Hopelessly Broken

65. What's This?

6.19.20

Devon's POV

My world was spiralling again, and I found myself reliving my death over and over. Every time I hit the ground, I was falling again, but he pain just mounted on my back. Why? Why does it hurt so much? I fell for the last time, and I found that I was swallowed up by a black, gaping hole in the ground.

My body stalled for two seconds before the world flashed once or twice again, and I was back in my physical form. I couldn't move or speak, and there was this unbearable numb in my legs that made me nervous. I could hear Jamie, Linc, and Jack talking above my head, but I could only make out their words in passing.

Something else probed my ears that I actually could hear, and I recognized Oliver's deep voice. My mind was drawn to it enough for me to focus, and I had almost managed to open my eyes when it felt like my whole body was on fire. My eyes opened on their own accord, and I was floating... What the hell is going on here?

I could see my demon on the floor staring up at me flabbergasted, but I was just as confused as him. When I saw a thin tendril of gold curl around my face, I was both scared and thrilled. Scared because what the hell is that thingy, and thrilled because what the hell is that thingy!? It tightened considerably, and I felt like my body took in the gold thing as I fell back down on the bed. Good news is I can feel my legs!

"What was that?" I grumbled. Oli picked himself up from the floor and hugged me tightly, and I curled into him while still thinking about the gold magic. While he was rocking me back and forth consolingly, I was slowly making eye contact with the other shocked people in the room. Finally my gazes landed on Papa, and I smiled again like I had on the roof. The action brought tears into his eyes, and now there were two people hugging me.

"We were so stupid to send you in," Papa breathed into my ear, but I shook me head.

"I was the one that volunteered, 'Apa. It isn't your fault."

"I could have said no."

"You didn't, and look, I'm fine."

"You almost weren't."

"Let's not worry about almost."

Oliver recovered swiftly, and he drew away to look into my eyes. I stared back into his brilliant red eyes, and I realized that he was crying tears of joy. When I rubbed the tears away gently, he smiled radiantly at me. His hand reached behind my back, and I was pulled up into his arms firmly.

"I'm so, so happy that you're alive. I can't live without you, puppy."

"Glad to be here," I chirped while pushing my face into his chest. It was awkward holding a person who was six feet tall, but Oli pretended it wasn't. As I inhaled his addicting scent, he was walking down the hallways towards our bedroom.

"I– this may be too early to say this, but I love you, Devon."

"It's okay, because I love you too, nz efnpo." (My demon.)

"You remembered."

"Mhm. I want to learn everything about you, and that includes the weird lack of vowels in your language."

Oliver's musical laugh rang out at my assessment of the demonic language, and my cheeks automatically heated up. I love it when he laughs like this... It makes me feel something deep in my chest. "I don't understand how one person can be do adorable."

"It's a secret recipe that I can't tell anyone else."

"Fine then." I burst into laughter at his fake pout as he kicked open our bedroom door, and I was glad that they got the stench of vomit out of the carpet when I laid down on the bed. I went to pull out the hair tie in his hair, but I realized that there was just nothing.

"Oli... What happened to your hair."

"I know, I hate it too... They cut it off."

I hugged him gently, but he still seemed down on himself. "I don't hate it, I was just shocked. See?" I attempted to play with the now short hair, but it just slipped through my fingers whenever I tried. Instead of showing how much that hurt my chest, I kept a bright smile for him.

"Puppy, you don't have to lie to me."

I rolled so that I was laying on his stomach, and I just beamed. "I'm not lying. I did prefer it long, but I don't mind it being short."

"Puppy..." I curled up on his chest somehow, and I soon realized exactly how tired I am.

"I'm bringing you to school tomorrow."

"What?"

"Mhm! You said you wanted to learn about the earth, did you not?"

"I guess I did... This'll be fun."

"Hey! No terrorizing the locals!"

***

"Are you sure about bringing him?" Jack breathed when we got close to the school building. People were flocking into the building, and I nodded my head firmly.

"I am, Jack."

"Okay then, remember this conversation."

I turned around to Oliver to see him staring at a light pole. "What is this?"

"Oliver... Just come on. There's some people you're going to meet that are kind, and a lot more that aren't. Just be patient, and don't hurt anyone. Then we're golden!"

"I guess so..."

I held onto his wrist while dragging him through the hallway, but we only got part of the way before I heard an all too familiar squeal. "Remember what I said about losing your temper," I warned before turning around to face Eveline. "What do you want?"

"You already know what I want."

"Please just leave me alone!"

Just when I was about to get extremely frustrated, Oliver sensed what was going on and spun me around on my feet. I felt his lips on mine, and the entire hallway just froze. When I kissed back, everything just exploded into a frenzy of shouting and people throwing things. I pulled away, and Oli leaned in close to my ear. "Why are the humans freaking out?"

"Well as far as they were concerned, I was straight."

"And that's making them respond... Like this?"

I saw a pencil go flying through the riot and hit some girl in the face, and she took that same wood and stabbed someone else's hand. "It would appear so. You should have seen the uproar when Gabe came out for Blake."

"Who are those people?"

"Oh, right, you haven't met my friends yet." I tried to pull him through the crowd, but it was basically a wall of bodies having a large riot in the middle of the hallway. "HEY!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, and everyone stared. "MOVE!"

It's amazing how one word could split the hallway like the red sea, but it closed behind us as someone punched another. The madness slowly mounted again, but at least we had made it through. "I never knew someone could be so sexy while shouting."

"You learn something new every day."

"I guess so... Now let me meet your other friends."