"Why are we at the library?"
"This town might not have a lot of shit regarding literal angels and demons. But if they have anything, it'll be in here." You shove your door open and climb out. Alicia follows behind you, glancing up at the library as you both walk in. "Come on, let's check downstairs."
You gather a few strange looks as you enter and descend the stairs. Alicia stands out with her attire next to your pale blue diner uniform. You branch off once downstairs, aiming to cover as much ground as you can. But the library doesn't exactly have much regarding it. There are some D&D books and, of course, bibles. But nothing directly supernatural related. Not a guidebook. Not even children's books.
The closest you get are the romance and horror novels. You haven't checked in with Alicia for a while so it's possible that she might've found something. As you pivot you realized you haven't heard anyone in a while.
You stop in the middle of an aisle, bookcases towering over you on either side. There is a chill down your spine and your heart skips a beat. No way. Not when Alicia is here. The farthest she can possibly be is upstairs. You can yell and she'll hear. But if you yell you put everyone at risk. If you yell, more than just Alicia will rush downstairs. More than just Alicia will fall victim to Kester.
His footsteps are quiet this time. They sound human. Barefoot, too. Light against the thin carpet lining the floor. Getting closer and closer as your body shakes. You have no weapon. You can't turn and look, can't fight. You can only close your eyes and run.
"Chris was braver than you. He looked." His voice is like a saw blade pressed to your jugular. "Go ahead, run. I love hide and seek. Chris did too."
The one thing you have to your advantage compared to last time is sound. If you can't make any, then neither can he.
You run, eyes closed, hand on the bookcase next to you. It slows you down. But it tells you when to turn. You manage one turn running down another aisle. Through the panic and the fear, you try to remember the layout of the library. But it won't come. Every time you try to picture it, it's erased by the approaching footsteps.
He snags your shirt, untucking and tearing the bottom. You whimper as the claws scratch your back, but you sprint around another corner. Bathrooms. You push into the first door you find and rush to lock it. You know how gross it is, but you jump into the first stall and lock the door, and as Kester bangs on the door, you slide along the ground to the next one. Locking that door and move to the next.
You get four out of the five locked and slide back into the second. You stand with your feet on the toilet just as the lock gives out and the door jerks open. You close your eyes and hold your breath, hands on the walls of the stall, as a claw drags along the front of the doors. You jump when the door to the fifth stall is shoved open, nearly breaking off its hinges as it hits the side. It creaks as Kester hums, and it feels like those nails are dragging down your back.
"I can smell you." His footsteps are louder on the tile. "Through the shit and the piss. I can smell your fear, your hopelessness."
He stops outside your stall and you pray he's not looking through the massive cracks. It's your only giveaway and if he is, you won't know. You won't dare to open your eyes.
"It smells delicious."
He is right outside your door, claws dragging along it. You hold back your sob as your arms ache and your knees shake.
"Think that's just me, Kester. How sweet." Alicia's voice is far, but close enough. You almost laugh. "Piss off."
"You need to do better, Forgotten. Or else you'll lose this one too."
"I said piss off." There is a small step forward. An edge to her voice.
"Or what? Hm? You can't do anything" You could hear Kester's grin. "This bitch is fair game."
"Yeah, and you're overstaying your welcome." Another step forward. "Go."
"Don't get too attached to this one, Alicia." He licks something. A blade maybe. The sound is revolting. "I plan on bathing in her blood after breaking her."
The footsteps retreat and the bathroom door shut. Hard. You still don't open your eyes. Still don't take anything more than shallow breaths. Your hands are slippery on the walls and your knees are locked to keep you crouched.
"He's gone. You're safe." She knocks on your stall door and you jump, a little gasp leaving you before you finally open your eyes.
It takes you a second to move off the toilet and unlatch the lock. Alicia is tense and stone-faced when you open the door. But when her eyes fall on you she frowns. Her jaw clenches and she reaches out. You flinch thinking she was going in for a hug. But when her hand fall to your shoulder, you relax under the touch.
"You okay?"
You nod. A lie. Alicia lets you have it.
"I didn't see you go back downstairs. I'm sorry." She squeezes your shoulder before her hand drops. "I won't slip up like that again. I'll stay within eye shot."
"It's fine." You weren't looking at her. You clear your throat. "Let's go."
"Sara, stop." Alicia grabs your wrist, but she doesn't turn you.
You pull away from her and stalked out of the bathroom. You stop as you round the corner and wait until you hear Alicia's footsteps, and then you continued on. Alicia was three steps behind you all the way out to your car.
"Alright. I'm driving home, so just…close your eyes. Relax." Alicia swipes your keys from you and holds them out of reach. She motions to the car and you narrow your eyes as you retreat to the passenger seat. You only give in because Alicia is right, you are tired. Otherwise, you weren't going to purposefully let her drive your car again.
"Alright, fine. Let's go."
Once you are home you walk over to the kitchen to reheat double portions of leftovers. In the living room Alicia has pulled her jacket off to take a seat. Her eyes light up at the sight of the food and you pass her the plate as you sit beside her.
