Pistachio - #14: The Night Before
Author: fluorecent_x
Challenge: Pistachio
Word Count: 2,017
Rating: R (to be safe)
Story: Chronicles of the Afterlife - The Demon Source
Summary: “Your world has quite a ridiculous stereotype of the bogeymen. They are embodiments of fear. They can shape shift or appear as whatever your mind conjures.”
Note: New character introduced, and more information on the afterlife.
A/N: Alright, so this new character is Nyx, the one I've been having in my little crack drabbles lately. She is a character based off The Old Hag in British folklore and the Black Annis in English folklore, as well as a sort of bogeyman figure. They're actually thought of more to be "ghosts" rather than demons, but in this case she is definitely a demon.
Cecelia was unable to sleep on her third night in her new home that she thought was impossible to adjust to. Whether it be day or night the apartment always seemed to be overwhelmed by darkness. There were only certain hours in the daytime that she could maneuver around the place without tumbling over a piece of furniture or stubbing her toes against some hard structure. During the night, there was no use in trying to see or to even more; it was disastrous to attempt it.
Luckily, Holic had already known such problems would occur and brought her a large lantern for each room, and many small candles to light up the less important things. She immediately used the candles by putting them in holders and hung them near the doors, allowing their dim glow to give her some sort of direction.
With it already being her third night in the city, she had assumed Holic would be letting her fend for herself, but he revealed that they hadn’t searched the city even halfway into it despite all of those dreadful hours of walking. It was only after that that she realized the city they were in was metropolis and one of the countless others in the afterlife.
“It’s suggested that you don’t leave your residence when it is dark.” Holic said abruptly. Having been quiet for so long before, it startled Cecelia, even making her jump.
Cecelia cocked her head to the side. “Why? Murderers? The bogeyman?”
“Hm, have you ever seen the… bogeyman?” Holic asked, almost in a mocking tone.
She shot him an incredibly nervous look. “He exists here?”
“Have you forgotten? This is the afterlife, why wouldn’t they?”
“They?” Cecelia queried incredulously.
“Your world has quite a ridiculous stereotype of the bogeymen. They are embodiments of fear. They can shape shift or appear as whatever your mind conjures.” Holic explained. “They feed off of your fear, you realize? The terror that you feel is nourishment to them. That’s why they target humans so regularly.”
“How do you imagine the bogeyman?”
Cecelia stared at the back of his head thoughtfully. No one had ever asked her a question like that. In the past her father used to tease her about the bogeyman so she would cease throwing tantrums. She soon taught him that threatening to take her toys was much more effective than using the bogeyman method. It never worked.
“I’m not sure.” She answered after long pause. “I’ve never thought about it.”
Holic tapped a finger beneath his chin. “Let me ask you this, what do you fear?”
Her eyes immediately snapped down at her stitched hand. The twinges of pain were still there, but they weren’t as intense. She doubted that it would ever heal properly, however.
“Thread and needles.”
“Something else.”
“Syringes.”
“Other than that…”
“Injections.”
“They’re the… ah, never mind.” Holic sighed, deciding not to question her further. “Anyway, the bogeymen are one reason to stay indoors. It’s also because most of the bothersome demons are out at this time, skulking around for an easy meal. If you choose to go out, that is a fault you make on your own.”
Cecelia was about to comment on that when he stopped suddenly and stared off to the side, near a dark alleyway. She looked from him to the narrow shortcut and then tried standing from his angle in hopes of spotting what he did. There was no such luck. “What is it? If you’re trying to scare me, it isn’t working… right now, anyway.”
“Interesting…” he murmured. “There’s one thing you must be aware of. While demons usually don’t bother with invading homes belonging to humans, preferring to catch them as a sort of sport, that doesn’t mean there aren’t the kinds who do try.”
“To get inside? I thought you said demons here aren’t allowed to kill humans!” Cecelia exclaimed, thumping her feet on the ground.
He looked at her from the corner of his eye, his lips twitching a bit. “It has been established but there are some who think they have the right to go about and do as they please. There is rule that demons may not kill humans, nor can they hunt them, but there is nothing mentioned that they can’t torture or inflict damage upon them.”
“That doesn’t make sense!” Cecelia snapped irately, throwing her arms wildly around her body as she yelled. “How can this place have rules that demons can’t kill or hunt humans, but they have permission to harm them? That’s not right!”
There was movement from within the shadows of the alleyway. Holic’s eyes narrowed dangerously in that direction, having his suspicions proven right. “You humans don’t understand that simply allowing your existence in this place is difficult enough.”
“Take caution, you are not safe anywhere. You cannot escape demons or nightmares that might find you.” He warned eerily. After watching the shadow for another ten minutes, it finally shuffled off, its presence disappearing completely.
Cecelia rubbed her arms to warm her chilled skin. Goosebumps were littered everywhere on her body. “Can I protect myself? How do I get rid of them if they come in?”
“Don’t act so bravely, only the most idiotic of humans would do something like that.” His reply only did worse to Cecelia’s anger. She wished she would have held onto that stake instead of leaving it behind like she did. It was a simple piece of wood, sharpened at the end, but it gave her a tiny smidge of comfort.
She held her wounded hand to her chest, staring at his face intensely. “What’s wrong about wanting to protect myself?! I don’t want to die again!”
