Dining Hearts

. . s e v e n . .

You stared at your phone for a solid minute. No no no, this can't be real. He doesn't exist! He is just some internet persona from a youtuber that you don't even watch! This is just ridiculous!
 You set your phone down again and sit on your bed with your milk, but you couldn't bring yourself to drink or eat anything right now. You felt negativity overwhelm you, it basically burnt you but froze you over at the same time. This was all so overwhelming right now. You came here to get away from all this negativity, but things just seem to get worse and worse. What did you do to deserve this? Was this punishment for running away from your parents? Or were you just randomly chosen?
 You set down your milk, which you wouldn't be drinking anytime soon, and tried calming down. You couldn't let yourself be consumed by those thoughts again. Last time that happened your life was in danger, you didn't want to fall into that deep black hole ever again. You lied in your bed but you didn't sleep, even though your eyes were open. You listened to the ticking of the clock that hung in the room. It was soothing in a way, listening to that quiet sound kept you from thinking about him. In fact you stopped thinking at all. Yes, this was nice. You wished this moment wouldn't pass, it was so calm, all the negativity vanished off of you and you felt good. Not exactly positive, but more neutral, which was certainly better. You slowly drifted off into a dreamless slumber...

Alice was in the library, looking for a specific book about ghosts and demons. This was the only library in town that had an occult section and she was glad she found it. She doesn't consider herself a witch, however, she is only very interested in the dark arts. Alice knows how dangerous it is to fuck around with things that she can not fully understand. That's why she is reading a lot, not only books but also people who have experience with it on the internet. She was in a chat with a bunch of 'witches' who told her a lot about what they're doing, rituals, higher beings, et cetera.
 As she was looking through the books she felt as if someone was watching her. It wasn't anything new, people tended to stare at her, but something felt off. She still ignored it, hoping it would go away, but the feeling only grew stronger. That was not a good sign, that much was clear, but she was determined to not leave without that book. She stubbornly kept looking, resisting the urge to peak over her shoulder to see who was following her.
 Suddenly, she felt as if a cool breeze was following her, but that made no sense, since all the windows were closed. Alice rubbed her arms, which earned her a deep chuckle from the person who was following her.
 "You're a stubborn one, aren't you?", the male voice spoke behind her. He sounded unnatural, almost glitchy and with an echo, which also did not make sense, the library was not that big. Just who is this guy, she though.
 "My apologies, dear, where are my manners. If you turn around, you might guess my name, though."

The voice sounded extremely familiar, but it couldn't be. It was impossible, it could not be him. Slowly, Alice turned her head and slowly moved her eyes from his pitch black dress shoes, up his grey suit pants to his blood red tie and finally rested on his grey face and deep, black eyes.
 Darkiplier was smirking, sending chills down Alice's spine. How, how was he here?! Dark chuckled, a devilish sound that could either make you freeze to an ice block or make you burn like the sun. Alice just stood there, shocked. Her brain could not comprehend the fact that the Darkiplier was standing in front of her, looking down at her with that horrible smirk, that she had found extremely sexy a few years ago, but now it made her nervous because she knew it meant that he was up to no good. He was never up to anything good, but this smirk told her that he knew, or at least thought, that he had the upper hand on something... or someone.
 Alice tightened her fists and spoke quietly, as to not alarm anyone else in the library, "What do you want here? You shouldn't be able to enter this realm again."
 The demon in a suit chuckled once again, amused by Alice trying to be brave when he could taste her fear and uncertainty from miles. It was delicious. There was only one thing that was more delicious, and he hoped he'd be tasting it soon.
 "Are you not happy to see me, Alice? After all, it has been so long since our last encounter."
 "Yes, and I had hoped it would stay the last encounter."
 "You're so cold, dear. That's usually my job."
"What. Do. You. Want."
 Dark was brushing his fingers over some books that looked very old and interesting, paying no mind to Alice's tone towards him, smirking in amusement. He made her wait until he answered and he could feel her squirm impatiently on the inside as her heart beat picked up the pace. He brushed the dust on his finger off on her shoulder, making her flinch under his touch.
 "I have some business to attend to. You know, the usual. But I came to make you an offer, we could be partners again. Just like old times."
 "Never, I will never ever be part of your sick games again."
 Dark's smirk dropped and he looked down on her in disgust and superiority, causing Alice to shrink a little under his cold stare.
 "Very well then, Alice, then I came to warn you. Do not try to intervene with my work, or the price to pay will be high. And I am not talking about your useless material payment."
 "What are you going to do?"
 Dark leaned in, holding her chin with one hand, the other behind his back. Their faces were so close that Alice could feel his icy breath on her face and smell his smoke and the scent of wine. He looked her directly in the eyes, making her feel like her soul is going to freeze over.
 "That is none of your business now, is it, partner?"
 And with that he vanished in a cloud of black mist, leaving a nervous wreck by the name of Alice Fischer behind in the occult section of the library. How could he be here? It didn't make any sense!
 She looked to her feet and was surprised to see the book she has been looking for. She picked it up and held it close. Normally she'd open the book right up and begin to read but she did not feel like reading for the next hour or so. She found herself thinking about her encounter just now and shivered. No no no, this wasn't right. He couldn't be here! Nobody knew that better than her. Sure, there were all the other fans that were convinced he wasn't real, but still thought of romantic relationships with this demon. Alice scoffed at the fanfictions she had read of him, people writing him as a gentleman. Oh, he was anything but a gentleman. The devil would quiver before his very being.

She shook her head and made her way to the reception. This could not have happened, it couldn't be real! Alive was in complete denial of what just happened. She had made sure he could not be real. She had banished him 4 years ago.

You woke up from your phone buzzing. Groaning, you pulled your blanket over your head to try and ignore it but it was already too late. You were awake now and there was no way you'd fall back asleep into a dreamless sleep. You sighed and got up, walking over to your phone. You didn't want to see who texted you. It couldn't be Alice, you didn't remember giving her your number, and you didn't want it to be your parents. However, the biggest reason you didn't want to look was Darkiplier. You wished you could just ignore his texts and he'd leave you alone, but part of you knew that that was just wishful thinking. Reluctantly, you picked up your phone and unlocked it...
 It was a text from David. You felt relieved for a hot second but then worry washed over you again. What did he want now? Everything was said (and repeated) and you were done. At least you thought you were. You sighed and opened the text.

'Where are you? Why aren't you home? Come back to me, I promise I'll change, just give me another chance.'

You mentally rolled your eyes at that text and felt a little angry at him again. Seriously? He went to your home and wanted to get you there? He knew that your parents would probably have encouraged you two to get back together, especially now that they were divorcing. You deleted the text and blocked his number. You were so done with him.
 You looked at the clock and saw it was almost 5pm. Where was Alice?