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Inner Demons

This is the story of the angel,
Who played poker with the devil,
In the Garden of Eden,
Before it all went pear shaped.
They said:
"I'll see your heart,
And I'll raise you mine."
- Bell X1

Jesse answers the front door. Jesse. It's not his house. Yet he is who is standing in the doorway after Aubrey knocks. His eyes widen in surprise to see her. "Aubrey. What are you doing here? I thought you-"

"Had a husband to grieve?" Aubrey fills in.

He angles himself toward the house's interior. "Beca!"

Beca appears second later. "Dude, where the hell have you been? I tried calling you like a thousand times."

"I left my phone here," Aubrey answers, "I think it was in my pocket."

Beca responds with a guilty expression.

"What?" Aubrey asks.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

Aubrey isn't certain she can handle any more bad news right now. "The good news."

"Your phone is probably really clean now."

"So now you do the laundry? My wallet was probably in there too."

Beca clamps her teeth together then replies, "At least there's no blood on them."

Aubrey folds her arms.

"Sorry. That was unsympathetic, wasn't it?" Beca whispers, "Can you just tell me what to say?"

Right – as though she would listen. Jesse is still lingering in the doorway and Aubrey glances in his direction. "Why are you still here?"

He doesn't answer. If even he doesn't know the reason, there is definitely no need for him to stay. "I'll call you later," he says after a few moments of appearing to still be contemplating Aubrey's question.

"Uh, yeah," Beca responds, "Okay." They move around each other awkwardly before Jesse finds the right angle to lean forward and kiss her cheek.

"Later," he reiterates then side-glances in Aubrey's direction, "Aubrey."

Aubrey turns and lets herself inside without another word.

"Bye," Beca whispers then follows her.

Aubrey turns around once the door is closed behind them. "What was that?"

"What was what?" She slides past Aubrey on her way to the couch.

"You're the worst liar I know." Or at least the most obvious. Whenever she's just stupid, she can still look Aubrey in the eye.

"Are you sure now is the time to talk about what's going on with me?"

Aubrey stares directly at her.

"Okay, okay. But it's nothing. He just came over to ask me out on a date."

"It's nothing – but he kissed you on the way out?" If she had just stayed…

"It was on the cheek. I don't even know if I'm going to say yes yet."

"He's…" unfortunately, a really good guy "…a douchebag."

"I already know you think that, but you never actually tell me why." Beca leans back on the couch. "And whenever I try to figure it out, I can't think of a single thing wrong with him. He's literally the perfect guy."

"Exactly. Isn't it weird that he's always so nice?"

"You know, some guys are actually good guys. Not all of them are assholes."

…like hers. "That isn't what I meant. Shouldn't he at least have a few flaws?"

"He leaves the toilet seat up even when I remind him to put it back down. I don't get why you hate him so much. Give me one good reason and I'll call him right now and turn him down." Most people hit the breaks when they see a deer caught in the headlights, but Beca accelerates. "You know I'm still going to like you more than him, right?"

"What?"

"I get it; we're together all the time. If you're worried he's going to get in the way of our friendship, he's not. We can still hang out just as much as before."

That's what Beca thinks. That Aubrey is worried she's going to lose her as a friend because she'll want to hang out with Jesse and have less time for her.

"Nothing is going to change. Can you sit down? You're making me nervous just standing there like that."

If Chloe is hanging out in this room right now like the invisible stalker she's turning out to be, Aubrey is sure she's regretting her promise not to murder Jesse in cold blood as the truth gets stuck in Aubrey's throat. "I just don't think he's right for you."

"How could I do better than someone who shows up at my door with a single flower to ask if I want to get dinner with him sometime when all he had to do was text me?" Beca asks.

"Do you like him?"

"I don't know. I think I could. Seriously, Aubrey, sit down. I hate it when you just stand there."

Aubrey rounds the table and slowly lowers herself to the edge of the couch, picking up the remote in the process. "Let's watch a movie."

Beca lolls her head to the side against the back cushion. "I was afraid you were going to say that." She groans when Aubrey opens Netflix and grabs the blanket from the back of the couch. "Hey, have you eaten anything?"

"Mhm." If she goes into detail about what she ate for dinner, that's going to be the first hint that something weird has been happening.

"Okay, well, I'm going to go grab food." Beca looks at the time on her phone. "And I guess text work that I'm not coming in. Are you sure you don't want anything?"

"I'm fine. Thank you." She clicks to browse the comedy section while Beca goes to the kitchen. A list of horror movies shows up on the screen. "Beca, something's wrong with your TV!" she calls out to her, trying the family movie section and only finding horror again. "It keeps taking me to the scary movies! What the fuck…" Every section leads back to the same thing.

