Once out of the woods, he carefully made his way back inside the house to escape to his room. He hadn’t been too thrilled about his dad beginning to date again, but for once he was glad he didn’t have to worry about being seen in his present condition. And he doubted that his sister would be out of her room for the rest of the night.
Heading down the hallway, he opened his door and flipped the light on. He had been in this room less than an hour ago, yet now he felt like he was a stranger to it. He had left here as one person and returned as another. His bed was against the far wall, while his dresser was next to the door. He also had a small entertainment center with a TV and game system that he hadn’t touched in months. A pair of recently used dumbbells laid next to a stack of neglected games.
The last large piece of furniture in his room was a desk and chair in front of the only window.
Michael immediately rushed over to it to open it up. He knew Miriam said he wouldn’t see her tonight, but he still hoped she might change her mind.
“What is wrong with me?” He whispered to himself. He had no doubts about what her returning might mean, yet he had already given in to her. Whatever happened to him now was in her hands and he didn’t intend to try to run away from it.
He was glad it was late enough in the year that he didn’t have to worry about bugs coming in from the window, although he realized he should still turn the light off anyway. At first, he had planned on leaving it on all night, but he realized Miriam might not visit if she was worried about being seen by others.
Satisfied that he had done what he could, Michael turned off the light and crawled into bed feeling drained of all energy. However, despite his sudden fatigue, his pounding heart wouldn’t stop racing. It was like he was running a marathon while being completely motionless. The anxiety was overwhelming, and he could feel tears pool in his eyes from the emotional bombardment racking his insides.
Chapter 2: Wish
Michael never cried…never. But he did that night.
Once the all-consuming emotions finally lightened up a little, he checked his phone to see that it was 2:39 AM. He wondered if his dad had returned home yet. Michael was surprised that his father hadn’t checked in on him, as was his habit when he came home really late. Granted, this also wasn’t the ideal time to be bothered.
He felt extremely exhausted both emotionally and physically even though his heart rate wouldn’t slow down. His entire body throbbed with each rapid beat, painfully so, preventing him from falling asleep. He had always considered himself an emotionally stable person, but now he really was a complete mess. His mind raced as the minutes slowly ticked by, revisiting his recent experience with her over and over, until finally his alarm clock went off, indicating it was time to get ready for school.
He was still in the clothes he had worn into the woods last night. And he really didn’t want to get out of bed, not feeling like doing anything, but he knew he needed to occupy himself with some kind of physical activity. His chest physically hurt, and his hands felt numb. He had never experienced anything like this before in his entire life.
Michael sat up feeling suddenly dizzy and lightheaded. Once he was sure he wouldn’t fall over, he grabbed some fresh clothes and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. He knew his sister Amelia would probably snooze her alarm for another fifteen or twenty minutes, so he had plenty of time to have the bathroom to himself.
However, he wasn’t sure what to do about his sister once he was done, because she would instantly pick up that something was wrong with him. He didn’t think he could hide it from her. Still, he tried his best to collect himself while he rinsed off.
Just as he finished dressing, he heard a knock at the door…It was her.
“Michael? Are you dressed yet? May I come in?”
He realized she must have been awake long enough to hear the water running. He really didn’t want to deal with a thousand questions, but he knew it was unavoidable.
Michael unlocked the door to reveal that his sister was already dressed and ready for school. She was wearing jeans and a pink long-sleeve shirt along with a dark brown jacket that was unzipped. One look was all it took for her to know.
“Jeez! What happened to you?! You look like crap. Are you sick?”
Michael glanced at the mirror for the first time that morning. He had avoided looking at himself earlier.
Sure enough, he appeared exhausted, with noticeable dark circles under his blue eyes. His face was pale too, a stark contrast to his dark brown hair, and if he was being honest he did look ill. Anyone would be able to notice how horrible he looked, not just his sister.
Amelia was already fumbling through the bathroom drawers, pulling out a thermometer to take his temperature. Their parent’s divorce had produced an odd effect on their relationship. Since they spent half their time with only one parent, both of them often took up the role of the missing one when needed. In this case, no mom present meant Amelia began acting more motherly. Michael leaned against the sink, not having the energy to resist her caregiving, as she stuck the thermometer underneath his tongue.
After a few seconds, she confirmed her suspicions. “Yep. You’re running a fever.” She then paused as she shifted back to being his little sister. “Do you think you should go to school today? I can take the bus if I need to.”
Michael really didn’t want his two best friends Riley and Grayson seeing him like this, but he realized that being around his sister was helping his anxiety, which meant that being around his friends might help too. It would probably be worse for him to stay home having nothing to do.
He smiled weakly at her worried expression. “No, I should probably go.”
Her concern only seemed to deepen, her green eyes filled with worry. “What happened exactly? When did you start feeling sick?”
He hated to lie to her, but there was no way around it. He was surprised that his emotional stress was actually making him physically ill, but he wasn’t about to explain what was really going on. How do you tell your little sister that you’re so heavily infatuated with a girl that it might literally kill you one way or another? “I started feeling bad late last night. I didn’t sleep very well.” Really, he hadn’t slept at all.
