Chapter 3- "The Demon Awakens"

New York City, New York, USA

Year 2010

Elijah Miles- Age 5

Elijah was at the fifth birthday party of someone from his preschool who was his friend at the time, when he first saw Aita manifest.

He brought a present his mother had helped him buy for his friend; he had to beg her to spend some of the money she had been saving up to buy it.

Elijah's friend Finn introduced him to his older brother, Logan, his younger brother Jordan, his younger sister, Helen, his parents, and their new puppy, Wolf. They all had raven hair like his, only his was curly and theirs were straight.

Elijah was able to learn to shut out the voices that weren't real, and his mother being able to afford an apartment for the two of them now helped.

But now what was he supposed to do to shut out the voices that were?

When Elijah put the present down among the pile of presents Finn's other friends and family members brought, he felt the others staring at him, whispering about him, and giggling.

"…is that the kid whose mom got knocked up by a stranger?"

"…his clothes look pretty gross. He's probably poor."

"…what the heck's with his eyes? They're different colors!"

"…I've heard Finn say he can't stand looking at him…"

Elijah looked around at the others, and all of a sudden, his vision turned dark, and he could see fuzzy, glowing red auras surrounding the bodies of all of the other guests. He had seen these red auras before, and although his vision went dark a lot… it had always helped him perceive things he couldn't normally see. For some reason, the auras made him feel uncomfortable.

Shaking his head, he shut his eyes tight for a moment. When he opened them, his vision turned back to normal, but the auras were still there, albeit fainter.

Finn said to Elijah, "Are you okay, Elijah?"

"…yeah," Elijah lied. "My stomach's feeling weird, though."

"Don't worry," said Finn with a smile. "You'll be fine once you eat some pizza and cake. Hopefully there's still some left."

Elijah nodded, and smiled slightly at his friend.

Finn took Elijah to the dining room, only for Elijah to see that the pizza was all gone, save for a slice of pizza with pineapple on it. The cake was also mostly gone too.

"Crap," said Finn. "Sorry Elijah, looks like the food's all gone."

The others talking at the table snickered at Elijah.

The faint red auras surrounding them were growing brighter.

"Maybe you would've been able to eat more if you had gotten here on time."

"But Finn… I arrived when you said your birthday party would start at," said Elijah.

"What?" said Finn. "I said the party started at 6."

"But you told me the party started at 7 PM."

"Are you sure you heard me right?"

"Yeah…"

The others kept giggling.

"You're silly, Elijah. Well, there's a slice of pineapple pizza and a small slice of cake left if you want it."

Elijah looked at the pizza slice, and his face contorted. He hated pineapple on pizza.

"Do you not want it? I thought you were my friend, Elijah."

Then Elijah remembered what his mother told him; that it was considered proper manners to take whatever his hosts might offer him.

Elijah quickly ate the slice of pizza while he could still stomach it. He looked across the table from him. A girl with blonde hair like his mother's–only said girl's hair wasn't curly–was staring at him. Unlike the others, she wasn't laughing at him or whispering about him. She also didn't have the red aura around her.

"That's June," said Finn. "She's always really quiet. But all the boys like her, including my older brother Logan and his friend Hayden."

"Isn't Logan nine years old, though?"

"Yeah, why?"

Elijah's face contorted; for some reason, he immediately thought of his mother's creepy older landlord who always hit on her.

"That's really old," said Elijah. "And she looks like she's still in preschool like us."

"What's your point?"

Not wanting to talk about his living situation, Elijah looked away. "I'm not sure… Never mind."

"You're silly, Elijah," said Finn. Finn always said that to him for some reason. "Come on, we're going to head out to my parents' indoor pool."

"Your parents have a pool? One that's inside their house?" Elijah said with wide eyes.

"Yeah. Why?" said Finn. "Does your mom not have a pool inside her house?"

Elijah didn't know how to respond. His mother's apartment was tiny and consisted of just two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. This house felt massive in comparison.

"Well, I guess it's because you don't have a dad," said Finn.

