Chapter 1: A Constant Headache

This is Sock. Sock has been feeling very tired lately.

Now for most people, feeling tired wouldn't be an issue. But Sock wasn't most people. In fact, Sock wasn't a person at all. Sock was a demon. See, all his life, Sock had been struggling with the urge to kill things. You might say he had some… slight homicidal tendencies. But this urge was so bad, that he ended up killing his parents. In his sleep. Sock decided that the next thing to do, after having accidentally sleep-murdered his parents, was to kill himself. And so, Mr. Sock Sowachouski found himself in hell, working for the owner of hell, Mephistopheles, as a demon sent to earth to haunt human lives. But demons weren't supposed to get tired. Or hungry. Or hurt. Or out of breath. Or sick. And yet, Sock was feeling very tired.

"Sock! You okay, kid?" Mephistopheles asked, watching a drowsy Sock stagger towards the portal to the human world. "You don't look very good. You alright?"

Sock glanced at the tall, red haired man. "I-.. I'm fine." He continued walking towards the portal. "Just a bit tired that's all."

Sock tried to work, but he just wasn't up to it. His job as a demon was to haunt a human until he could get them to take their own life, just as he had done. His current assignment was Jonathan Combs, a teenage boy with a total disregard for everything (Except sandwiches). Johnathan had proved to be a harder assignment then Sock had expected, with Jonathan carting for nothing, and Sock caring quite a bit for Jonathan (in the most romantic of ways). He crossed into the human world to see Jonathan waiting at the bus stop.

Sock yawned. "Good morning Jonathan," he muttered, "How's life? Probably not as good as being dead. Ha ha ha." Sock laughed half-heartedly at his own joke. He looked to the apathetic teen, only to realize that Jonathan had his headphones on and had not heard a thing Sock had just said.

Sock groaned, "Ugh, hello? Earth to Jonathan?"

Jonathan removed his headphones. "Oh hey. Did you say something?"

Sock groaned again. "Never mind," he said as the bus pulled up and Jonathan got on. Sock followed him, phasing through the walls and floors, such as a demon can do. He sat next to Jonathan on the bus, too tired to be his normal cheery self. And Jonathan noticed this. All throughout the day, Sock did not much more than tiredly follow around Jonathan.

"Are you okay?" Jonathan asked Sock on the bus ride home. He spoke in a whisper. "You've been acting really weird lately."

Sock rubbed his eyes. "I'm fine," Sock said, "I'm just tired. I've been tired lately. I don't know why but I'm sure I'll be fine."

Jonathan looked at him, with concern that Sock had never seen in him before. "Okay," Jonathan said, "If you say so..."

Over the next few days, Sock did not get any better. He was tired all the time, his vision started going blurry, and he started hearing noises, beeps and whispers that weren't really there.

"Maybe you should take a day off, kid." Mephistopheles told him, you don't look very good." Sock took a day off, but he didn't get any better.

"Shouldn't you go see a doctor?" Jonathan told him, "Maybe they can, I dunno, fix you?"

"Well I would, but there are no doctors in hell, demons shouldn't get hurt or sick. So I don't know what's wrong with me." Sock explained.

"Then I don't know what to tell you. Google your symptoms, that's what I do when I'm sick." Jonathan picked up his laptop, "Okay, what's wrong?"

Sock considered, floating around Jonathan's bedroom, "Well, I'm always tired, and not like exhausted, just really sleepy. I keep hearing things, muffled thigs, like whispers, beeps, footsteps, even if they aren't really there. My vision is going blurry, and fades around the edges. And I've got a bad headache." Sock stopped floating, "I don't know why. All this, it makes it seem… It's almost as if I was still… alive. It really doesn't make any sense."

Jonathan typed as Sock spoke. "That whole, "hearing things that aren't really there" thing isn't exactly a symptom of a physical medical condition; maybe the blurry vision thing means you need glasses? Do demons wear glasses? I don't know, all the search results just tell me you're going crazy…"

"I don't think it's that..." Sock looked at Jonathan quizzically, "but it's getting late, so I'm gonna go. See you tomorrow, Jonathan." Sock left the room with a slight blush on his face. It was unlike Jonathan to care about anything so much, especially Sock's wellbeing.

But as Sock walked to the portal, he felt even worse. His head pounded, he couldn't make out anything more than two feet in front of him. He went through the portal struggling to keep his eyes open.

Sock could barely see his surroundings in hell, his vision blurred and black spots and splotches swam in and out of his field of view. He felt incredibly light-headed, and was hearing the beeps and voices louder than he had ever heard him before.

Sock wasn't sure what happened then. Sock felt as if he were fainting. His vision went entirely black. His head pounded, and he felt a piercing pain in his chest.

Words and images swirled in his mind. Did I just die? Sock thought, I can't die, I'm already dead! If I die who will haunt Jonathan?

The last thing he thought about was Jonathan.

Then he woke up.