Dark Silence

19 days

The cell phone on the bedside table was vibrating from time to time, trying to wake its owner up, but Darnell was deeply asleep as usual, enveloped in the drunken dope. He finally opened his eyes only when the day turned to noon. He heard the last call of the phone and took the buzzing device. Darnell squinted his eyes and hardly saw that it was mister Ewing calling. The man sighed and waited patiently for the call to end, as the boss tried to contact him usually only to yell at. And Darnell saw no point in listening to his tirades twice because Ewing always repeated the same topic in person. When the screen finally went out, Darnell slowly swiped through the missed calls from the boss. He found out in surprise that there were almost a dozen of them, and several messages, all from Cyril. The demon knew that Darnell didn’t like the phones much, so preferred to send all important news in the text form. And, of course, he did completely ignore Darnell's request to stop their communication and any connections. Even open threats did not work. The man began to read the messages one by one.

“Ewing calls for you to the office, he shouts so loudly. Ha-ha, you’re f****d!"

Darnell screwed his face up and deleted the message. Cyril knew how to cheer. Ewing was probably informed about yesterday's incident, and the co-workers surely spelled out the details the way it was beneficial for them, turning Darnell into a heartless beast.

“Ewing gathered the girls together for a meeting. What did I miss yesterday? They don't tell me!”

After deleting that message too, Darnell opened the last one and laughed.

“The boss is yelling at everyone, I'm leaving! If you survive this, don't try to look for me in the office!”

While the man was thinking over the reasons why Ewing had released his anger at the people around him, a text message came from the boss himself.

"Get to the office, now!"

Darnell threw the phone onto the bed and sighed. No matter how much he wanted to hide from the scolding today, he will anyway have to show up at the office and report for yesterday's emergency. He got out of bed, dressed hastily, and went into the room. To his surprise, Madeleine had already gotten up and was also dressed.

“Well, since you’re awake…” Darnell said thoughtfully, looking at her, “could you come with me and wear off Ewing's anger with yourself at least a little bit? Cyril said he is in rage there.”

Madeleine didn’t show much joy at the request. Still, she sighed and began to gather herself.

“You'd have to go anyway,” Darnell grinned, watching her fuss. “Until I fix the balcony door, I won't leave you here alone.”

 ***

The office greeted Darnell and Madeleine with stony silence, broken only by the hysterical tapping of keyboards. The man noted that the new glass had already been placed into the door. Passing through the open space, he felt glances full of anger and hatred boring a hole in his back. Darnell left the girl in his office and went to the boss. He hesitated for a while in front of the door with the plate containing the name and duty of Ewing on it, rolling his eyes and sighing, trying to prepare for the storm that awaited him. Eventually, Darnell knocked and went in. Ewing glared at him from under knitted brows and pointed to an empty chair in front of his table.

“Sit.”

Darnell sat hesitantly in the chair and stared expectantly at the boss. He thought he would be swept out of the door by a soundwave of shouts, but Ewing was only gloomily finishing writing some paper while his subordinate waited. Darnell twisted the ring on his finger nervously and looked around the room. The walls were covered with diplomas and certificates given to Ewing for various merits. Between them, a dark brown square wall clock with yellow hands and numbers that showed that the time was over 1 p.m. tried to squeeze.

“Late again?” Ewing interrupted his meditative gaze.

"I wasn’t actually in a hurry," Darnell shrugged. He would anyway be scolded now, so he didn’t care for the scale of the scandal. The boss snorted at this remark and handed him some paper.

“Here, read this.”

“What is it?” Darnell asked, taking the paper and looking through it quickly. He grasped the main lines and general content and gasped with indignation. “What? Is this a complaint?! On me?”

"A collective complaint," Ewing nodded calmly.

“This… this is…” Darnell's hands trembled with anger, and he could hardly contain himself not to rip the piece of paper to shreds. “This is a collective delation, even a slander, not a complaint! They didn't tell you?..”

“I've already figured everything out, calm down,” his boss interrupted him as Darnell tried to read the document more thoughtfully. When he reached the list of signatories, he got stunned when he saw Evvy's name.