"Let me see it," Beca says when she returns with a bag of chips and two glasses of water. She situates herself next to Aubrey and takes the remote – only for the same thing to happen to her. "I guess just choose one of these then. I thought you liked scary movies."

Yeah, sure, when her own life isn't turning into one. Aubrey chooses the one that looks the least murder-y then tosses the remote back at the table with a little too much force.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk?"

No one would believe her if she did.

"Did you call his family or check in with the morgue?"

Fuck…

"I don't think this is something you can just avoid."

"You don't think I know that? I'm not avoiding anything." She's just a little distracted by other things at the moment that are somehow worse than Brad. "It's hard to call anyone without a phone."

"Right," Beca murmurs, "Well, if you want help with anything, just let me know what to do."

Aubrey is tempted to ask her if she's up to searching the yellow pages for a local exorcist. She nods her acknowledgement and sinks back into the couch with the shared blanket pulled up around her. "I'm sorry you had to be there to see it."

Beca only frowns a little in her direction.

There really is so much that Aubrey needs to do that she should have done already, and she spends the entire first half of the movie trying to piece it all together and create a list and a timeline in her mind. It doesn't really help. Her mind keeps wandering to Chloe and how she cannot possibly be real. By the time she decides to tune in to the movie, she's missed most of the important plot points and build up that might have made it interesting. Horror is usually a bore to her anyway – and, honestly, that's why she likes it. It's often almost laughable – the stupidity of people and the unrealistic things they encounter.

Perfectly timed with a jump scare, Chloe's voice whispers 'hold her hand' directly into Aubrey's ear – so close she can feel the warmth of her breath.

"Jesus, Aubrey!" Beca nearly spills the bag of chips when Aubrey jolts away from the voice and crashes into her side. "I thought this shit didn't bother you."

It doesn't – especially when the background music had her seeing the antagonist coming from a mile away. "Sorry, I was just-" Just what exactly? "I wanted to see if I could give you a heart attack. It worked."

Beca raises her eyebrows then turns her attention back to the TV. "Asshole," she mumbles and stuffs a chip into her mouth.

Their hands are so close, Aubrey can feel the backs of their fingers touching. She refuses to look in Beca's direction as she inches her hand closer. The embarrassment as Beca's hand pulls away nearly has her running out the door until Beca's arm sliding around her shoulders keeps her pinned to the couch.

"You're such a liar; you are scared – which is dumb, because this movie is the stupidest movie I've ever seen."

"Every movie is the stupidest movie you've ever seen," Aubrey points out.

"That's not true. Loved Zack and Miri Make a Porno."

Aubrey rolls her eyes.

"What about Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist? I liked that one. You liked that one. Maybe we should be watching that one."

"I don't think your TV feels like watching what either of us want to watch," Aubrey reminds her. Or maybe Chloe doesn't feel like watch that. She sits up straight and looks around.

"What?" Beca looks around too.

"Nothing," Aubrey answers and inches closer to Beca, away from the 'empty' space next to her on the couch, "Just thought I heard something. Must have been Jesse's quixotism lingering around."

"I don't know what that means, but I'm pretty sure it's mean," Beca says with a quiet laugh. Her fingers find the ends of Aubrey's hair when Aubrey settles back in again. "I told you – one good reason and I'll tell him no."

"You should really be with someone who doesn't leave the toilet seat up."

"Really? That's the deal-breaker for you?"

"Mhm." It's definitely not because it's the only flaw he has that Aubrey is now aware of…

"Okay, well, you go find that person and I'll date them instead."

"I'll keep my eye out."

"I think the only person you're going to find in that category is another woman."

Aubrey waits for her to indicate whether or not that's a good or bad thing, but Beca remains silent in wait of her response. Somehow a framed photo that Beca has on the wall breaks away from the screw holding it in place and hits Aubrey directly in the head. "Ow," she mumbles and turns to look at the wall, "What the hell?" Talk about deal-breakers. That hurt.

"Oh, shit." Beca picks up the frame and places it on the coffee table. "I thought you hung those up well so that wouldn't happen."

"I did." Aubrey rubs the top of her head. It's the whole reason she was the one to hang them up.

"Are you okay? You're having some really bad luck."

"I'm fine. You must have a poltergeist in here or something. Or maybe a demon that needs to be sent back to Hell…"

"Or maybe I just need to hire someone better with a drill. Maybe Jesse could do it." Beca raises her hands in the air when Aubrey looks at her with the same killing capability of Brad's gun. "I'm joking! I'm joking!"

"Maybe he can tighten his own loose screws while he's at it," Aubrey suggests. That better be the only thing he's in here screwing. She stops rubbing her head and lowers her hand back down to her lap. Bitch.

"What were we talking about?" Beca asks.

