Chapter II: I Kill a Demon's Boyfriend

Things heat up in the next chapter of Simon Hale's story. Kelly is held hostage by a weird demon guy minions and it's up to Simon to get her back!

My mom wasn’t even mad about my five day suspension. She gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek and said in her soothing voice, “We’ll figure this out.” Mom always made me feel better. I’m not embarrassed about that either. Even when she called me sweetie, pumpkin, etc. As long as my friend(s) aren’t around. Shut up. Anyway, when we told Mom what happened, she gave Dylan this nervous look. Almost as if they were having some sort of silent conversation. “Well”, she said briskly, “who’s hungry?” She left to go pick up fast food.

When she left, I asked, “Am I the only one weirded out by this?” Kelly was still a little shaken up, so she didn’t answer, but for some reason Dylan’s response annoyed me. He asked. “By what.” I let out an exasperated sigh and growled, “Hmm...how about the fact that I tackled someone twenty feet? That you dragged me and Kelly out of school? Or that my mom is completely okay with this?”

Dylan shifted uncomfortably, “I don’t know, man, you’re overreacting a little bit.”

I wasn’t in the mood to argue so I just groaned and flopped onto the futon. I suppose I should give you a backstory on why me and Kelly only live with our mom. You see before Kelly was born our dad went mad and disappeared. My mom said he was following something. Whenever I would ask what that something was, she would give me a warnful smile saying something like, “Simon, your father was a mysterious man. He wasn’t a bad man, but he was very distant. He followed his studies.” Her warning-look meant she’d probably cry if she kept talking. I didn’t press her, but I didn’t like the idea of family secrets. It made me feel like I was in a soap opera.

I never liked the idea of my dad skipping out either. What’d he have to study that was more important than my mom or Kelly? Or me? Did he just one day have an argument with Mom and say, “Forget this. I’m gonna go study some insects”? A thought crossed my mind and maybe he was crazy and only married my mom to look “normal”. That made me want to punch his lights out. But I couldn’t. And I didn’t have time to dwell on that matter. I had to look after Kelly. And even my mom at times. All of the crap in our lives he’d dumped on us. And one day...I’d make him pay for what he did.

I was so caught up in my thoughts, I didn’t realize Dylan and Kelly were now having a conversation of their own. I smiled as Kelly laughed. At least her first day went alright.

***

I woke up to my mom gently placing her hand on my forehead. “Simon”, she said gently, “Wake up. I got us some food.” At the mention of food, my eyes opened. I saw Dylan and Kelly both eating burgers in the kitchen. “How long have I been sleeping?” I asked groggily. “Thirty minutes. Honestly, Simon, how can you even sleep in this weather?” I looked out the window. It was only around one o’clock but the sky was black with heavy storm clouds. The sound of thunder was close and bright, blue lightning flashed in the sky. It wasn’t even raining. “Dylan will be staying overnight”, Mom continued, “I wouldn’t want him getting hurt or anything like that.”

“Cool.” I said half heartedly. Each time the lightning flashed, I saw these weird shapes flying in the sky. Like these weird wispy, straight, black mini-clouds, flying around. As if they were looking for something. I could’ve sworn one was flying towards the window, but lightning flashed again and they were all gone. “Simon”, my mom shook my shoulder. “Huh?” I turned to her.

“Something wrong?”

“Uh, no. Thanks, mom.” I hugged her and got up to go eat with Dylan and Kelly.

“So...um...” I said , “How was your first day?” I don’t really know who I was talking to. I was just trying to make light conversation.

Kelly shuddered. She probably had another “accident.” I’ll fill you in on that later. Dylan must’ve known because he cut in and said, “You know, Si, after you handing it to old Hog-Face, I think that’s a wrap on the whole year.” We all had a good laugh about that. There was a long pause and Kelly asked, “Si, don’t want to have a shower or something?”

I sniffed under my arm. “I’m sure I deodorized today.” I muttered.

“Simon. There’s Coke-Zero. All over you.” Dylan pointed out.

