Crazy Files

by Yvi Valentin

  “I’m tired. I’m just going to go to bed,” I said after I finished a quarter of my meal.

  “But you’ve hardly touched your dinner, you really should eat more.” I hated that he was playing the part of the caring father.

  I slid out my chair and stood up. “I’m not very hungry, I just want to get some sleep.”

  “I was hoping we could spend more time together,” Lucifer said.

  “Well I’m stuck here until you decide to let me go so we have plenty of time to spend together. Right now, I’m going to bed.” I stormed off but couldn’t find the room I was supposed to stay in. I walked back into the dining room and asked, “How do I get back to my room?”

  “I’ll take you,” Evan said as he got up. He walked me back to the hideous frilly room and said, “You’re probably going to need something to sleep in…”

  “I’ll be fine; I will need some new clothes as long as I’m going to be here for a while. I can’t wear this every day.”

  “We can go shopping tomorrow. Are you sure you don’t need something to sleep in, I can lend you a shirt or something.” I wondered why Evan was so eager to get me to wear his clothes. He was up to something.

  “I’ll just sleep in my clothes tonight, but I’ll take you up on that offer to go shopping tomorrow. Goodnight Evan.”

  “Goodnight,” he said as he gave me a hug that singed my skin. “Sweet dreams.”

  I closed the door behind him and climbed into bed. I realized I left the light on so I flicked my wrist to turn off the light. I rested my head on the pillow and closed my eyes. I hoped sleep would come quickly because I was eager to see Andy again.

  “Aimee,” I heard Andy calling my name, but I couldn’t see him.

  “Andy? Where are you?” All I saw was an open field surrounded by pine trees and a sky filled with stars. I loved how Andy always took me to the most beautiful places.

  “I’m right here love,” he said as he wrapped his arms around me.

  I faced him, wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. “I miss you.”

  “I miss you too.” We positioned ourselves on the blanket he had laid out and looked at the stars for a while in silence. I wanted to enjoy the moment for as long as possible before we started talking about my experiences. “Did you find out anything about what Lucifer is planning to use you for?”

  “All I know is that it has something to do with the apocalypse.”

  “I guess I should have known this would happen one day. Do you know to what part he wants you to play in it?”

  “I’m not sure yet. He said he’s already told me too much. He wants me to start training but I don’t know what for.”

  “He probably wants to train you for the apocalypse.”

  “But I’ve already had training…what else would I need to learn?” I was confused and wanted answers but wasn’t sure how fast I was going to be able to get them. “I ended up fighting them when I first got here so he knows I can use my abilities. He said he didn’t know I had some of them.”

  “I bet he’ll try to push you to do as many different things as possible. He wants to know how valuable you are,” Andy pointed out.

  “Great. I was afraid of that,” I said with dread.

  “It’ll be fine as long as you do what he says but you have to make sure you resist every now and then so he doesn’t get suspicious.”

  “Right…do you think he convinced Evan to get my sympathy in an attempt to turn me?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past him, why?”

  “Evan basically told me that he made a deal with the devil. It seemed like he didn’t really want to be working with Lucifer. I’m not sure if he’s telling the truth or if it’s just an act. Do you think I should try to turn him?”

  “I wouldn’t. It could be an act and we don’t want to risk him double crossing us. If he really is a good person at heart, he’ll come to us on his own but even then we shouldn’t trust him too easily.”

  “That’s true. Evan told me I can’t find out what exactly Lucifer wants me to do until I’m ready. What do you think he means by that? What am I supposed to be ready for?”

  “I think Lucifer wants you to be ready and willing to do your part in the apocalypse. He wants you to be evil.”

  “So he won’t tell me anything until I switch sides? That’s never going to happen! How am I going to get him to tell me anything?” I panicked. I didn’t want to be like Lucifer and I didn’t want to be trapped any longer.

  “You’re going to have to fake it. You might have to do things you don’t want to, but you’ll have to so you can get the information we need.”

  “I guess I can do that, but I’m not going to like it.”

  “You don’t have to like it, just do whatever it takes to get the information and get out.”

  “Are you guys ready for me to leave at any moment?” It was the question I wanted to ask most. It would keep me calm through the mission if I knew he was out there waiting for me.

  “Yeah we’re far enough away so we can’t be seen but close enough to get to you quickly.”

  “I can’t wait for this to be over.” I looked up at the sky and noticed a big green eye like I had seen once before. I gasped and before I knew it I was awake and could still see the eye right in front of me. I screamed at the sight and Evan rushed into the room.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked as he ran to my side.

  “I saw an eye when I was dreaming and when I woke up it was still there,” I said, still trying to recover from the big scare.

  “Your dad must have gotten curious,” Evan said casually.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, still horrified. Evan made no sense to me.

  “He can look into people’s dreams and control them. When he looks at someone’s dream, the person sees his eye.”

  “He’s done it to me before. I get why he did it when I was on my own but now that I’m here, what reason does he have to invade my dreams?”

  “I don’t know. You’d have to ask him that.”