Aubrey leans forward, away from anything else the could fall on her. "I don't remember. Probably because something hit me in the head and counterproductively distracted me from the conversation." Once it looks like she's safe from harm, she gets comfortable against Beca's side again.

"Counterproductively?"

"I was trying to be productive in convincing you you're wasting your time with Jesse," Aubrey tries to cover for herself, "You know what I mean. Let's just watch the movie."

The TV turns itself off, followed by every light in the house.

"Did you, like, break a mirror or walk under a ladder or something?"

Yeah, one could say or something. Aubrey clenches her jaw and stares at the dimly lit nothing in front of her.

Beca laughs. "Maybe you're right about the poltergeist."

"Great, thanks for telling her I'm some sort of stupid poltergeist," Chloe whispers in her ear, "Those things have barely a shred of self-awareness beyond choosing violence. They're basically earthquakes with self-serving motivation."

Aubrey turns in the direction of her voice. All this coming from the thing that just hurled a picture frame at her head for a 'get out of hell free' card...

Beca stands up from the couch and peers out the window. "It looks like it's just us. I see a kitchen light across the street."

Aren't supernatural beings allergic to salt or something? Aubrey pulls a potato chip from the bag and points it in Chloe's direction.

"Nice try. You're thinking of rock salt. I love sea salt."

"Do you have any of that rock salt we used to salt the sidewalks last winter left?" Aubrey asks.

Beca looks back at her. "No. Why?"

"Just thinking about this winter." Aubrey presses the potato chips flat down on her tongue.

"Did you just eat a potato chip?" Beca pulls the curtains all the way so sunlight can illuminate the room.

"I ran out of seaweed. How do you feel about a trip to Home Depot?"

"For rock salt? I know you like being prepared, but it's still like 65 degrees out there. Maybe let's wait a few weeks until the temperature drops enough that ice can actually form."

"What if it hails?" Aubrey tries to reason.

Beca looks out the window at the sun in the cloudless, blue sky. "I think that frame hit you a little too hard."

"Tell her you're tired," Chloe says.

"No. She's going to think I have a concussion," Aubrey whispers as quietly as she can.

"Did you say you think you have a concussion?" Beca asks.

"No, I said who gets hit with a picture frame and ends up with a concussion. Learn to listen. I'm going to go check the fuse box."

"There's a flashlight in the junk drawer. Do you want me to come with?"

"No. Just stand up here and holler if the lights turn back on."

xxxxx

"Show yourself right now," Aubrey demands, turning slowly to look around the basement, flashlight in hand.

Chloe appears sitting casually on top an old box of cassette tapes and CDs.

"You can't be here."

"I can," Chloe replies with a shrug, "And I am, so…"

"Can you just let me do this by myself?"

"You had so many opportunities up there." Chloe stands up. "And you missed all of them."

"Aubs, you okay?!" Beca calls down to her.

"Yeah!" Aubrey yells back. "Anything yet?!"

"So far nothing!"

"Can you just give me a minute to figure out what I want to say?" Aubrey asks.

"Let me help. How about 'hey, Beca, I'm in love with you'? That sounds fairly hard to misunderstand."

"It's not that easy!" Aubrey hisses.

"Are you sure you don't need help?!" Beca asks.

"If you're down here, who is going to tell me if the lights turn on up there?!"

"The poltergeist?" Beca answers.

"I brought it down here with me!" Aubrey replies, eliciting a laugh from Beca.

"You know, that's a really mean insult where I come from," Chloe says.

"And by that you mean from Hell – which is probably filled with a lot worse things than an insulting word?" Aubrey replies.

"I meant the supernatural world in general. I've definitely been called worse in Hell. This one time someone called me a Shojo desperate for attention just because I like bartending. And another time, someone said I must be an alien for being so convinced I can get my soul back. Like aliens are even real…" Chloe scoffs.

"Leave. Me. Alone. Okay? You've done enough. Just let me do the rest by myself."

"I think you have to be appreciative for this to work," Chloe says.

"Aubrey?" Beca yells at her again.

"Relax! I'm working on it!"

"I'll turn the lights back on if you confess your undying love right now," Chloe offers.

Aubrey looks toward the stairs. "I can't find anything wrong! I think you're going to have to call the electrician!"

"With how much you're prolonging this, I'm beginning to think all this telling me to go away is actually your way of trying to tell me you want me around," Chloe comments.

"I'm going back upstairs. You can show yourself out." Aubrey stops near the bottom step. "And stop lurking around all invisible. It's creepy – in more ways that one."

"What can I say? I'm basically just a fallen guardian angel. If someone attracts me to them, I'm compelled to be around to watch." Chloe winks.

"That's not helping, Chloe. That's the opposite. That makes me want to keep my clothes on."

"It's not like you would see me to know I'm there."

Aubrey shakes her head and storms back up the stairs.

