Demon Seer

by Kurtis Eckstein

  Amelia and his mom then reentered expectantly. However, the tube of blood was still on the counter, so no one was sure what to do now.

  “Maybe the nurse is supposed to pick it up?” His mother wondered.

  Michael just shrugged, uncertain himself. But then, sure enough, a few minutes later a nurse came in to draw his blood. She took one look at Michael holding a bloody gauze to the crook of his elbow, along with the tube of blood on the counter, and asked, “Someone already drew it?”

  Michael nodded quickly, not wanting his sister or mother to mention the guy’s name in case it didn’t match with any of their staff. “A doctor did.”

  “Ah, must have been Dr. Jernigan. I’ll go ahead and get this labeled and sent off. Do you need a Band-Aid?”

  “Umm, sure.”

  The nurse went ahead and secured a fresh piece of gauze on his arm with a Band-Aid before leaving the room. She then returned a few minutes later with some paperwork for them to sign before they left.

  Michael was glad this part was over, although he realized if he did have radiation poisoning then now he wouldn’t get any treatment. He wasn’t sure what kind of medicine they would have given him, or if he would be alright without it, but at least he didn’t have to worry about being the reason why Miriam was found out.

  On their way back home, their mom wanted to bring them to her house for the night, but Michael was completely against it. “Please just drop us back off at dad’s. I know you’re worried about me, but I’ll be fine. We’ll be back at your house on Sunday like usual.”

  Their mom sighed, but then agreed. Michael knew she wasn’t thrilled about potentially seeing their dad, but it was still early in the afternoon which meant their dad wouldn’t have left work yet. As far as Michael knew, no one had told their father about the hospital trip. The school had only called their mom, so he probably wouldn’t find out until he came home.

  When they got to their dad’s house, they exchanged hugs with their mother before saying goodbye. As she hugged Amelia, Michael heard her whisper, “Make sure you take care of your brother. I love you both.” Amelia nodded in response, whispering, “I love you too.”

  Once inside, his sister wanted to spend some time with him, but he declined, saying that he needed to get some sleep. He felt bad seeing her dismayed expression, but he really needed to be alone for a little while.

  And with that, he headed off to his room to silently try to work through his internal turmoil.

  Chapter 11: Desperation

  As Michael entered his room, he immediately noticed that someone had been by recently. There were three unmarked pill bottles sitting on his desk, with a small note attached to each one. He sat down in the chair to examine the messages.

  In a script so elegant that he wasn’t sure if it was typed or hand written, he saw the instructions for each one: take one tablet three times daily with meal, take two tablets twice daily with meal, take one tablet twice daily.

  Michael quickly opened his computer and typed in the description of each pill, wondering what they were for. Shocked, he stared at his computer screen for several seconds, unable to believe what he was seeing. All three of them were used to treat various forms of radiation poisoning.

  “I knew it.” Michael whispered to himself. Miriam didn’t want him to die. She did love him. But…

  Michael looked at the pill bottles again, realizing he wouldn’t take them. If he did, then Miriam would know about his bluff. She would know that he wanted to live, and the truth was he did want to live…but not without her. She would never come back if she saw that he was taking the medicine.

  Sighing, he grabbed the three bottles and stuck them in his pocket. He then quietly snuck out of the house into the back woods again. Still being in the afternoon, he felt safer among the trees even though he doubted it mattered – a demon could still attack him without being seen.

  A lot more leaves had fallen compared to the first night he had seen Miriam, so it was impossible to walk quietly. However, unlike last time, he wanted to be noticed. Michael quickly found himself at the spot where he had first seen her behind the hill, and then glanced around to see if anyone was there watching him.

  Of course, there was no one to be seen. He wondered if she was keeping track of him still, possibly wondering what he was thinking. He suspected she wouldn’t abandon him entirely since his life was still endanger for the other demons. Then again, it might be her brother watching over him, which meant that what he was about to do wouldn’t have the effect he wanted.

  Michael grabbed one of the pill bottles out of his pocket and opened it up. He then held it out in front of him and slowly tilted it until the contents began spilling onto the ground. Satisfied, he threw the bottle down too and pulled out the next one. He paused briefly, wondering if his actions were truly going unseen, before spilling the second batch of pills as well.

  However, there was still no indication that he wasn’t completely alone.

  Suddenly finding himself bitter with frustration, he threw the second bottle as hard as he could, and then yelled at the vacant trees. “If you want me to take these, then you’ll have to feed them to me yourself!” He screamed. He knew he was loud enough that his sister might hear, even from inside the house almost an acre away, but he just didn’t care anymore.

  When there was still no sign of any life in the woods with him, he aggressively took out the last bottle and tossed it against a tree as hard as he could. It bounced off and fell to the ground unopened. He felt embarrassed by how anticlimactic it was.

  Beginning to be overwhelmed with grief again, he fell to his hand and knees, sobbing. He didn’t care if Gabriel was the one watching him. For all he knew, he really was alone right now. Miriam might not need to be within earshot to protect him – he knew that much, since she hadn’t been aware of what happened at school.