“Even Evangeline signed… how could it be…” He put the paper down and looked at the boss in confusion, seeking his support. Ewing sighed deeply, and a regretful expression appeared on his face.

“They just pressed on her. When I read it, at first I wanted to fire you…”

“These…” Darnell stopped short, almost cursing, “they wrote that I was drunk, but that's a lie! And that I attacked Evvy…”

“I asked her how it was, but she doesn’t remember anything. And then Hector came to see me.”

“He came?” Darnell was genuinely surprised.

“Yes. Hector told me what he saw. And then I realized that these... what did you call them?”

“Hens…” Darnell lowered his eyes guiltily and stuck the paper on the edge of the boss's desk, with the text side down, not wanting to see it again. Ewing chuckled good-humouredly.

“Yeah, well, they really slandered you. For this, I fined each of them. For denunciation and incompetence. And also they put the glass into the door at their own expense. The only thing that I really didn't like about this whole situation is your complete inability to make contact with people. If you behaved differently, if you initially formed a different general impression about yourself, they would hardly ever think of organizing something like this against you.”

Darnell couldn't believe his ears. Did someone from the whole office really decide to figure out how everything was that day? But Hector's act surprised him most of all. He used to think that this demon would not lift a finger, even if Darnell was being killed in front of his eyes, but he came to stand up for him.

“I'll give you a small bonus this month for the quick response and situational identification,” Ewing added. “Well, and today, so be it, you can be free. Just keep in mind, this does not free you from the weekly report!”

“But I have just written it,” Darnell moaned, leaning back in the chair.

“Do not whimper!” Ewing snapped at him. “If you know how to define demons inside girls - learn already how to write reports about this! That’s it, you are free to go, there is no more good news for you today!”

“Those that I’ve heard would be enough for a few days in advance,” Darnell replied and left the office still being stunned.

He looked at the girls, who glanced back angrily and frowningly at him. Of course, anyone would have been mad because of the fine and the mishandled villainy that was planned so well. Darnell chuckled.

“Nice glass you’ve put in here I must say. I like it,” he grinned wider looking at their faces turning red with anger, and went to his office to get Madeleine and to go home together.

***

Darnell noticed from a distance that some piece of paper was sticking out of his door. He pulled it out and curiously unfolded the sheet that was folded in half. Madeleine tugged at his sleeve, demanding to show what was there.

“This is the name of the cafe we’ve been in,” Darnell said in surprise. “The date, tomorrow. And time - 10 a.m. This must be Agnes being crazy again.”

Darnell turned to the neighbor's apartment and knocked. A few moments later, the door opened a little, and Agness looked out into the hall.

“Hi,” she muttered, looking at Darnell.

“Found this at the door. Is this your doing?” he asked, showing the sheet. The girl took it and read it in surprise. After a moment, genuine despair flashed across her face.

“Someone made a date with you?! How come!”

“Wasn’t this you?” Darnell wondered as he took the note.

“No, not me,” Agnes said sadly.

“Weird, then who was it,” the man said thoughtfully, turning back to his door.

“So you... will you go?..” the girl asked carefully.

“Hmm... I'll think about it. Not many people know where I live. I'd better find out which one it is.”

“By the way,” Agnes caught his attention, “why doesn't Madeleine appear online? We used to talk before, but now it’s the second day that she’s offline. Are you dragging her with you everywhere so much, or what?”

The man threw a displeased glance at her and answered shortly:

“She’s on an internet diet.”

“Oh, okay then,” Agnes said quietly, looking anxious, and closed the door while Darnell opened his one with the key. He heard out of the corner of his ear, how a desperate cry "Why, was it allowed like that?!" came from her apartment.

Darnell chuckled and went to his apartment. He slammed the door behind Madeleine, and thoughtfully examined the paper once more. It was a plain small sheet, folded in half, and with text printed on it. Just in case, the man tried to look at the light at the paper but still did not notice anything unusual in it.

