Page 6

Theo

I hope that wasa bad dream. It better have been a bad dream. If it wasn’t…I don’t know what I’ll do. Hallucination or demon possession? Which is worse? Hallucinations could send me on a very long grippy sock vacation. Where would demon possession send me? The basement of the Vatican? A creepy asylum on a remote island?

I fear you have an overactive imagination, Theodore,says the voice, making me jump a little. It’s still there.Sheis still there, in my head. Either a very realistic and persistent hallucination or…an actual demon.

“Annoth?” I ask out loud.

I am here.

“Ok…” I take a deep breath and open my eyes. I fell asleep on the couch again. Sleeping in the bed has been impossible since Ros left. Her cats are sitting in the kitchen, yowling at me, but they won’t approach.

“You’re scaring them,” I tell Annoth. How stupid is it for me to be treating her like she’s real? Is this a sign that I’ve actually lost it? Or is this how you’re supposed to treat hallucinations?

She lets out a quiet laugh.They are keeping a respectful distance, as they should.

“Can they see you?”

I am sure they can sense my presence.

“You’d probably have better luck possessing Virgil, the black one. He’s a demon too, I swear.”

I cannot possess non-human creatures,Annoth sniffs.

“It…it was a joke,” I sigh.

Do you often tell…jokes?

“Yes, I’d like to think I’m a little funny sometimes.”

You will cease this immediately.

“Alright, killjoy.” I laugh and shove the blankets off my legs, then stretch and check my phone. Still nothing from Ros. Once the cats have their breakfast, I dig through my cabinets and locate a mostly-empty box of stale Lucky Charms, then plant myself on the couch and turn the TV back on. MyStar Warsmarathon is still going. Thank God.

Pathetic,Annoth snorts.

“Excuse me?”

You. You are pathetic.

“Would you rather I be feasting on the flesh of my enemies or something like that?”

Yes.

“Sorry to disappoint.” I shove a handful of Lucky Charms into my mouth. “So, what’s the point of demonic possession, anyway? Like what’s the end game?”

The corruption of your soul. Spreading fear and violence amongst humans.

“When is it over? Is there like a final possession boss or something?”

It is over when you commit atrocities so heinous that your soul will never be washed clean. Then, I will take you back to the Seventh Tower, to be tormented for all eternity.

“Atrocities, huh? Like what?”

When she answers, she sounds a little too eager.Well, we might begin by strangling a neighbor’s beloved dog, and work our way up to slaughtering younglings.

“Holy shit.” I almost choke on my Lucky Charms. “I’m not–wait…did you just say ‘younglings’?”

Yes. Younglings, children, small undeveloped humans.