“That’s all a human can do.” Holic ran a hand through his hair, glancing off toward the alleyway again. “All they can do is cry and plead for their lives in the presence of a merciless demon. You’re a disgustingly weak being; you couldn’t kill a demon even if you tried.”
“I’m not going to wait for something to kill me. I’ll find my own way.”
Cecelia tucked her blankets under her chin. She peered around the bedroom with an odd sort of anticipation welled up in her. Beneath her covers, lying at her side was a knife she had found in the kitchen. It wasn’t magnificent or very sharp, there was still a point, blunt or not it was an object to use if the circumstances called for it.
She wondered off and on for hours what the current time was. There was no maddening ticking from a kitchen clock, or red flashing numbers from a digital alarm clock-there was only silence, other than her quavering breathes. If there was a monster lurking within the place, it would have to be creeping so well, so delicately and aware of every toe set foot on the floor to get by without there being some noise.
Eventually, her eyes forced themselves shut and remained that way, allowing her to drift off into an uncomfortable slumber. About forty-five minutes into her sleep, a shadow moved along the wall where the headboard of the bed was located. The shadow pushed off the wall, walking toward Cecelia’s bedside, it’s hunched figure staggering left and right as if inspecting her.
It shuffled closer, leaning in toward her bed and just as quickly backing up a foot or two. This same pattern continued until the shadow was looming over Cecelia’s form.
Cecelia was hesitant to wake from her sleep, but she was finding it difficult to breathe. When she inhaled, it actually hurt to do so. It felt as though there was something on her chest, as if someone were actually draped over her body or sitting on her.
She opened her eyes, only to see a face hanging mere inches from hers. It breathed out easily, in a relaxed manner even. The puffs of warm air fanning over her face reeked badly and tempted her to hide her face. She couldn’t distinguish features of the figure other than it appeared human, at least from the close-up.
Suddenly, it started cackling shrilly and grinned. Cecelia knew this; she could see the mouthful of pointed teeth. Forcing all of its weight on her chest, it reached toward her face. Long nails rested against her skin, dragging downward and back up before the creature cupped her face. It had large, calloused hands that scraped against her cheeks painfully. The nails, she quickly discovered, were very cold and abnormally long, extremely different in comparison to its hands.
For a moment it was like that, unmoving and smashing her cheeks together until it released her face and thrust down at her neck, the long fingers wrapping tightly and squeezing.
Cecelia’s eyes widened, bugging from their sockets. She threw her arms up at the figure, gripping the fingers at her neck and attempted to rip them away. Her futile lashes and tugs seemed to amuse the creature as it grinned again and cackled. Cecelia wheezed and pulled her head to the side, her hands left the creature, falling below the tousled covers where she searched desperately for the knife.
Once she found it, she grabbed it and stabbed the hands wringing her neck. The creature instantly reeled back, screeched in agony and toppled off of the bed, landing in a heap of covers on the floor.
By the time Cecelia had snatched the lantern close by, the figure was tangled up in a corner clear at the other end of the room. What were screeches before sounded like sobs now, prompting Cecelia toward the thing. She approached slowly, stepping one foot in front of the other and halting briefly before going forward again.
With the bloodied knife still clutched tightly in her hand, she moved closer until her lantern lit it up. At first all she could see were the trembling blankets and a trail of blood leading up to where it was.
“What… are you?” she couldn’t help but ask. It lowered the blankets away from its face, causing Cecelia to shriek in surprise. In turn, it screamed loudly and tried cowering more into the corner.
Undoubtedly, it was a demon. And it was a woman. Cecelia carefully kneeled before her, and waited for something to happen. Sometime later, she dropped the covers and Cecelia held the lantern up to her face.
She had a very pale complexion with huge eyes, centered with purple irises. There were heavy bags just beneath her eye. Her eyebrows were very low and she had prominent cheekbones. Aside from the structure of her face, she had quite a wild head of black hair that reminded Cecelia of a person who liked too much fluff to their hair. A downward glimpse at her hand revealed her big hands with what appeared to be claws of some sort attached to her fingers.
“Y-y-y-you’re not g-g-going to stab-b me a-a-gain are y-y-you?” she asked, staring down at the knife. Her voice was coarse.
“Are you going to attack me again?” Cecelia countered. The demon shook her head violently.
“Are you a hag?”
“Y-y-y-yes.”
“Why did you attack me?”
The demon looked away. “I s-s-s-saw you with that G-G-Guide. You looked l-l-l-like an easy m-meal.”
Cecelia’s eyebrow twitched.
“I’ve b-b-b-been so h-hungry lately.” She wept, moaning and hiding her face with her claws. “I k-keep eating those r-r-restless soul carcasses. T-they taste horrible.”
Cecelia sighed and reached for her cover, tearing it away from the demon. She shouted, flinched and huddled in the corner. “You’re not very demon-like…”
“I d-don’t like humans. T-they’re frightening! S-S-So are the o-other demons!”
She felt a twinge of pity for the demon. “What’s your name?”
“N-N-Nyx.”
The next day, Cecelia was following Holic through the metropolis, barely recalling what they covered before. Holic stared off to the side, noticing Nyx passing from one alleyway to another, obviously tailing after them.
“You just had to talk to the hag… she’ll haunt you for the rest of your eternity here, now.”
Cecelia groaned and stared heavenward at the gray sky.