Lewis slowly opened his eyes. He craned his neck to look around the room, his room, in the Happy Hotel on the second floor. It was modest. Thow it didn't look the best it was better than his house. Mostly just because with all the other people, it felt less lonely. He stretched his body out on his bed, crawling out from beneath his sheets. He grabbed his cap from the nearby side table. He then hopped off the bed, and began exploring his room, talking to himself in the oddly insane manor he did when he was alone.
"Well!" He said, "Let's see here..." He slinked about the room, sniffing, and observing various things, until eventually, as he was observing his teeth in a mirror above the rooms dresser, he jumped when he heard a loud, rhythmic knocking at the door.
"Lewey!" Charlie singsonged from the other side of the door, "Good morning!"
"Mhm," he piped, pressed up against a wall in shock.
"We have breakfast ready for you!"
"Really?" Lew sighed, "Who made it?"
"Nifty!"
Lew flipped his head quickly toward the door. "The fuck is that?"
"The cute, little, girl that Allistor brought in!"
"Balls," He responded, "Have you eaten anything yet?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
"No reason," Lew sighed, "You're not dead after the Jambalaya so it's probably fine." He grabbed his coat, checking for his photo, then trotted to the door and opened it. Charlie stood there waiting happily. Unlike yesterday, when she was wearing black suspenders, a black bow tie, and a white button-up with the sleeves rolled up, she was now wearing a red blazer on top of that.
"Hello…" Lew said with a confused expression.
"Hey. Oh, right!" Charlie stepped out of the way and gesturing for him to go past.
"Thanks…". Lew stared at her nervously. He then catapulted himself off the banister and glided down to the bottom floor, landing haphazardly. "Hello Vaggie."
"Hey…" She replied quietly, glaring at him thru the corner of her eye.
"Hello weird cat person I've never seen before."
"Fuck off." The cat took a swig from a beer.
"We'll okay." Lew gave him a glare. "Hello you six-legged whore!" He waved at Angel with mock enthusiasm.
"Hello you mangey motherfucker!" Angel replied with the same mock enthusiasm.
"Hey!" Vaggie snapped. Lew shut up immediately and sat down, while Angel gave an eye roll before he stopped.
The whole building smelled of well cooked eggs and bacon. Angel, Vaggie, and the cat like demon Alistor brought in yesterday, all sat at the table as Nifty ran food from the kitchen to the people as if it were a restaurant. Charlie skipped down the stairs and took a seat next to Vaggie. "Good morning guys," Charlie singsonged as she pecked Vaggie on the cheek.
"Wait, you guys are together?" Lew darted his eyes at the two confusedly.
"Yeah!" Charlie piped happily.
"Like together together?"
"Yeah?" Charlie cocked her head to the side in confusion. Lew did the same.
"Why?"
Just in the nick of time to end this awkward exchange, Nifty tossed a plate of eggs, hash browns, and bacon in front of Lew. He jumped back in surprise, almost falling out of his chair.
"Can I ask you some questions?" Lew regained his composure, cocking his head with innocent curiosity, taking a bite of hash brown.
"Sure!" Charlie smiled happily.
"Alright." He swallowed. "Who the fuck's the cat?"
"His names Husk, he-" Charlie tried to explain before Lew dismissed her.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever," Lew continued, "Now, with Vaggie: is she this aggressive to everyone, or just me?"
"Don't take it personally. She just needs some time to warm up, that's all." Charlie smiled at Lew calmly.
"I see." He nodded with a blank expression.
"Hey! I'm right here!" Vaggie growled throwing her hands into the air.
Charlie chuckled sheepishly, "Sorry." She booped Vaggie on the nose. Vaggie immediately calmed down and smiled at her.
"Hm. Cute," Lew thought to himself, his facial expression still deadpan.
"Hello!" The Radio Demon's voice echoed as he just appeared as if out of nowhere. Lew inhaled a chunk of egg and fell on the floor choking.
"Good morning Alastor," Charlie chirped, while Vaggie simply glared at him, saying nothing.
"It is a good morning indeed my dear Charlie!" Alastor chimed, rubbing her on the head. He took a seat at the table. "Nifty! Bring me some eggs please!"
It was only at this point that anyone noticed Lewis was choking. It was Angel, unfortunately, and his solution was to walk over to the situation and violently stomp on his chest.
"FUCK!!!" Lew yelled, as the egg flew out of his trachea, "Jesus you coulda broken my fucking rib cage!"
"Yeah but I didn't!" Angel stated, seemingly proud of himself, smiling smugly at Lew.
"But-w-jus- Ugh," Lew sighed exasperated, slowly lifting himself off the ground. He glared at Angel before setting his chair back up and sitting in it. Angel went back to his seat.
"Okay!" Charlie piped happily, "So, after everybody's finished with breakfast, today we're gonna do a bit of a therapy session."
