Eyes of the Devil

“Relax, I do this all the time!”

Gerard turned his head sideways against the force of the wind- or at least, what he expected to be a powerful current of air pressing against him. Instead he felt nothing but the dizzying sensation that the ground was not where it should be.

“Do what?!” he asked in a normal tone. The kid had not shouted the words to him; he had spoken in a regular voice. But now, as Gerard studied him, he realized the boy looked more like a young teenager than a child. He seemed to be aging further by the second.

“Visit my dad!” the boy said brightly, smiling and closing his eyes, still being careful to hold on to Gerard’s hand. “I don’t get to see him as much as I want, but it’s still fun.”

Gerard returned his attention to the ground below them, slowly becoming dotted with flecks of green and brown amidst the sea of sapphire blue and wispy white clouds. He could start to pick out the forms of mountains and lakes among the colors as they neared the earth.

“Okay, here’s the fun part!” The boy was definitely a teenager now, and his attire had changed completely. His wings had grown as well, now reaching the shape and size of Gerard’s mental image of a gargoyle. Instead of simply falling flat as he had been thus far, the boy tilted forward into a nosedive and streamlined his wings along his back. Gerard was having a difficult time suppressing an urge to scream as the ground drew ever closer.

He squeezed his eyes shut just as they would have collided with the gray concrete of a city sidewalk. Instead of being flattened against the cement, he found that they continued falling as if it were never there at all. A heated breeze blew past his face, showing that he had become solid again. Their pace had also slowed enormously; now they were simply gliding down to a black abyss that Gerard could not see into at all.

“It’s alright. You’re just not used to how everything looks here yet,” the boy reassured him. “You’ll get it.”

“I really wish people would stop saying that…”

The boy laughed heartily.

“We’re not people.”

“I think I know that,” Gerard said flatly. Rather than say anything further on the subject, he waited as they floated lower and lower into the darkness. About two seconds later, the boy landed on his feet, while Gerard ended up on his knees. He decided it was just as well; he was too terrified to stand on his own anyway.

“Okay, we’re here,” the boy said with a light laugh, carefully pulling Gerard to his feet. They began walking, and soon enough the red glow of the strange river entered his vision again. His eyes adjusted to the low light within a few minutes, and he was able to see the road they were walking on a little easier. The castle was not far away, but he wasn’t exactly looking forward to the walk, either.

“Sorry I can’t just fly us there,” the boy said with a light sigh. “My dad said no.” The rest of the trip was silent, Gerard contemplating what was about to happen to him. His first and only meeting with the Devil had not been a pleasant one, and he was certainly not looking forward to a second.

Soon enough, they reached the great hall. The boy straightened the red tie he wore, set off from the rest of his more formal black attire. Gerard continued his slow pace as usual and entered the foyer, seeing it just as dark and indistinguishable as the first time he had been there.

“Welcome back, Death,” called the same smooth, melodic voice of the man he knew was there. The name sent shivers crawling up his spine.

“Hey dad,” the boy answered nonchalantly.

“I see you’ve brought someone back with you.” A strange sound entered Gerard’s ears, that of something sloshing against a hard surface, along with the scraping of a sharp object. The man paused for a moment before speaking again, and it sounded like something was blocking his voice. “Why is he here?”

“Mom said to take him with me. I don’t really know why, though,” the teenager responded. “Anything you need me to do?”

“Yes, actually.” The man swallowed audibly. “Go collect souls again.”

“But dad, I just did that last month!” the boy cried.

“I don’t care. They’re piling up, and you know what happens when too many of them are in one place at the same time.”

The boy sighed. “Fine, I’ll be back soon, then.” His face brightened suddenly. His eyes darted back and forth between Gerard and his father. “Can I take him with me?”

“Why would you want to?” the man asked condescendingly. “He’s a murderer. He causes death. He’ll only make your job more complicated.”

“I told you, I never meant for anyone to get hurt by what I did,” Gerard said as calmly as he could. He still hadn’t gotten used to the idea that he had really killed anyone.

“Ah, but is not the road to Hell paved with good intentions?” The question lingered in the air for several moments, no one willing to break the silence set by the Devil. Satisfied, he spoke again. “Take him if you really want to, Death. Whatever you do, just make sure you get him out of here before I decide his brain is worth more than he is.”

