My Secret Demon Boy

How Long Until We Crashed Together?

Some Years Ago
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“Happy birthday Zak!” His mother grinned warmly as she handed over a small box that was wrapped in shiny paper that had a bunch of party hats sprinkled on the blue background.

He took the gift from her lightly, he hadn’t really expected much of anything for his birthday this year. His father had passed away in a car accident only a few months prior, so his mother was forced to take a full time job to be able to support the two of them since before his dad had been the main income provider.

He wasn’t particularly sad about losing his father if he was being honest. His so-called dad had never been kind, had never praised him for achievements, and was often coming home shouting in slurs and drunk beyond comprehension. Just days prior to the accident, his father had once again laid his hands upon the young boy, and left him with a few welts and bruises, one of many times prior. His mother had never been treated any better either. She was a kind soul, with infinite patience for just about anyone, and was willing to forgive you for pretty much anything. He couldn’t imagine her having a single cruel bone in her body, but both of them were better off mentally and physically without the man she called a husband. Even if financially they were struggling, it was an infinitely better trade off in Skeppy’s opinion.

“Open it!” She grinned and clapped her hands together as he tore at the fanciful wrappings.

Nestled within the box was a book. It looked old and worn, it’s corners fraying from the once pristine leather bindings, and the pages yellowing at their edges. He held it up as he inspected the title, and his heart soared.

“You got me a supernatural book!” He beamed happily as he began to flick through the journal.

He had always had a passion for the strange and bizarre. The things that defied explanations, and couldn’t just easily be explained away with science. He loved magic, real magic. Not the mobs that burned in daylight, or the golems that were able to be built, but real magic like summoning fire, reading minds, and anything else. However, sadly much of reality didn’t seem to hold that magic, but he had persisted nevertheless. He began to thumb through the pages, looking over titles, bolded words, and headings. Documentation Beginnings, Duat, Nether, Break Through Portals, Entry Logs, Incident Response, Construction, The End, Demons, Experimentations, Letters.

Every page was filled with what looked like hand written notes and scrawls. Dates peppered the corners of the pages, marking times and years, which seemed to range from the late 1890’s and ending in 1903. His eyes widened as he read through, and caught glimpses of strange glyphs, and languages he had never seen. He finally looked up at his mother, who seemed to have a sad sweet smile on her face.

“Do you like it?” She asked him softly.

He grinned nodding eagerly, “I love it! Where did you find this?”

He saw the hesitation in her, but it seemed to vanish easily, and in his childish mind he easily dismissed it as she answered, “Oh just some second hand shop down the road, it doesn’t really matter right?”

He shrugged, she was right, it didn’t matter where she had found it, or how she had found it, all he cared about was that it was his now. It was one of three gifts he’d gotten for his birthday, the other two were a chocolate bar from his teacher, and another scientific like book on ancient glyphs and forgotten societies that his best friend Spifey had given him. Although this book far outpaced the other one in his fascination. This book felt so real, so bound to reality that he couldn’t possibly imagine it being faked. It was something he read over hundreds of times after his father’s funeral, and when his mother worked long hours as a cashier.