Callie's been very quiet for the entire day. She shut her computer down a while ago and now she's just staring listlessly out at the sky. I spend a little while longer working on my diagram of the paper town before I cross the table to the edge near the window seat where Callie is. Her hair is falling in her face, which is narrow and pinched with stress. She looks a bit like she wants to cry.

"Callie? Are you okay?"

She doesn't respond to my question, she just pulls out her iPod and unlocks it. I watch her scrolling through the songs in her music list until she finds a particular one and hits play. The soft guitar intro to Ed Sheeran's Lego House spills through the speakers at the bottom. Callie bops her head along to the music and doesn't look at me.

"Callie. Are. You. Okay."

Callie turns her head and looks at me with her big, blue eyes, and suddenly they aren't her eyes anymore. They're gaping, empty pools of nothingness, black voids with swirls of red and they aren't the eyes that I know.

Callie's whole body convulses, the song still spilling from her iPod. She collapses on the window seat, completely overtaken by the convulsions wracking her fragile body. I want to leap onto the window seat from the table, want to grab her and try to shake her out of it, but I'm frozen with fear on the table.

"Callie?! Callie, what's going on? What's wrong?! Speak to me, tell me, what's wrong? What's going on?! Is it that guy from school?! Oh, I knew I shouldn't have let you respond!"

Callie's body shudders to a halt, and for a moment I think that the fits have stopped, although what's wrong with her eyes I still don't know. But then a black spire, like the blade of a knife, bursts through her throat. Callie's eyes open wide, back to their normal shade. Blood spills from her mouth. Her eyes glaze over. the knife rips its way down her body, and a creature comes out.

The creature is tall, and black, and covered in a sticky black residue. when it looks up at me, I am horrified. It's got a gaping maw, full of spirelike teeth that are gleaming, almost glowing white despite the strands of black spittle still inside. Its eyes are gaping pits of red, like staring into the pits of hell.

It looks at me, with its hellish eyes, and it speaks. And its voice sounds heavenly, like an angel. I'm surprised that a monster like this can have a voice like that.

"Oh, don't be surprised, deary," it says, leering at me. Its mouth looks like it's smiling, but I doubt that that is what it's actually doing. It's trying to break my mind. "After all, we are fallen angels. And angels always have the sweetest voices."

"What - what are you talking about?" I manage. "What have you done to Callie?"

"Oh, you mean the human girl? I'm a demon, aren't I?" it chides. "I've fed off of her. My name's Depression. Pleasure to meet you, deary." It holds out a hand - five long, curved, black talons. The index talon is dyed a deep red, and there's no mistaking what it's from.

"You killed her!" I say, and my voice shakes with rage. "You killed - "

"Oh, do shut up," the voice chides. "I thought you were going to be interesting. Honestly. I haven't done a thing. I've simply made my home, offered a few suggestions. This girl took it to a whole different extreme."

"Why would you do this?" I demand.

"Because that's what I do." The monster sounds almost indignant, like it doesn't understand why I'm questioning its motives. "I make my home and then when it deteriorates - because they always do - I move on. You've seen the scratches on the girl's arm; I'm trying to escape. I don't wanna be here anymore; I just want a new host."

"Why? So you can destroy them too?"

"Don't talk to me about destruction!" the monster growls. "I was cast down from heaven, all because I chose to follow a different leader. I used to be an angel. I used to be one of the best. And I was completely destroyed when I was thrown away like a piece of GARBAGE! I've finally found a way to cope with my banishment. I'm going to show these humans what it feels like to be completely destroyed, like I was!" 

I'm startled by the ferocity in the monster's voice. It sounds raw, and upset, the way Callie does when she's ranting about stupid idiots at her school. This is usually followed by a lot of crying, and occasionally the dirtying of a razor blade. The monster, however, doesn't cry. It just begins screaming, gnashing its teeth and wailing ferociously. 

"I'm going to DESTROY this puny human girl, and ANYone who gets in my way. And that - means - YOU!" 

Before I can do anything, the monster rears back and thrusts the talon stained red with Callie's blood through my abdomen. blood starts forcing its way through my mouth, and I spew out thick rivers of bloody red gunk. The last thing I see is the monster's red eyes, like the pits of hell, and its gaping maw, like a grin, with those white spirelike teeth. 

I sit straight up, screaming shrilly. Callie is curled up in the window seat, but she's engrossed in a book, not staring listlessly out the window. When I scream, she looks up from the book with a concerned expression on her pale face. 

"Luke! What's wrong? What's the matter, are you okay?" 

I run across the table and take a flying leap over to the window seat. Callie, startled, isn't able to catch me, so it's a good thing I land softly in the folds of the too-big college sweatshirt pooling around her. She lifts me out of the fabric I'm swamped in and holds me at eye level. 

"Luke, what's wrong? You're freaking out! I promise I haven't cut since the last time, see?" 

She sets me on the window ledge and pulls up her sleeves. I'm upset to see the scars there, but relieved that there aren't any fresh ones, only old healed ones that have long since scabbed over. I sigh in relief, running my fingers lightly over the scars. Most of them are the same length as my arm, although some are almost as tall as me. 

"Nothing. I just had an awful nightmare. It's over now, though, and you're okay, so I'll be okay too," I say. Callie rolls down her sleeves, lifts me back onto her chest, and picks up her book. I notice immediately that it's one of our favorites, a story we've read many times. 

"Where are you?" I ask eagerly, making myself comfortable by creating a little nest out of the warm fabric of Callie's sweatshirt. 

"Just finished Chapter 7," she says, turning the page to reveal the first few words of Chapter 8. 

"Will you read to me? You can just start from where you are," I say, cuddling against her. 

"Who starts a story in the middle of the action?" Callie laughs. I know she's just teasing, because she does the same thing almost all the time. 

"We've read this story so many times, I've probably got it memorized word for word. Don't worry, I know what happened beforehand," I laugh. 

Callie laughs too, and it's one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard. She reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out her iPod. "Here, we can play some music in the background while I read." 

I smile and nod, closing my eyes as Callie scrolls through her music. But I open them in horror when the guitar opening to Lego House starts playing softly through the speakers. 

"Why are we listening to this song?" I demand, slightly harshly. 

"I put the music on Shuffle, this is just the first song that came on," Callie says, slightly confused. "If you've got an issue, I can change it?" I know she's confused because normally I love Ed Sheeran, and she can't understand my sudden aversion to it. 

"No, it's fine. Just start reading, please," I say apologetically. Callie shrugs at my weirdness, sets the iPod on the window ledge, and begins to read. As her voice, warm and calm, begins drowning out the song with the familiar words to our favorite story, I can't shake the sinking feeling of dread in my stomach.