I felt my hair. It was rough and sticky from dried up soda. So much for having a Coke and a smile. “Uh, yeah...I’ll clean this up. After we eat.” We ate and laughed and joked with my cola-hair being the main subject of the conversation. But even in the midst of our conversation, I couldn’t help but feel a few of my hairs stand up. Something was outside. And it scared me. Trust me. Simon Hale does not get scared easily. Okay...semi-easily.

After I finished my food, I went to the bathroom to have a shower. As I washed myself off, I couldn’t help but feel even worse. My paranoia was definitely growing. “You’re just having a spaz attack.” I told myself. But then something terrifying happened. The shower water went ice-cold. Frost began forming on the walls and I could see my breath. I stood there, frozen. I opened the shower curtain and saw that the frost was all over the place and making its way outside of the door. The bathroom was looking like the inside of a freezer. I stepped out of the shower, sending a shock through my foot. It was like a billion ice daggers all stabbing into the bottom foot. I almost slipped and fell, but I continued and wrapped a towel around my waist. I wiped some fog off the mirror and looked in sheer terror at my reflection. My once amber eyes were now an electrifying blue. Full of energy. The strange thing was that as my eyes were full of energy, so was my body. I wanted to scream and call for my mom but all I could do was stare.

Something else caught my eye. The frost looked almost alive, as if it was trying to move out of the bathroom, but regenerating itself, leaving a trail of ice like some sort of frosted slug. I stood there, frozen (haha) with fear as I watched living frost make its way to the door. I heard my mom in the next room over, mumbling something. I concentrated on what she was saying. Something about blessing the house and protecting us from evil. Was she praying? When she finished, the frost retracted into the corners of the room and the the room became warm again. I felt the shower water. Nice and warm, as it was before. I looked at my eyes again. They were going back to normal. Slowly, the electrifying blue sank back into the amber and my eyes were normal again.

***

I came out of the bathroom, probably looking like I’d seen a ghost. Kelly asked me what’s wrong. “Fine! Everything’s fine!” I replied jumpy. Dylan and my mom exchanged looks but didn’t elaborate on what they were thinking. Later on, my mom helped me write an apology letter to the Berwicks. Here’s what my draft was:

Dear Berwicks,

Sorry that your son is an enormous pile of jerk and poured coke in my hair resulting in me tackling him twenty feet.

From,

Simon Hale.

My mom revised it:

Dear Berwicks,

I am tremendously sorry that Leroy and I were involved in yet another physical altercation. I will do my best to make amends with him.

Best wishes,

S. Hale

For my five day suspension, I did a lot of odd-jobs, raking in some extra cash to help Mom out while Dylan and Kelly went to school. Me and Mom combined our money to have a barbecue in the park a couple of times. The weather was nice but every once in a while, thunder was in the distance. I couldn’t remember the last time I had this much fun. I didn’t have to protect Kelly or worry about Mom. I had my own life. I helped out, I went to the mall, I walked around, listened to music...I did everything I wanted. There were some minor weird things that I decided to push out of my mind.

On the day of the first barbecue, I was setting up the grill and I realized that we needed lighting-fluid. I told my mom that I was going to get it from the car. As soon as I was a few yards away, the air started getting cold. I felt the wind blow, but it didn’t energize me, like when I tackled Leroy. It was harshly cold and I could see my breath. I tried to ignore it and told myself that it was just another spaz attack. I felt frost building up on my shoes, but kept walking swiftly. “Just your head, messing with you.” Clouds started to form again. Thick, heavy, black clouds that seemed to have ghastly patterns in them. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw him. A boy, maybe a little older than me. He had pale skin and jet-black hair. His eyes were pitch black and he wore a black coat, black jeans, and black boots. Yeah...a lot of black. His face looked like it told a tragic story, but was covered by a mischievous grin. I swear I could feel pain when I looked in his eyes. He moved his head slightly and I swear I saw his own skull. I took a step back and fell to my behind. “Simon! Are you alright?” My mom called. I looked back to her as the clouds disappeared and the sun returned. “I’m fine, Mom! I just slipped!” I replied. I turned back to the car and the boy was gone.

