Italics- thoughts/ flashbacks/ dreams

Bold- author talking

Underline- narrator talking, known as the main character

Normal- normal story

3373 words

ꨄ❦ꨄ❦ꨄ➪

I look up and see...

Lucifer?

What?

Is he here to watch me? But death said he won't leave me alone with a stranger again. Is Lucifer a stranger or does meeting him make him not a stranger?

I don't know him, there's a difference between meeting a stranger and them not being strangers.

My guts tell me not to trust him so I turn around and walk away.

After a suspicious amount of walking I look back but nothing. I just stood there confused.

Was I imagining things? But I can't walk into an imagination.

Damn, hallucinations are powerful these days.

Well there's fucking time travel so why not?

I get that horrible sad, painful betrayed feeling for a split second. It was so fucking strong that I want to collapse and cry. But I can't cry in front of the school.

I hear familiar footsteps behind me and they stop next to me.

I see the best person in the world and it brings much relief.

"Girl, why are you still out here?"

I think about it. Why am I still here? Why am I still at the school besides hallucinating?

"I'm enjoying the weather," I tell her.

"It's fucking freezing out here. The snow on the ground is freezing. How are you enjoying that? Are you drugged?"

I might just consider it.

"Yes, want some drugs?" I say drugs in a deeper voice and joking way.

Her face lights up, "give me alllllll the drugs."

I open my binder bag and grab a bunch of paper clips before handing her some.

"Thank you very much madam."

We both start laughing.

"Well be safe and see you tomorrow." She says and walks away.

With my paperclips.

I feel bad. I feel like I'm betraying Athena. I'm supposed to be her other half and I rarely saw her the past few days.

School doesn't count.

I look around and see the cars driving by and people walking on the sidewalk. And the Rhodesian Ridgeback being walked.

He's cute.

I look at the blue sky and the white and dark gray ground. Complete opposites.

I stand on the mounds of ice and snow like a child. I am a child.

I stand on the tallest one that I see and now I'm about a foot taller. I look around.

Is this how it feels to be over 6 feet?

"This is fuckin cool, I'm so tall." I say to myself, like barely a whisper.

I turn to look at the school doors and the court yard behind me and beside me.

I would be able to reach the top of the door frame. Be like all the tall boys in middle school.

I watch the last of the last people leave school while lost in thought about this morning and yesterday.

I'm a butterfly puppy that looks hot in maroon.

Mom told me maroon was my color but no one ever referenced me to a butterfly puppy. I also look good in black.

Who doesn't look good in black?

And I refuse to believe I'm so innocent. I've read books with smut scenes before. Well it wasn't planned and they were romance books but still.

And I've messed up so many times before and was horrible between 6 to 9th grade and was a brat toddler. Well that's what mom and dad say. I fought with Aaleyah every day till I moved away. I made little kids cry on online games when I was younger and still had an account that Aaleyah didn't break.

Everyone I know says I'm good but I don't say I'm good.

They call me an angel sometimes but I call me a dumbass that needs a reality check as my parents call it.

And then my brain jumps to something sad and I wish it didn't.

Everyone has a purpose in life but the purpose shouldn't be the only reason to exist.

And to live forever non the less.

That whole humble jumble of negative emotions comes back and snaps me out of my thoughts. Everything in me starts hurting just from the guilt and betrayal feeling and I feel like falling over.

Suddenly death appears in front of me and he doesn't look like a skyscraper anymore, just 3 inches taller.

I fall onto him from this shitty sadness and he catches me. It suddenly disappears.

"Are you alright?" I nod.

"Good because there's a problem." I turn to look at him but he's looking at the ground while keeping me pressed against him.

My feet don't reach the ground but I'm not 6'4 anymore. I fell at a weird distance.

"What's the problem?"

"There's a crack in one of the walls in hell."

My eyes widened and my eyebrows raised. I didn't know that was even possible.

"What does that mean?" I don't even know if I want to hear the answer.

"Everything is off balance and some things got out that aren't supposed to."

"Is that why I saw Lucifer?"

"Where?"

"The other side of the court yard."

"He's been in hell all day. The power being thrown off affects everything that can see this side. I'm surprised that's the only weird thing that happened to you."

"Has anything happened to you today?"

"I kept teleporting to places I didn't want to. I thought I was in heaven at one point and all I see are these creatures that don't exist up here."

"How do we fix it?"

"Have to put everything back in hell and fix the crack. Lucifer is fixing the crack and told me to bring everyone back before humanity dies."

"Then why are we standing here talking and not saving everything? Time is of the essence."

"Are you ready to get traumatized and have nightmares for the next 3 weeks?"

I look at him in disbelief, "hell fuckin no."

"Well I can't leave you alone or you'll die. You can't defend yourself and they know you exist and can see them."

"Then yes."

I don't need nightmares but I really don't need to die either. I fought for the will to live and now I'll keep using it.

He sets me down but keeps an arm around my waist and his scythe appears but the black lines on it seem bolder like they're shining.

Suddenly we appear in a dark alley somewhere other than Chicago. I see a group of people hanging behind a house and something horrifyingly giant right behind a guy.

