15 - James | I can't believe he lives like this

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I walked into Andrew's house the next day to find him agitatedly rifling through the piles of books and papers in his room. His mom, Mrs. Andrews, had looked pleased to see me when she'd answered the door, but she had warned me that his room was an absolute mess.

And it was.

All the drawers were pulled out and emptied onto the floor. All the books in his cupboards had been dragged out and dumped on his table for sorting. Even his sheets had been ripped off as if he thought he might have lost something under the bedspread.

I knew from his file that he was quite prone to untidiness, but—I can't believe he lives like this.

Andrew sat cross-legged on the floor in the middle of it all. Open books and loose papers were strewn all over and around him. His curly hair was a wild mess, as wild as his dark eyes. His teeth dug into his soft bottom lip till it turned quite red. He looked up at the sound of the door and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was just me.

Yes, the human was relieved to see that it was a demon who had just entered their room—the irony wasn't lost on me.

'I can't find my homework anywhere,' he groaned, slumping back down.

Huh, I had actually come over here to distract him from his homework but I guess I didn't have to bother anymore. I went over to him anyway, not wanting to leave just yet; there's a chance he may still find it.

'I am quite sure you already looked everywhere around here.' I glanced about the absolutely wrecked room. 'Could it be in any of the other rooms?'

He shook his head vigorously, his fluffy, black hair bouncing against his face. 'I hadn't even unzipped my backpack till today, if it's not in my room I must've left it in school. But I'm sure I didn't,' he added morosely, 'I specifically remember packing it in my bag and I think I'm going insane. I'm imagining things. I so clearly remember packing it, and it's not there. I feel like the stuff in my room just moves around while I'm asleep. I blink for a moment and whatever was just in front of me has disappeared. And I keep getting the scent of cookies even though there are no cookies.'

Cookies.

I immediately knew who was behind this. Her. The Hell Angel. It was what I ungenerously referred to her as now.

'You probably think I'm going crazy,' he wailed, giving a little hiccup as he dramatically threw a hand over his face and flopped down on the edge of the bed.

I actually felt pretty bad for him. I'm sure the hell angel was ruining his life in more ways than I could see.

'You're not going crazy,' I sighed, walking over to sit down beside him. He just sniffled in reply, not moving from his defeated position.

I hadn't used my powers ever since I got to earth, not even mere invisibility. I had been saving them up, just in case I needed to spontaneously materialize some evil object to help with my plans. Instead, I used it to create a small packet of cookies in my pocket.

'You smell cookies because I brought cookies,' I said, shaking the packet over his face.

'Are those chocolate chip?' he exclaimed as he shot up giddily, a huge grin spreading across his face.

Of course they were chocolate chip. They were his favourite.

He happily munched on them as he kicked his legs to and fro, having sat up now that he was in a much better mood. I heard a soft purring and looked down to see The Void snuggling against the pocket of my jeans, trying to crawl its way in.

'Looks like he's warming up to you.'

I glared down at the annoying kitten and attempted to pry its claws off my denims. It clung to me even tighter and I could see little rips forming where its claws dug in.

I huffed in annoyance and gave up trying. The Void successfully poked its little head in and started coughing up a furball in my pocket. My ire made Andrew snicker for some reason, and he shoved another cookie in his mouth to stifle his giggles as I turned my glare on him.

'At least you're in a good mood now.'

He sighed and flopped back down on the bed. I rather regretted having reminded him.

'I don't know why it's stressing me out so much, you probably think I'm a lame nerd.'

'No, I know you must be under a lot of pressure. You have to perform well to keep your scholarship.'

'I- did I tell you about that? No, I don't think I mentioned it.'

'Uh, lucky guess.'

It wasn't really, I'd just read it in his file. In fact, it was the very reason why Danyel had advised me that getting him to lose his scholarship somehow would be the easiest route to take.

But, I honestly did feel as though the angel was doing a much better job than I was at distracting him from his studies and getting him into trouble.

'I suppose,' I started, 'I'm under a lot of pressure too. So, I get where you're coming from.' It wasn't really a lie.

He seemed to accept this as he stared thoughtfully at the cracks in the ceiling.

'That one looks like a bunny riding a skateboard.'

I leaned back to try and see it from his perspective. I squinted my eyes but all I could see were cracks.

'It's right there, see.'

He pressed his head against mine so that we'd be looking in the same direction, and used my own hand to trace a pattern in the air.

'Hmm, I suppose I could imagine the cracks as spider webs if I try hard enough.'

'That's actually a spiderweb you're looking at.'

'Oh.' I shuddered, discreetly glancing about to make sure there was no spider nearby. I hated the darned things.

'Are you scared of spiders?'

'What?'

I turned to him in shock, wondering if I'd heard right. Hell was full of spiders and I'd shuddered at each and every one of them. Yet, for all my seventeen years, no one had figured it out. Not my classmates, or even my mentor who saw me every day. Every day for the past seventeen years.

And yet, here was this boy who had known me for a week.

'It's okay, I won't tell anyone.'

I shook my head, aghast, and tried to move away. This was absolutely humiliating. It's bad enough to be a demon with a fear. Bad enough for the other demons to figure it out. But being so vulnerable in front of a human? Unheard of.

'It's not a big deal... James.'

He pulled me around to face him, his fingers wrapped around my wrist. His large eyes were jet-black in the dim lighting, framed by long, dark lashes that blinked in confusion at my dramatic reaction.

'I'm afraid of things too,' he muttered.

Well, it was perfectly normal for humans to be afraid of things.

I couldn't say it but I stared into his clouded eyes as I wondered what it was that he was so afraid of. It had been nothing obvious enough to make its way on to the file.

'My biggest fear,' he started, taking a deep breath, 'Is believing that there's nothing more after death. No next life and no other world. Just nothingness.'

I almost had to laugh at that. I would've if he didn't look so serious.

~~~
Comment your biggest fear; yea I just wanna know your weaknesses xD

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