I began to have dreams about these weird black, wispy clouds flying out of the ground, only to be struck down by lightning. And other weird stuff like everything around me being black, but lightning would flash every so often, showing spirits rising up. I’d hear my sister screaming and wake up in a cold sweat. When I’d wake up I’d pace around, wondering whether to tell Mom or Dylan. Would I be sent to an institution? What would happen to me? Would I be locked away in an institution? The thought of that sent chills down my spine.

***

The day my life changed forever, we were walking to school. Storm clouds formed above us with the powerful sound of thunder in the distance. Okay, you may think I’m dumb for not noticing the incredibly ominous signs. Let me tell you something, audience...I totally agree. How could I have not seen the signs? The tension in the air? The paranoia building up? I mean this is how kids in horror films die. I mean I would be dead if it wasn’t for a smart redhead girl and a genius thirteen year old inventor. Confused yet? Well, you should be. Back to my life changing forever (whether that’s good or bad, I still struggle with), I was debating with Kelly whether I could do parkour or not (I can’t...I really can’t). I was determined to show her after school that I could do a backflip off of the side of a building.

We arrived at school and Leroy said one word to me. “Hi.” He then ran off to do whatever it is he did. The day continued as it usually did. Everyone laughed at Mr. Butts, I failed my math and U.S History quiz, we evacuated science class because I spilled a bunch of chemicals, and for gym we did the pacer test. Everything was pretty much normal, up until lunch. I was sitting in the bleachers, with numb legs. I was never that athletic so I probably made a C+ on the pacer test.  I felt like my calves were made of jello. I laid my back on the bleachers, facing the ceiling. That’s when I heard a voice in my head.

Simon Hale. Strike us down, chosen, and-...

Now, I don’t know why, but it felt like second-nature to respond in my head. Isn’t that from Star Wars?

Another voice cut in. It was a girl’s voice. What? No! Listen to us. She put on the best scary voice she could, You will learn the true meaning of pain when-...

It’s official...I’ve gone insane. I put my hands over my face.

Then the girl-voice asked, Dude, does he really not know?

The first voice spoke again, I don’t know...I read the prophecy...I’m positive he’s a chosen of-...

You know not to say that name! We must not mention the sky-gods name! It makes him more powerful! The girl-voice cut him off, sounding scared.

Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Remind me why I should care?

You always do this! You don’t respect me, do you? The girl voice almost sounded pouty.

Ugh...do we have to do this here?!

Do it yourself! She sounded like she was about to cry.

I’m sorry, okay?!

A third voice boomed, SILENCE! The two other voices whimpered in fear. The third voice sounded young (like the others, maybe younger) but intimidating. He continued in a cold, ice-dagger like voice, You haven’t figured out your destiny yet, chosen-...

I cut him off, There’s that word again. Chosen.

He continued like I hadn’t said anything, -...but we’ve stolen your loved one. Fetch me the Contract of Dead Souls and I’ll let her live.

That’s when I heard something that turned my blood cold. An ear-piercing shriek of fear that came from the courtyard. Kelly was in trouble. I bolted out of the gym, racing through the halls. Yes, come chosen of-... The voice from earlier began.

Quiet, Nikon! The girl voice cut him off and, I heard a SMACK!

I ran faster, not knowing what to make of all this. I was praying that it was just some sick joke. That Kelly was okay and that the school was all in on it. Nikon sounded angry, Touch me again, Agatha and I swear by all the gods! I bolted out of the doors to find that this was no joke. Kelly was in danger. Dylan was already in the courtyard, ready to charge and jump over the fence. I stopped in the middle of a courtyard, looking at my surroundings. A huge black cloud had formed over the school, with those wispy, black smoke, cloudy things flying all over the place. In the playground, Kelly was being held hostage by the boy from the barbecue. His crooked, evil smile even wider than before, he had his left arm around my sister’s neck. “Who are you?!” I screamed, not even phased by what was going on. A teacher ran outside, screaming, “Simon Hale, y-!” She stopped and looked around at the flying black smoke. An evil hiss came from them and she ran away, yelling, “Demons! Demons!”

