#aboutlastnight (ONC 2020 Shortlist)

The Dangers of Sweet November

I do not like this. I do not like it at all.

All the laughter is just making me more nervous and I can sense Damian shares my feelings. Why is this funny? Satan's soul? Holy shit! How's that even supposed to look like?

"The thing is," Butch continues, seconds away from smothering with laughter, "the way he lost it..."

He had a point. The way he lost it sounds like something interesting, but more of a fun fact sort of thing, because it doesn't really change the fact that I had to find it.

We.

Shut up, Damian, you have no legs.

Just to spite me, he makes me do a little pirouette. Is it just me, or is he getting louder and more powerful? What if he kicks me out of the body?

Don't panic. I can't do that. You're soul is 99 percent up in here. I can only do party tricks.

My relief mixes with his frustration and... sadness? It brings an unexpected clench to my heart, the idea that Damian could actually feel sadness.

I don't have time for this now. I need to get back to the chihuahua demon and see just what the firkety frackety frack is so funny.

"Well, come out with it, why is it so funny?"

"He..." Butch chokes some more, and for a second I'm positive Satan is force-choking him or something to ensure the secret dies with him.  

Yes, I've seen Star Wars #nerdygirl #SciFiiscool. Don't be so surprised, Damian.

Stop hashtagging in mid thought.

He doesn't know what he's talking about. Life can be perfectly summed up with the appropriate hashtags. #justspititoutalreadydemon

"He...he..." Butch chokes some more and Fifi slaps him on the back to make sure there isn't actually something lodged in his airways. "He got so sad watching Sweet November that he cried."

I stare. Fifi stops laughing and stares. Damian is probably staring, too, through my eyes. Well, his eyes. Once the words are out, Butch sobers, too.

"Sweet November?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. The title sounds slightly familiar, but doesn't ring a bell yet.

"Wait." Fifi snaps her fingers repeatedly. "It's a movie."

"Of course it's a movie, the demon just said he watched it. But..." And then it clicks. "Is it that movie with Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron?"

Damian is useless since he has no idea what I'm talking about, but Fifi and I have a ritual sappy movie marathon every month. I'm sure I've seen this one. She is too, because she sticks her tongue out in the corner of her mouth and scrunches her face in what I recognize as her deep thought face.

Her eyes widen, then they instantly fill with tears, so I'm sure she actually remembered. Brownie points for Fifi!

"Oh yes, you're right, when he's her November and then she dies at the end and he's so sad?" And she starts bawling her eyes out.

I bite my lip, for once grateful that Damian can't cry, because the plot comes swirling back to me. Yes, that old movie was very sad, with Charlize's character trying to brighten as many lives as possible before succumbing to cancer. She breathes life into Keanu, turns his entire dreary existence around.

Seriously? In one month?

Damian sounds appalled, but he's wrong. That movie tugs on your heartstrings. I can't blame the Devil for getting sad over it, losing a piece of himself once he realized he would never be as self-sacrificing and wonderfully beautiful as Charlize. That he will never be blessed by the presence of an angel like Keanu. #sosad #everythingisablessing #selfsacrifice