Daemonophobia; The Fear of Demons

~||Tuesday Night||~

"And then, the light exploded!" I finish, then sit back and fold my hands in my lap.

"That's awesome." Mikey looks up at me from his bean bag. "So... that's why you were OK with sitting in the Cafeteria."

He muses over this and I nod. I smile and he returns it. His sea foam eyes flash through emotions, I see disbelief, trust and a plethora more. Mikey can't see demons, but he trusts me, and I love him for it.

"Yeah. You should of seen how free and open his eyes looked." As a thought creeps into my mind, I drop my smile. "But, Mikey, I'm worried. What if another demon takes Danny as its host? It might be stronger and I don't kn--"

"Gry, I think that any other demon would be a fool to try it." Mikey looks up at me, "You're learning how to deal with these things. They've learned that you're not a host and neither am I, so they'll learn that Danny isn't one either. Plus, the way you tell it, Daemons need an opening to attach to a host. Danny sounds like he closed that opening; he doesn't want his problems, so the demons can't attach to him."

"That's... true..." I mull over the thought and move to another. Finally, I decide that there's been enough talk on Daemons. I roll my head and look at Mikey with a sly smirk tugging on my lips. "You joining the basketball team? Are you going to be a Jock, makin' the ladies swoooooooon?" I giggle and Mikey rolls his eyes.

"I don't wanna make ladies swoon."
"Oh, so you're after just one, huh?"

Mikey gives me a look and I smirk. Bingo.

"Who is it?"
"I'm not telling you."

He crosses his arms over his chest and turns away from me. I leap off bed and wrap my arms around him from behind. Mikey shifts only his eyes to watch me.

"Ya gotta tell me. I'm like...your sister."

Mikey smiles, then shifts so he's facing me and gently takes my face in his hands. Suddenly, Mikey feels very close, and his eyes flutter softly with an unreadable expression.

"Exactly." His voice is soft.

He stands and leaves the room, going downstairs. I watch him go, then pounce up to follow. What was that? 'Exactly' to what?

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~||Wednesday Morning||~

The rain beats against the bus window and runs in rivets down the glass. I sit quietly and listen to the rain bounce off the metal roof. In fact, the whole bus is silent with most faces turned towards the rainy windows. The bus is cold, silent, and the rain beating down doesn't put any cheer in most of the people.

"Well, I love the rain." I whisper to myself as the bus stops at the school to release its sullen load of teens. I pull my hoodie closer to me; the rain always makes me really cold and makes me shiver a lot.

Mikey, the ever present sunlight of my life, pops open the bright yellow umbrella and we walk to the door. I breath a soft laugh as he starts humming a rather popular song about sharing an umbrella. Maybe you've heard of it? Kinda annoying, slightly repetitive, very catchy? You know you have.

We walk down the hall and part ways at the stairs. I climb the stairs alone, watching the rain fall against one glass wall of the stair case. The cold air makes me shiver. As I leave the stair case, Danny joins me in the hall.

"How ya getting along in the rain?" Danny's voice is quiet, muffled in respect for the downpour outside.

"I'm getting along well." I answer, walking alongside him toward our Algebra 1 Honors class, "The rain is nice, it makes me feel calm. Cold... but calm."

I smirk at the end and to further illustrate my point, a shiver shakes my body and makes me yawn. Danny chuckles softly, and I blush a little, but try to hide it.

"Aw, poor thing." Danny says with a large amount of sarsacm.

We've reached class by now, and are leaning against the row of lockers outside the door. I watch the rain outside the window, shoulders quivering with shivers.

Suddenly, a weight drops around my shoulders, calming the shakes. I look up at Danny, but he's looking out the window too, ignoring me. He's fighting a smirk as his arm curls gently around my shoulders. I lean gently against him, taking in the warmth of his side.

Again a shiver rolls down my spine, and I hear Danny chuckle under his breath. Slowly, he moves us till I'm in front of him, leaning my back against his chest as he leans against the lockers. He wraps his arms around me, holding his mp3 in front of us both. Gently, he graces me with an ear bud and my shivers subside as Danny holds me.