Finn wasn't entirely wrong when he said that; Elijah never knew his father.

"What does that have to do with an apartment?"

"My parents both have to work to afford a house this big, and they both have to work hard. They say that if someone can't afford a house, then they're likely too lazy to work hard."

Elijah frowned for a moment; his mother worked multiple jobs. She was the hardest working person he knew.

"But it's probably because you only have a mom, not because your mom is lazy."

Elijah's frown went away after Finn said that.

"All right, can I eat some cake before we head to the pool?"

"Bring it with you," said Finn. "June said she wants to say something to you."

Elijah said, "What does she want to say to me?"

Finn smiled. "She said it's a surprise."

"Um… okay."

Elijah served himself the last sliver of cake, and ate a forkful of it. It tasted delicious; the vanilla butter cream frosting and the ice cream filling was unlike anything he had ever eaten before.

Finn took Elijah to the pool. Most of the other kids were playing in the pool. June was waiting for him on the edge of the shallow end, kicking her feet in the water and looking at her reflection.

Elijah ate another bite of his cake. "Is your name June?"

June looked at Elijah's reflection in the pool.

"Finn said you wanted to say something to me."

June said to Elijah, "Don't trust Finn."

"What? Why?"

"He and his brothers and sister are bullies."

"Bullies?" said Elijah. "But Finn's my friend. He's nice to me."

"He's tricking you," said June. "My mom told me that there's two types of bullies… the ones who are mean to you in plain sight, and the ones who pretend to like you, all while being mean to you behind your back. And she says you have to stay away from both."

Elijah frowned. "Then why don't you stay away from them?"

June didn't respond.

Elijah said, "How do I know you're not the one tricking me?"

June looked upset at this. "I'm not tricking you!"

"Finn's my friend. I don't know you. So, I trust him over you—"

As Elijah left June and went to look for Finn, Finn pushed Elijah to the floor, and Elijah's face squished his piece of cake. Getting up, his face was bruised and covered in frosting.

The other kids laughed at him.

Getting up, Elijah looked at Finn, who was laughing.

"Why did you do that, Finn?"

"It's your eyes," said Finn, "and that weird scar on your neck. I can't stand them. They always freak me out."

"Then… then why did you become friends with me?" said Elijah.

Then he looked at June, who was sitting next to him; she was covering her mouth with her hand.

Elijah looked back at Finn. His red aura was growing extremely bright now. "Were you tricking me this whole time?"

"On top of that, you got me the wrong video game."

"But it's the one you said you wanted! Metal Gear Solid 6!"

"I said I wanted the collector's edition!"

"But that one was too expensive…"

"Yeah, it is for you. Why should I be friends with a poor weirdo like you when you can't even give me anything I want?" said Finn.

Elijah started to cry while the others laughed at him.

"I trusted you!"

"Because you're an idiot," said Finn. "Maybe the reason you and your mother are poor is due to having tiny brains, not because you're lazy."

Jordan said, "Here's our present to you, freak," as he placed a toy bucket over Elijah's head and pushed him into the pool.

Elijah gasped as he came up for air. He couldn't see anything inside the bucket, but he could hear laughing all around him through the water in his ears.

Then Elijah had a terrifying vision.

He saw himself strapped to a metallic bed in a strange bright room with glowing walls. Someone stuck a drill as tiny as a needle inside his head, and it felt like his brain was being sucked out of his head. Then he saw that the needle was connected to a machine and a set of wires connected to a body that was shaped like a person, only it was made of metal.

Elijah made a demonic-sounding scream as the other kids pushed his head underwater; if they had heard its terrifying sound, they would've stopped at that point.

Then as he became lightheaded, he saw that his body in the vision had changed to that of an adult's with heterochromic eyes like his, but different other features.

Then the body in the bed changed back to his own, and the adult looked over him. The strange man began to speak in a bizarre language unlike any he had ever heard, but what was even more bizarre was that Elijah could understand every word.

"This is the room where my mind was separated from my natural body," said the man in the strange language. "The fifth experiment… Meant to save my race, and yours, from catastrophe."