“I haven’t had such a mess yet,” he commented on the note and threw it on the table. Madeleine came over and took the sheet so she could examine it for herself. Repeating the same steps as Darnell, she waved her head at him. “Probably, I'll go tomorrow, why not. A cafe is a crowded place, which means that I will be safe. And you will stay here.”

Madeleine nodded in agreement and sat down on the sofa to play on the tablet, immediately losing interest in the piece of paper.

The rest of the day Darnell had to fiddle with the irritating latch. He barely had time to draw runes around the balcony door and window outside before dark for additional protection of his home. After spending another couple of hours, he created a second barrier inside the apartment too, followed by the attentive gaze of Madeleine, who had been sitting on the couch during all that time not to mess under his feet. When he finished, Darnell sighed, looking at his fingers all black from the marker, and said to the girl:

“I think now we can free our victim of circumstances from the closet.”

Hearing this, Madeleine shook up and turned to Cole's place of imprisonment. Darnell went to his room for the key to the closet and unlocked the door. To his surprise, Cole didn’t swear at him or even j******f the bottom of the dome while the man pulled it out of the closet.

“Hey, did you die in there, or what?” Darnell asked him, shaking the heavy dome with a black ball lying at the bottom. It swayed silently, releasing a cloud of soot around it. “I don’t believe it,” the man said doubtfully, putting Cole back on the shelf in the room. “Stop playing the fool,” he tapped the glass with his fingernail, but there was no answer.

Madeleine ran to the shelf and peered into the dome, then turned her glance to Darnell. The man shrugged.

“As far as I remember, spirits cannot sleep. He probably just has sulks at…”

“Go to hell, you bastard!” Cole snapped suddenly.

“Hey, take it easy,” Darnell said. “Did you forget that there’s Madeleine at our house?”

“And she too!” The ball twitched threateningly towards the girl, and she recoiled in fright and hid behind Darnell. He wrapped his hand around her and hugged her, protecting and calming down, not even realizing that he conducted this action.

“Oh, come on, just a day and a half, it's not a big deal,” the man answered apologetically. He already was unhappy with that his idea, and many times thought that Cole should not have been bothered at all. He should make a rule not to make serious decisions being angry or drunk.

“If you’d ever been placed into the basement for at least once - you would have understood me! And you’d better been wrapped in a chain, and a thick one, so that you can't reach anyone!” the spirit continued its offended tirade.

“I drew the second protecting line, did you notice?” Darnell interrupted him.

“Well, I did, so what?” the spirit flew up to the opposite wall, and both chains of symbols flashed dimly.

“Now you have more work,” the man chuckled, “by the way, do you know who approached the front door today?”

“What am I to you, a dog barking at everyone?” muttered the spirit.

“So do you know or not?” Darnell asked.

“I don’t know,” Cole said sharply.

“Okay, so be it,” the man said distrustfully, leaving the spirit be.

 ***

 "Hey, kid, what are you doing here?"

"I'm sitting on a bench, can't you see?"

“Hah, well, I do see that. Why are you sitting alone in the middle of the park?"

"What do you care?"

"Well, you are rude, such a shrimp - and so sassy!"

“We are not allowed to talk to strangers at all. I do not know you."

“I'm Cyril. And you are Darnell, right?"

“Yes, but that's not my real name. That's what they called me here at the shelter. So maybe I'm Colin. Or Frank. Or even Mortimer."

"I’ve heard everyone is complaining over you?"

"Let them complain, I won't be here soon."

"Will you run away again?"

"Why do you care? Why are you asking me anyway?"

"What if I offer you not to run away, but to leave with me?"

“And where do you plan us to go, huh? I'm not 5 years old to buy into this, I know perfectly well how such an offer from an unfamiliar man can end. If you were allowed to enter the orphanage, it doesn't mean that I will trust you."

“Well, well, calm down, you are so enraged. Are you already 16? I can offer you a job. It will definitely suit your abilities."

"How do you know what kind of abilities I have?"

"I am a demon, and I feel the fellow demon in you."

"Oh, another one came to pester, leave me alone with this nonsense!"

"No, I'm serious. I work at the ADA Agency. There they will find the use of your skills. There you will be appreciated."