"It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things."

― Lemony Snicket

/ / l o u i s / /

"Come on, come on, come on! Can't this thing go any faster?" I nearly yell and the people around me stop what they are doing to look and see. I'll never understand  why people have to stop and stare. What's currently happening is none of their business. I'm the only person standing up on the bus. As soon as I reach my stop, I'm going to run. The bus driver looks at me through the mirror for a split second before turning back to the road. "Yeah, I'm talking to you! Drive faster!"

"If we go any faster, we'll wreck," a woman mutters. I throw her a look of anger and her brown eyes fill with fear. I need to get off of the bus. I need to get to Dr. Foster's home. Harry's there and know he is. He said she was going to pay and he disappeared. There's only one place he can go after saying something like that. I can hear his ticking noise from where I am and I know I'm close.

I become frustrated, "Drive faster!"

"Someone, please, shut him up!" the driver yells and someone's arms wrap around me.

My lips form in a thin line as we both fall back onto the floor of the bus. I'm on top of him and his plan soon enough backfires. I roll over onto my stomach and the man's looking at me with wide eyes. I raise my fist in the air and he winces. He looks like he may be either sixteen or seventeen. The woman who muttered about me earlier gasps and I look around the bus. Everyone's staring at the two of us with frightened expressions on their faces.

I get off of the kid but poke him in the chest, "Do not test me, child. You have no idea what I am capable of."

He swallows hard, "I have a pretty good idea."

His voice's shaky and I don't know why, but I love how afraid he is of me. I love how everyone on this bus is afraid of me. It makes me feel powerful. I feel as if I'm in control. Rising to my feet, I walk to the front of the bus and approach the steps that lead to the door.

"You're not allowed to stand there while I'm driving," the bus driver says.

"Let me off," I demand.

"I'll let you off at the next bus stop."

"Was I not speaking properly for you?" I hiss. "Let me off of the damn bus! Now! Something bad could happen if you don't let me off right now!"

"Sir," he pleads.

"I swear, if you don't stop this bus, you'll regret it." I snap. "I'll make you pay. I'll make everyone on this bus pay!"

He pulls the bus over to the side of the road and opens the doors for me. I get off without giving anyone a second look. Screw all of them. I may look weak, but I'm not.

I'm not weak at all.

My arms wrap around myself as I begin to walk. The bus passes by me and when I look up, the kid I almost hit is looking at me through the window. I stop and my eyes widen. His eyes are red and his pupils are gone. His skin's no longer brown. It's green and his teeth are sharp and black. My arms fall to my sides as the bus turns the corner and he smiles at me before we both lose sight of one another.

I really need to get to Dr. Foster and I need to get to her now. I begin to run as fast as I can and the ticking noise from Harry gets louder. I'm getting closer to him and I know he wants me to find him. If he didn't, he wouldn't let me hear his ticking. I stop once I reach an apartment complex and I enter the neighborhood. I have to find Dr. Foster. Harry's going to do something to her. I just know he is.

My breath is caught in my throat as I approach one of the apartments. The door's cracked open and I slightly push it open, "D-Dr. Foster?"

There isn't a response and I walk inside. It's silent and this worries me. What if I'm too late? What if Harry already killed her...or did something worse? The floor beneath me creaks and I hear a sob. I walk deeper into the apartment.

"Dr. Foster, is that you?"

The sobs are coming from the back of the apartment and I follow the noise. All of the doors are closed except for two. I'm assuming one leads to a bedroom and the other to a bathroom. I walk down the hall and stop to look in the bathroom. My eyes widen.

"Oh, my God."

Joe's laying on the floor and there's blood everywhere. It's all over the walls, the floor, the tub, the toilet and the sink. His shirt has multiple tears, blood staining it and I can barely see his skin because of how much blood there is. I want to vomit. Dr. Foster has herself thrown on top of him and she's sobbing. Her arms are tightly wrapped around him and her face is buried in his chest. I watch her body shake as she sobs and I'm highly thankful. I'm thankful she's still alive.

"Dr. Foster?"

She looks up at me and her face twists with anger, "Get out!"

"E-Excuse me?" I stutter.

"Get the hell out!" she shouts. "You have no right to be here!"

"I'm so sorry about your friend," I whisper. "I had no idea he would do this."

Her eyes widen at the mention of Harry and she breaks down in sobs all over again. Her shirt's stained in Joe's blood and she does not seem to care.