As Elijah started to forget about what was happening around him, he said in the language, "Who are you?"

The man laughed, and said, "Aita. And I'm a part of you, Elijah. The worst part of you."

"Those parasites are about to drown you, Elijah. You can't let them. You're a Sage; you're better than all of them. Your bloodline is superior to theirs."

"A… Sage?"

The man laughed. "You'll come to understand in time. Soon we're going to be the best of friends. Now it's time for your mind to return to your body for the time being. Rise up out of the machine, Elijah. Bring me above water so I can show you something."

Elijah then came back to reality; his lungs were burning. He pushed the kids holding his head underwater away, came up above the water, and pulled the bucket off of his head.

Elijah quickly swam toward the edge of the pool and pulled himself out, coughing up water.

Elijah looked at the kids around him, laughing. Their red auras were glowing brighter than ever.

The man, Aita, stood over him above the pool, and grinned. Elijah went wide eyed.

"How are you here?"

He said to Elijah, "Because I'm real, Elijah. Like I said, I'm a part of you."

Shutting his eyes, for a moment, Elijah said, "No… you're not real. You can't be."

Yet the man persisted no matter how much Elijah tried to shut him out. "Your Eagle Vision is a sign that you possess the Sixth. You can perceive knowledge—time itself—thanks to me. See that red glow around the other children? That's knowledge that indicates that they're not people, they're parasites. Tools meant to be used by you, by us."

Elijah looked at the other children in confusion.

"What's he saying?"

"He's speaking in some sort of foreign language I've never heard of."

"It sounds demonic."

"What a creep."

"Why did Finn invite him here?"

Aita offered Elijah his hand.

Elijah grabbed Aita's arm, and Aita pulled Elijah up onto his feet.

"You are real," said Elijah, this time in English.

"Now you know the truth," said Aita.

"What's wrong with you?" said Finn.

Elijah turned around to look at Finn.

"Why were you speaking like a demon?"

Elijah looked back to where Aita was standing, only to find he was gone. Elijah then looked back at Finn.

"You're even more of a weirdo than I thought," said Finn. "Are you possessed?"

Elijah frowned.

"My parents are Christian. They say that demons aren't allowed in our house," said Finn. "Maybe I should have my parents and older brother exorcise you so I can get rid of the demon."

The other children laughed and chanted, "Exorcise him!"

Elijah looked at Finn. Now his aura had changed from red to gold and was so bright it was practically blinding him.

Elijah also noticed that Finn's dog, Wolf, was barking and growling at him.

"Oh, and by the way, Elijah? When I said your mother wasn't lazy, I was lying."

Elijah grimaced, and gritted his teeth.

"Stop talking about my mother like that."

"Oh yeah?" said Finn. "Make me."

Aita then came back and put his hand on Elijah's shoulder.

"Aita?" said Elijah. "What does the gold aura mean?"

"It means he's the worst kind of parasite," said Aita. "The red ones are ones you can hurt if you feel like it. But the gold ones… are ones you have to hurt."

"You're saying I have to hurt him?"

"He tricked you, Elijah," said Aita. "And it doesn't matter. He's beneath you. He's a parasite. He doesn't deserve the life he has. He deserves to bow down to you, be your slave. After all… you're a demigod. A cross between a human… and an Isu."

"An Isu?"

"Hey!" said Finn, snapping his fingers at Elijah. "I said stop talking like a serpent!"

Elijah frowned.

"How do I hurt him, Aita?"

"Start by curling up your hands…" said Aita as he gently grabbed Elijah's hands and curling them up into fists.

"I said stop it if you know what's good for you, you freak!"

"Then count to three…"

"I'm warning you, Elijah!"

"Skip to three immediately, and when you reach three, beat him with them until he can't stand up."

Elijah looked at Finn behind his mess of curly black hair.

Then Elijah started to count.

"That's it, Elijah. It's time I exorcise you—"

"Three."

Elijah then socked Finn hard in the face.