"Therapy?" Lew flicked one of his ears back and frowned, before regaining his composure, "Alright, what do we have to do?"
"Well, today's mostly going to be about you. I just want to get you introduced to the rest of the group."
"Group? Up until today there was only one person here," Lew said with a glare.
"Well yeah, but now there's three new people!" Charlie cheered excitedly, "Now we can actually have a proper session!"
Lew pushed his plate out of the way and tiredly laid his head on the table. "Whatever."
…
Charlie happily trotted ahead as she led 'the gang' into a pink painted room with a circle of chairs in the center. She carried a clipboard with multiple papers on it, and a pen, presumably to take notes.
"Okay, you all can sit anywhere you like," Charlie said happily, gesturing at the chairs. She took a chair front and center as so she could hear everyone in the room, and Vaggie sat right next to her as to play referee.
Husk and Angel sat in their chosen seats. Lewis fluttered off the ground and over to his seat, stretching his wings out afterward. The 'group' was a little lackluster, as Husk was the only one aside from Angel and Lew that came to attend, bribed via alcohol.
"Alright, let's get this over with. I don't much care for talking about my 'feelings'," Lew said, adding air quotes on the last word.
"And I just don't want to be here," Husk added, taking a swig from a bottle of whiskey.
"Come on, it won't be that bad. We just want to get to know you better." Charlie smiled happily from ear to ear. Charlie's kindness was both calming and disconcerting to Lew. It was a nice change of pace, but it was Hell: anyone this nice was most likely fucking with you.
"Fine," Lew growled, grabbing one of his front legs with his wing hand, and looking the opposite direction of Charlie, "let's just get this over with."
"If it makes you feel any better, I don't really wanna hear about your feelings either," Angel added, looking the other way apathetically.
"You're not helping." Lew folded back his ears and glared at him.
"Not trying to." Angel looked at Lew with a shit eating grin.
"Hey!" Vaggie clapped with a glare to get their attention. "Let's stay focused."
"Alright," Charlie sighed. "Okay, first question: can I ask why you're in Hell?"
"Cause I was bad," Lew said matter-of-factly.
Charlie rolled her eyes playfully, "Well yeah, but what did you do that was bad?"
"Armed robbery...s." Lew scratched behind his ear nervously with his back foot.
"I'm sorry, was that more than one?" Charlie said cocking her head at him curiously.
Lew took in a deep breath before quickly flicking up his head and staring at Charlie with a glare directly in the eye. He held his gaze for a few seconds before she began to grow uncomfortable. Lew took a deep breath. He could see the innocence in her eyes.
"More than one." He said calmly.
"Okay... If you're willing, is it okay if you told us why you did them?"
Lew breathed deeply. "I was providing for someone. A uh… A child. She was just six or so years of age. She was my daughter."
"Oh, wow... And when did you die?" Charlie cocked her head at him with a sympathetic expression.
"Tuesday, January 18th, 2018, ten PM."
"Wow," Charlie throwing her eyebrows up a little in response, "That's very specific… and recent."
"Mhm," Lew replied, closing his eyes in memory, "I was… keeping an eye on the time. That day… that was our biggest heist yet."
"Our. Who were you with?" Charlie asked calmly.
"There were three of us. Me, a woman, and a man. We were robbers on the regular, but this time… this time we were robbing one of the biggest banks in the US."
"Ya." Charlie leaned in, more curious now. That face; Lew couldn't tell whether to smile or cry.
"I'll spare you the details." Lew quickly swiped his head to the side, glaring into the distance with his ears pulled back. "We came out, we were caught, we were shot. The end," Tears rolled down Lew's face as he growled his last words.
"You okay Lewey?" Charlie asked in concern.
Lewis squeezed his eyes shut, and didn't respond. He couldn't bring himself to. The way she acted, the way she cared; it was all to familiar.
Charlie was extremely concerned now; she had never had to deal with a reaction like this before. After all, Angel skimped out on details when he told her how he died; he even casually laughed it off, as if he was pleased with himself. She had never seen any demon, aside from Vaggie that is, show regret, or sadness in the slightest. "Uhm… we can take a break if you need to."
Immediately after hearing those words, Lew threw his chair to the side and flew thru the door. He wasn't thinking. All he knew was that he wanted to run; he wanted to run as far away as he could. He immediately ran toward the doors of the hotel and burst thru them, taking to the sky, and soaring off.
"Wait!" Charlie panted, as she ran thru the front doors of the hotel Vaggie and Angel tailing behind, "Wait…"
Charlie was beginning to cry at this point. Vaggie put a hand on her shoulder. Upon her doing so, Charlie flipped around and hugged her, burying her head into Vaggie's shoulder.
"I just wanted to help him…" She sobbed, her voice muffled by Vaggie's shoulder, "Why did he run away?"
"I'm sure he'll come back," Vaggie said, stroking Charlie's back in an attempt to calm her down, "I'm sure he will."