"I want a weapon."
Alicia chokes on her bite. "What?"
"I want a weapon. I felt useless today."
"You hid well."
"If something's trying to come kill me I want to be able to at least wound it in the process." You take a bite of meatloaf. "Is there anything special that'll fuck with him?"
"Sharp things. If you're just looking to harm, it comes down to that. Kester's still blood and flesh. Clean that blade from Chris's box and you're good." She licks her fingers. "Now. Besides that, we have to talk about what we want to do next."
You laugh. That was such a general statement. What are your next steps in taking down a demon that seemed to be after you? Oh, and that's the same demon that presumably killed your friend and you had no idea how to kill, trap, or redirect it.
This was great. Really Fucking Hysterical.
You clear your throat. "As for Kester I'm serious about killing him."
Alicia peers up from the near-empty plate and cocks a brow. "You really want to kill him?"
"If he really had something to do with Chris's death…" Your voice is strained. "Then I want to fucking burn him."
"I can't help you there, Sara. I can protect you from him, but I can't…there's a line I can't cross."
"I figured." You nod. You hadn't exactly thought about what role Alicia would play in said killing, but you already wanted to do it yourself. Even if you only have a fraction of the expertise required to do it. "I don't mind doing it myself."
"Are you sure?" She sets the plate aside and leans back on her hands. "Because that's pretty, uh…big. Killing something, demon or otherwise."
You look up at her with a bit of disbelief. A soft laugh leaves you, and you shake your head, an annoyed, floaty feeling pushing through you. Alicia says your name softly and reaches out, probably to touch your arm or your shoulder. But you shove her hand away.
"You're shitting me, right? That's big?" You motion to the wounds littering your body, wincing at the one on your back, and smack her shoulder. "Do I need to recount everything that's happened in the last twenty-four hours alone? Do I need to hold a mirror up to your face?"
You stand up, throw your arms out, and glaring down at Alicia. "A demon is trying to kill me while I have an angel, quite literally, watching over me. I think that's pretty fucking big, Alicia." You run your hands over your face and blow out an exasperated breath.
You laugh, tears welling up as you start to pace. You want to run. To flee and pretend none of this is happening. But you have bags of bricks tied to your ankles and you are stuck at the bottom of the river.
"Sara." Alicia sits forward and puts her elbows on her knees. Looking up at you as you just shake your head.
"Stop. I'm not…" You ran your hands over your face and grab the empty plate, pivoting to walk towards the kitchen. "You have a promise to protect me. I'll take what I can get. Sorry."
Trying not to cry as you wash your plate and silverware, listening to the laughter from TV in the living room. Each one was like a punch to the chest, and you lean against the of you say anything as you went into the bathroom and brush your teeth.
"You can stay up, but I have to try and get some rest before work tomorrow." Your voice is soft as you climb into bed. You roll over and pull the covers high. Curling up into a ball and sniffling, willing sleep to come as you feel exhaustion set in. It did. Only after you hear Alicia sit up and move to the bedroom. With your eyes close, you hear her getting settled on the floor to finally let sleep take you.
A breath pushes out of you when your back slams onto the bench. Staring up at nothingness, your hands are shaking as you fight with the reality that Chris is gone. You saw him get put into the ground. Your best friend was gone. Everything was gone.
The ground shakes beneath you causing you sit up in alert. Even off your feet, you feel like you were going to fall. Two freezing hands grabbed onto your ankles, long nails digging into your skin until blood is drawn. You know the tug is coming before the hands move and you reach out for anything. The air is stolen from your lungs as you are jerked down onto the floor as an unforgiving grip on your ankles steals you away. Your scream echos out into such potent nothingness that it feel like an arrow of dread has pierced your whole body goes cold and that darkness suddenly envelopes of your heart stops and an unimaginable pain courses through your veins.
"Hey."
You jerk awake, huffing, crying. Two hands on your shoulders, those familiar hazel eyes barely visible in the darkroom. It was too dark. It was too dark and too cold. You could feel your heart in your chest as you nearly knock your lamp over reaching for it.
Alicia gets to it first, turning the light on and making you wince at the sudden brightness.
"Hey, you're okay." Alicia grabs your face and makes you look at her. "You're here. Totally fine. Totally safe." You blow out an uneven breath and drop your eyes to Alicia's collar. "Do you…want to talk about it?" Alicia's thumbs twitch on your cheeks.
You sniffle but don't look up, just follow the gold chain up and down around her neck, clearing your throat and try to keep your voice even. " I was being pulled down into the ground. And it fucking hurt. There was so much pressure and it was so fucking cold and I couldn't move. I felt like I was dying. I felt…is….is that…"
Is that what Chris felt?
You lay down and pull the covers back up, turning your back to Alicia. She sighs as you clamp your eyes shut. But she slides back to the floor.
"Try to get some more rest, Sara." She clears her throat and closes her eyes. "I'll wake you up if you have any more nightmares."
"Night, Alicia," you murmur. It wasn't like you had another other option.
"Night."
You don't have another nightmare when you fall asleep. But you don't have any dreams either.