ℂorruption➼ Devil Louis & Dark Angel Niall

❉ Chapter 19 ❉

U N E D I T E D

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The tossing and turning through the nights was suddenly a strategy that dominated my way of living.

There wasn't a minute in my periods of sleep where I was comfortable. And it was strange, because although exhaustion ate at me endlessly, I would lay awake in my bed, eyes wide in discomfort. And no matter how long I lay in my bed, it would always divert a tingling sensation on my skin. The bed I would lie in through the neverending nights was always cold, even as I pulled the large, padded comforter over my body.

But, even if I became the slightest bit warmer, my eyes would always flicker around the dim atmosphere of my room in suspicion. Darkness was a surrounding blanket that wrapped me up between its many layers of displeasure, however, I always sensed a shadow of some sort: a figure that would linger from one corner of the room to the other. And no matter how well I could feel the presence of a soul, they were as silent as the movement of a predator on the ready to attack; as if their transportation was light and swift.

In the nights where not a sound could be heard outside my door, thoughts and memories of rare dismay would pound roughly inside my head, trying to batter and burn me to my breaking point. And in those times, even as I forced positive memories into my head, the evil that lurked in my room would chuckle and succeed at terrifying me.

"Scarlett, you live next door to hell," Janette would explain to me when she found me rocking back and forth in shock. The sight of an evil spirit was not normal for me. "When humans cry in pain, the evil spirits awaken. The screeching cry of a human feeds them tremendously. It's like the energy that aids them in the haunting and demolishing of more humans."

"What are these evil spirits? Where do they come from?" I swallowed the lump in my throat, and fiddled with my fingers.

And almost like she'd been dreading the question, she glanced down at my trembling hands, and looked back to me, eyes meeting mine monotonously.

"Hell. These evil spirits are born simply from the single fear that shows on a living human. And when they are born, they transform from the most excruciating of flames." She leaned in closer to me until our noses were inches apart. "And no one is capable of telling when an evil spirit is created. No one apart from the Devil himself."

"How can I tell when one is born?" I asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"It's like the echo of a scream. Except when this echo begins, it's a neverending repetition of the same scream, over and over. It could be years until the ear piercing sound of the echo dies down, and if it ever does, it could only mean two things:

Either the soul is incapable of haunting its prey in its shadow-like form, so it simply dies, or it has devoured enough souls for it to transform back into the fire it once was."

I nodded hastily, the sound of my heavy breathing more than audible in the silence of my room. My eyes flickered around it momentarily. So that's the shadow I'd been sensing every night.

"I know an evil spirit has been around you," she whispered suddenly, and I jumped at the tone of her voice. It was slow, dreadful even.

"How do you know that?"

"The fear in your voice; the way you happen to look around your room in terror every few seconds, like the spirit itself is going to jump out and take you away. Your questions are not normal."

"I feel like it watches me. Every night, I can sense a shadow, even in the darkness." Even as I spoke, I felt a light breeze that blew my hair slightly, sending chills down my spine. "I don't see it, but I can feel it. I wasn't scared at first, and I thought it was just a figment of my imagination. But after a few nights, even as I tried to think positive and sleep, I would have nightmares."

Janette sighed before flickering her eyes around the room, like she knew someone or something was watching us.

"Why do I have an evil spirit with me?" I whispered, voice shaking slightly.

"When evil spirits are born, they can smell their prey. And when they smell them, they rise from the descending flames of hell to become a shadow: long, sharp claws for fingers, and tall, thin bodies with two large pointed feet to stand on." The vision of an evil spirit could be imagined lurking right beside me as Janette spoke. "In a way, an evil spirit can become attached to its prey. It hides wherever, as long as has a good eye on its possession. It studies the actions of its prey mostly at night, as that is when it's powers are at their strongest. They can lure their prey into all it's desires and doings, with just the hiss of their tongue, and just like that," Janette snapped her fingers and I jumped, "the evil spirit can suck the life right out of its possession. No hesitation, not even the allowance of the prey to even see its face."

I gaped at her, lips dry at the shock of her words and I couldn't even begin to think straight without turning delusional.

"And sometimes," she leaned forward until our noses were centimetres apart. "sometimes when the prey's soul is stronger than expected, the evil spirit can direct nightmares of horrific content into the brain. This could go on for days, weeks, even months. But just as long as they get what they came for, they have no other desires."

"Is there another name for these evil spirits?" I cringed at their mention, even as I asked her.

"Most of us like to address these creatures as evil spirits," Janette began, lips puckered as her eyes wandered around the room until they stilled behind me. "However, those who like to be more specific call them demons."

Demons.

Suddenly, everything changed. The silence of the room was there no more, and Janette's facial expression was much different than before. It used to be still, even as her eyes were wide in thought. This time, though, her eyebrows were furrowed together, nostrils flared as her mouth flew open, and she released a high pitched scream.

I couldn't understand what she was doing until I realised her eyes were directed behind me. Even so, I couldn't understand what was happening. My ears rang terribly, and it seemed the movement of my body was slowing down. But still, I turned around to see what terrified Janette so much, and that was what struck me.

A face of horror, eyes of bright yellow staring me down as sharp teeth bared at me. Long, large claws scratched at the golden chair I sat on, trying to pull me with them, and I only stared at the creature's actions, for shock had overtaken me entirely. An ear piercing, glass scraping screech sent my mind into a frenzy, and everything around me seemed to blur.

Voices and shouts began to pound against my head, harsh laughter filling the gaps of silence that rarely occurred. As everything span, I glanced back at the crying woman that curled up before me, and I placed my hands over my ears.

"This isn't real. This isn't real," I repeated to myself over an over. And with one sharp suck of breath, I screamed.

And that was it.

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You can barely see whats in that picture on the side, but you can still see a little bit of a red face and claws. I'll leave the rest to your imagination my lovelies.

Have a good day/night. If it's night where you are I hope an evil spirit isn't watching you in the corner of your room right now.

Ily xx