My Demons

Chapter 2: Just The Beginning

11 years later, I was still trying to get over the fact that my mom is dead now. What happened to her? She died of malnutrition which turned out the prison food the cops gave them was utter crap. My mom tried her best to keep it in her but every time she ate it, she either vomit it out, or would have diarrhea. It was for the best. I guess that the officers didn't treat her good either. Every time I use to visit the jail, I would hear them call her "a psychopath", or "a whore" just because she was friends with a male cop. I felt angry and wished that they would die, but every time my mom saw that my anger was getting the best of me, she would say "It's ok, son. Don't listen to them. Just tell me about school, ok?" She was the best mom you could imagine. If I could've changed anything, I would've told Rob the truth and show him what my shadow does even if it meant taking me to a asylum. The problem with that is that there's no such thing as a time machine. You can't change the past but, you can change your future. Even though my future didn't seem so bright, I kept thinking happy thoughts even when people at my new school, Witmore High, kept getting me into trouble. At least, I made a few friends along the way. That's a good thing, right? I assumed it was until someone came up to me and mentioned about kindergarten. I knew it that the person was none other than Danny Manchester. "Remember when you were going to beat me up," said Danny. "I don't know what you're talking about." "I know it was you, Calvin!" Then suddenly, he grabbed my collar and pushed me against my locker. "I would say that you're lucky that you have a friend who is a cop but, he's not here, is he?" I could sense that the shadow was going to kill him now. Some part of me wanted it to yet some of it didn't. "Don't worry, Calvin. I'll take care of him permanently," said the shadow. I thought in my head," Don't you dare! Not here in front of my friends." Then, there came Rob because apparently, he heard that there was a teenager smoking marijuana in the bathroom who offered me some before and whom I refused to be influenced by. Rob walked up to us and said," What are you doing, Danny? Haven't you already caused enough trouble?" He stopped and looked at Danny with crossed arms. Danny put me down and fixed my collar saying," We were just roughhousing. We're close buds, right, Calvin?" I just put my hand on his shoulder and said," Tsk, tsk, tsk, Danny, even now you're a liar. I figured that you would be more grateful towards me because, I didn't even put a scratch on you during the kindergarten years." I took my hand off his shoulder and Danny's last words was "see ya" while running away from Rob. Everybody in town knew he was a tough cop even if he had a good heart. "Are you alright, Calvin? It looked like you went dark all of a sudden." "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks,Rob." "Remember: whenever you are comfortable, you can call me 'Dad'." "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." He walked away towards the boys' bathroom and caught the teen that was smoking there. "Come on, Peter McAlister. You are in big trouble and I bet your parents won't be so cheerful either," Rob said dragging Peter by the collar. Peter was still out of it from the weed and said in slurred speech," I don't care. Tell my parents. They don't give a shit anyways." He also reeked of alcohol. It turned out he was drinking whiskey as well and he was only a senior. "Let's just get to the cop car, Pete! God, you stink." Everyone was laughing at him except for his girlfriend, Amy Lefoe. She was supposedly a psychic's daughter but, everybody else just thought that she was a loony. She looked down at me and gasped. I happened to look down and realized that my shadow was still talking to me saying," I could've taken him and your problems with Danny would've been all over." I told it in my mind to shut up and get out of my life. It said," I'm part of you though. I can't never leave." I leaned against my locker with my hands on my head until my buddy, Walter Gilbe, came up asking if I was ok. I looked up and said," Yeah, I'm alright." "Are you sure, man? You looked a little dazed for a minute there. Did you get some douche from Pete? Because, I swear if you did, just tell me and I'll send you to the rehab center that my dad works at." "Yes, I'm sure and no, man, you know me better than that." "Ok, I'm just making sure. Now, come on. Let's get to biology," Walt said with a punch on my shoulder. He and I have been friends since 1st grade and he could always tell when something was wrong. I would tell him but, he would probably shun me classifying me as a male version of Amy. I smiled and walked along side of him heading to our class. "Wait, Calvin!" I heard Amy say. "Don't make eye contact," whispered Walt. I did what Walt said and kept walking. She, who was apparently running, caught up with us and said," Calvin, I think you're in danger concerning your soul." Walt and I turned around saying in union "We're going to be late for class. See ya!" "It's about your shadow, Calvin," Amy told me while pulling my arm to turn me around. I gasped at the thought. Did she see it and hear what it was saying or was she just messing with my head? "Calvin, don't listen to his psycho," Walt looked at me. "I'm not crazy," Amy proclaimed. I didn't know whether to talk to her in private or just stand there like she was insane. "Here's my phone number if you need me." She handed me a business card and walked away. "Throw that away, Calvin!" I just stared off into space like my world was warped into a realistic nightmare. Then, I heard my shadow again. This time, it was saying," Whatever you do, don't call that number." I knew my shadow was nothing but trouble so, I did the opposite. "What the hell is up with your shadow, Calvin?" I looked down and it was in its menacing form. Walter looked down at my shadow and looked at me repeatedly. I was sort of hoping he wouldn't see its true form. "I don't know what you're talking about, Walt. You must be seeing things." He looked