  However, his grief began to make him doubt even that. For all he knew, she had abandoned him. They might have already gone home forever, not to return until after he was long dead.

  “This is stupid!” He cried in between sobs. “Stupid!” He dug his fingers into the ground as he began shaking with every negative emotion he could imagine: bitterness, anger, depression, grief, loss…fear. He was never going to see her again after all.

  It was over.

  Leaning back on his knees, he turned his head to the sky and screamed as loud as he could, balling his hands up into fists at his side. He was beyond words at this point. He had never felt so tormented in his entire life and would almost prefer physical torture over this pain.

  The anguish continued to build in his chest and he screamed again, crying out to no one.

  Abruptly, someone grabbed him from behind and pulled him into a tight embrace. Shocked, he turned his head to see crimson eyes watching him with deep sorrow. He could see his own pain mirrored in those eyes, as if they were a perfect reflection of his. Before he could say anything, she held up her hand, revealing four pills resting in her palm.

  Without his consent, she forced the pills in his mouth, tilting his head back in the process. “Swallow.” She demanded.

  He had never taken medicine without having something to drink before, so he did his best to swallow them dry. However, he wasn’t confident that at least one hadn’t lodged itself in the back of his throat.

  He was supposed to eat food with most of them anyway, so he knew he could force it down soon enough. She then checked his mouth and looked at him harshly. “Why do you have to be so difficult?” She demanded in a whisper.

  “Why do you?” He accused.

  “I’m killing you!” She stated bitterly.

  “I thought that was the plan all along!” He retorted.

  She immediately glared at him again, knowing that he had finally called her out on her bluff. She abruptly let him go, and he almost fell backwards as she stood. “I’m leaving.”

  “I won’t take them!” He said as quickly as possible. “Not unless you make me every time
!” He wanted to make that point as clear as possible – if she didn’t do it herself then he would allow himself to die. But then he suddenly felt mournful that he might be doing exactly what that one creep had done to Riley.

  “Unless…” He hesitated, feeling like he was about to make a grave mistake. “Unless you just don’t want to be with me after all…then…I’ll do it…so you can move on…” He felt his shoulders drop as he realized he had just given her an out. He had basically just told her that all she had to do was say she didn’t want to be with him and then he wouldn’t make her do it. He hated himself for what he had just said, but he knew he would hate himself even more for manipulating her in this manner.

  He suddenly felt more vulnerable than he had ever before, knowing what she was going to say. She was going to do it. She was going to reject him, since being around her was what was killing him in the first place.

  “I’ll be back in the morning.” She stated bitterly as she looked away. Her crimson eyes were squinting as if she were in physical pain.

  Shocked, Michael quickly looked up at her. “Y-You will? Promise?”

  She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, and then looked away again. He wasn’t sure if she was going to confirm it until, after a long pause, she nodded. She then walked past him, picking up the pills on the ground in a blur. Within a matter of seconds, she was dropping the capped bottles in front of him, having already separated them. “Your sister is coming. She heard you…yelling.”

  He was about to respond, but then she held up her hand for him to be quiet. “By the way, it’s not the same as nuclear radiation, but this medicine should still help.”

  Michael nodded, briefly distracted by footsteps running towards the front side of the hill. “I love you,” he whispered urgently, but it was too late. Miriam was already gone.

  Amelia came running around the corner to witness him trying to clear his face of tears with dirty hands. His fingers still had traces of the dirt from digging his fingers in the ground. “Michael!” She yelled at him. “I thought for sure someone was murdering you!”

  She immediately threw herself on him and wrapped him in her arms. “Please don’t ever scare me like that again!”

  Trying to collect himself, he responded. “Why…why would you think someone was murdering me?”

  She pulled away and looked at him seriously, her eyes beginning to tear up. “Can you really blame me?! After all that’s happened in the last few days? And that scream…I just knew – someone was killing you, and I was going to discover your dead body by the time I found you.” She wrapped her arms around him tightly again, tears threatening to slip from her eyes.

  Sighing, he hugged her back, apologetic that he had made her worry. He knew she was right. She did have legitimate reasons to worry. More so than she even realized. They sat holding each other for several minutes, until Amelia noticed the pill bottles on the ground next to him.

  She pulled away abruptly. “What are those?” She questioned suspiciously. “Michael…you weren’t…trying to kill yourself, were you?”

  Briefly confused, he suddenly realized what it must look like. He had three unmarked pill bottles alone in the woods…she thought he was trying to overdose. “Oh! No, this is for the radiation poisoning.” He quickly tried to explain.

  She seemed even more suspicious. “But…when did you get them? How could they have already gotten your blood results back?”

  “Oh, umm…” He tried to come up with an excuse. “The, err, doctor gave them to me. The tall one. They are safe to take even if you don’t have radiation poisoning, so he prescribed them just in case.” Michael had no idea if they really were safe to take for a healthy person, but it was the best he could come up with.

  “But they aren’t labeled!” She pointed out.