  “Yeah because he’d really be willing to tell me the truth,” I said sarcastically.

  “You’re right…so are you ready for today? We have a lot to do.”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be…are we still going shopping? I really can’t keep wearing the same outfit.”

  “Yeah, we’ll have to clear it with your dad first.”

  “Seriously? I need his permission to get new clothes?”

  “He just doesn’t want you getting into any dangerous situations.”

  “Well I’m not doing anything he wants me to until I can change out of these clothes.”

  “What’s going on? Why aren’t you getting ready to start training?” Lucifer asked as he entered the room.

  “Because I’m not doing anything until I can change clothes,” I answered.

  “Then borrow some from Gina. We have things to do,” Lucifer barked.

  “She hates me! Besides, we probably don’t wear the same size or have the same style. I need my own clothes, especially if I’m going to be here a while!”

  “Fine, go get some clothes but come back quickly! We can’t afford to be wasting time.”

  Confusion reached my face. “You mean the end of the world has a time limit?”

  “Don’t worry about it, I’ll tell you everything later. Evan, take her to the closest store and make it quick.” I could tell he was angry, but he knew he had to keep me happy to get anything from me. I was relieved as he stormed out of the room. I wondered if he heard what Andy and I were talking about in my dream. I wondered if it was a good idea for me to confront him about it.

  “We should go before he changes his mind,” Evan said.

  “What about money?” I asked. “All of mine was left at the house I was staying at before I got kidnapped…again.”

  “I’ll pay for it.”

  I sighed. “Alright, let’s go.” I wasn’t happy about going shopping with Evan but what other choice did I have?r />
  Being trapped in a car with Evan made it seem like time slowed down, though in reality it probably only took about twenty minutes to get to the store. We went into the first store we saw and I instantly knew it was going to be a long day. There were cowboy hats everywhere…definitely not my style.

  “So what do you think?” Evan asked hopefully.

  “Yeah…can we go to a different store?”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Your dad wants us back fast.”

  “You’re seriously going to make me wear clothes I don’t like?” I asked in disbelief. I always cared about fashion. It was one of my favorite ways to express myself. If I wasn’t allowed to wear clothes I liked, I felt like I wasn’t allowed to be myself and that didn’t sit right with me.

  “Yeah, your dad is on a time crunch here, we have to do this fast.”

  I wondered why he was under a time limit. I didn’t think there was a specific time the apocalypse had to happen. I was about to ask more about it when I saw Andy walk through the door. At first I thought I was hallucinating but then I realized it was a rescue mission. I watched Andy walk into the fitting rooms and knew I had to make my way in there as well as distract Evan. I looked at the section opposite of the fitting room and guided Evan to it with his back facing Andy.

  “Oh…look at this…its adorable isn’t it?” I didn’t think I was very convincing, the shirt was hideous. It looked like something a little girl would wear if she wanted to play dress up.

  “I think you could pull it off,” Evan said with a smile. I couldn’t believe he said that and I was positive he could see it all over my face. “What? You don’t think so?” I was relieved to see that Andy had slipped into the fitting room because I knew Evan was about to turn around. “Let’s find some jeans to go with this.”

  “You are way too excited about this.”

  “I just think you would look amazing in it.”

  “Oh…okay…” I looked at the jeans and grabbed the first pair I found in my size. “I’m going to go try these on.” I wasn’t very enthusiastic about it, but I was excited to see Andy again. I was also curious about why I was getting out so soon.

  “Good idea.”

  I walked into the fitting room and wondered which stall Andy was hiding in. I didn’t want to say anything and make Evan suspicious. One of the doors opened and I rushed over to it hoping it was Andy letting me know where he was. I was disappointed when a woman walked out and I was back to wondering where he was hiding. I decided to feel around for his energy. I felt the same pull I always felt when he was around and felt it getting stronger as I got closer to the end of the fitting room. I was standing in front of the door of the last stall when the door opened and Andy dragged me in with him.

  “What are you doing? I thought I had to stay longer?”

  “I talked to Michael and he said to get you out as soon as possible,” Andy whispered.

  “How are we going to get out of here without Evan finding out?”

  “You’re going to have to make sure Evan is occupied so we can sneak out the employee door.”

  “Aimee, is everything okay in there?” Evan called from outside the fitting room.

  “These pants don’t fit, can you grab me a bigger size?” I called back.

  “Yeah…give me the pants and I’ll find the same style for you.”

  I walked out of the fitting room and handed Evan the jeans. “Thanks.”

  “Have you tried on the shirt yet?”

  “No, I’m going to go do that now.”

  Evan walked towards the jeans and Andy rushed out of the fitting room and led me to the employee door. My heart raced as Andy and I ran towards the loading dock. I hoped we could get away. It wasn’t long before I heard the door we came through burst open.

  “Aimee, are you back here?” I could tell Evan was horrified.

