Captured by a Demon

X Chapter - The Sounds of Life

Time and time again was he able to pounce back.

I was staring at him as he first ate his own portion and then my portion as I had left it there telling him I was not hungry. I was ecstatic that he was eating, I hadn't been so happy in a long time than right at that moment seeing him eat with such a healthy appetite.

„You really scared me,“ I croaked looking at him like he could disappear at any moment. He just mumbled something in response and asked me to get him some water. His black eye had started to turn yellowish, meaning that he was healing. 

I brought him a glass and then another. He always drank two glasses at a time. I don't know why.

When he was finished, he briefly touched the wound on his arm, that had been badly infected only a couple of days ago, and shrugged. „It’s fine, Satchel,“ he smiled, trying to lighten the mood. „You didn’t really think I was going to leave you here all alone now, were you?“ 

He winced when he pushed the empty tray away and lied down again. Even after so much improvement in such a short time, he was still constantly in and out of consciousness and needed a lot of sleep. But this was the first time he had eaten and talked in full sentences, even joked around. That made the desperate fear in my soul dissolve greatly.

When he was very sick, he rambled a lot, but none of it made any sense. Then again, he was running a high fever at the time, so it wasn't anything unheard of. Just scary.

I whispered, repeating to myself all the ways he had made progress with his recovery and all the good signs that I should be grateful for.

I stroke his hair, as I had grown accustomed to during his bad state, and didn’t say anything. As his eyes slowly closed, I didn’t know whether he had passed out from pain and exhaustion or whether he had simply fallen asleep. All the smiling and joking in the world hadn’t convinced me that he wasn’t in pain. That he was still very fragile. And, in truth, lucky to be alive.

I stopped whispering all the positive things to myself when the door to our little cell opened and every negative thought I had ever thought in this place, came rushing back.

No, I thought.

It was him.

The Demon was standing on the threshold. Black cloth mask covering his face and the long black coat almost reaching the soles of his feet now, making him look like a giant ready to stomp us to death. There was this dangerous energy about him that made my panic raise its head. I again imagined his red eyes gleaming behind the mask in fury as he took in the whole room and everything in it. However, this time his penetrating gaze seemed to stop on Sebastian.

„Please no,“ I begged, feeling him look past me, feeling him eye the unconscious Sebastian. „Please don’t hurt him, please don't take him. He has barely recovered, He’s still weak. Please wait.“

The Demon didn’t say anything, but seemed to continue eyeing Sebastian. It was like he was considering something, but maybe I was wrong.

All of a sudden, the Demon went to the nearest table and threw it across the small room, I flinched and screamed, instinctively throwing myself over Sebastian to protect him from anything that might fall on him.

"Why are you doing this?"  I screamed, tears pouring down my face as I tried to be brave for my only ally, my only friend in this place. For Sebastian.

But he didn't even react to my words, which I would have found odd, because he had always liked to see that he got to me, that he affected me. This time it was like I was the grey stone wall. An inanimate object.

The Demon raged on, throwing things across the cell, breaking all the drinking glasses, making a mess of the little chair as it was crushed against the wall. Even a small c***k appeared on the window. 

When he stopped, I dared to raise my eyes and found myself looking at the back of the panting monster in black. Although the light was faint, I could see the Demon more clearly. I was still very much afraid, but there was something about him I noticed. Something vaguely familiar, like the way his shoulders didn’t move an inch even though he was breathing heavily.

Still, I was only concerned with the sick man behind me.

Without looking at the other two people in the room or even saying a word, the Demon turned around and left the cell, the door almost breaking from being shut so aggressively, The mess was unbelievable. Everything apart from the sink and the bed we were on, was now broken due to the mad behaviour of that despicable creature. The trays, clothes and glass fragments were scattered across the floor mixed up with the dust. 

For a second, the state of the room mirrored my inner state, my inner feelings and the way I was probably messed up for as long as I would live. Which didn't seem to be very long, given that the Demon was getting more and more violent. What had we done? Why was he acting like this? What was different?