  Why did his sister have to be so smart? “They’re generic, so he didn’t need to actually prescribe them to me. He was able to just hand them over. I looked them up online to make sure that’s what they were for.”

  “How do you know how much to take?”

  “He wrote me a note for each one! Jeez Amelia, chill out!”

  She didn’t look like she was going to back down, still giving him a look of disbelief, but surprisingly she didn’t ask any more questions. “Well, let’s get back to the house…” Her expression was then intense. “Don’t think for a second I’m letting you out of my sight! I’m on babysitting duty until I say otherwise!”

  “Okay, okay!” Michael held up his hands. “Just chill out!” If he hadn’t been sure of just how much he had scared her, he knew now. His sister had never been so pushy with him in her entire life. She really thought he was being murdered – or killing himself. And she wasn’t convinced yet that he was telling her the truth. Technically, he wasn’t telling her the whole truth, but the parts he had told her weren’t a lie at least.

  Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the bottles and she helped him get to his feet. He was instantly dizzy and had to lean on her for a second to gather his bearings.

  “Are you sure you’re alright?” She asked, deeply concerned again.

  “I think so,” he answered honestly. He then tapped the pills in his pocket. “If I really do have radiation poisoning, then this medicine should help me get better. I’ve only taken one dose so far.”

  She looked down, seeming to finally accept that he was being honest. “Okay…Just please don’t scare me like that again. I’d tear apart this whole world to protect you. Don’t make my job harder than it already is.”

  He wasn’t sure what to say to that. The idea of his sister doing such a thing was almost comical. He chuckled at the thought.

  “What?” She snapped. Her sudden annoyance only made her expression more adorable. It was like a puppy trying to look threatening.

  He chuckled again. “Just the idea of you tearing the world apart. It’s cute.”

  She scoffed and stuck her tongue out at him, causing him to grin in response. She then held onto him tightly to help him keep his balance as they began walking back towards the house.

  Michael felt so relieved that Miriam hadn’t rejected him. He realized he was probably only going to see her two or three times a day, and only for a few seconds each time, but it was better than nothing.

  He wondered if he could get her a phone, so he could at least talk to her. He was alright with not having a physical relationship, even for the rest of his life, but he couldn’t live without her. He had no idea what they would even talk about, but a long-distance relationship was better than nothing. He’d pick that over a normal relationship with anyone else – anytime, without a doubt. He was hers now. He didn’t want to be with anyone else, even if that meant he missed out on the majority of what a normal relationship entailed.

  Michael was watching the ground as he walked, being careful not to trip over something, when suddenly his sister tugged on him hard, forcing him to stop. She suddenly had her hands clasped together in front of him, her fingers holding onto the ring on her pinkie finger in her habitual manner. He looked up to see why she had stopped so abruptly.

  His heart froze.

  Standing before them was a pitch-black demon, just as tall as Miriam’s brother. Except it was much larger than Gabriel – more muscular – if that was even possible. Everything was coal black: its skin, its horns, even the whites of its eyes. The only color was its bright red irises that matched Miriam’s. It looked like a shadow in contrast to the colorful surroundings. A shadow with evil red eyes.

  Barely a second had passed when abruptly Miriam appeared between them and the monster, completely revealing her true form to his sister. At the same time, long black fingers curled around them like a cage, and Michael suddenly became aware that Gabriel was standing behind them, protecting them with his wings.

  Miriam had said she was stronger than her brother – now he really believed her, because she had placed herself as their first line of defense.

  It was completely silent, yet somehow Mi
chael suspected that they were communicating somehow. Miriam was clearly reacting as if they were talking, seeming upset by whatever the hostile demon was saying. She began balling her hands into fists, when unexpectedly Gabriel cursed behind them in their foreign language, just before another monster appeared to their right. It was another shadow, mirroring the first perfectly, except for its icy blue eyes.

  There was a brief pause, and then all hell broke loose.

  All four of the demons disappeared, but the effects of their fight were instantaneous. Trees began snapping like twigs all around them, falling only to be thrown into the air from colliding with invisible monsters. Michael knew they were supernatural, he knew they were strong, but he had never felt as helpless and weak as in that moment.

  As he squeezed his sister tightly, he realized they might both be killed instantly just from one of the monsters colliding with them. However, very quickly it was clear that the fight was rapidly moving away.

  A brief glimmer of hope flickered in his chest…before immediately being extinguished.

  He suddenly caught movement in the corner of his eye and saw that Miriam had been pinned to the ground by two demons – one of the shadows, the blue-eyed one, as well as a third demon he hadn’t known was there. It was a woman that was the complete opposite of all of them. Other than her tan skin, everything was bright white – even her horns and bony wings.

  Miriam was struggling fiercely, screaming in defiance, but they had overpowered her. Michael knew there was nothing he could do. He knew he was helpless, but he couldn’t stop himself. Without thinking, he pushed Amelia away, not wanting her to get involved, and bolted towards Miriam.

  He didn’t get far before he was knocked down forcefully onto the ground. He flipped onto his back as fast as he could, only to see that the shadow with red eyes was peering down at him coldly.