It blends in the dark the same way death does. The first thing I think of is one of those fancy soft mints that they have at funeral homes.

It's fucking over 15 feet tall and looks like a shadow but I can feel the evil off of it and I'm 10 feet away.

I watch death walk over to it like it's a tiger at a zoo about to be fed but death doesn't seem scared, just cautious.

It turns around and looks at him. It had red eyes like a demon but not bright red or the normal one but bloody.

It had blood running down its holy face and torn skin like a skinwalker. Giant horns and claws for fingers that are so fucking long. And it's so muscular, like a dragon or something. It's horrifying to look at.

It actually looks like something straight from hell. It makes the demon I saw yesterday look adorable and baby like.

It raises its long ass arm over death and swipes but death puts the beautiful scythe in the way. The monster then turns at me and I don't know if I screamed or not because in the next second death had gotten a hand around its neck against the ground.

I hear a car behind me and run out the way and so do the group of people that don't notice any of this. The car drives right through death and abomination.

It fights against him but he holds it down while talking some language that doesn't sound human. The language actually sounds terrifying, I have no idea how but it sounds bad and makes no sense. All of this actually looks terrifying.

So I turn my direction to the group of people talking.

Oh drugs and gangs, nice conversation skills.

I turn my attention back to the scene that apparently only I can see. I'd rather see this than listen to people ruin their lives.

The bloody, black, holy and torn nefarious looking barbarian is staring at me. I hold my mouth closed and instead watch death.

I'm not going to look in that things eyes and challenge it, if that's how it works anyways.

The thing makes a screech that sounds old and abandoned. Like the screech was left in it for 200 years before being used.

Death then swung the scythe into its back and I heard really thick bones cracking. The scythe absorbs the giant thing in 5 seconds to reveal a black covered curved blade.

Death gets up and walks over. He's covered in the things black blood too. However, the blood on it wasn't black.

"Now to do this 29 times." He says with an evil yet excited smile.

"29 more of those things?!?!"

"Each one looks different so it'll be a surprise each time."

He makes it sound like fucking presents. He then leans a part of his arm that isn't covered in blood on my arm and the scene transforms.

Hell fucking no.

ꨄ❦ꨄ❦ꨄ➪

Who knew how tiring it is to watch death attack these giant morbid creatures while standing off to the side trying not to look these things in their bloody eyes?

And he was right, each one looks different.

Also, the next one looked more terrifying than the last one so by the last one I was scared of every shadow and seeing stars.

The last one was full of holes. My trypophobia kicked in and I had to turn around completely. I already saw the process enough times to know what would happen.

My bmeyes need bleach.

Death appears in front of me and I freeze with fear before realizing it's him.

He's covered in so much damn black blood he might as well have taken a bath in it.

"You could have just walked over like a normal person instead of scaring me." I glare at him and his blood soaked face.

"I'm not a normal person so I don't have to do normal person things."

I shake my head, "so are you done?"

"Yes sadly."

"Sadly?" That's a horrible choice of words. Those things are worse than terrifying.

"Want to see the crack? Well it's sealed now but you could still see it."

"Yesssssss."

He takes his cloak off for the first time since I've known him. It doesn't matter though because he's wearing a long sleeve black shirt.

Dammit.

He puts his forearm on my shoulder and we appear in front of a giant cave-like wall that goes as far as I can see on both sides. The dark sky and quietness make it eerie.

I hear footsteps approaching on my left and turn to see Lucifer walking over with a proud smile on his face.

I stare at him to make sure this isn't another weird magical hallucination. He walks over to death who still has an arm on my shoulder.

"Why is she staring at me?"

"Because she saw you outside of her school before I told her what happened."

He faces me and mocks my stare. So we stare at each other.

And stare.

And stare. The coldness here doesn't help me and he looks completely relaxed. Well it's not that cold but like mid September weather. Or cold spring.

"It's rude to stare." Death says.

"Shush."

"Shut up." We both speak at the same time.

"Damn."

It's so hard not to laugh. I laugh too much. And I end up laughing anyway.

"I won." Lucifer says before walking over to the wall and looking at something like a proud father.

Then I realize I'm outside in hell. I look around and just see darkness. Well this is unnerving. It's all just a big space of darkness that's slowly getting darker like the sun is setting.

Death hooks his arm under mine and drags me over to the spot in the wall Lucifer is staring at.

I see the crack and it's fucking huge and the blackest thing I've seen yet. I could fit in it.

I turn to death. "This isn't a crack, this is a whole ass crevasse or something. A whole spit."

I turn back and look as high as I can see and it never ends till the wall ends. "It had an internal war and split in two. How the fuck do you seal this?"

Lucifer puts his hand on it and he doesn't go through it. "Just some magic."

It reminds me of those poxy resin videos where they pour it over the wood but this isn't wood and it's vertical and leaning inward over me.

Possibly magic poxy resin.

Death then runs his bloody hands from the bottom to as high as he can reach. He then runs the black and red covered part of his cape from the highest he can reach to the bottom.

It then starts making cracking noises that sound like rocks breaking. Then there is an ear deafening crack that instantly gives me a headache and the giant hole crack thing disappears.

