Chapter 10

The Girl

Idiot stood alone on a catwalk. She watched the flames of the pit dance on the charred bodies of the toddlers she had thrown in over the years. The catwalk was close to the fire pit. So close, that everytime the fire spat it would kiss the bottom of the floor she was standing on, heating it up. Idiot didn't care. Her mind was off, thinking of the echoed screams that used to comfort her. It had been a while since she had last thrown any children in, the last time leaving her with a familiar feeling. An unwanted familiar feeling, a feeling she had run away from for years. Idiot felt a flash of heat surge from the pit below, fire spat upward and touched the rails of the catwalk. Smoke followed drifting upward only to fade out of existence. She didn't mind it up until she heard coughing coming from behind the smoke. Idiot tensed, she had heard rumors that the demons that worked at the lower levels of the offices were more aggressive. Idiot put her claw in her pocket grabbing onto her minimized weapon. She watched intently at the smoke, the coughing growing louder as whatever it was approached her.

The smoke faded revealing a small child rubbing their eyes. It was a little girl with curly blonde hair, the kind of child that a demon would possess in horror movies. Idiot loosened at the non threat before her, letting go of her weapon and taking her claw out of her pocket. She glared at the girl angrily. The girl stopped rubbing her eyes to meet Idiot's glare. The girl stared at Idiot for a while before walking closer to her. The girl stopped walking and stood right in front of Idiot, she stared at her and then smiled. Idiot was taken aback by the girl's actions, causing her to lose a bit of balance. She knew that the children here were getting more comfortable around the offices since she stopped throwing them in so often. But she didn't expect any of them to come as much as this close to her let alone smile at her.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't think you were going to do that," the girl said, stepping back. Idiot thought for a moment wondering why in all of the nine circles would one of the brats be near her.

"You're new here aren't you?" Idiot asked, coming to some sort of a conclusion.

"Yes ma'am. I just got here today." the little girl replied.

"Well, that answers that," Idiot sighed. "Didn't your parents tell you not to speak to strangers?"

"Yes," the little girl stated. "But no one can hurt me 'cause that's the rules." Idiot raised a brow at the girl's statement. It was a well known rule. But it's a mostly ignored rule. Idiot being one who abuses the ignorance of the rule's existence.

"My name is Cloe. What's yours?" the little girl asked. Idiot stared at the little girl, her eyes narrowed.

"Why do you need to know?" Idiot asked Cloe, her tail twitching.

"So we won't be strangers silly."Cloe stated cheerfully.

"Ok…... well. My name is Idiot." Idiot replied, returning to looking at the fire pit.

"That's a silly name." Cloe said, walking up to Idiot and looking at the pit with her. Idiot focused on the flames trying to ignore the creature next to her. She knew that she COULD just throw her into the pit and get away with it. But she wasn't interested in the possibility of being left alone with that feeling again.

"So. uh.. Why are you here?" Cloe asked, looking up at her. Idiot paused. She came down here to think. She basically betrayed her best friend, one of the only people that could deal with her shit. She felt a pain in her chest as she continued to think about it.

"I wanted to think." Idiot replied after a few moments.

"Oh….. uh. About what?" Cloe asked.

"You're a questioning little shit, aren't you?" Idiot said, glaring at the little girl. She didn't like that this child was pushing questions about her, especially ones that have to do with her problems.

"You shouldn't swear that's rude! You meanie!" Cloe stated. She gave Idiot a puny punch as some sort of punishment.

"I don't care. I'm an adult," Idiot said, ignoring the girl's punch. Cloe didn't like Idiot's excuse, so she decided to continuously punch Idiot.

Idiot of course didn't feel it, a stupid little kid like Cloe couldn't really hurt her. After a few minutes, this started to get on Idiot's nerves.

"Can you stop that?!" Idiot shouted at Cloe. She started to swat at the child with her tail.

"Not until you answer my question!" Cloe shouted back avoiding Idiot's tail.

"Fine." Idiot sighed. "I did something bad and I feel bad about it." Another blaze of fire spired up and spit to the left of Idiot, fire slightly dancing over the catwalk floor.

"Oh…. what did you do?" Cloe asked, as she stopped punching Idiot.

"I let my cowardice get the better of me, and I hurt someone I cared about," Idiot sighed, clutching onto the rail of the catwalk. She looked into the flames, a skull of a toddler looking back at her.

"Why were you so scared?" Cloe aked, stepping closer to idiot.

"I…I don't know," she paused, thinking for a bit." I guess I was scared that everything was changing." She curled her claws tighter around the railing, the pain in her chest sinking deeper.

"Changes? Why did some silly changes scare a demon like you?" Cloe asked, tilting her head a bit.

"Change has never been… let's say… friendly to me," Idiot paused. "So, I decided to do as little change as I could, finding comfort in familiarity…. I guess I got too comfortable." Cloe grabbed Idiot's hand. Idiot tensed up, not expecting the girl's sudden touch.

"When I was alive, I couldn't really get too comfortable with anything. I had to move constantly from motel to motel. Having gang after gang protect me, in exchange for drugs and money. I had become a well known drug dealer for my flavored mixed pills, so of course I couldn't really have a normal life," Idiot paused. "But when I died and was sent here, I found protection here. I didn't have to deal with sudden gang wars or moving to different motels to make sure cops wouldn't get me. I had a stable apartment and a minor job. I managed to make a life here, not a good one. But dammit, it was better than when I was alive."

Idiot looked at Cloe, the pain in her chest going away slightly. Cloe looked back at Idiot and smiled. It went silent for a bit, the roar of flames below being the only sound that filled the room.

"Can you help me with something, Cloe? I think I know what would help me for a bit," Idiot said, looking down at the little girl.

"Hm? Sure. As long as you won't swear again," Cloe answered, she tilted her head at Idiot. Idiot picked up the girl, she held her in her arms pressing her against her chest.

"Thank you." Idiot sighed, dropping the girl into the flames below. "But I can't promise that." Cloe screamed as the fire ate away at her skin, her hair becoming a large torch. Idiot watched as the skin melted off of the girl, her screams finally giving Idiot her desired comfort. After a while the screams finally stopped. Idiot sighed before heading home, the pain in her chest now gone. Even though temporarily Idiot felt that some of her problems died with that girl.