Hell's Detective

Chapter Twenty- Samael

Jessie was a little girl with a plump face and dirty hair who was clutching a soft toy rabbit in her tiny hands for dear life.

"She's been having nightmares," Ruth explained to Follows. They were in the sick bay. Follows glanced at the smudged windows decorated with smiling stickers, flies attacking them relentlessly. They had called in a very unsuspecting Jessie, who thought she was getting her weekly check up. "They get so bad we have to make her sleep in a separate room from all the others."

Follows shot her a confused look.

"She screams."

Jessie held her rabbit to her ear and listened very intently. Slowly, she nodded, went back to holding it to her chest. Follows knelt beside her, grunted as his leg protested.

"Hi, Jessie," he said. "My name's Ben."

Jessie didn't say anything.

"That's a lovely rabbit you've got there," he tried, and reached out to touch it. She hugged it quickly under her arms, eyes wide like hawk's.

"She doesn't let anyone touch it," Ruth said.

"I'm sorry," Follows said. "Can you tell me his name?"

She held it up to her ear again, as though checking for its permission to speak, then muttered, "Mr Buttons."

"That's a lovely name. Do you have Mr Buttons when you go to sleep?"

"She takes him everywhere," Ruth said.

"Why do you do that, Jessie?"

"He protects me," Jessie said.

"Protects you from who?" Follows asked.

"The monster."

"Is the monster Samael, Jessie?"

Jessie gasped and pressed Mr Buttons to her face. "Don't say his name!" she squealed. "He'll kill you, just like he killed Lily!" She began rocking herself back and forth as she sang a nursery rhyme under her breath over and over again.

"Oh no, she's started again," Ruth cried, hurrying to Jessie's side. She gripped her shoulders. "Jessie? Jessie, you need to listen to me- calm down."

But Jessie just kept singing.

"Ruth, who is Lily?" Follows demanded.

Ruth's head snapped up. "You should leave," she muttered. "Now. You'll only upset her more."

As if to prove her point, Jessie began to sob, gasping in lungfuls of air to keep singing. Follows hurried out into the corridor, more because he didn't think he could keep watching than anything else.

Who was Samael, and why was Jessie so frightened of him?

Follows wandered down the corridor. He was about to turn around and find Ruth, tell her he was sorry, when he heard shrill shouting coming from one of the classrooms. He jogged over, looked inside.

Spicer was red faced and livid as one of the little boys lobbed another spit ball at her.

"This is your last warning, Bill!" she cried. The children laughed, but there was something off about it, almost artificial. Like they were reading off a script. Bill screwed up another one in his hand.

"That's enough!" Spicer all but snarled. A deathly silence fell over them. "Bill. Attic."

Bill's grin disappeared. "No, miss, no! I'm sorry!"

"I won't ask again."

Bill was almost in tears. "Please, miss!" he begged.

Spicer marched down to him, took him by the crook of his elbow and pulled him outside. She didn't even spare Follows a glance as they passed him.