at me with crossing arms and said," So, this is what you've been hiding from me, isn't it?" I looked down in shame. He uncrossed his arms and looked at me either in fear or in shock. I couldn't tell the difference. "If you are afraid of me, you have the right to leave me alone and never talk to me again." He grabbed my shoulder to turn me around and said these exact words," And why would I do that, Cal? We've been friends for 10 years and I'm going to help you with whatever this thing is. Even though I have very little knowledge about it, I think I know only one person who might, Amy." Even if I didn't want to visit Amy, I had acknowledge that Walt was right. I couldn't stand my shadow anymore and sometimes, it would get the best of me. I didn't want that for anyone or anything. "We'll visit Amy after school is out and if we can't get enough info, we might have to talk to Rob." I took his hand off my shoulder and said," No, please don't tell Rob. He will just think we're crazy just like Amy and probably put us in a mental hospital." "Well, it's worth the risk." I thought to myself," Maybe he's right. At least, I can't hide this from Rob anymore." I sighed and said," Let's do it, Walt!" "For now, I'll help you to stay in control, ok? By the way, does it talk to you as well?" "Don't tell him or there shouldn't be any witnesses," said my shadow. "Shut up!" I muttered under my breath. "It's talking to you right now, isn't it?" I nodded and we decided to do a little research on it at the library. After class, we headed to the library before lunch started and Walt asked the librarian," Do you have any books on paranormal phenomenon?" Mrs. Opaline Danscher looked at us with eyes in awe and said," I never thought that you, 2, would ever consider checking those books out. I considered you both are more of the comics or fiction kind of boys." "Don't question us please and just show us where those books are," I said quickly. She pointed at Amy and said," She is reading those right now. You'll probably have to wait." We just walked up to Amy and Walt said," Amy, what are you doing here?" "My question to you both is what are you, 2, doing here? Usually, the reason you're here is for studying, or for reading comic books." She was looking into the book, probably researching for the same reason as us. I whispered," Walt seen it, too." She looked in horror and whispered back," See, Walt, I told you that I'm not crazy." "Yeah, I believe you now but right now, we need a book from your pile to research as well." Her emerald eyes peered from a book called "The Unseen and The Seen" and she whispered," Go ahead. Be my guest but, you must research with me in secret. I don't want everybody think that you both are crazy as well which, believe me, isn't fun." Walt and I picked up a book each which mine was "Heavenly Beings and Demonic Forces" and Walt's was a small book called "What Is a Demon's Form and Why Do They Host On People?". Amy said that it could be part of my subconsciousness taking form into a shadow and I told her that I didn't think it is possibly. After awhile, Walt whispered," I think I found out what it is." "What?" Amy and I said in union which is usually what Walter and I do. "I have been reading this book and so far as what I can tell from these questions and answers, there's a possibility that your shadow is actually a demon." Amy grabbed the book out of Walt's hands and looked for herself. After a good 10 to 15 mins, she turned pale and looked at me in horror. "Calvin, I'm not a reader of the Bible but, I think Walt is right. I read the questions and answers that he read. I knew that your soul was in danger but in that deep." "When did the shadow start talking to you, Cal?" Walt asked me. "It started when I was 5." "Hmmm." "What is it, Amy?" "Well, you were too young to know between heaven and hell so, you won't have known to sell your soul unless someone done it for you." "Do you know anybody that would've done that, Cal?" "No, that's the odd thing." I wasn't a Christian. Heck, I was more of an atheist than anything. I guess because, my dad was. Even though he didn't really talk about his religious beliefs, I always thought he was an atheist or was he? "We got to go to lunch, Amy. We're going to talk to Rob. Maybe we'll find out why this happened to him." Amy got up from her chair and said," I wouldn't tell him unless he sees it himself, Walter. As for you, Calvin, I would ask questions about your past or your family's past to Rob. Maybe you'll get more answers that way. If not, call me and we'll see if we can meet up. Don't worry. I won't tell my mom unless necessary." I thanked Amy for letting read the books and for helping us out. She said to just call her if I didn't get any answers otherwise to meet her at school Monday at the same place and at the same time. I said that I would and so did Walt. After we got off the bus at 5:30, Walt said," Remember, Cal, to ask Rob, ok? We need to get answers if you want that demon out of you." "I'll remember but, I ask casually." "Good plan." "Thanks." I was constantly looking down for I was afraid of what the demon inside of me and in my shadow would do to Walt and Amy even if she is sort of a weirdo. "Don't worry, man. We'll find a way to get rid of it somehow. Just remember: you're my best friend and I got your back no matter what." I smiled but, my shadow demon didn't like what Walt said. "There must be no witnesses, Calvin. It's time for Walter to go." I saw it run to a stop sign shadow, and I told Walt to watch out. Walter turned around, and dodge it before grabbing the stop sign handle. My demonic shadow looked at him with anxiety and Walter yanked the stop sign away from it. It said to me while running back to me," You can't protect him forever and he can't defend himself that long either." I whispered to it," Oh, yeah, you'll wait and see." Walt let go of the stop sign's shadow and it went back towards its owner. "Did it try to kill me?" I nodded my head in shame. "Tell it that I'm not backing down from helping my buddy." "I hear you, punk!" "It says that it hears you." "Well, it better know it well."