Outer Demons

The Horrid Denizen of the Platform

“Now,” said Who, “let me explain your objective to you.” The chameleon licked its lips, irises dilating profusely, damp tongue caressing the tissue that layered its eyes. “You will reach forward unto my mouth and take from me an eye. This eye represents your identity, your sense of self; it is you.”

“Why are you helping me?” demanded Nevaeh, intensely suspicious. “First you cry, telling me you're upset because you don't know who you are, and then once I mention who I am, your intentions completely change and now you want to help me? Just what's so important about me? Why did you sound disappointed when you learned I'd already met Black and White? Why--”

“Listen to me, you stupid girl,” Who snarled, its scaly skin flashing a deep red. “My problems do not matter. You are Nevaeh, the owner of this mind. As your guardians, it is our job to ensure your mind does not commit self-sabotage. It is crucial to not only your survival, but to ours as well.”

Nevaeh scrunched her face at it, balling her fists with an unjustifiable rage that suddenly swept her body. She was sick of this. Sick of confusion, sick of nonsense-speak, sick of it all. “So there's more than two guardians, huh? And you all are supposed to “guard” me by talking to me like I'm some sort of outer-dimensional being, like I can actually understand this bullshit?” Now there were tears that stung her eyes, so harshly and deeply, and her voice was unstable as she lashed out. “I hate this place! I hate you, I hate Black, I hate White-- I-I hate it all!”

“Shut your mouth, you little wretch,” Who said, crossly. “Black and White are not guardians at all. They are evil, despicable creatures who will lead you illy towards death. They are polar opposites, and they will only hinder your journey. Listen to me and the others, and you will survive. If you do not, we will all perish.”

Nevaeh stuttered to speak. “Okay, so, who are these “others” you speak of? Some more riddle-talking bullshit f***s?”

“No, you i***t,” Who spat, “now why don't you calm down and listen? I'm trying to save your damned life. These others I speak of are creatures like me, whom of which will help you get out of here. Because once you have obtained all nine eyes, once you've regained all nine memories, then you will escape before reaching the eleventh surface. Do you understand? Can you hold your tongue for one minute while I explain things to you? Or do you wish to die instead?”

Nevaeh, again, bit her lip, deeper this time. She was quite cross with this creature, who was now speaking to her as if she were an ill-behaved child who required chastizing. “Fine. Speak your f*****g nonsense bullshit to me. Just do it. Let me get this hell over with.”

Who released a miffed sigh and continued.

“When you have taken this eye from me, upon the palm of your hand will it grow. Press this to your face and welcome your first memory. Only when you have accepted its presence will you be any closer to escaping from the prison you call a mind.”

The girl reached her hand out toward Who's mouth, urgently desiring to get this over with, but it retracted its head instantly with pursed lips and a threatening snarl.

“What's your f*****g problem?!” yelled Nevaeh, startled, “you told me to take--”

“I wasn't finished,” Who interrupted quite simply. “You are a foolish girl.”

Nevaeh bit her lip and muttered through gritted teeth, “Maybe you should've been more clear, you blubbering fiend.”

The chameleon sighed with an elongated eye-roll, and Nevaeh folded her arms at this display of incredibly rude and callous behaviour.

“You will watch yourself,” Who continued, irkly, “during your memory. You do not exist to anyone else. You are a ghost from the future to them, a nonexistent spectator whose only motivation is to regain purpose. It will be the first of many. Now, if you are ready, you may reach forth and take the eye.”

The creature stretched its mouth open, revealing thirty rows of dagger-like teeth, green tongue lolling out like a fat worm. Nevaeh was immediately repulsed, feeling a drop in her stomach at the mere thought of having to stick her hand down its throat.

Time passed, it stretched on, and Nevaeh's hand lingered near Who's ajar jaws, shakily inching forward until her fingertips grazed the course tongue and mucus-lined saliva of its mouth. She gagged and forced it down its throat, thumbing around the soft insides until she felt a damp, spherical object brush her nails.

So this is it, she thought, clasping the thing in her clutch and drawing it out, quickly as she could muster.

“Good,” Who said. “Now open your fist.”

The girl did as she was instructed, spreading her fingers until the object lay balanced on her palm. However, nothing seemed to be happening, and anxiety pulsed through her blood as she feared she made a mistake.

“Nothing’s happening…” Nevaeh said, confused and afraid. “Why isn't anything happening? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, missy,” Who consoled, “you just need to be patient.”