I swallow hard, "I'm truly sorry you don't believe me, Dr. Foster, but he's real."

"Oh, God," she cries. "Stop talking about him!"

"I can't!" I say. "You need to know the truth. You need to know that Harry is real."

She rises to her feet and points a bloody finger at me, "I want to forget about it, okay?" She stifles back a sob. "I want to forget what I saw. I don't want to remember him!"

"Wait a minute," I tilt my head to the side. "You saw him?"

"Of course I fucking saw him! He killed Joe!" she cries and her knees buckle. I catch her as she falls and she grabs fistfuls of my shirt as she sobs. Her face is buried in my neck and I don't care her tears are soaking my skin. Her body shakes and I hold her to keep her from falling again. "He didn't even make it out of the door!"

I whisper, "Where was he going?"

"To the pharmacy," she whispers back. "He was going to get my medicine for my thigh."

"Come on," I murmur. "You can't stay in here." I can't stay in the bathroom any longer. The blood has a sour stench to it and if I don't get out of here soon, I'm going to vomit. She nods and I lead her to the room in the back. It's a bedroom and she sits down on the edge of the bed, her eyes wide. That's when I notice the black circle on her neck. My eyes are as wide as hers now. "No." I begin to shake my head. "No, no, no, no..."

"W-What's wrong?" she continues to stutter.

"What did he do to you?" I ask. "What did Harry do to you?"

"I...I don't remember."

"What do you mean you don't remember?" I snarl. "You can't just forget!"

She winces, "I...I think I blacked out after he dragged me back here."

I notice the bandage on her thigh, "Take that thing off."

"What? Why?"

"Take it off."

"No," she says. "I'm not taking my bandages off."

"Now, Evelyn," I hiss and she looks at me when I call her out by her first name. Her bloody hands are shaky as she reaches down to take off her bandages. She pulls it off and we both stare at her thigh in shock. There isn't a cut on her thigh. There isn't a single wound on her leg. It's completely gone.

She shakes her head, "I have to be imagining this."

"He marked you," I whisper.

"He...what?"

"He claimed you," I say.

"What does that mean, Louis?" she nearly screams, tears streaming down her face. I shouldn't have told her...yet. Joe's gone and she's still dealing with his death. Her voice is shaky and it cracks, "Am I going to die?"

"No," I sit down on the bed beside her. "You're not going to die."

"If he killed Joe, he'll kill me, too."

"He wouldn't," I tell her. "Because he marked you...just like he had done to me."

"I don't understand," she's sobbing again. I rise to my feet. There's only one way to explain this to her...and I have to show her. I begin to unbuckle my belt and she wipes her eyes. "What do you think you're doing?" I don't respond. I let my pants drop to the floor and I'm standing there in my shirt and boxers. I have a black circle on my side. It matches the same circle that's on Evelyn's neck.

"Look," I say when I notice she isn't even looking. "Look."

"I can't," she whispers. "I just want to pretend none of this ever happened. I want to go back into the bathroom and hold Joe."

"It's not that simple." I mutter. "You can pretend this never happened, but you'll never forget it. You're just like me now."

She hisses, "I'm nothing like you!"

"We both have the same mark," I argue. "Harry owns the both of us now. We're both his food!"

"No!" she shrieks. "No one owns me!"

"We need to go."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she says. "I'm staying here with Joe until the police show up."

"You...You called the police?" I ask and she nods. "That's it. We have to go right now." I grab her wrist and she instantly pulls back.

"I'm not going with you!"

"If we don't leave, we're both going to get arrested and it'll be your fault for not listening to me."

Her eyes widen, "Y-You're lying."

"You're covered in Joe's blood, Evelyn!" I yell, and her name comes out of my mouth weird. I'm not used to calling her by her first name and I probably never will be. "I'm covered in it, too, now!" When she hugged me, blood smeared all over my shirt. "How are you going to explain his death, huh? Are you going to tell the police that a demon did it?"

Tears run down her cheeks, "I...I can't just leave him here."

"There's nothing we can do."

"There's always something!" she argues. "We can...We can dump his body in the lake or something."

I roll my eyes, "Your plan is going to make us look like serial killers."

"He doesn't deserve to be found in a bathroom!" she cries and covers her face with her bloody hands. "Please, Louis? We can dump his body in the lake around the corner from here. He loved it there. Since he loved it there so much, he deserves to be buried there." I only stare at her. This plan is insane. If I help her with it, we'll both be doing something illegal. "Please help me." She removes her hands from her face and I ignore the blood that is smeared all over her skin.

