I met the Devil on the school bus.
Okay, so it would be pretty fair to admit that after smashing Blake's windscreen, I had pretty much given up on stalking him. I tried getting to him a few more times but the look he always gave me told me to maintain my lane or else.
The other day in the cafeteria when he was sitting alone, quietly chewing his spaghetti and looking like a fallen god while at it, I had walked up to him with my lunch tray which consisted of only an apple and yoghurt, and sat down right in front of him. He glared at me with those stunning blue eyes, hissed and picked up his textbooks before abandoning both me and his lunch.
Talk about awkward. I had kept my distance after that. And there was also the fact that Molly was super into him and had spent the past few days going on and on about how his curly hair made her stomach go all wonky. Then there was also schoolwork, it was just a repeat of everything I had done a month ago, but I let me just put this out, redoing assignments was one of the most horrible punishments ever.
At this point, my head was all wonky.
I placed my head on the bus's window, my black eyes staring back at me, mocking and taunting me. My eyes and even hair were initially a dark brown shade but after my first meeting with the devil, they had changed, both had become darker. My mom had told me it was probably nothing to worry about, but I knew that it was in fact a very big problem. The houses and cars seemed to move as we sped past then and I couldn't help but feel that tattoo on the back of my hand burn.
The number changed each day and I realized it was a countdown, it was currently showing a scrawly 24.
24 days. Get Blake Johnson to give up his soul in 24 days, the devil was insane to give me such an impossible task.
Almost as though he had been reading my thoughts, I felt the atmosphere suddenly drop in temperature. The lively, chattering noise of the other high school seniors on the bus had stopped too, in actual fact, it felt like time had paused again. I looked around and noticed everyone was frozen in whatever activity they had been in. Ginger haired Emily Hurst looked comical with her mouth hung open and hands in the air, she was obviously about to yell out something.
I was only half surprised when he materialized out of thin air half a second later. This was the first time I had met the devil in daylight and I felt the hairs on my skin stand erect at his sight. His pale white skin looked almost yellowish, like someone suffering from a rare skin disease and his long dreadlocks looked even more tangled than usual. Only this time, I noticed a tattoo of a big, black cobra at his collarbone which extended all the way to his neck.
He was in his usual all black, coupled with black Reeboks this time.
"Do you really have to do this anytime you're coming?" I asked, pointing at the frozen students and biting the spite out my tone.
"No, I actually don't," he replied, dryly, flashing his yellow, insanely sharp teeth and I shuddered again. "But then again, I love dramatic effects, makes my meetings all the more scary, don't you think?"
Yes, it most definitely did but I wasn't answering that.
"Speaking of meetings, you can guess why we're having one right now, can't you?" He took slow, steady steps to my seat and sat down at the very edge of the seat, leaving an acceptable amount of space between us.
"I know, Blake," I sighed, placing my head on the window and feeling the signs of a slight headache rousing. "But I swear, I've tried so hard, it's basically impossible, he hates me."
His glittery, black eyes stared at me devoid of any emotion and the corner of his lips twitched unpleasantly, like he was fighting a smile. Only, he wasn't smiling with me, he was obviously enjoying some private joke.
"Do you know what happens when those 24days are up and you don't succeed?" He asked, casually, like we were discussing something mundane, like the headlines of the day's news.
"You hold on to my soul and find someone else to do this stupid task?"
He blinked once, like he wasn't impressed by my answer. "No, you die," he told me, dryly, sounding almost bored.
"What?!" I sat up straight, almost cracking my neck in a bid to see if he was actually joking. "You can't be serious, you're joking."
He rolled his eyes, reaching up to run his hand through the tangled dreadlocks, slowly and purposefully. "Do I honestly look like the type to tell jokes?"
No, he actually didn't. He looked like the type of guy you would find on a wanted poster for mass murders.
"I'll actually die? Like for real, why would you make me do this? You didn't mention this when we agreed. The deal is off, I'm not interested anymore." I was beyond pissed now.
He barked out a laughter, clearly mocking me and even went as far as slapping his thin thighs amidst mirth. "You can't cancel deals with me, they're unbreakable vows," he finally told me, his teeth maliciously bared out in all their sharp glory. "So, Ruby Davies, our deal still stands."
I didn't know what to even say at this point, I could feel tears well up in my eyes but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry, it would probably make him happy. So, I only bit down on my lip to ask the next question.
"Death? I don't want to die." He just stared at me, like my words were of no importance to him presently. "Will you help me? Please. I really don't want to die."
And you're willing to sacrifice another for that reason, the little voice in my head nagged.
"Technically, no, I can't be of any assistance to you," he spoke slowly, his voice soft and deliberate. "But you're doing so badly, I'm inclined to intervene."
"And?"
"It's against the rules, but I'll make an intervention," the devil bared his yellow teeth out and I could have sworn there was a dark, brownish red suspicion looking stain on them.
"Thank you," I rushed out, flooding out my gratitude before remembering this was all his fault in the first place, he tricked me. He's done nothing but deceive me every single time. "How do I even get him to consent to give up his soul anyways, you never did explain?"
"Remember the words you said that night, eight years ago? The sacrifice vow?" He asked, patiently like he was used to this part of his job.
I, Ruby Davies, hereby relinquish all ownership of my soul and declare it the sole property of Azazel.
I nodded once.
"Get him to say those words, willingly." He got up, put his hands in his pockets and surveyed me carefully. I suddenly felt self conscious in the black, flare skirt and floral blouse, his eyes swept over me, making me feel sick to the core and he stopped at once, like he wasn't impressed by what he saw.
"We'll meet again, Ruby Davies. Very soon."
With that, the devil disappeared into thin air.
