Page 13 of Halluci-Dating A Demon
“Yes. A few of the buildings on these strips have apartments built above them. Why? Plan on stalking him in between working?” He smirks.
Waving him off, I sip my drink so fast the coldness goes to my head. “Remind me never to get coffee with you again.”
“So, all other drinks are still on the table then, right?”
I smile around my straw, taking another drink, and my gaze darts toward the quick-moving figure wiping down tables. Eliastosses the rag in a gray bin and walks past us, holding it to his chest. He gives me a glance, and right when I’m sure he recognizes me, he says, “You two still doing okay?”
“We are,” Kyvian says, downing the rest of his drink in one go, and I nod, smiling softly. When Kyvian gets up to go to the restroom, I stand from my seat and wait until Elias is back behind the counter before walking up to him.
He turns around, forehead lifting when he sees me. “Can I get you something else?”
“Just the answer to my question.” I grin.
“What question is that?”
I pull off my beanie, revealing my horns and charms. “What’s your favorite song?”
Six
Elias
My breath catches. Those charms. They’re flashing between dark blue and yellow. His smile shakes, his eyes holding onto mine. Bright and purple. This is what he really looks like. He’s not blond at all. And he still has my hoodie on. I thought I recognized it, reaching down to his knees, hanging loosely over his slender form.
He leans against the counter, purple nails looking more like claws digging into the wood. “Well . . . You gonna tell me or not?”
“How . . . Why are you here?”
His eyes cast downward, and he glances toward the bathroom. “I came to see my friend, but I didn’t realize you worked and lived here. I hadn’t had a chance to wander outside your apartment. This is a nice coffee shop.”
His gaze flicks to the speakers hanging on the ceiling and he rocks his head to the beat of the song playing. “So, is that it?”
I shake my head, still unable to believe my eyes. Every bit of his exposed skin is purple. All smooth surfaces except for the cracks along his cheeks. I can’t stop looking at him. He’s more captivating this way than he was in . . . I guess it was some kind of disguise he was wearing. Why didn’t he show up as himself? Was he trying to keep his identity a secret? He isn’t doing a great job by letting me know who he is now.
What does a person say to his sleep-paralysis demon? How is this even real? How is he real?
“Is it some secret? I gotta say, I expected to get a response a lot easier and quicker from you this way.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” I cross my arms. “I don’t really have a favorite song.”
“Movie?”
“Not really.” Everything I once enjoyed became a blur after my brother’s death. I was no longer sure whether they were things I enjoyed or things I just did because he loved them, or because Brody loved them. Now I no longer want to do any of it. Watching those movies, going to those plays, and fishing aren’t the same alone. Neither is painting and designing lures as a side hobby, because Adam had encouraged me from the sidelines, helping me pick colors.
When I was sitting on the dock beside Arien, I was falling back into familiar territory, and for a minute I forgot why I hadn’t touched a fishing pole in a year. Why all my airbrush paints and wood-carving tools remain boxed up.
“Color?” His eyes shine under the bright lights and he stares harder at me.
“I guess, blue.” Although purple is looking pretty good about now. Wait . . . what? No, I can’t seriously be attracted to someone who makes people believe he’s a hallucination. Someone whoshows up in people’s lives unannounced . . . Someone who . . . who almost made me forget why I didn’t deserve to smile and laugh.
“And what about games? Do you like swimming? Maybe some other kind of hobbies? Do you have favorite memories? There were only so many I could gather from journals, old videos on your phone, and pictures.”
“What? Are you looking through my things? That’s an invasion of privacy.” Yet I have this strange urge to invite him in to learn more about who I once was and now am. He’s also the first person I’ve come across who actually wants to understand how the two parts connect—how and why I’ve got to where I am now. He’s the only one aside from Amy who’s trying to find the old Elias. But that side of me is gone. He lost way too much and everything else slowly faded with it.
I can’t find a point to any of it anymore.
“Yeah . . .it’s what we all do,” he stammers. “I mean, my approach is a little different from the norm. Usually, we find out what frightens you or makes you angry—your worst nightmares and fears—and we feed off the bad energy from the people we visit. But I’m trying to channel all the good. I think doing so will help you relax easier when you try to sleep and you won’t dread closing your eyes so much.”
“Why do you think I’d want that?” I was doing so well not wanting to reach for those small mercies. I was more welcoming of the pain and torment. Then he showed up and reminded me how good life could feel. Reminded me how much I missed it. But when I think about laughing and enjoying being in the sun at my favorite lake again, an ugly sensation crawls into my stomach. The guilt takes over and I see my brother’s bright, shining eyes close. I see his arms reaching for me as crumbling metal swallows him whole.
