Hellsfire

Chapter Four

"Think we'll find some demons here?" Levi asks.

Levi and Shep walk through a local park, a lake on their left and a field of grass on their right. Up ahead is a playground, though honestly, Levi is going to subtly leave the path before they have to pass the screaming child cage.

"I'm not sure. Demons like negativity, so it's unlikely..." Shep looked around at the park. It was a nice place. It had trees. And ducks. And screaming children. "Then again, maybe if there's an angry enough adult, there might be one."

"Maybe there'll be some drunken bastard who comes along and ruins everything."

Why is it that when he doesn't want to find a demon, it's always right there, but when he's actively searching to do some vigilante justice there is not a single demon around?

"Maybe," says Shep. "I was thinking more along the lines of, let's stop here and get some lunch, and then continue our demon hunt afterward."

"Ah." Levi was about to just start saying some real depressing shit to try to get a demon to swing by.

But lunch sounds good too.

"There's a café near here I've been to before. They make good sandwiches." Shep points down the path. To get to the sandwich place they have to walk past all the screaming childs and the adults watching the childs.

This is gonna suck.

He'll do it for Shep.

And for a sandwich. But mostly Shep.

"Alright, sounds good," says Levi, and he braces himself to walk past the playground.

It's not even the fact that the kids are loud, even though it kind of is, it's the fact that they're people and they're going to stare at him and it's not just the kids. When kids are shouting, parents are watching and when parents are watching, parents are seeing Levi, being confused about his vaguely androgynous appearance and staring. Also sometimes hurling various slurs at him. Not always. But sometimes.

Why does he even leave the house?

As they get closer to the screaming, Levi huddles closer to Shep. It's not even conscious. He's just looking for somewhere safe to go and Shep is that at this exact moment. Shep is the only thing shielding him somewhat from the outside world.

It is now that Levi consciously notices he's doing this. Oh, God, Shep hasn't noticed, has he? He hopes Shep hasn't noticed because he doesn't want to be weird but also he's terrified and he doesn't want to be pushed away at this exact moment when they are walking past the screaming.

Shep does not push him away. Shep keeps walking forward. Shep even waves to a couple of the kids.

They don't wave back.

Rude.

But a few more steps and it's over. A few more steps and the parents will stop staring and the kids will keep screaming and Levi and Shep will have walked past the playground.

Two more steps.

One more.

And they're out of view, they're safe, Levi can say whatever dumb shit he wants without worrying about every bastard in a four mile radius eavesdropping. And as a bonus, he can actually see the sandwich shop from here.

It's a normal looking shop. It has a black sign up the top saying "SANDWICHES" in a vaguely cursive font, and there are chairs and tables overlooking the lake. It's a pretty nice spot.

The sign on the door says 'OPEN', which is convenient, because you can't buy sandwiches at a closed sandwich store.

Levi tries to push open the door. It doesn't open.