demons don't snitch (it 2017) (stand by me)

01. heat

"Whew, is it hot in here or what?" Star complained, reaching over and lifting up the window next to her bed.

She then continued to stick tomatoes onto her fingers and eat them off, tomato juice and seed running down the crevices between her fingers. Hester rolled her eyes and stood up from the chair she was sitting at that was in front of Star's desk. PB & Jamz Radio played loudly, filling up Star's room as Hester bent over and perched her arms on the window sill, looking out the window hanging over Star's desk.

Outside, under that beating sun, she could see kids whizzing by on their bikes, some new, some customized, some beaten up and others spray painted. Their laughter and banter rang in her ears and she sighed, her cheek pressed against her palm as she watched them, full of desire. It was too hot to go outside anyway, so Hester wasn't really in the mood to socialize. Still, she wished she could be like other kids.

Instead, she had to be a sick kid. And not like one of those cute little kids in the commercials that guilt trip you into donating money and toys to scammer charities. A real sick kid, but not bedridden either. For Hester, sick was a whole 'nother version of reality. An alternate universe if you will- the one below the Earth.

She watched the kids zoom down the hill without a care in the world, wishing she too could have a bike like one of theirs. She didn't have a bike anyway, and didn't know how to ride so she'd probably have to learn by herself, but still she wanted one. She wanted to be just like them. Even if she didn't know they were losers, they seemed like the coolest kids in the world from where she was standing.

"I hate the sun," she grumbled to herself, making Star frown.

"Well don't you say that. The sun gives us a lot - light, energy, vitamin D. I should know, I'm taking AP Bio next year."

"Wait, they let you in even though you're new?"

"Yeah, what's the biggie?"

Hester was perplexed,

"Wha- well I signed up for AP Algebra and I got denied a spot."

"Hey, it's okay," Star coaxed, but Hester only scoffed, not feeling comforted.

     "For you," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

     "Shouldn't you be outside?" Star gave Hester a prodding look, indicating she wanted Hester out of her room.

     Hester had been spending the three days ever since they'd moved to Derry, Maine in Star's room, which she'd already brandished posters all about. Star's room was painted a mustard yellow color, which Star liked for some reason, and it had a Bohemian feel to it, tapestry behind the frame of her bed, a chair hanging from the ceiling near the double doors opening up to the balcony hanging over the front porch. She had a bunch of tribal and traditional Buddhist decorations here and there and her desk was littered with stickers surrounding space. Star was a sucker for science, especially astronomy and astrophysics. Meanwhile, Hester was in love with math and the arts.

     "It's not like I know anyone from here," Hester frowned, side eyeing Star.

Star rolled her eyes and raised a hand up, the other hand flipping through the pages of a Cosmo magazine with Madonna on the front cover,

      "So go make some friends. Talk to people, maybe even smile for once. That's how normal people make friends, ya know."

     Hester grit her teeth,

     "I am normal."

Star sighed loudly and raised her eyebrows,

      "Sorry, I forgot you have this problem with people telling you you're not normal."

     "Yeah, so don't," Hester turned so she could fully face Star.

     "It's not like you are," Star muttered under her breath.

"What'd you say?" Hester barked, crossing her arms and furrowing her brows.

"Nothing."

Hester's head tilted down towards the ground and her lids grew heavy as she grit her teeth and started grumbling to herself. Her eyes drew back in her head, leaving only the whites of her eyes visible, and her deep brown pupils rolled back into her head. Her hands went stiff and her fingers shot up, sticking up, straight and not bent. Her toes and feet curled up until she was standing up on the ground on her tippy toes, nearly levitating.

The window near Star's bed flung open and her magazine whipped up from her bed, flying out of the window and into the street. Star gasped as she lost grip of her magazine and she hurried towards the window, her hands gripping the sill as she watched it flutter down out onto the street and get run over by some kid's bike. She let out a gasp and looked up when she saw the sky beginning to darken and become stormy, the clouds quickly filling up the clear sky, much to the dismay of the "normal kids" hanging outside.

     Star turned quickly towards Hester, knowing this was her work,

      "Hester, stop it!"

The sky began to crackle and make deep rumbling noises, Hester just standing there in the corner in the same stance as before. From a voice stemming deep inside of her, she growled,

"Take it back."

Star shrieked,

"I take it back, I take it back, I'm sorry!"

Hester felt herself fall back onto the balls of her feet, her fingers curling to their natural position and her pupils rotating back to where they were supposed to be. She let out a breath as if she'd been knocked in the chest by a gust of air. While she regained her composure, breathing hard and taking in the small details of the room like her parents told her to do when she got like this, Star scrambled around her room closing her windows and making her bed again.

She turned to Hester and gave her a stern look, her fists clenching,

"Get out!"

Hester had been in a daze, zoning out while she stared at one of Star's movie posters- E.T. The Extraterrestrial. She blinked, being brought back to earth, and shook her head out of confusion,

"What, no, I was ju-"

Star shook her head, relentless,

"No, get out. Get out!"

Hester furrowed her brows and turned on her heel, power walking out of Star's room as she felt her eyes begin to brim with tears.

She knew it was true, Star's petty jabs. If it wasn't, she had yet to meet another kid like her.

okay, so originally i was just going to leave the prologue up but then i was like ehh why not bring in the very first chapter... i'm not sure i love this chapter and it's really short but i really wanted to post this even though i dislike posting things when i feel like they're really not ready :((( what you guys think so far, though!!