Finn fell backwards onto the floor. Everyone's laughing stopped instantly.

Elijah stood over Finn, his heterochromic eyes glaring at Finn with a terrifying, emotionless look.

"You jerk—" yelled Finn.

Elijah then stomped on Finn's chest. Finn screamed.

Elijah then got on top of Finn, and started raining fists on his face, his eyes wide open, his gaze unrelenting.

Finn started to scream as his face became bruised and his nose and lips started to bleed.

The other kids started to scream.

"Help!" croaked Finn.

The other kids started to get out of the pool and approach Elijah.

"You hurt the birthday boy, demon!" yelled one of the kids.

Elijah got up, and turned toward the other children. Their red auras were still there.

As the other children began to attack him, Elijah was able to beat the rest of them up with Aita's advice until, despite taking some hits himself, he was the last one standing.

He looked at the other children lying on the floor, and then turned back toward Finn.

"You're a monster…" said Finn. "What- what are you?"

Breathing heavily, Elijah grabbed Finn by the back of the head, dragged him toward the pool, and threw him in.

Coming up for air, Finn said to Elijah, "Elijah, please stop! I'm- I'm your friend!"

"You tricked me," said Elijah. "You're not my friend. You're a bully. A parasite."

Elijah grabbed Finn by the neck, and began to choke him as he forced his head underwater.

"Elijah?" said a voice outside the pool.

Elijah ignored the voice and continued to drown Finn.

"Elijah!" shouted the voice again.

Elijah heard Aita say, "Ignore her, Elijah. She's a parasite too, just like the others."

"Her?"

"Elijah, STOP! You're going to kill him!"

Elijah looked over to where the voice was coming from.

It was June. She still lacked a red aura.

"I have to hurt him for what he did to me!"

"No you don't!" yelled June. "You defended yourself. That's enough. Hurting him for fun won't solve anything. It just means you're a bully, just like him. But if you kill him… you're worse than a bully… you're a psychopath!"

"A psychopath?" said Elijah.

Elijah looked at June. She looked extremely scared.

Aita said to Elijah, "Ignore her, Elijah. He deserves to die. And she'll be next."

Elijah looked at June again, and her lack of an aura.

He then looked at Finn, and released his grip on his neck.

Finn came up for air, and gasped, coughing out water.

Elijah dragged Finn out of the water, where Finn was coughing up water and blood, and bawling.

Elijah looked at Wolf, who then tried to bite Elijah and scratch him with his paws.

Logan came into the pool room. "What the hell's going on! I heard screaming—" said Logan before he looked at Elijah standing over a bruised and bloodied crying Finn, who was lying half-conscious on the floor.

Furious, Logan curled up his fists.

"You hurt Finn… and Wolf… and all the other kids… you crazy little piece of SHIT!"

Logan socked Elijah hard in the face, knocking him to the floor and bumping his head against the side of the pool. Elijah blacked out for a second.

When the weird dark shapes clouding his vision disappeared, Elijah looked up at Logan, who had a gold aura surrounding him, along with another boy standing next to him who was likely his age. He had blonde hair in a crew cut.

Elijah tried to get up, only for Logan to hit Elijah in the stomach, and then stomp on him as he fell to the ground.

"Logan, Hayden, STOP!" yelled June.

"What are you going to do about it, you little bitch?" yelled Hayden.

"Enough, you two!" yelled Logan and Finn's parents as they entered the pool room. They said to Elijah, "Call your parents to pick you up. And never set foot in our house again unless you want to end up in juvie, brat."

Spitting out blood, and wiping his mouth, Elijah said, "Where's your phone?"

"Use your own damn phone!"

"I don't have one."

"Then you can walk home, brat! Your parents should be ashamed of you. You ruined our son's birthday!"

Elijah said nothing as Finn's parents took him out of the pool room.

Elijah looked back at Finn lying on the ground, then a terrified June, as he was taken away.

Elijah's mother, Tori, told Elijah he did nothing wrong after he explained what happened.