I was trembling. I had been so afraid. But not for myself. 

I had been terrified that the Demon had come to take Sebastian away at this weak state to hurt him again. For the first time, I hadn't been afraid that he would take me. In fact, I would have preferred it. Because taking Sebastian...

Maybe I would have never seen him again. Perhaps I would have never been able to hear his warm, light-hearted laugh again. I tried to put these thoughts out of my head, but it was hard. I was still crouched over Sebastian, unsure that the danger was over. I was contemplating the Demon’s recent tantrum and what could have been the logical explanation to his actions. If there was one. 

Maybe the Demon was just a lunatic, who broke free from an asylum and now went around torturing random people for his sadistic pleasure. Maybe there was no explanation and trying to think of one was a waist of time. 

But if there was no explanation, then there was no hope. If there was no logic to his madness, then there was no way to get out. No way to influence him or reason with him.

I shuttered and without noticing it, lowered my head, so it was now lying on Sebastian’s chest. His heartbeats were slow and steady. They calmed me down and somehow managed to make me feel safe.

The sounds of life. They made me feel hopeful. 

He was the only thing keeping me sane.

„Are you listening whether its time to build me that dream coffin or are you just really into me?“ a sleepy and husky voice asked. I quickly raised my head to look at Sebastian who seemed to have just woken up.

"Iz'not funny," I slurred, but when his gaze moved to my wet cheeks, then  his smirk was replaced by a worried look, I cleared my throat.

„He... he came,“ I whispered, putting a distance between myself and Sebastian. „I don’t know why, but...“ I shook my head. "He did all of this," I pointed at the mess behind me.

„Oh,“ Sebastian’s eyes opened up more as he looked around the small room and suddenly pushed himself up on his hands, grabbing me and looking at me all over. „Of all the times, I chose to be out cold at this moment, I’m so sorry. "

"It's nothing, I'm glad you didn't see it. It was awful."

Sebastian didn't seem happy. I knew he felt me vibrating in his arms.

"Are you okay?“ he asked with his softest voice.

„I’m fine,“ I tried to sound more confident. „Ahem, I should clean up the mess.“

But Sebastian pulled me back and, wincing a little from pain, showed the pillow under my head. „Leave it, Rachel. You should rest, you’ve been taking care of me for too long. I’m wide awake right now and I can guard your sleep. I don’t wanna hear any arguing or other pink elephant arguments that you might want to throw at me. And that’s final, got it?“

I nodded reluctantly, since I saw that there was no point to argue. He seemed truly rattled and upset by the fact that the Demon had come, when he wasn't awake to confront him. I shifted to my corner in the bed and Sebastian put a blanket over me with his good hand.

„Could you sing to me a little?“ I yawned like a child and snuggled up against the blanket and pillow. I was exhausted.

Although his face was grim, Sebastian nodded and started to hum an old lullaby, one that he had attempted to teach me too, when I couldn’t get to sleep because of my deeply anxious and frightened state. That was before his infection in his arm got so bad. 

But I could never get the song right. Sebastian, on the other hand, always sang it flawlessly. Like the song had been made for his voice.

Remember, remember,

The cold of December...

December was never the coldest month in the small town I was from, but it was the darkest and definitely most sinister. December gave an inkling of the sweeping cold ahead in the coming months and warned that it was going to give people enough shadows to haunt their minds before the new year could deliver some long-awaited light and sunshine to the air.

...the Light from so Rich in the Warmth... 

Before a deep slumber took me over, I thought about my brother. As Sebastian’s humming grew louder, I couldn’t help but compare my brother Roland to Sebastian. They were the two most important men in my life.

My father was dead and my uncle didn't seem to care. So it was just my brother and him. They were very different in a lot of ways, they really were. So contradictory to each other, yet able to make me feel so safe all the same.

In any case, they were both very dear to me. 

And as much as I was terrified of our horrible captor, I was prepared to kill him, should he think to hurt Sebastian again.

... you should never peek into the night.