Apocalypse Love

Babysat By The Satanist

I knew it from the moment I turned ten years old that I was adopted. I never felt like I belonged with the two people who were raising me. I was different but, back then I hadn't known just how different. The first time I discovered how different I was my parents tried dragging me to church one Sunday morning. But, on the way the church caught fire. Thankfully, nobody was inside. My adoptive parents knew I had something to do with it but they never spoke a word of it again. I was sitting outside, fanning myself on the hot autumn Sunday when my eyes spotted the car in the driveway across the street. I knit my brows together confused but also intrigued. "Get your homework done?" My mother asked as she walked out of the house. I completely ignored her question "When did Miram Meads come back?" I asked her. She looked across the street to see the creme-colored Volkswagen sitting in the driveway that belonged to the blue house. "I think last night" She walked in front of my vision and placed her hand on her hip. "Now, your father and I are going to be out late working...get your homework done and ready for bed," she tells me. "Mom, I'm 16, not 10. I know how to take care of myself" I reminded her. "Just do what I ask, and stay away from Mead's house" she ordered before walking to her car, climbing inside, and pulling away. I waited for her to disappear down the street to stand from the porch step and begin walking across the street. I approached Ms. Mead's front porch and climbed the three steps before walking up to the door and knocking on the screen. The door opened after a moment and Meads looked completely different. Her hair is no longer the brown I remembered but jet black and shorter. She has on dark makeup and looks thinner. "Hi...I don't know if you remember me" I smile at her. She looked confused "Uh...I mean why would you?" I shrug my shoulders. "I'm busy, Do you mind speeding this up?" She asked me. "It's...Athena Black. I live across the street" I informed her. "I used to come over and we'd bake on my birthday which is on Halloween" I reminded her. "Athena?!" She gasped, placing her hand over her heart. "Oh my! You've grown into a beautiful young girl" she tells me. "Thank you" I smiled, lowering my head as I feel my cheeks become warm. "Uh...I just wanted to say welcome back." "Well that means a lot, coming from you" she smiled. "Ms.Meads...I'm done eating, can I watch TV now?" A boy's voice asked from inside. "Uh, just one moment Michael..." Meads tells the boy inside as she looks over her shoulder. She turned her head back to me but I felt a magnetic pull from inside. It felt like my heart was pulling out of my chest. "Thank you so much for coming to say hello, can we catch up another time?" She asked. I nodded "Sure..." I nodded before waving to her. "Have a good day" I say politely before turning and walking off the porch.

I walk into Westfield High School with my head down, managing to make it to my locker before anyone noticed me. I unlock my locker and shove my books inside and grab my pen. I take my jacket off about to shove it into my locker when it suddenly slammed shut. Just in front of me stood Bethany Anderson whose hair is long with blonde tones. Her nose is small, probably due the fact her mother let her get a nose job last summer. Her lipgloss is shining. She always wears pink, even on her eyelids. Her best friend Jennifer Watson stands next to her, she's always has her hair in a neat bun and dresses in the same pink color. These girls, are the queen bosses of the school and from freshman year they've had it out for me. "Black..." Bethany smirks with a fake look at me. "B-Bethany..." I stutter out. Bethany and I used to be friends when we were in middle school but she changed the first day of freshman year. She told everyone I had nightmares every night, that I dreamt of the devil in my sleep. She wasn't wrong. Every night, I have the same nightmare and she went around telling everyone. Since then, I have been named the school freak. "I heard a rumor..." She informed me. "About?" I asked her. "That your freaky neighbor is back" she stated. "Ms.Meads?" I knit my brows together. "You know her name?" Jennifer laughed. "Oh...Jenny, that's right!" Bethany clicked her tongue at the roof of her mouth. "Didn't that Satanist used to babysit you?" Bethany asked me. My heart ached for Meads. I know how kind she was to me when I was little. "That could be why she has the nightmares of the devil" Jennifer pointed out. "Oh my god! Jenny!" Bethany gasped, turning to her friend. "You're so right!" She laughed before turning her attention back at me. "Did she have you worshipping the devil with her?" She questioned. I shake my head "N..no" "Oh God! She did! Didn't she?" Jennifer pressed harder. "That's why you're such a freak!" Bethany shrieked. I couldn't take it, I grabbed my book bag and threw it over my shoulder. "Oh, don't go! We're only joking!" Jennifer laughed along with Bethany as I quickly run off, hearing them cackle and laugh behind me. I run right into the ladies restroom and slam the stall door behind me and sit on the toilet before pulling out my phone. Tears flood my waterline as I dial my mother's number. It rings a few times "Aren't you supposed to be in class?" I hear my mother answer. "M..Mom, I need you to come pick me up" I tell her. "You just got to school," she tells me. "I know, I just...I can't be here" I try to tell her. "Why not?" She questioned. The ache in my chest only causes it to tighten. "I just can't...please?" I begged. "I'm sorry, Athena you've already missed way to much school" she stated. "Mom..." I hissed through my teeth. "Athena, I'm not coming to get you. I have to go. I'm late for a meeting." I hear the phone beep and I looked down to see she had hung up. Anger settles in the pit of my stomach as the lights hanging from the ceiling begin to flicker. I run my hands through my hair and let out a growl of frustration. I slam my hand onto the side of the stall. Pop! Glass shards fall from the ceiling as the lightbulbs explode. My heart felt like it stopped as my vision begins to adjust to the pitch black of the girls restroom. What the hell had happened?