  I heard him running so Andy and I started going faster. The door to the loading dock was in sight and it looked heavy. I knew we were going to have to open the door and run out fast if we wanted to get away. I hoped everyone else was ready to speed off as soon as we got in the car. I held out my hands and forced the door open before Andy and I reached. Once we made our way outside we realized the car wasn’t where it was supposed to be.

  “Where are they?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, they’re supposed to be here.” Andy was just as anxious as I was.

  “We need to hide or something before Evan gets to us!”

  We ran towards the front of the store and looked around for our getaway car. “Where are you guys?” Andy asked to everyone on the other end of his earwig. He paused for a moment and I assumed someone on the other end responded to him. “The car broke down. We have to meet them where we put the second car.”

  “Are you kidding me!? How far away is it? Where is it? We’re in the middle of nowhere!”

  “It’s hidden a few miles away.”

  “Can we fly there? Because there is no way I’m going to be running all day.”

  “Yeah but right now we have to hide, Evan is coming this way.” We ran into the store and hoped Evan wouldn’t follow. We hid among the racks of clothes near the window so we could keep track of him.

  “Do you think he’ll leave here without me?” I asked, hopefully.

  “I’m not counting on it, but Brian has the other car so he’s going to meet us by the loading dock.”

  “He’s coming back in, what do we do?” I whispered as I watch Evan head towards us.

  “Once he walks far enough away from the door, we’ll get out and wait in the back,” Andy whispered.

  “How far away is Brian?”

  “He’ll be here in a few minutes.”

  Evan walked in and went straight for the employee door. Andy and I took the chance to run out the front door. We ran through the parking lot and hid behind a row of cars. I saw Evan walk from behind the building and towards our hiding place.

  “This is Evan’s car,” I said in horror. Andy immediately grabbed my hand and led me towards a different row of cars.

  “Hey!” Evan yelled as he ran towards us. We weren’t as stealthy as I thought. He chased us through the rows of cars and was gaining on us pretty quickly. I panicked as I thought he was about to grab me in a matter of seconds so I created an electric ball and threw it at Evan. “You must have forgotten, I told you I keep a shield up against your attacks!”

  I heard gasps of people nearby. “Shit, I forgot there are people around. They saw what I just did!”

  “We can’t worry about them right now; we have to get out of here!” Andy yelled.

  “Where’s Brian?” I asked just as a car screeched to a stop in front of Andy and I. “I hope that’s him.”

  “Get in!” Jen yelled as she opened the back door of the car.

  I climbed in followed by Andy and Brian sped off before we got the chance to close the door. There was nothing for me to do but sit back and relax. I hoped Evan wouldn’t catch up to us. I was tired of running and being scared of when the next attack was going to be. I knew this was far from over.

  “What’s the plan now?” I asked.

  “Michael wants to see you,” Brian answered.

  “Why? I thought Andy told him everything,” I said.

  “He wants to hear it from you, plus the fact that you woke up from your dream before we were finished talking…I wasn’t sure you told me everything.” Andy paused for a moment. “Why did you wake up so suddenly?”

  “Do you remember that giant green eye I saw in my dream and then still saw right when I woke up a while back?”

  “Is that what woke you up?” Andy asked.

  “Yeah and I found out what it was…” I trailed off.

  “What was it?” Brian asked.

  “Lucifer.”

  “What? Why?” I could feel Jen’s fear as much as I could see it all over her face.

  “He can control dreams too…he came to me in a dream once. He tried to convince me to help him. E
van told me Lucifer can also just look into what people are dreaming about and when he does that, the person sees a green eye…his eye. He figured Lucifer was curious when he looked into my dream last night,” I explained. I wondered if any of this was important in finding out what Lucifer had planned for me.

  “How much do you think he heard?” Andy asked. I could tell he was scared, but also relieved that I was no longer trapped.

  “We weren’t talking about much when I saw his eye so I don’t know what he heard if anything. Do you think he might have heard everything?”

  “It’s possible. I’m glad we got you out of there because if he heard everything…it would have made it even more dangerous for you,” Andy pointed out.

  “If he can see and control my dreams then he can track me down wherever I go. I won’t be safe anywhere. What are we going to do? Where are we going?” I was starting to hyperventilate. The entire situation was too much for me to handle. I just wanted to wake up from the hellish nightmare. I wanted to find out that none of it was real, that it was all just in my head. Maybe it was one of those Wizard of Oz situations where everything seemed so real and I woke up only to find it was just a dream. But there were no ruby slippers and no powerful wizard or good witch to help me find my way. I couldn’t click my heels and say, “there’s no place like home,” because I wasn’t sure where or if there was a place I could call home.

  “Aimee calm down, you’re going to pass out if you keep breathing like that,” Jen said.

  “Look into my eyes,” Andy started, “slowly take a deep breath in and out.” I did exactly what he told me to and noticed that he was breathing in sync with me. “Good, now just think about positive things. Don’t think about Lucifer or Evan or anything else that’s going to stress you out.” I was glad Andy’s advice worked. “Maybe you should get some sleep.”

  “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep…you know, with everything that’s been going on.”