Get’s me every time,” he said, smirking. “Stupid starfish.”

He grunted, and then readjusted his position. The show was less amusing than the two demons. Every so often, I would peek at them, trying to see if they reacted anymore to the kiddy cartoon. I was expecting them to watch some supernatural television series, like ‘True-Blood’; they chose to watch a yellow sponge instead.

Too often was I glancing at Adan, thinking about what happened in the afternoon. I was unconvinced that I would like him, or condone his action. My lack of control was the reason for my wrong doing, but I still wanted to blame him and hate him wholly for it. The whole afternoon I was convincing myself to detest him, and to forget what happened. The images kept flashing up nevertheless.

The images of his warm crushing lips, oddly coupled with the blank stare of the bleeding corpse. Adan was starting looking attractive. I shifted uneasy glances at him, unsure of what to think. It was the beguiling kiss that did it—there was no other explanation. He caught me looking at him once or twice. When he did, he simply grinned at me. Sometimes I smiled back, before mentally slapping myself for doing so.

 I was sitting a large space away from Hollie. My argument with her earlier still made the atmosphere between us very uncomfortable. I could tell that she felt the same way. At times she would glance at me quickly, wanting to say something, before deciding that she should keep quiet and turn the other way.

“Hollie,” I said. I couldn’t stand the awkwardness anymore. “I’m so sorry about what I did earlier; you know that I really didn’t mean it.”

She smiled at me warmly, forgiving me immediately. It took me slightly off guard.  I saw her sighing with relief, like a heavy load was taken off her chest. “It’s okay darling,” she said. She patted the empty space next to her. “Come sit closer.” I slid closer to her and she held my hand.

Another hour went by. SpongeBob had ended and they flipped channels to watch Billy and Mandy. Watching television seemed so trivial it was comforting. It humanized the two demons, almost allowing me to forget about all the serious and heavy monster issues. It was a momentary superficial kind of peace. Because the taste of it was made bitter by my conscience, which told me that I didn’t deserve calm.

The peace didn’t last very long. The door bell rang, signaling the arrival of whatever we were waiting for.

Adan scrunched up his nose. “And we were just getting to get good part,” he said, disappointed, before making his way to the front door.