I stepped forward, screaming louder, “Who are you?!” The boy’s reply was, “Lets not have any further distractions.” He snapped his fingers, “Agatha! Nikon! Fear-bomb the school!” Two of the wispy, black-clouds that were circling above the school, flew down through the windows, laughing evilly. As they flew in I heard mini-explosions and black mushroom clouds with ghastly images in them arose from the roof. I heard teachers and students screaming and I heard the sound of over a thousand feet trying to escape. I wonder what they were running from. I looked back to Kelly who was struggling against the boy’s grip. He lifted his free hand, as if he was holding something. A black ball of smoke formed in his hand. The same ghastly images from the mushroom clouds was in it. He threw it, underhand. It phased straight through the fence. I realized that I was in the way  of its path and I ducked to the right. It impacted the school with a loud CRASH! I looked at the fence, which was melting from some of the black bowling ball of death.

I looked back at the school. A black, smoky shield was forming over it. I could hear students and teachers banging on the doors and windows, trying to get out. They were screaming out for help. “What are you? And what do you want?” I glared at him. I could feel my eyes changing blue in rage. Agatha landed to his right. The smoke cleared and revealed probably the prettiest goth girl I’ve ever seen. “Hot...” I muttered. She had a pale but cute face, with black mascara. A red streak ran through her hair. She had a simple black dress, black and white, long-sleeve, fingerless gloves, and black converse boots. She smiled at me with vibrant red eyes. Nikon, landing to the boy’s right, was like her male counterpart. He had a black coat with cut off sleeves and red-black striped, long-sleeve, fingerless gloves. He had black jeans and combat boots.

“Are we being attacked by the Hot Topic rejects?” I blurted out.

Agatha’s smile melted and she turned to the boy, “Can we kill him, Alex? Huh? Can we? Please?”

With those puppy-eyes, I’d let her kill me. I shook that thought out of my mind. Apparently, the boy’s name was Alex. Not exactly evil, but eh. I growled with anger, ready to charge. Dylan turned back to me and commanded, “No.” I could feel energy coursing through my veins. I wanted to charge Alex and beat him to a pulp. I wanted to break his arm, removing it from Kelly. I wanted to pulverize him. I guess it was just “Read-Simon’s-Mind-Day” because he laughed and said, “What’s the matter, Simon Hale? You want to attack me? You want your sister? Well, lets test how bad you want it.” He snapped and commanded, “Nikon, now!”

“Please would be nice.” Nikon grumbled and shifted into wispy cloud form. He charged at me. “Simon!” Dylan shrieked. As you’ll learn later, I’m full  of dumb ideas. I charged the cloud-thing and jumped, arms stretched wide. I let out a huge battle cry and met Nikon, head on. I wrapped my arms around him, using even more force than I did with Leroy. Nikon tried to fight back, but I had full control. I held on tight. I could barely see where we were going, but something shiny caught my eye. I steered us in that direction and prepared for a crash.

I slammed Nikon right into a metal slide. He shifted from cloud form, into his gothic self. He seemed weak. He was trembling, black smoke, lifting from black. He coughed up a little more smoke. “One day...chosen”, he rasped, “Your soul will either be ours or the Underworld’s.” He exploded into black smoke. “Baby!” A voice close to me called. It was Agatha. I was ten feet away from her. Her red eyes were full of sadness and rage. She stamped her foot like a bull, “That was boyfriend, you-...” She couldn’t think of an insult, but she started turning into her cloudy-thing form. “Simon!” Dylan was running towards me. I looked back to him. Somehow he’d gotten a sword. A red-handled, shiny, iron sword. He was running in battle stance, ready to strike either Alex or Agatha. I noticed there was sheathe on his back. Did that just appear? “Stop!” Alex yelled at Agatha. I could see the fear in Kelly’s eyes now. She was on the verge of tears. I needed to get her away from her. “S-Si...” She squeaked. I’m pretty sure my eyes were glowing blue by now.