The buzz in her head subsided with these words of comfort, and she waited, waited for it to grow. Waited for the moment Who had promised her.

And from her hand there sprouted an eye, unblinking and blue, gaping as it rested its sinister gaze upon her face.

“Yes,” said Who, “you have done it right.”

Nevaeh stretched her hand in front of herself, gawking at the sight of the eye embedded into her palm. “And this will help me?” She sounded skeptical.

“Yes,” Who repeated.

She didn't quite believe the words she had been hearing. Who had told her not to trust Black and White, but what if she wasn't to trust Who? What if she was being tricked? She looked back at the chameleon, whose face was inscrutable.

“Have you forgotten?” It clicked its tongue in disapproval. “Shame.”

“No, I remember,” said Nevaeh, “but how do I know that you're trustworthy?”

“Have I abandoned you like those evil creatures did?” Who spat. “Have I lead you into the very jaws of a beast that left you near-traumatized? Have I--”

“Yes, yes, I get it. You haven't done anything bad to me.” She paused, eyeing the disturbing object on her hand. “Yet…”

“Miss Nevaeh, we are duely running out of time,” the creature huffed, sounding a bit anxious. “I don't know if you'll obtain all eyes before the Platform presents its eleventh surface to you at this rate. Hurry, please.”

She lifted the eye toward her face, sitting it lightly upon the bridge of her nose.

“Good, good. Now, you wait.”

~ ~ ~

“It will be the first of many.”

So, this was a memory. Nevaeh shivered and relished its cold touch, feeling the wind riding her skin, coursing across her reddish hair, staining her cherry lips with frigidity. Where was she now?

As she was thinking this, the sights before her rippled once again, into a still bedroom, completely silent and so dark she almost couldn't see. In the corner of the room, she saw herself, face buried into her hands as she seemed to have collapsed onto her knees.

“God, who am I…” the muffled voice of herself sobbed out, shakily.

Adjacent to her was an open journal with chicken-scratch handwriting scrawled onto the small pages. Hmm. Reaching for it, the present Nevaeh tried to pick it up, but her fingers went right through it. She supposed she'd have to read it from an angle. Squinting her eyes to make out the text amongst the darkness, she began to scan her eyes over the paragraph of words.

May 10th, 3:04 A.M., read the letter. Once again I've been accused of faking my personality. Well, truth be told, I don't really think I have a personality. I more or less take bits and pieces from other people's and use them for my own. It's like I'm not even real. My favourites and opinions are changing constantly depending on who I'm with. I really don't know what to do anymore. And that was the end of it. It was short, but it was a step closer for Nevaeh to figure out who she was. Ironically, she apparently didn't even know that herself, not even in the past, when she still had all her memories.

“Past” Nevaeh continued rocking back and forth, now hugging her knees, as she bawled and bawled about her distorted identity, but the crying instantaneously came to a halt when the bedroom door opened.

“K-Koda… It's not what it looks like…” Nevaeh, sniffling, fumbled to shove her journal beneath the dresser next to her.

“s**t, Nevvy. You're having another crisis, s**t…” It was a similar, almost identical-looking boy who spoke. His ragged red hair and blue eyes definitely looked familiar, so perhaps they were siblings.

“Koda, please. I need time alone.”

“What is it about this time? Scared your girlfriend's gonna leave you?”

Evidently, past Nevaeh took some offense to that statement, for she stood up, wiped her sodden eyes, and faced Koda with a grimace. “You're a b***h, Koda! A little s**t! How dare you--”

“Relax, Nevvy,” Koda consoled, crossing over knee-deep piles of clothes to reach what appeared to be his sister. “I wasn't trying to undermine your pain. I was genuinely asking if--”

Nevaeh shoved him backward, and for a second, present Nevaeh was positive he would slam right into her, but instead he went through her like a ghost. “I'm upset because of you, Koda. You made me question my identity! Again! Koda, don't you know not to point these things out? I thought we had a family talk about this!”

“You're overreacting,” Koda replied calmly, “I meant no harm then. Now, you need to calm down. I understand you're upset, I understand you're in pain, but right now? You're taking things too far, just like you always do. Nevaeh, it's so stupid and ridiculous to get this worked up about your “identity”! We shouldn't even be having this argument! It's pointless and dumb.”