Two songs later, the bell squeals like a dieing animal, completely destroying whatever sanctuary I'd created in my mind's eye. I start to lean away from Danny, but his arms don't release. I can feel him smiling. I turn to give him a look, but he brushes his lips across my cheek before I get to.

"Aw..."

From behind me, I hear a girl coo at us, and it deepens the blush on my cheeks. I shift my eyes up to meet Danny's blue eyes and he smiles. We go into math class and the second bell grates further against my brain.

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~||Wednesday Afternoon||~

"So today, Class, I was going to have us outside but--" Thunder Crash "--But I've decided against that. But only because I don't want--" Lightning Crack "--I don't want anyone fried by lightning."

Ms. Moon finishes what she's saying with a huff as the rain turns into a massive storm. She goes on to explain we'll be doing a full-sized still life in charcoal of once of the two dresses she has in the studio.

The supplies are pasted out and the room splits into two groups, one for each dress. The girl who is host to the black wisp butterfly is in my group. It makes a queasy knot form in my stomach. Just because I casted Danny's demon, doesn't mean I can cast hers.

Halfway through class, the black smoke collects at the edge of my easel. It makes me uneasy as the wings opn and close slowly. The red eye glares at me in an un-blinking stare.

The fingers of my free hand press into my palm as they curl into a fist. Suddenly, the butterfly starts to convulse, and small pieces of black break off and disappear. This is new... very new. My wide eyes flash over to the girl and she is working smoothly with the charcoal, her eyes taking in the dress and her fingers twirling about the paper.

Her confidence seems to be the reason the Daemon is weak. . . So, a demon must feed off a feeling or and opening, like a parasite. Because her self-esteem is high today, the demon has less ground. But I canfeel it there. It still has her for a host. She's not breaking it off; it's not being casted, it's just weakening. Therefore... um... I don't know.

I shake my head as I come to the dead end. Movement from the butterfly makes me watch it, its red glaring eye pinpointed on me. A moment passes as black bits flare off it and the smoke becomes more and more faint. The butterfly, seemingly in one last effort to ruin the day, scurries onto my paper. OFF! Get off, away! Go Away!

It disperses quickly and the only things left to focus on are the rain and my artwork. A sigh of relief escapes over my lips. A slight understanding forms in my mind. Having a Daemon disperse and casting a demon are different. When it disperses it can come back. Casting breaks it off from the host. And just like a parasite with no host, the demon dies. I feel a smile spread over my face as the knowledge forms. They say knowledge is power, and I'm starting to agree.

"Class... You may go to lunch --
RRRRRIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGG
"--now." Ms. Moon rolls her eyes and the class scampers out of the room.

I dash for the door, just like I'd done each day, but James somehow manages to attach himself to my side. My already worn nerves unravel just a little more.

"Gry... are you and Danny, like..." He pauses to search for the word, but I keep my eyes straight forward, "Together?"

"Don't ask me... I don't know and I don't want to talk about it." My voice clips out, clamping down like the hammer to a gun, the next words are like the bullet, "Not to you."

With that, I duck into the crowd and lose James. As I'm walking towards the cafeteria part of me feels guilt for the harsh brush off. But the other part knows... knows that James only pities me. Ever since he noticed my eyes last year, he has only ever looked at me with pity. I don't need pity.

The rain blasting against the school hasn't let up. I find Mikey and Danny, glad for the company.

"Hey there, rain's kicked up, ain't it?"Mikey smile as I engulf him in a hug. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Danny grin and shake his head at my oddity.

"Do you think the power--
Black out. A couple screams in the dark, one or two very masculine.
"-will go out." I finish the sentence, but it's no longer a question.

The only thing that lights the room are the rain splattered windows. People mull around, fear engulfing the room as quickly as the dark had.

"Come on." Danny takes my hand, and I take Mikey's and the three of us weave our way of of the Cafeteria.

The three of us reach the gymnasium balcony, the power still out. We seem to be the only ones in the building that aren't dumbstruck by the loss of light.

"Do you think they'll let us out early?" Danny ask.

I just grin and Mikey laughs. Danny smiles and nods.

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They do.