"Cipher!" a rough voice barked from behind me. There was only one person who addressed me like that with that tone. Yup. Cade. A few years ago, when I was a kid, Cade scared the crap out of me. But by now I realized he would never - could never - follow through with his threats. Now they were just annoying.
I had reached the age where my powers were strongest about three years ago. That means I had stopped growing and stopped changing - physically that is. That's as long as I existed, I would be stuck in a scrawny , one-eyed sixteen year old's body. I say existed because it's not really living. But that's a story for another time.
Anyway, Cade tortured me even more relentlessly ever since. But just like any bully, he was jealous of something. That something just so happened to be my 'peaking' age, because before I came along, his was the youngest, even though he himself was three hundred something years older than me. He brings up other things of course, like my height (I was the shortest one here, even though I was ridiculously tall among the other people in the town), my true form (apparently triangles aren't very intimidating), and how young I looked (also not intimidating), even though the younger a demon stopped growing due to reaching the age of maximum potential, the more powerful he would be.
"Thought you didn't like it in here!" he mocked.
"I don't," I snapped. Just go away dude! Please!
"Well then why you here?"
"Because I can't frickin' cook."
"So the great Bill Cipher can't even cook?"
"Who said I was great?"
"I believe you did." He grinned maliciously, revealing his sharp triangular teeth.
"Give me one time I said that."
"Can I give you more than one time?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Just go away.'
"Sure thing, almighty one." He gave me an unnecessarily hard punch to the ribs which would probably hurt for another week or two. Luckily, he actually did leave.
"I could tell him to lay off you, ya know," Oswald offered.
"Nah, it's alright," I refused with a shrug. In truth, that would just further Cade's influences about how I was just a spoiled little brat.
"Whatever you say." He gave me what was supposed to be a friendly pat on the back, but in reality it was a back-breaking slap. I grimaced and clutched my side where Cade had punched me moments earlier.
"Yeah," I said through clenched teeth. "Thanks for the grub."
I swear I have the most boring dreams ever. Just random memories and instances of Cade bullying me in the bar.
It was the week after my birthday, and the town's paranormal activity seemed to be flaring up lately. I'd seen a few gnomes run past my house not too long ago. It was pretty unusual for them to be out in the open; they prefer to stay hidden.
Miraculously, I wasn't hungry right then. Well, I had eaten kind of a lot yesterday when Alli and her parents took me out to dinner. One reason I stopped making friends was that they and their parents always pity me and try to take care of me like I'm some sort of wounded puppy. Which, obviously, I'm not.
They took me to some all-you-can-eat buffet, which I didn't have a problem with, but it was because they thought since I was a sixteen year-old with an eyepatch who lived all alone in a huge old house that appeared to be practically falling apart at the seams and hardly ever left it, I must eat about a crumb a month or something when I'm not in school.
And then, and THEN, get this, they asked me if I wanted to stay with them for a while! Ridiculous right?!
Even more ridiculous was my answer. For some retarded reason, I agreed to it. I was going to sty at their house for two weeks, and they were picking me up today. Oh well. It definitely beat out my other option of them calling child protective services, and then I might not be able to stay in Oregon, and then bad stuff might happen.
As if on cue, a pounding knock reverberated through the room I was in. I snapped my fingers, a t-shirt and jeans suddenly covering my body instead of the tuxedo/suit thing that felt like a second skin.
In an instant I was at the door, holding it open for Alli's dad, Mr. Schaeffer. I think he was some kind of doctor.
"Nice place you get here," he said, standing in the middle of the front room and eyeing the walls and ceiling like predator to prey. Maybe he was in real estate and her mom was the doctor.
"Yeah, it's... nice," Mrs. Schaeffer announced with a sympathetic smile. I turned around and rolled my eye.
"Go get your stuff and we can go," Mr. Schaeffer told me.
"This is all I'll need," I replied, gesturing to my current outfit.
"Ya sure?" he checked.
I nodded. "Mm-hm."
"Then come on now dear," Mrs. Schaeffer said.
I sighed and began leaving. Behind me, I could hear Mr. whispering something to Mrs. Probably about me. No, definitely about me.
I saw Alli sitting in the back of the car when I got there. She stretched across the seat to unlock the door which I then opened and entered through, gently sitting down.
She stared at me strangely for a few seconds. "Aren't you going to need anything?" she finally asked, tilting her head to one side.
"Nah," I replied.
She shrugged just as her parents slid into the vehicle. Her dad jammed the key in the ignition, and the engine purred t life. We backed out of the rarely used driveway originally designed as a path for humans and horses alike.
I just had to wonder if this was going to incredibly fun or incredibly boring and pointless. Most likely the latter. Whatever. I could make this fun.
A/N: Hey childrens. I finally got to update this, so yay! Yeah, I know Cade and Bill's conversations are retarded, but I'm bored. And obviously all of you are too if you're reading this, so at least it's better than nothing. I know last chapter, I tried (and failed miserably :3 ) at using old words, but I probably overused them and misused them, so I just gave up on it. Also it took me weeks of research trying to find all the words I would need and learn how to use them properly, so there's another reason I'm not doing that anymore... Anywho, have fun with life young ones!