"What if we get caught?" I ask.

She asks, "What about it?"

"I'll get sent back to the mental institute and you'll go right along with me."

"No, I won't."

I sigh, "Oh, but you will. Harry will make sure of it."

"Please," she begs.

"I don't know."

"You owe me!" she snaps. "You brought this into my life! You came into the institute and you just had to be different from everyone else! You brought Harry into our lives! Now...Now..."

Her hands go back to her face and she starts crying all over again. I don't know what to do, so I put my pants back on and sit down on the bed. I clear my throat and she just collapses. Her head falls onto my lap and she hugs her knees as she cries.

I hold my hands in the air, afraid to touch her, "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. But, Evelyn, we really have to go. You called the police and they'll be here any minute."

"Help me with Joe," she whispers and gets off of me.

"Where would we put him?" I ask. "I can't drive. I don't have a license."

"I can."

"Are you sure?" I question her. "You seem...shakened up."

She shoots me a look that sends shivers down my spine, "I can drive. I'll bring the truck around to the back and I want you to bring Joe out to the vehicle."

"There's a lot of blood..."

"And...?"

"It'll get all over the truck and...and all over me."

"So...?"

"Evelyn, what if we get caught? No. Let me rephrase that. What happens when we get caught? We'll both be screwed."

"Just get Joe," she hisses before storming out of the room.

I slowly get up from the bed and shove my hands into my pockets. This is insane. She isn't thinking straight. A death can have strong effects on people and she's talking nothing but crazy talk. There's no way I can get Joe's bloody body into the truck without someone noticing. We'll get caught and we'll both get sent to the mental institute. I don't want to go back. Shrugging my shoulders, I leave the bedroom and walk back into the bathroom. Joe's lifeless body still lays on the floor, his head still against the toilet.

His eyes and mouth are open and it looks like he died out of fear. I breathe through my mouth to keep myself from vomiting. I bend over and prop up Joe's body. His head tilts to the side and lands on his shoulder, causing his entire body to fall over to the side. I groan out of frustration and I hear laughter, "Are you stupid?"

I look up at the ceiling and growl, "You killed Joe."

Harry smiles, "What other choice did I have?"

"You could have let him live!"

"Oh, no, Louis. See? That's where you're wrong. Dr. Foster had to pay. She ran away from me and disobeyed my orders. What more could I take from her other than the one man she's ever loved? I couldn't kill her, you see, that wouldn't be very fun," he chuckles. "He was an easy kill. Oh, he tried to fight back, but he was too weak. I was already feeding on his fear."

"You're a monster!"

"Ah, you're wrong again, boy," he laughs. "Demons are nothing compared to monsters. We're better." He drops from the ceiling. "We're more powerful. We're stronger. We're real." He gets closer to me and tilts his head to the side, showing off his white fangs. "Humans are more afraid of demons than they are of monsters. Did you know that, my sweet Louis?"

I swallow hard, "No, I didn't."

"It's always good to learn something new, isn't it?" he smiles and sits down on the toilet. He runs his fingers on Joe's arm and I shake my head.

"I need to go."

He laughs, "You're actually going to help her? Well, I'll be damned."

I ignore him and throw Joe over my shoulder. Blood splatters on my face and I take a deep breath. He's much heavier than he looks and I bend my knees slightly to keep myself from falling. I walk out of the bathroom and Harry's laughter soon stops. I approach the back door and take a peek out of the window. Evelyn's getting out of a truck and she opens the back door. I open the door to go outside and she looks at me.

"Hurry before someone sees us."

"Okay," I murmur and walk out of the apartment. I approach the truck and lay Joe down on the back seat.

"Not there," she says. "He could easily been seen." I move him to the car floor and slam the door shut. I look at her and her eyes widen. "Oh, God. Not there, either. He looks so helpless."

"I can't put him anywhere—"

"N-No..."

"Is something wrong?" I ask, and she's no longer looking at me. I look behind me to see Harry standing there. He's smirking and when I look back at Evelyn, her mouth's open in a silent scream. "He won't hurt you."

"Yet," he says, showing off his fangs. I watch as he approaches her and my face twists with rage. He looks her up and down before poking her cheek with one of his long, black, skeleton-like fingers.

"God," she murmurs before fainting onto the dirt below. Harry laughs and looks at me with a devilish smile.

"Oh, I'm going to have so much fun with this one."