Demon: Book 1

Chapter 27: The Note

"No internet, no phone." My dad grabbed my laptop from the desk. "You're not allowed to leave the house without permission. Am I understood?" He held out his hand.

"Yes, sir." I pulled my phone out of my pocket and gave it to him.

"And this"—he walked over to the window—"remains closed. If I catch you opening it for anyone, I'll nail it shut." He marched from the room and slammed the door behind him.

I flopped onto my bed. Over nine months apart, I'd be lucky to make it through a week. There was a knock on the door.

My mother poked her head inside. "Aden?"

I sat up and forced a smile.

She hurried over and hugged me. "Don't ever do that to me again. I was so worried about you."

"Sorry, I just— I love him, Mom." Lying my head on her shoulder, I blinked back the tears. "And now Dad will never let me see him again."

She put an arm around my waist. "I'm going to talk to your father. He's being ridiculous." She lifted my chin. "But you are grounded for the next couple of weeks. Running off like that. I know breaking up with Titus was difficult, but there are other ways to go about fixing things."

"I didn't think Titus would talk to me unless I went to him." I stared at the floor. "I messed up everything. It's worse than before."

"Oh, Aden." Her eyebrows pinched together, and she yanked over the neck of my shirt. "Aden, sweetheart, what happened?"

I clasped the mark. "It's nothing."

She tried to move my hand. "It looks like something bit you."

Turning away from her, I covered the mark. "Titus had a dog. It wasn't used to strangers."

"Oh my god, Aden. Not again." My mother shook her head. "Please try and be more careful."

Nodding, I rubbed the mark. "I will."

She stood and kissed the top of my head. "Get some sleep. In a couple of days, your father will calm down, and we'll talk to him. You'll see Titus again. Don't worry."

"Night, Mom," I said softly as she left the room.

"Goodnight." She closed the door.

I fell onto my back and waved my arms across the mattress. The bed felt empty. God, this was going to be hard.

***

As my parents discussed their mundane days, I pushed my food around my plate. At the beginning of the summer, I would have been happy to sit in my room all day. Now, it felt like torture.

"Aden, eat your dinner," my mother said, pointing her fork at me before she went back to discussing the recent book club drama with my father.

I pushed everything to the center and piled my mashed potatoes on top.

"Do you want to go school shopping this weekend?"

"Hmm...." I glanced at her. "What?"

"School starts next week."

I shrugged. "Sure."

Pursuing her lips, she glanced at my father.

"As soon as school starts, you can have your phone and laptop back," he said.

"Am I still on lockdown?" I patted some peas into my potatoes.

"Aden," my father stated. "This ends now. I'm tired of the attitude. You did this to yourself, so accept the consequences for your actions."