“What do you want with her?” I growled. I watched Kelly struggling against his grip, but it was useless. Alex was unbelievably strong.

“More or less...it’s what I want with you.” His eyes...they scared me. They seemed like swirling pools of bitter hatred and horrifying images. He continued, “You see...you’re a powerful chosen. Prophesied to play a great part in an imminent war.”

I had no idea what he was talking about...especially the word imminent. “What are you talking about?” For some reason what he was saying was making sense. Flashes of lightning went through my mind, like someone or something was trying to tell me something.

“Take me instead.” I insisted.

“Afraid I can’t do that.” He sighed like he’d already thought of that, “You have to prove yourself worthy to him.”

“Who?” I demanded, angrily.

The question went straight over his head. “To prove yourself...and to get your sister back...you’ll fetch me the contract of Dead Souls. Bring it to me and you’ll sister will go free. And your judgement will begin.”

“Judgement of what?”

Dylan grabbed my shoulder. “Don’t ask him.”

Alex snapped at Dylan, “Too late, godling! Simon is to know his destiny!” Thunder cracked as Alex spoke. For a second, I could see his skull again. I turned to Dylan. “Did he just call you godling?”

Dylan sighed. “Long story.” He pointed his shiny sword at Alex, “Don’t corrupt my friend, Alex.” I’d never heard Dylan speak in that tone. There was no reasoning in his voice. Dylan was ready to kill Alex. I wondered if the two had history.

“Or what? You’ll attack?” Alex held out his hand as if he was holding something. Black smoke twirled in his hand, making the shape of a sword. When, the smoke cleared, Alex was holding a five-foot long, black Kopis (I didn’t know what it was at the time). Lightning seem to strike within, revealing tormented souls on the blade. Alex grinned at the blade. “I only just had it forged.” He pointed it at Dylan. “It would be.” Then at me, “A shame.” Then he touched the blade to Kelly’s forehead. “For it to be used on one of you.” Kelly winced at the cold metal of the blade. She tried to squirm away, but Alex tightened his grip again.

“Where do I find the contract?” What was I saying? All of this was happening so fast and it wasn’t even phasing me. It seemed almost normal.

“Simon, no!” Dylan grabbed my shoulder, but I shrugged him off.

“Beats me.” Alex said. Thunder rolled and Alex winced, as if he was scared. It shattered his image for a split second. As he spoke, he became transparent, revealing his skull again. “That’s my cue.” He grinned. He pressed the blade on Kelly again. “Don’t make me wait, Si.” The black smoke swirled around him as his face turned from a grin to a skull. He flew off into the giant storm cloud with Agatha as Kelly screamed. “SIMON!”

I fell to my knees, feeling a mix of different things. Shock, panic, anger (at myself and Alex), grief, shame, and most of all guilt. I couldn’t protect Kelly. I couldn’t save her. Then something else occurred to me. All of this really happened. Kelly got abducted into a storm cloud by a guy who was like fourteen or fifteen, I killed a demon-creature’s boyfriend, and Dylan had a sword. I started to breathe heavily. “Dyl...this...this r-really happened.” I felt like I was about to puke. He rushed to my side and tried to sooth me, “I know, I know and I’m sorry, man. W-we’ll get her back.” I could hear the doubt in his voice. “You don’t believe that.” I looked up and glared at him.

Before he could respond,  one of the cloud-demons landed down in front of us. He had two of those bowling balls of death in his hands. “Looks like Alex isn’t here.”, he smiled with wry amusement. He had blond, almost white hair. He wore a black t shirt and camo-cargo pants. His boots looked steel-capped and his face was just downright ghostly and evil. I stood up straight and glared at him. My body felt weak for some reason.

“Don’t expect to beat me, Simon Hale.” He cracked his knuckles, “That weakling Nikon is nothing compared to me.”

“Was nothing.” Dylan said, pointing his sword at the guy.

