Devil's Soul

Chapter 18 (this is why I try to avoid being alone in my neighborhood at night)

Normally when I studied late with Abhinav and Chung, I stayed the night at Omega Chi so that I wouldn’t have to venture home at an ungodly hour. I didn’t live in the safest neighborhood, and although nothing bad had happened to me there yet (not including the whole selling my soul thing), I had seen a few things over the course of my life that kept me erring on the side of caution. This, combined with the fact that the bus (my quickest way home) only ran until 7 pm, was normally reason enough for me to stay over after late nights of studying.

So I’m not quite sure what I was thinking when I decided to throw caution to the wind that night and take the T home, which continued to operate until midnight. It started like any other night, with Abhinav, Chung, and me studying in Omega Chi, armed with Chinese takeout and Adderall to keep us fueled (well, the Adderall was just for me). I think there were a number of factors that contributed to me deciding to head home alone, in the dark, late at night.

First of all, my mom had seemed particularly depressed that morning, and I didn’t want her to wake up alone the next morning. I also think that I let being a demon go to my head. I was starting to feel irrationally invincible. Maybe I thought that as an evil creature meant to be feared, no one could hold dominion over me. More likely, I felt that since my soul was gone, I had nothing left to lose.

And I think the final determining factor was the Adderall. I had taken it later than I should have, so I wasn’t feeling exhausted like I normally did when we finished studying for the night. This meant that I had enough energy to make the journey home. Normally, I barely had enough energy to crawl to one of the beanbag chairs.

So those are the reasons why I found myself walking from the bus stop to my house late at night, huddling in my coat against the cold October air. This wasn’t exactly the first time I’d been outside in my neighborhood alone at night, but it was something that I normally tried to avoid. I should have avoided it that night. At least, that’s what I was thinking when I became aware that someone was following me.

The sound of his feet falling against the pavement was soft, as if he was trying to cloak the noise, and when I stopped, his footsteps stopped too. At first, I tried to convince myself that the sound was simply an echo of my own footsteps, but the pace didn’t quite match mine. His footsteps were occurring slightly more frequently than mine. He was gaining on me. 

I tried to maintain my senses as my heartbeat accelerated.

Luckily, I kept pepper spray in my backpack. I reached behind me, unzipped the pouch it was in, and slipped it out. I was discrete as possible, but I think that only served to warn my stalker that I was up to something. His pace quickened.

Unable to contain my panic any longer, I broke into a sprint, clutching the pepper spray tightly in my left hand. I would use it as a last resort. I was as much afraid of hurting an innocent man trying to return the wallet I may have dropped as I was of a thief jumping me.

When I realized that I wasn’t going to outrun whoever was chasing me, I decided to stand my ground. I stopped and turned around, holding the pepper spray out in the most threatening way possible. “Stop!” I yelled firmly. I wouldn’t spray him if he obeyed. And he did. Except when he stopped, he doubled over laughing. The cloudy night sky didn’t leave me a lot of light to work with, but I squinted, trying to see if I recognized the guy. This whole situation was very confusing. His carefree style of his gelled light brown hair seemed familiar…

“I’m glad you decided to not make my job too easy! I was starting to get bored!” Desmond said when his laughing quieted down enough for him to speak.

“Oh, it’s you,” I said, lowering the pepper spray.

“Don’t sound so disappointed, love. Were you hoping for a rapist?”

“Of course not!”

“Well, I don’t know why you’re so surprised. You knew that I’ve been keeping tabs on you.”

“Can’t you just walk with me like a normal person, instead of stalking me?” I asked. I was still feeling a little on edge, and I was actually glad to have the company right now. Even if it was the company of a demon. Maybe the fact that he was a demon made me feel even safer with him. Besides, I would much rather have him where I could see him.

“You’re okay with that?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “You seemed a little…resistant the last time I talked to you.”

Geez, someone was a little sensitive. “I just don’t want you stalking me anymore, okay? It’s creepy.”

He grinned. “Fine by me.” He held out his arm to escort me like a gentleman. I took it to be polite. He didn’t feel evil. I didn’t feel dirty just from touching him, like I did with the Devil.

“Can I ask you a question?” I asked, as we walked.

“Sure.”

“Is God real?”

He gave me a funny look. “You’re asking the wrong guy. If God exists, why would he introduce himself to me?

“I just thought that since you’re the Devil’s favorite, he would have told you.”

He laughed. “Satan doesn’t talk about God, and I don’t ask.”

“Oh.”

We walked in silence for a minute.

“Do you believe in God, Mavis?” Desmond suddenly asked.

I shrugged. “I haven’t thought about it much. My mom calls herself a Catholic, but she doesn’t go to church very often, and she doesn’t try to impose her religion on me. She says that she didn’t find her religion until was an adult, and she wants to give me space so I can discover religion on my own too. She was an atheist until she met my dad. That’s all I know about him. That he somehow made her believe in God, got her pregnant, and left.”

“He sounds like a prick,” Desmond commented.

“I guess. I wouldn’t know.”

We arrived at my apartment. “So what’s the deal? Are you going to watch me sleep or something?”

He laughed. “I think you can handle that on your own. You’re not the only one that likes to get some shut eye.”

I sagged in relief. “Okay, well, um, thanks for walking me home,” I said awkwardly, wondering if it would be appropriate to give him a departing hug. Not that I wanted to give him a hug or anything. It just seemed like that was the kind of thing one would do in a situation such as this.

I ended up loosely and very quickly embracing him. He returned the hug, more out of surprise than anything else, making me think that maybe a hug hadn’t been necessary.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” He quirked a smile at me and strolled away. 

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