“Yeah, I’d say! I’ve never seen you look so miserable before.” She then pouted, as if she wished she could reach out and take that misery away.
“Gee, thanks.” He tried to sound offended, but he felt worse than he looked.
The pout vanished, and she began running a brush through her brown hair. Her voice was still full of concern. “Will you be okay to drive your car? Maybe we should both take the bus.” Satisfied with her appearance, she then grabbed her toothbrush and added toothpaste.
Michael shrugged as he followed suit, beginning to brush his teeth as well. “No, we have to pick up Grayson, remember?”
“Oh, right.” She mumbled, before rinsing out her mouth.
Grayson generally drove himself to school, but his car was currently being fixed. It was supposed to be a one-day repair on Sunday, but the auto shop had to order a part they didn’t have in stock. Michael had driven Grayson to school yesterday too, although it already felt like an ancient memory. Now that today was Tuesday, his friend’s car would likely be fixed by the end of the day.
After Amelia and Michael finished getting ready, and his sister forced him to take some medicine for his fever, they grabbed their backpacks and headed out the door.
Their dad drove a two-year-old blue truck, whereas Michael had a silver car that was eight years old. The fact that both vehicles were in the driveway indicated that their father had returned home safely last night. Although, he must have gotten back especially late to not have seen them off in the morning. Neither of them were going to bother waking him up when he could still sleep in for another thirty minutes.
The reason why Grayson generally drove himself to school was because it was out of their way for them to carpool together. However, when they were at their
mom’s house, they regularly picked up Riley since she lived on the way. It saved everyone a little bit of gas money.
When they arrived at Grayson’s house, he commented on Michael’s ragged appearance without hesitation. “Dude! What in the world happened to you? You look like death!”
Michael just nodded weakly in response. Grayson had blonde hair like Riley, although his eyes were brown. He was fairly muscular, having taken an interest in weight lifting a couple of years ago. It was actually Grayson’s increase in size that had gotten Michael interested in lifting weights as well, not wanting to be left behind in the muscle department, although it was obvious he still had some catching up to do.
Michael had a delayed reaction to Grayson opening the door, because he wasn’t expecting him to open his door. He looked at his friend questioningly.
“Let me drive. You look like you need a nap or something.”
Nodding, Michael climbed out of the driver’s seat without hesitation. “I doubt I could sleep right now, but I do feel exhausted.” His heart was still pounding with anxiety, but it was feeling less out of control the more time he spent with his sister.
Now that Grayson was there too, an emotional relief sweep over him as he climbed into the backseat.
Amelia hopped out of the passenger’s seat and climbed into the backseat as well, on the opposite side. She patted the middle spot indicating for him to scoot over.
He did and, once he had buckled up, she then wrapped her arm around his shoulders. He shivered from the warmth of her arm, before abruptly passing out from an extreme fatigue that went way beyond simply staying up all night.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Michael!”
He awoke with a start, feeling like he had been asleep for several hours. It was Amelia who had called his name. He realized she was holding him in an embrace with his full weight pushing her back into the door. He sat up apologetically, remembering that they had just picked up Grayson.
“Sorry, I must have fallen asleep. I wasn’t too heavy, was I?”
“No, not at all! I would have let you sleep longer but we need to get to class.”
Michael abruptly looked around to see that they were already at school. He had been asleep for about fifteen minutes, but it had simultaneously felt like both an instant and at least three hours. He couldn’t wrap his head around the odd sensation. The other backdoor was open and Grayson was halfway in the passenger seat too.
He spoke when Michael noticed him. “Man, you were totally out of it. We were both calling your name and shaking you.”
“Oh, sorry. I guess I really needed that nap after all.”
Amelia seemed concerned again. “Do you feel any better? Your heart was beating really fast. I could feel it through your chest.”
He realized that he actually did feel better, although his heart was still racing much quicker than normal. He heard Riley’s voice chime in then, from behind Grayson. “Maybe he’s dehydrated? That can cause some pretty weird symptoms, like a really fast heart rate.”
In response to Riley’s comment, Grayson pulled out the water bottle he used for exercising from his backpack, handing it to Michael. Another wave of emotion swept over him as he accepted the small gesture. He really did feel miserable, but he felt so thankful that he had such great friends who were sincerely concerned about him.
He felt bad he had accepted death so easily last night, but he realized his feelings hadn’t changed. If Miriam came back for him, he still wouldn’t resist, and what was worse is that he hoped she did come back for him soon. If she showed up right now, he would follow her anywhere without hesitation.
He felt like he was betraying the love and loyalty his friends had for him, especially his sister. He knew all of them would be extremely upset to find out what was really going on, and they would probably even defend him fiercely if given the chance.
However, at the same time, Michael didn’t want to involve them, and not just because Miriam had instructed him not to. If she did really plan on killing him soon, then involving them in any way would only place them in danger too. He had given up on himself, but he had no intentions on putting them in harm’s way.