He laughed. “Whatever you say, godling.”

“There’s that word again.” I said. “Godling. Dylan, what-?”

My sentence was cut short by a huge Dodge Ram slamming through the gate blocking off the elementary schoolers from the parking lot. It plowed through the playground stuff like it was nothing. Dylan pulled me out of the way as the truck crashed into the screaming demon-boy. Two people were arguing inside of it. “The strength charm won’t last forever!” A girl’s voice hissed.

“Then get them in the freakin’ truck!” Another voice said. It was a boy.

The girl rolled down her window, facing us. She was pretty, with curly red hair and neon green eyes that looked like they were glowing. She had light skin and her face was lightly peppered with freckles. Now, boys who are reading this...what I’m about to say is probably the smoothest thing you can say to a girl. The most intelligent thing you can say to a girl. Are you ready for this? I said, in a daze, “You...have eyes.”

She blinked and pointed at me. “What’s wrong with this one?”

“New.” Dylan replied.

She rolled her eyes and groaned. “Get in.”

***

The girl introduced herself as Jean Aldaine. She was my age. Thirteen. She was also driving us to my apartment to see my mom. The boy in the front seat had caramel skin and orange-ish brown eyes, like flaming pits. He had bandaids all over his face and fingers. He had rich, curly brown hair and a maniac-like grin, like he was going to blow something up at any second. In the front seat he had his own handheld blowtorch, a screwdriver and scrapmetal. That thing about blowing something up at any minute must have been true because the truck reeked of gunpowder and gasoline. He introduced himself as Kane Oliver.

I was feeling light headed from what just happened. “Can someone...explain what’s happening, please?” I felt that urge to puke again. Jean swerved right. She concentrated on the road with her strange, glowing eyes. “If we told you”, she said, “you’d either jump right out of the car or call us crazy and dial nine-one-one.”

“I don’t have a phone.” Is all I could say.

“Are the doors locked?” Jean asked.

“Yup.” Kane said, messing with a little metal sphere. I wondered what it was. Maybe a bomb.

“Explain it to him...um...” She hadn’t gotten our names.

“Dylan...and this is Simon.”  Dylan responded for me.

“Dyl and Si. Easy enough. Explain it, Dylan.”

Dylan took a deep breath. “Simon...you were chosen.”

“Oh, dude.” I faked knowing what he meant.

“Yeah.”

“What the heck does that even mean?”

“You were chosen by...a god.”

“Unlock the doors.”

***

Author's Note

A lot better than chapter one in my opinion. But what's yours?

Reviews

[MusicManiac]

Hello there!

I'm a huge fan of the fantasy genre! Sadly, though, I'm very bad at reading it--imagining fantasy settings/action scenes in my head is very difficult for me, so I won't comment comment on that. I will say, however, that I can definitely see some Rick Riordan inspiration in here~~

The characters have very interesting personalities (the comment about being "Hot Topic rejects" had me chuckling). Simon is definitely a little spit-fire whom I can see playing the hero very well as the story progresses (and who doesn't love some comic relief supporting characters?)! I would agree with you that this is written better than Chapter One, so I'm glad that your finding yourself improving as you go--isn't that part of the joy of writing? You have a very intriguing plot line here so I'm interested to see where it goes!

I just have one suggestion, though. It would make it a little easier on the reader if you separated a paragraph whenever a different person spoke. It can be a little difficult to differentiate who is saying what sometimes.

I hope this was helpful in some way! I enjoyed reading this, so thank your for sharing it!

~MusicManiac

[Kevin Manson]

Thank you so much! I'll definitely do what you said about the dialogue! Sorry about that! Also about you not being able to imagine fantasy. I try to get images that explain what's happening for the chapter. Also, I'll try to be a bit more descriptive and maybe use some metaphors or something, to give a clearer picture. Thank you so much for your review, I really appreciate it!

[MusicManiac]

You're very welcome! And imagines would definitely help~~ But your description of the scenes is thorough, otherwise! Not being able to visualize very well is a "me" problem :)