I look at where it was in wonder and awe. It looks like there was never a split.

"How?"

"It's sealed." death says.

"That's cool." He nods in agreement and Lucifer disappears. "Why did he disappear without a goodbye? Y'all are bad at saying bye. It's not very flattering."

"He isn't supposed to be flattering." He turns around and starts walking and I do the awkward walk thing to keep up.

"So you're not supposed to be flattering either? And it's just common decency to say bye to someone."

"'Common decency' doesn't exist here and I'm very flattering my crippled butterfly."

"No you're not."

"The look on your face this morning says otherwise."

"You were comparing me to puppies while creepily smiling with those stupidly sharp teeth."

"I know, I was there."

The conversation ends there and I look around at this vast darkness that the sunless sky does a horrible job at lighting. I'm waiting for a giant spider or evil looking thing or a demon to come by but nothing. There is nothing but me, death and darkness.

"What is it like being the angel of death?" I say with sudden curiosity.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"You won't get many answers then."

"Alright... How does it feel to be immortal?"

"Depressing." His answer makes me sad but I don't act upon it.

"What's it like being tall?"

"How do I describe that? Everyone else looks short and humans taller than me are intimidating? I don't know."

"Is it fun sorting souls and stuff?"

"Mediocre."

"Is it hard?"

"No."

"Is the scythe heavy?"

"No. it's only about 7 pounds."he holds it in front of me for a minute and he makes it look weightless.

"What do you do with the soul? Like what's the process?"

"Take the soul, make it go up or down."

"That simple?" He nods. I look around the vast emptiness, "aren't there supposed to be things here? Where are the giant spiders?"

"They're here. I'm looking at them right now."

"How?" I strain my eyes but see nothing. This looks like a claustrophobic field at midnight. There isn't even grass. It's all just dirt and rocks.

"You're not in tune to this side of well, everything. "

"Then how do I get in tune?"

He looks at me with the 'do you actually want to know' face. Like the one that's not that for the idea.

"Actually I don't want to see those horrible things ever. How did I see them?"

"They can't hide that well on the surface."

"Why was there blood on them?"

"You can figure that out on your own."

The thought makes me shiver so I don't put any effort into it. It won't hurt me if I don't acknowledge it.

I see a house in the distance, "is that your house?" I point at it.

"Yes."

It's big, as mentioned before, and dark grayish blue horizontal sliding wall boards. And a black, I think, shingle roof. And the white tall ass fence.

"How big is hell?"

"Maybe 50 square miles but he'll isn't in a normal shape. It looks like a shape a 2 year old would draw."

"Did a 2 year old design hell then?"

He smiles, "if only."

Once we reach the house I look at the wooden gate which is 6 feet.

He unlatches the door and pushes it open. He then waits, watching me. I look at myself to see if something is wrong and then look around to see if something is coming. I then wait too. But for what?

"Get in the damn yard."

Oh I'm stupid. I walk past the fence trying my best not to laugh in embarrassment.

There's like a lot of feet between the house and the fence. And a lot of dead grass or grass that looks like it never lived.

Phantom grass.

I hear the gate door close and he walks to the front door before facing me again. I quickly walk over and into the house.

I think him looking at me like a zombie statue is what threw me off the first time.

I look around yet another bare room that separates into different hallways or other rooms which are also empty.

I follow him down a particularly wide hallway on the left side. It curves like the top half of an S and on the other side is the kitchen.

I looked between the hallway and the kitchen, surprised that the door was that close.

Damn the world is a small place.

"I'm going to wash all this blood off."

I turn around and see him for a split second before he disappears.

Well now what?

"Oh fuck my side, my side." I say high pitched to myself while walking over to the stairs. Damn fucking cramps or spasms.

I walk to my room holding under my right boob where the damn whatever it is is. It's always this spot too, never any other spot.

I throw my binder bag on my bed. I then fall on the bed ready to dramatically suffer but it goes away.

"You bitch."

I take my shoes off because I full heartedly believe shoes are evil. Well at least gym shoes.

I then walk back to the kitchen to execute my plan that has no purpose.

I'm gonna somehow kill myself trying to be spiderman.

I walk over to the counters and get on. Halfway to standing up the cramp comes back. I put a hand on that spot and push till I feel the ridges in my ribcage.

It doesn't work.

I stand up straight and full my lungs with air. It disappears.

I smile while opening the cabinet door.

Will the cabinets hold me? I take my phone from my waist band and search up how much weight a cabinet can hold.

Well I'm definitely not 600 pounds. Not even 200.

I grab the top of the cabinet which I can barely reach before putting my foot on the first shelf.

I then climb the fucking cabinet like a damn toddler climbing dressers.

I sit on the edge with my feet hanging over and the cabinet door closed, I shall leave no evidence. And damn there's a lot of dust up here.

Poor house showed no love.

Well houses reflect on the owner, so does death get no love? Damn that's depressing.

I don't want to be depressed so I look down at the floor wondering how I'll get down.

I guess my new job is elf on the shelf but I'm never leaving.

I hear footsteps.

Do I regret getting myself stranded on top of the cabinets?