He snapped two fingers together, and a skeleton shuffled towards him, walking from behind Gerard and the boy. As it passed through the single blade of white light linking two corners of the room together, Gerard saw that the creature held an ivory bowl filled with something he couldn’t identify. It was a dark purple color, rounded on top, filling the white basin much like a balloon. The skeleton moved back into the darkness a second later, hardly giving him enough time to even see what it was.

A sickening squelch echoed from the spot the skeleton had approached, along with the ripping and tearing of what he knew must be the strange violet substance. The skeleton shuffled past them once again, this time walking the other direction. Gerard saw no balloon-like object within the different bowl it held. His eyes flickered over its pallid surface, and froze as he caught sight of two gaping black voids staring back at him, accompanied by a grinning, mostly toothless smile.

His breathing came to a halt as the realization slammed into him. He tried to back away, but he couldn’t move at all. The boy took his hand suddenly and pulled him another direction, leaving Gerard to stumble after him in numb surprise. He found himself in near total darkness once again as they traveled down a hallway, the boy walking briskly and not speaking a word to him.

He opened a door in front of them, leading to a room lit by two torches on the walls. Gerard saw a bed in one corner and what looked like a mini-fridge in another. Just like any normal teenager’s room.

“We don’t have to leave just yet,” the boy said to him, walking over to the fridge and opening it. “I never do. Hey, you thirsty?” he asked, glancing back at Gerard and holding a red soda can in one hand. Gerard shook his head once before falling back into his trancelike state.

“What…what was that?” he asked in disbelief. The boy sighed and grabbed his arm, pulling him further into the room and shutting the heavy wooden door behind him.

“He was eating,” he responded simply, opening the can and drinking from it deeply. “I’ve never tried it, but he says it’s really good.” He shrugged and took a slower sip of whatever drink he was holding. Gerard leaned against the wall, staring at the floor.

“What’s it like?” he muttered under his breath, not really caring if the boy heard the question or not.

“What’s what like?” the boy asked, walking over to him. Gerard noticed a small smear of red above his lip and decided not to ask.

“Having the two of them as parents.”

“Oh. It’s alright, I guess,” the teenager answered, shrugging and taking one final sip of the drink before tossing it into a trash can on the other side of the room. “I mean, they fight a lot, about almost everything. And sometimes I guess I wish they hadn’t separated…”

“I thought he said they were married,” Gerard said flatly, confusion clearly showing on his face. The boy managed a small, understanding smile.

“Oh, they’re not divorced. They can’t be. But they can’t stand to be near each other anymore. Well, Mom can’t stand to be near him, anyway. But I know he still loves her.” He returned to the fridge, this time taking out two cans and offering one to Gerard, who reluctantly accepted it. “It would be so much easier if they could just be in one place. Not that I don’t like flying everywhere.”

Gerard opened the soda and took a sip, making a face at its powerful bitterness. It fizzed and bubbled in his mouth, and continued doing so even after he swallowed it. Glancing at the boy, he noticed a sadness hiding behind the teen’s large eyes and chose not to press the matter further.

“So, why are you a teenager here, but only a little kid up there?” he asked instead, pointing one finger toward the ceiling as a reference. This time his question received a laugh, and he gave a half-smile as well.

“I’ve spent a lot more time down here. Dad grounds me sometimes, just for no reason…I think he’s afraid I’ll leave and go back to Mom if he doesn’t.”

“Would you?” Gerard asked, drinking from the can again. He had yet to identify the flavor, but it concerned him less and less as he got used to it.

“No,” the boy responded. “I have to do whatever they tell me. I have to listen to them.” He paused a moment, studying Gerard’s face. “Are you okay?”

He shook his head solemnly. “I’m…I’m a wreck. I feel like everything I did…everything I’ve ever done…was a waste.” Placing the can on a nearby table, he pushed his hair away from his face, leaving his fingers placed on the sides of his forehead. “I don’t know how he does it. He makes me feel so…so-”

“Insecure? Inferior?” the boy offered. He paused for a few seconds, then spoke more softly. “…Worthless?”