Nevaeh did not reply for the longest time. Koda stood there patiently, waiting for a response, but all he received was a finger pointed toward the door.

“So you want me to leave?”

No reply.

“Alright. I see how it is. Come talk to me when you've learned common sense.”

And he left.

Nevaeh stood there in silence, face curtained by her bangs, but there could be gentle weeping heard from her. Eventually she collapsed to the floor, hands tearing through her hair, wailing bloody murder.

The memory finally subsided, and with a sharp pain, emotion surged blisteringly into her lungs until she felt as though she could not breathe. Colours clashed before her very eyes and lights danced in her cone of vision, sweeping her into a world of chaos and upheaval. She felt sick, as if she could vomit on the spot.

And when all was said and done, she appeared rightfully before Who.

“So,” it said, eyeing her acutely, “what did you learn?”

“I…” began Nevaeh, although she didn't know quite where to begin. “I… Well, there was… There was a boy, Koda, I think, and I'm pretty sure he was my brother. I had an identity crisis and we argued, and that's about it.”

Who averted its gaze, processing for briefly a minute. “That's not…” It shook its head. “No, you were supposed to experience more…”

“What? Did I do something wrong?” queried Nevaeh, now distraught.

“No, no, you did everything perfectly…” Who muttered, pondering the possibilities of what could've gone wrong. “Which means, the only conclusion I can draw is…”

“Nevaeh, what are you doing with that beast?” a familiar, deep voice demanded.

The girl's head whipped backward and, with a sickening, emotional blow in her stomach, she caught sight of Black and White trotting across the clouds, tails sunken low and lashing back and forth as if perturbed.

“Nevaeh, step away from Who immediately!” White urged anxiously, nearing her.

“I can't trust you two…” Nevaeh said, cautiously taking steps backward towards Who. “You're trying to trick me, aren't you? So that I can't regain my memories? So that I reach the eleventh surface and die?”

Black and White closed their eyes for a few seconds. Finally, Black spoke. “Who, you wretched thing, what lies have you been using to deceive this poor girl?”

White curled around Nevaeh's leg, purring, “You sorry dear. Let us take you into our welcoming arms. We'll care for you. We'll show you the correct method to escaping your head.”

Enraged, Nevaeh lashed out her leg, throwing White from around it. “Stay away!” she warned. “I'm not going anywhere with you! You nearly got me killed, you abandoned me, and you're not going to help me obtain my memories at all! You are fiends!”

Who stepped protectively in front of Nevaeh, snarling at the despicable cats. “I will not let you touch her, Black and White. I know your tricks. I know your manipulation. And Nevaeh knows it as well.” It turned toward her, eyes wide with fear. Nevaeh hadn't expected Who to be genuinely frightened for once, but here it was, skin pulsing with an energetically anxious yellow. “Hurry, Nevaeh,” it said, “onto my back. Quickly.”

The girl, uncertain but racked with stone-cold blood amidst her own anxiety, climbed aboard Who's scaly back, clutching onto whatever she could manage to hold without her hands completely slipping off.

“Black,” White said, tilting its head to the side. “You know what to do.”

The cats entwined tails, brushing their bodies against one another until all that remained was a mesh of grey. This new creature, much thinner, smiled with rows of human-like teeth, eyes stretching wide as two moons. It had similar eyes as the one on Nevaeh's palm, only blacker than a raven's hind and colder than Nevaeh's fear-struck stomach. Its back, arching, revealed its skinny limbs and curved-in stomach, and when it spoke, it was chilling; two voices speaking at once, one Black's and the other White's.

“Nevaeh Raven, you horrid, horrid fool.” And it lunged forward, sprouting three pairs of hands from its flanks, of which the fingers fanned out like wings and kept it in the air for quite some time before it hovered directly in Nevaeh's face.

“Get away!” Nevaeh swatted at it, but its teeth dug into her flesh and she screamed, feeling the unbearable pain break her skin and sink into bone.

Who, desperate to rid itself of Black and White, reared its body, flinging Nevaeh off its back.

What?! she thought, overwrought with panic. Why did it--

The grey creature scrambled forward, its hands making grabbing motions, nails like razor-sharp claws and bloodied red. Nevaeh began to cry, inching backward on her ass, wrist still throbbing from her recent injury.

“Who! Please help! Help me, please!” she sobbed, but to no avail. The horrid denizen pushed her to the ground, mouth opening as it neared her throat. This was the end.