The Human And The Satan

18.

"What in the name of spirits are you doing in my room at this hour, human? Do you want to do your business at this hour?" Satan asked me when I barged inside his room at three in the morning.

My eyes took in his frame. His cloak was barely tied around his waist, it hung like a coat, making his body clearly visible to my eyes. I tried my best to keep my eyes on his face. Just face. But that's when I saw him swallowing my existence in his eyes. As if he was trying to capture what he was seeing.

I was dressed in one of three night dresses I owned that barely reached my knees. My hair was tied in a bun, a few strands I had cut in the previous summer, back on earth, falling on my face. For me, I am at my most vulnerable and raw form now. Barely dressed up, like I was home. I hadn't pulled my hair in any hairstyle, nor have I tried to make myself presentable. He was seeing me in a way nobody even on earth saw me.

And for some reason, his gaze affected me. It made me feel tingles all over my body. I could feel myself burning under his gaze. And then our eyes met, like two oceans meeting, blending but not losing their existence. His eyes penetrated into mine, making me stand there frozen. The flames from his eyes burned my body. I could feel myself getting drowned in the endless fire his eyes held.

"No. No business to attend, Satan. Not now, at least." I said with an awkward laugh. He only raised his brows at me in answer.

"Then what are you here for, human?" He asked me, and I licked my lips. How do I tell him?

"I'm sorry for ruining your sleep........" I started but he was very quick to interrupt me.

"I am not allowed to sleep now, human. You ruined my sleep more than a month ago and you should be sorry for that." He said, very darkly, and I gulped when the fire in his eyes flared, making me take a step back.

"I told you, I wasn't aware that it was your night to sleep. If I would have known......."

"Just get to the point already, human."

He snapped, and I looked at him with surprise, taken aback by the sudden coldness his eyes and tone had. I swallowed the sudden pang in my chest. Like someone stabbed me. And almost subconsciously, I curled my fingers into a fist before rubbing it against my chest, trying to rub off the pain. His eyes followed my actions and for a split second, I saw a number of emotions changing in them. But the coldness reigned in his eyes again. Making me doubt if I even witness what I just did.

"What is it?" He asked me, this time a bit gently, and I swallowed harshly at the change in his tone. It was like he was trying his best to control his emotions around me. And his pain hurt me even more.

Who even loves Satan? Has he ever been loved? People worship God, but what about the man who controls hell? Who loves him?

"I needed help with these," I said quietly, and his eyes looked down at the papers I showed him. And the fire in his eyes flared more.

"You came here at this hour to get help on these papers?" He asked me calmly, very calmly and I licked my lips as I nodded my head. Why the hell was he intimidating me so much? It's not like he intimidated me before. Something was different today. Tonight. Or maybe I was stupid enough to ask Satan for help.

"Yeah, I need to submit them to Basilia tomorrow. She.... she taught me these today but I forgot the conversion. Greek is tougher than I thought," I said with an apologetic smile. And he let out a sigh.

"Basilia is teaching you Greek, right?" He asked me and I nodded my head slowly.

"Yes."

"Then why don't you ask her for help?" He asked me, crossing his arms over his almost bare chest, and I swallowed down harshly.

"Because she did teach me, Satan. And she gave me these as assignments. That would make her reduce my credits. And I don't want to do that. I don't want to reduce my chances of going back home." I said, and his eyes looked at me with a weird expression on his face.

"So you thought asking the teacher for help would be cheating, so let's ask the principal directly." He said, making me burn red under his comment. I chuckled at his sarcasm, for this was the first time Satan had been sarcastic with me. It was a new experience, all together.

"Well, technically, no. I chose to learn Greek so that I can have access to books more easily. That way I can easily learn how to block my thoughts from you. And two, Basilia told me it would help me with more credits. Another step to getting back home," I said, and he shook his head.

"Do you hate it here? In the hell? Are you not..... comfortable here?" He asked me. And the feminine urge to yell a big no was dominating me.

No personal toilet, no bed, no electricity, no phone, no internet, no humans to communicate with. No sanitary napkin to use. No fans or air conditioners to use in this burning heat. No matter how shitty humans were on earth, it still felt at home. I felt more comfortable with humans than demons who had slashed my abdomen because of their bloodthirst.

"I was born on earth, Satan."

"But earth didn't deserve you." He said after a minute, and I looked up at him with a small smile. For once, I didn't know if I was so bad that the earth didn't deserve a human being like me or whether the earth was too hostile for a human as kind-hearted as me. For some reason, I hoped it was the latter one.

"But I was born to accept that the earth doesn't deserve me. And it's easier to embrace the flaws of your family than the one who is rarely my family." I said to him and I saw a look of amusement crossing his eyes.

"You don't have a family." He suddenly chose violence by saying those four words. And like a dagger, his words pierced down my skin, my eyes clenched shut as I dramatically flinched back.

"My house was my family. I.... I had a family, once. The memories of my family are back on earth. And those memories are family enough. Not all of us have members for family, Satan. Some of us live with our memories." I said to him, trying to ease my pain. When I opened my eyes, I found his gaze on me. Solely on me. But then again, there was no-one else in the room either.

"And none of those memories are good. Are they?" He asked me and I laughed at his question. I felt intoxicated. Like I was drunk, high on alcohol or weeds. Maybe my pain was no less intense than alcohol.

"For an adult? Ha, barely. They give me tremors. But for a child? A naive child? Those memories were everything. No matter how they treated me, I had a family to call mine, Satan. I lost that one last thing when my parents died. Life was better with them. I didn't have to worry about the food, fees, bills." I said, trying to console my old self. But Satan found my words rather amusing.

"We both know you're lying, human. You were never better with them. And lying is a sin. Every time you lie, you have to pay a price." He said to me, and I smiled at him in response.

"Yeah, I got that the first time I walked in here." I replied, wiping my sweat and he let out a sigh, opening the door wider for me.

"Come inside. This might take a long time. You'll have to sacrifice your sleep." He said to me and I shook my head in response.

"You sacrificed your sleep because of my stupidity. I can sacrifice mine to get back to my home. Shall we start, Sensei?" I asked him playfully and maybe I hallucinated it, but I saw a slight curve of his lips.

Maybe. Maybe Satan really did smile that night.