But after Elijah explained to her what he saw in his visions, and talked about the man, Aita, she ended up using some of their Medicaid to pay for a therapist to see him.

His therapist said to Elijah, "So you're saying this friend of yours is named Aita?"

"He's not a friend," said Elijah. "The more he talks to me, the more my head hurts… the darker my thoughts become."

"And this… Aita… do you see him outside of your thoughts sometimes, as if he's actually right next to you?"

"Yes…" said Elijah, "but I don't think he's really there."

"But he's real to you."

"Yes," said Elijah. "He says he's a part of me."

"What else does Aita say he is?"

"He… he says he's a member of a precursor race called the Isu… One that created humans as a slave race… He called me a 'Sage', a reincarnation of him… His consciousness is embedded in mine… using a technology the Isu developed to help them survive after the Toba catastrophe wiped them out."

"After they died, they were perceived by the humans as gods over time due to misinterpretations of their stories across generations. Aita is the Etruscan name for Hades. He's part of the llluminat caste, which consisted of the Isu that were believed to be the Greek and Roman gods."

"I see…" said his therapist as she wrote something in her notepad. "Elijah, you have to understand that Aita isn't real. I believe you have something called dissociative identity disorder… something that's a result of trauma experienced during early childhood. It means your personality has split into multiple, in this case, at least two… personalities that can manifest at any time… Sometimes they talk to each other inside your head, and sometimes they appear to manifest outside in the real world, as if they are like a real person. But they're not. You merely developed Aita as an idea to help keep your mind safe from the trauma inflicted on you at that birthday party."

"But… Aita doesn't want to keep me safe…" said Elijah, as he began to tremble. "He hates me. He likes to hurt me."

"Does he like to hurt others, too?"

"He- he does…" said Elijah. "He says he wants me to hurt them."

"How many others does he want you to hurt?"

Elijah trembling got even worse.

"Everyone," he said.

His therapist frowned. "Elijah, you must know that this Aita, he may not be real… but he is a threat to others… He's a psychopath, and if you listen to him too much, you'll become a psychopath too. Hurting others is bad, and will only get you into serious trouble later on in life. That's the last thing you or your mother want."

Elijah looked at his mother, and his eyes lowered. "I know." He then asked his therapist, "How do I get him out of my head?"

"That's a good question, Elijah," said his therapist. "To be honest, I don't have much of a useful answer, as research into your particular disorder is very new, and limited. Many practitioners don't even think DID is real, and that those who claim to have it are merely faking it."

"But I'm not faking it!" said Elijah. "Aita's real… or at least he seems real."

"I believe you, Elijah," said the therapist. "The best advice I can give you is to try your best not to listen to Aita. Block him out of your thoughts like you do with the other imaginary voices you hear. Especially when he says to hurt others."

Elijah nodded, and said, "All right, I'll try my best."

"Good," said his therapist. "In the meantime, I think it's best you keep seeing me. I personally recommended to your mother an antipsychotic medication for you, but seeing that she said it'd be hard for you to afford it…"

"It's all right," said Elijah. "I'll try to cope without it."

"I can tell you're a good person, Elijah," said his therapist, "especially due to how much you love your mother. What those children did to you was scary. But you have to try and overcome your trauma. Maybe then, Aita will go away."

Elijah nodded, and said nothing in response.

"Thank you for seeing us, Tricia," his mother said to his therapist. "We'll see you in a month." She then handed the therapist her credit card to the therapist to pay for the session.

On the taxi ride home, Elijah said to Tori, "I'm sorry, mother. About everything. I know now that you can't afford this."

"It doesn't matter, sweetheart," said his mother. "Money isn't important. What's important to me is that you're happy. As long as these therapy sessions help you feel better, then they're worth it."

"Thank you, mother," said Elijah. "For everything."

"You're welcome, sweetheart," said his mother. "Let's go get some dinner."

Elijah nodded, and then looked out the taxi's window through the rainy streets of Manhattan.

He looked at his reflection briefly, and saw Aita instead. Looking at his hands, they had a glowing red aura around them.