"So, it wasn't a blown fuse?" Beca asks when Aubrey reemerges from the basement.

"Do you see any lights on after I checked the fuse box?" Aubrey asks – although she didn't actually check it. She flips the light switch near the door on and off a few times for good measure. "Did you pay the bill?"

"Yes, I paid the bill."

"Okay, well, then you're going to have to call an electrician. And we can either sit here in the dark until they come or go to my house where I don't really want to be right now."

"I just so happen to love the dark." Beca follows her back to the kitchen junk drawer. "I'm a very dark person. Instead of a soul, I actually just have a giant, gaping black hole there."

"Me too," Chloe whispers to Aubrey, "Maybe I should take a chance with her. I always leave the toilet seat down."

Aubrey lets out a long sigh as she grips the edges of the counter top.

"Hey." Beca rests a hand on her back. "Maybe you should find someone to talk to to help you process last night."

"Yeah," Aubrey mumbles, "Yeah, I'll be sure to look into that." She opens the drawer and trades the flashlight for a pack of matches. "In case no one can get here before dark." She hands all but one to Beca. Bless Beca's gas stove, because at least she can brew some tea to calm herself down. It occurs to her too late, after Beca turns to walk into the living room to call the electrician, that she needs the pack to strike the match. But before she can call her back, the stove lights itself. "Thanks," she murmurs, gritting her teeth.

"You're welcome."

"Do you want some tea?" Aubrey calls.

"No."

"Uh, sure!" Beca calls back from the living room.

"Wait, we're you asking her or me?" Chloe inquires.

Aubrey grabs a clove of garlic and throws it in what she believes is Chloe's direction.

"We already established I'm not a vampire."

Aubrey shrugs. "It was worth a try." The garlic bounces back off her head. "Hey!" She throws it again, this time twice as hard.

"Dude, what the fuck?!" Beca yells when it hits her in the chest on her way into the kitchen – probably because she thought Aubrey was yelling at her. "Is this garlic?"

"I-you-you said you had a black hole for a soul. I was making sure you weren't a vampire." If the floor was a black hole, Aubrey would dive head-first into it. She puts on a smile. "But you're not one. That's good." She can hear Chloe make a choking sound out loud and laughs to cover it up.

"No, no, I'm fine," Beca says into the phone, "And you can let whoever you send know that I'm definitely not a vampire." She gives Aubrey a puzzled, irritated look as she turns back to the living room, taking the garlic with her. "Yeah, I realize that if vampires were real that sounds like something they would say – but they're not, so can you please send someone over preferably before it gets dark? Dude, no, not so I won't bite him. No, this isn't some sort of electrician/vampire porn thing!"

Aubrey slaps a hand over her mouth to muffle a real laugh.

"Oh my god," Chloe whispers, "Did you just express joy?"

Aubrey's expression returns to stoic. "Shut up. And get out. I don't need your help."

"So you've said," Chloe replies, "And so I'm going to continue to ignore. Don't worry. I've got this. I've got 998 years worth of experience helping people."

"You have 998 years of failure," Aubrey corrects her, "That doesn't exactly look great on a resume."

"Are you always this negative? I had to have learned something over all those years. And I guess it's a good thing no one else applied for the job."

"There is no job here," Aubrey whispers, bringing water to a boil, "You're wasting your time – and you don't exactly have a lot left. Go save some orphans from a burning building or something."

"I already lit an animal shelter on fire and saved all the animals inside. You think it's going to make a difference if I do it with orphans?"

"I think you're overlooking what the real problem with your 'good deeds' is," Aubrey answers, "Now if you would kindly go back to Hell, I have things to do and your presence is unnecessary and unwanted."

"You're a really rude person," Chloe says after a long enough silence that actually made Aubrey think she might have left, "I like it. Are you also like this is bed?"

"You'll never know," Aubrey answers.

"Bummer. I guess I'll just have to fight you again. Maybe next time, I won't let you win."

Aubrey clenches her jaw off to the side and refuses to take the bait. She won fair and square. "Chloe, I say this with the utmost respect: you need Jesus."

"Sure, let me just shoot Him a text."

"I think most people just pray."

"Sounds a little co-dependent, if you ask me."

"Well…" Aubrey locates the teabags. "That seems like it might already be a personality trait of yours, so…" On second thought, maybe Aubrey is the one who needs Jesus. She is the one being followed by a demon, and her mother always did say homosexuals were possessed by the devil.

"You really think God cares as much as people say He does?" Chloe asks, "You, me, everyone else, we're all just poker chips in a larger game. The only thing is the winner is pre-determined and you better hope you're on the right side when it's game over or else you're spending eternity in a place you really don't like."

Aubrey nods as she pours the water into mugs. "If you do manage to get your soul back, remind me to be on the side of eternity in Hell."