When my eyes opened on Monday morning, I was surprised to find that it wasn't to Monique hitting me, or my mother banging on my door, but to solid darkness. For a second I panicked, thinking the pill had failed and he had gotten to me again, but then the glow of green from my alarm clock caught my eye.

3 A.M.

I groaned aloud, rolling over to face away from it. Great. Three in the morning and I'm wide awake. Couldn't take another pill now, I would sleep all day and give myself away.

For a minute I just lay there, staring blankly at the wall. How was it Monday again already? I felt like it had been last week just a second ago, and the whole week had passed by at the speed of sound.

As I laid there, I idly wondered if Max would be in school today. I had been too busy sleeping to check the news, so I had no idea if she was suspended or expelled or if the incident had been reported at all. Hell, maybe the whole thing was just a drug induced dream. Seems likely enough, all things considered.

I don't know how much longer I laid there, staring at the wall and thinking in circles, but eventually I got sick of it. If I was going to be up this early, I might as well take advantage of the extra time. So I got up. My head spun and I had to lean against the wall to keep from falling down, but I was determined to do something. Anything really. So, slowly, I made my way downstairs to the kitchen. Every creak of the wooden floor made my stomach churn. The side effects from the pills were getting worse the more I used them.

"But I can't stop." I unknowingly whispered aloud. "I can't."

"Of course you can." The voice murmuring in the back of my head made me bristle. He could never just leave me alone, could he? "No one is forcing you."

"I didn't ask you." I hissed under my breath.

He scoffed, but thankfully shut up anyway.

The kitchen was steeped in darkness, except for the small circle of moonlight coming through the window. It shone on the sink and just a sliver of the counter, making some strangely shaped shadows. The darkness was nice. Soothing.

"So what are you up to?" Damn it, he was already back? So much for peace and quiet.

If you really must know, I fumed, this time keeping it in my head, I'm sick of being hungry at school. If I'm gonna be awake anyway, I might as well make some stuff for myself.

"I see."

Why do you care anyway? Couldn't you just poke around in my brain and find the answer yourself?

"Yes, of course I could. But I enjoy knowing I can make you talk to me."

"Damnit." I muttered. He was playing me for a fool. And I was playing myself right into it. I growled to myself as I crossed the room to the fridge and swung open the door. The light burned my eyes, and for a second I had to look away. Weird shapes danced in the shadows, causing me momentary panic.

Don't be stupid. I scolded myself. There's nothing there, it's just the light messing with your eyes.

"But you aren't sure." he taunted. I bit my tongue until I tasted blood, just to calm myself down, before I shook it off and focused on my task.

I tried to be as quiet as possible, but in the middle of the night, every sound was magnified by a hundred times. All I could do was hope my mom or sisters wouldn't hear and think we were being robbed or something. That would be a pain.

I made myself enough sandwiches to get me through the rest of the week, and hid them in the back of the fridge, where my family wouldn't find them. Having my sister take the food I made would not do wonders for my mood. By the time I finished, I was feeling a bit steadier on my feet, and going back upstairs wasn't as much of a chore as it had been coming down.

Returning to my room, I closed my door firmly behind me and let out a sigh. There was barely any light inside except for the alarm clock; which now read 3:42. I flopped back down on my bed, laying still and letting the dark and the quiet seep into me. Calming.

For once, everything was still. I wasn't thinking or worrying. Nothing was moving around me or making noise. No other people. No voices. Nothing existed besides the mattress underneath me and the darkness.

I wonder if this is what it's like to be dead. If it is, sign me up.

"I can assure you, this is nothing like being dead." And with the reappearance of the voice, the spell was shattered. The real world came rushing back, and once again I was close to snapping.

Do I want to know how you know that? I thought, rolling onto my side and resuming my previous activity of staring holes in the wall.

"That's easy." he responded. "Because I'm the Devil."

I admit, that made me pause for a moment, but it was so cringy and cliche that I couldn't take him seriously.

Wow, really? You truly are the edgiest edgelord in all the land. Or, I guess I am, since my brain made you up.

"I keep telling you you didn't make me up."

If you really are the Devil, why don't you tell me what it's really like to be dead. Might be entertaining.

I smirked to myself after that thought. It felt good, being the one antagonizing instead of being antagonized. Sure, it was probably pretty crazy for me to be getting into a sass match with myself, but at the moment I didn't really care.

"Depends on where you end up. Last time I was up there, Heaven was pretty nice. Fluffy clouds, harps, all that. Purgatory is just boring. All grey, souls eternally waiting in line. Like a never ending DMV. My personal favorite is Hell, obviously. It's different for everybody. I wonder what your hell will look like."

I tried to suppress the shiver that ran through me at his last sentence. Playtime was over.

Yeah, whatever. You can't scare me.

He made a little tsking sound at me, like I was a misbehaving toddler.

"Oh, Fang. It's completely pointless to lie to me. You've been scared since the moment you moved into this town."

Ugh. I was so sick of this bullshit.

"It wouldn't be so awful if you just accepted me."

Ha ha, no. Thanks but no thanks Beezlebub.

"I really don't like that name you know. I prefer Lucifer."

Gee, too bad I'm fresh out of fucks.

"Hide behind your humor and bravado all you want. But you can't get rid of me. Ever."

(A/N So I had a few days where I couldn't watch Naruto, so I marathoned Blue Exorcist all the way through twice in three days. I think it may have influenced the way I wrote the dialogue, but I'm not positive. I'm just digging myself deeper and deeper into the anime hole. Rip me.

UNC-

Silence)