Deal with the Devil - E.D.

I

Red eyes in the darkness. The sound of her own heartbeat. A deep laugh echoing off of the walls and heat creeping in on all sides.

Eden shook her head and spit out the toothpaste, trying to shake off the weird dream she had. There wasn't much to it, it just left her feeling strange when she woke up.

"Vice!" She called, shaking the bag of cat food. Her roommate wasn't home, so it was just Eden and her cat for the morning. "Vice?"

After no response and no pitter-patter of cat feet, Eden went off to look for him.

There were only so many places he could be: the apartment wasn't that large. But he wasn't in the kitchen, living room, or bathroom. Her roommates door was shut, so Vice had to be in her room.

There was no sign of his black and white coat anywhere. He always came out of hiding when she fed him. Vice was an indoor cat.

As Eden was leaving her room, she noticed the bottom drawer of her dresser was slightly ajar.

Out of curiosity, she opened it to find Vice inside, unresponsive.

"No," she whispered. Vice was an old cat, but he should've had a few more years in him. "Vice..."

It was not a great start to the day.

By the time she had set him up with some of his favorite things and dug a hole to bury him, it was time to pack up and leave to go to class.

Of course, the car wouldn't start. Why would it at this point?

Eden found herself speed-walking to campus, which luckily wasn't far. She barely made it to economics on time.

It was a boring class, but easy. She spent the majority of it with her mind on other things.

After class, she went to grab a coffee and then head to the library. The dream from last night was still lingering in her mind like a series of smoke signals.

Her dreams were often strange but not in a sense that they left a feeling of unease behind. The low laugh and glowing red eyes were all she could focus on—perhaps it was just a sign that today was going to be bad. The universe gave funny signs like that, surely it was the case.

As she's walking toward the library, coffee in hand but mind wandering, her side crashes into a particularly hard lamppost.

The almost full hot coffee crashes to the ground and soaks into the dry grass. A yelp of frustration leaves her lips as she tosses the now empty cup into the trash, ignoring the bruise that's surely forming on her already sore arm.

Eden didn't really feel like walking back to the coffee shop since she was just outside the library, so she went in and sat in a dim corner.

There was a paper due at midnight for biology that was only about halfway finished so she got right to work. By the time it was finished, the sun had set and the temperature had surely dropped; it was going to be a cold walk home.

Prolonging the inevitable, Eden decided to check Instagram. Which also turned out to be a bad idea.

Her best friend from back home, Bonnie had posted a picture kissing Eden's ex and first love.

Sure, Bonnie could date whoever she wanted but it felt like a betrayal to do that, and not even say anything to Eden.

Eden: when were you gonna tell me about Tristan?
Bonnie: oh my god, I knew this would be a big deal
Bonnie: you broke up last year. we got close. get over yourself, eden
Bonnie: this is why we aren't friends anymore.