Having drunk what he could stomach, Michael returned the water bottle to Grayson and they all climbed out of the backseat. Riley was waiting just outside the door in jeans, a green shirt, and fluffy black jacket. Her outfit highlighted her blonde hair and blue eyes more than usual, causing her natural colors to appear extra vibrant. Surprisingly, she seemed even more concerned than his sister, which he didn’t think possible.
“Are you sure you don’t need to see the nurse or something?” Riley wondered. “You really do look horrible.”
Michael tried to reassure her. “My first class is a free period. I’ll just get a little more sleep. You know how relaxed Mr. Crawford is. He doesn’t care what we do as long as we aren’t too loud.”
“Oh…alright. Just…promise me you’ll go see the nurse if you don’t start feeling better soon.”
He felt bad about lying again to someone who trusted him. “Sure. I will.”
As they entered the school, he quickly said bye to Grayson and his sister. However, Riley insisted on walking him to his class. He felt much more awkward about being mothered by her than Amelia. But he still didn’t have the energy to try to put up a fight. Once they were there, he then bid her farewell and she headed off to her first class of the day.
He paused at the door, watching her walk away, recalling that he had recently been considering if he should risk asking her out on a date. They had been really good friends for a couple of years, and she was one of the hottest girls in school. The only thing that had been holding him back is possibly destroying the friendship if she wasn’t interested as well.
However, now that idea had become one of the further things from his mind.
Sighing, he entered the classroom just as the bell rang and found a seat towards the back, laying his head down on the desk. Since it was a free period, technically called study hall, there was no seating assignment and there were a lot more desks than students. However, everyone tended to cluster towards the front of the class to socialize.
The teacher, Mr. Crawford, was one of the cool ones that students actually enjoyed talking to. So, even those who intended to do homework, or read a book, tended to stay towards the front of the room. Furthermore, one of the only rules Mr. Crawford had was that no one was allowed to change seats once class started, so Michael didn’t have to worry about being bothered for the next fifty minutes.
A few people had glanced at him as he sat alone, since it was unusual for someone to break the norm, even to sleep. However, he didn’t care right now. He desperately wanted to fall asleep again to escape his internal suffering. Anything that would help pass the time until he could see Miriam again.
Unexpectedly, above the murmur of students talking, Michael heard someone walk up to his desk. Without lifting his head, he opened his eyes to see that Mr. Crawford was standing next to him. He was wearing a white buttoned shirt with tan pants. He was only twenty-four years old, so a lot of the students felt they could connect to him easily. He certainly took a sincere interest in their lives.
“Hey Michael, are you doing okay? You look sick.”
Sighing heavily, he tried to come up with a believable excuse. “I’m just really tired. I was stupid and stayed up all night playing a new game I bought.”
That peaked his teacher’s interests. “Oh? What game?”
Michael had briefly forgotten that his teacher loved talking about video games. “Umm, I’ll tell you about it later. I need every second of the next forty-five minutes to try to survive the rest of the day.” He had already lost almost five minutes getting settled.
Momentarily distracted, Mr. Crawford looked away then towards the front of the room before responding. “Sure. I’ll let you get some sleep.”
Michael gladly closed his eyes again as he heard his teacher walk away. He noticed that everyone i
n the room had become strangely quiet, but he was too tired to wonder why. After a few seconds, the murmuring returned to a low hum as the teacher addressed one of the students.
Very quickly, Michael began feeling his mind drift before he noticed that Mr. Crawford was heading back in his direction.
Annoyed, he sighed, determined to keep his eyes closed and pretend like he was sleeping this time. He didn’t want to be rude, but he really needed to escape the anxiety crushing in on him. It was beginning to feel like there was gaping hole in his chest.
He felt hollow. Michael hoped he would be able to make it through the rest of the day without having a psychological meltdown.
Unexpectedly, the footsteps he heard stopped, and someone plopped down into the desk next to him. Surprised that the teacher would park himself in the back of the room, Michael opened his eyes to see a pair of deep brown eyes staring at him.
It was her. Miriam.
Startled, Michael bolted upright in his seat, causing his head to spin. There were no horns or wings, and her hair was brown now instead of black, but nevertheless it was the same person he had seen last night.
Afraid he was hallucinating, or at least having a very realistic dream, he looked towards the front of the class to see that the majority of the students were eyeing them. And he imagined it was for good reason – she was just as breathtakingly beautiful in this more human form as she had been last night.
Miriam’s angelic voice returned his attention to her. Her tone was both cheerful and taunting at the same time as she spoke quietly enough so that only he could hear her. “Good morning, love. Did you miss me?”
Still shocked, he nodded slowly in response, a thousands of questions filling his mind. Why did she look human? Had she always gone to his school? Had she always been in this class? And why was she suddenly calling him love? Was she just toying with him?
Demon Seer (Demon Demigods Book 1) Page 3