I met the devil way sooner than I had expected.When he had told me he would intervene and help me out, I didn't think it would be so soon or that he would suddenly walk in as the substitute Calculus teacher.Yes, you heard me right. There I was, biting at the tip of my Bic and wondering if by any chance, Blake was staring over at my side. This was the only class I had with him and when he came in earlier and spotted my seating position in the middle of the class, he intentionally decided to go pick the seat far end of the class, at the corner.God, that boy hated me so much and it was all my fault.Our regular Calculus teacher, Miss Simeon was running late which was very unusual and most of us were already getting all rowdy in the class. For final year seniors, they all acted pretty dumb for my liking and I dully watched, Asher Hu, one of the blonde, football jocks lob paper balls at his teammates w
The hospital stench was getting to me.After school today, my mom had called from work to ask if I could kindly swing by the hospital to drop off some files she had forgotten in the process of her rush this morning. Molly and I were about to have some sandwiches at my place for lunch when she called, I agreed and we packed up some tomato sandwiches and pink lemonade to go for all three of us.After taking the bus heading out of town and a very long hour or so, we got to the psychiatric hospital where my mom has worked as a nurse since before I was born. She appreciated the lunch we brought her and after a few minutes of sitting around and eating, I was already impatient and ready to leave. Molly, on the other hand had made herself completely comfortable on the office couch and was ranting to my mom about how she had been saving for some new designer boots that had gotten even more expensive over the weekend.Sometimes, I
The Devil was driving the cab.At this point, I wasn't even surprised to see him anymore and I felt the first signs of a splitting migraine as he continued to weave the car at insane speed not the least disturbed by the heavy rain.Molly's eyes were still closed, with her plump, pink lips slightly parted and wet hair matting to her soft face. I wondered if she had fallen asleep by her own will or that of our infamous driver. It was probably the latter."Are you following me now?" I asked."Yes." He replied without an ounce of hesitation and I didn't know whether I was supposed to be creeped out or reassured by the thought. "And I helped you out of this rain, didn't I?""Thanks," I murmured sourly. "Also, could you maybe slow down, I wouldn't want to die before my twenty-two days are up." The dark, casual tone that I used to refer to my death scared me. Had I accepted my fat
I couldn't breathe.The large hand was firmly clamped on my throat, restricting any such luxury such as breathing. I fought the hand, desperately clawing at it when she spoke. I was startled to look at the face of my strangler and discover that it was in fact a giant woman.There were no other words to describe her safe from giant. The clear hairnet she had on did nothing to cover her short, mousy brown hair framing her square jawed face which held the first bearings of a sprouting moustache. A mole stood out on her cheek and her huge blossom rose up and down rapidly as her large, frying pan sized hands continued gripping my neck."Johnson!" She yelled, and my ears temporarily went out of commission then I heard static. "This chica is what's chasing you?"I could understand why she called me chica, most people tended to do that because of my exotic looks. My dad was part Latin and part Mexican and I had his
Friday, Day 11.Things were finally looking up.Our school was no different from those typical ones we read in books; we had the jocks, the cheerleaders, the nerds, the computer geeks and the whole lot. However, the only difference was that we barely related with those that weren't in our cliques, meaning your only friends were those on the same social status as you.Our seating arrangements during lunch even showed the segregation clearly, the popular kids sat separate from the ones with no social status, it was the rule of the jungle called high school. I usually sat with Molly and the other cheerleaders at our special table outside. It was more of a school patio converted hangout for us. Yeah, the school didn't complain about it, why? Because the boys liked it, the jocks were everything.This town loved football more than anything, so these boys were hero worshipped.
Saturday, Day 12.My body was literally on fire.I groaned once again, making the girls put on those worried looks once more. Amanda, placing her pom poms down knelt beside me on the bench and reached out to feel my tummy which I was currently gripping.Her big, blue beautiful eyes showed intense worry for her fellow teammate and once again, I remembered this was why she deserved to get Darren. The thought snapped away as fast as it came when another shot of aches coursed through my system and I involuntarily yelled in pain. I closed my eyes, wondering why my body chose today to behave this way, we had a game right now, I was supposed to be out there, not acting as a liability here. I had started feeling the first bearings of pain earlier during practice earlier today but it got intense about an hour ago.It was an unexplainable kind of pain in the sense that I wasn't feeling it in just
Day 13.Sundays were my rest days, basically my favorite day of the week.Binge watching TV.Stuffing my face with junk that would give Amanda an instant heart attack.Wearing sweats all day.Those were my ideal Sundays, only this Sunday wasn't turning out too well and the first sign that today was going to go all wrong came in the form of my sleep deprived mom walking into the kitchen to announce that she wanted to spend the day with me. I was naturally surprised, I couldn't even remember the last time I had hung out with my mom.It was always work, I was used to it though, at least I still had her. I hadn't talked to my father in years now, I wasn't even sure of his whereabouts now, yeah, it was that bad.I had nodded and quietly continued nibbling on my waffles while she continued to stare at me critically. After coming to pick me up f
Day 14It was official, I hated this job.I stared at the ancient, black coffeemaker once again, trying to remember what Darra said to do whenever it stopped working. I couldn't even remember a thing of what the strawberry blonde had told me before hurriedly dashing off, no doubt happy to be relieved of her shift.I had resumed my job at the tea shop just today, after cheer leading practice and Phil had explained I would be working shifts with Darra at the counter, it seemed pretty easy until she had left over an hour ago and the crowd had started to increase rapidly.Between collecting orders, preparing the drinks and serving the pastries I had been totally overwhelmed and the misbehaving of the coffee machine felt like the last straw on the camel's back."What is taking the coffee so long?" I heard Blake ask, staring at me from the other side of the counter. He had been on his