“Exactly,” Gerard answered. “And he shouldn’t be able to. I was always so confident about what I did… You should’ve seen it. I had just gotten off the drugs and everything…getting my life back together…” He was becoming more excited as he spoke, his eyes lighting up with renewed energy. “I could do concerts like never before. I finally realized I didn’t need anything but the crowd to get that high feeling. I was invincible.”

As soon as the words left his lips, his elated smile became part of a broken, miserable face.

“And…the worst thing…you wanna know the worst thing, kid?” he asked as his voice nearly cracked. The boy didn’t respond, only continuing to watch and listen carefully. “I…I don’t even remember…what happened.” Suddenly his voice grew angry, and he crumpled the mostly-empty soda can in one tight fist.

“How is he able to do that to me? Make me feel like that just by talking? I should be stronger than that! He can’t possibly have so much power over me!”

“His control is not absolute,” the boy stated calmly. “He only holds as much power over you as you allow. You know, you were just the same.”

“What do you mean?” Gerard questioned, looking at him quizzically. The boy shrugged.

“Well, think about it. Your words were powerful enough to influence those kids, weren’t they? Even if it didn’t work out exactly as planned, you still had control. And they were only words, just like he only uses words.” The boy suddenly slammed his own soda can into the table. “But hey, what do I know? I’m only an angel. I’m only their son. I don’t even have a real name.”

“You don’t?” Gerard asked incredulously. The boy shook his head.

“Not really. I’m the angel of death. Mom calls me one thing and Dad calls me another, so it just depends on where I am. Really…I just think of myself as Ande.”

“Andy?”

“No, Ande.”

“Isn’t that what I said?”

“You spelled it with a ‘y’. It’s spelled with an ‘e’. See, it’s just taking the first two letters of each part of my name. ‘An,’ ‘de.’ Ande.”

“Oh. Okay. Why don’t you tell them that?” Gerard asked. The boy shook his head furiously, black hair fanning out slightly.

“I couldn’t. I’m not supposed to question anything. I’d…I’d end up worse than him if I did.” He finished off his drink and tossed it in an overhand shot towards the trashcan, sinking it perfectly. Gerard knew he’d never be able to do the same and instead listlessly dropped it into the one next to his feet.

“We should probably get going.” They left the room and traveled down the dark hallway once again, with Gerard thinking about everything that had been said between Ande and his father. They seemed to be on good terms from what he could tell, but he knew there was at least a hint of resentment lying beneath the boy’s easygoing demeanor.

He began to wonder why the boy had to go collect souls. Was it because they couldn’t get to Hell – or Heaven – without him?

And the second this thought entered Gerard’s mind, a plan began formulating alongside it.

A dim light appeared within his field of vision. He glanced up towards the source. They were outside of the castle now, and he could see the beam filtering through the gray haze of clouds hovering in the sky, pointing directly at the hall they had stood in a few minutes earlier. It was no more than a thin ray, but it was the palest and purest light he had ever seen.

“What’s that?” he asked Ande, pointing at it.

“It’s a reminder,” he said simply, also gazing up at it. “It’s so he knows she’s always present, whether he thinks of her or not. Now let’s go.”

He grasped Gerard’s hand tightly and kicked off the ground, his black wings unfurling from his back as he did so. They flew higher and higher, reaching the layers of fog within seconds. Gerard took shallow breaths, inhaling the scent of rain and smoke together. He realized Ande was moving along the same path as the shaft of light, traveling towards what he assumed to be the source. His eyes began to close of their own accord as the glow brightened and blocked out anything else he could see.

They cleared the boundary almost without his acknowledgment, now rising above the gray and black shapes of city buildings. Realizing where they now were, Gerard suddenly tried to jerk his hand out of Ande’s grasp, twisting in the air and attempting to get free.

“What are you doing?!” Ande shouted at him, desperately holding on to the ends of Gerard’s fingers. He didn’t respond, finally managing to release his hand from the boy’s grip. A blast of cold air swept through his body as he plummeted back towards the earth. He landed with a sickening crunch on the black pavement, staring up into the sky as a shrinking bat-like creature disappeared into the light.