Page 4 of Destroyer

"Right. Well, I'll say goodbye to Caeo and see myself out." Then he mouths something that looks like woo the fucker. Caeo's arrival stops me from questioning him and he slips away.

"We can watch a horror film?" I ask. It's the only genre that keeps my attention since I discovered he has the horror channel.

"Why do you love the films I hate?"

"You just want the wrong people to win." I shrug at him and press the right sequence of buttons on the remote to get what I want.

“People aren't supposed to root for the serial killer.”

“Why must we root for the screaming teens who only escape because killer makes end mistake. Not do they win by surviving. They just live long enough for killer to make mistake.”

“So why do you like them so much?”

“Because for first three of the four parts, the killers are scary good.”

“Three quarters,” Caeo sighs in a correcting tone, and surrenders to the inevitable horror film.

I find something that is ninety-seven minutes long. If I give him half an hour to get ready for bed after that, I can creep out in plenty of time to complete my task.

"Caving in the monster's nest?" Caeo questions my sanity.

"It is a film about a happy creature who lives underground and is not bothering anyone. Then annoying humans go into his home, make too much noise and he has to get rid of them all."

"It will jump out on them in the dark and rip them to pieces," Caeo sighs.

"Yes. So, it will not scare you to see it. The only survivor is one who is named first." I sit beside him on the sofa, slightly closer than I would normally, thanks to Gregory's weird advice. I need to snag Caeo. Not because I need a better life than the one I had before, but because I need a better life than the one I have now. Before is gone and it can never be that way again. I need to pick Caeo and end the uncertainty of who will be my life keeper.

Currently it is a decision between cartoons, anima, and horror, and I am enjoying how this monster is eating all the side characters.

Chapter three

Caeo

Iwake,showerandhead downstairs, as I do every morning. There is a lot of banging coming from the kitchen as I approach, but when I open the door, Nico is sitting innocently on the worktop.

"What did you do?" I accuse, looking around for signs of the chaos that would explain the noise.

"I emptied the dish cleaning thing. The drawer did not want to go home."

"Ah. It can be temperamental. Just need to lift it and give it a push." It's a common problem but I only think about when I'm unloading the damn thing each day, and that's never a good time to fix it then.

"One day you will come to my home, and I will show you how to live without all complicated things," Nico offers.

"Sure. We can go today." I've always been curious about how he lives, having been completely wrong about his relationship with Gavriil. I thought he lived with the man, with access to food, warmth and shelter. How wrong I was. How badly I failed him. I knew it was wrong, but I did nothing about it.

"You want to go to my home?" Nico frowns. He glances outside at the beautiful grey clouds in the sky. "Fine, we go, but you no complain if raining when we get there."

"I won't complain." I will consider myself honoured to see what this boy calls his home.

Called his home.

I want him to call this his home.

I used to think that one day I'd come down to find Nico making me waffles for breakfast, but after seeing him argue with the toaster I was willing to give that idea a miss.

"Don't be laughing," Nico threatens. "I will cook you dinner tonight."

He makes it sound like that is his threat, but he's already decided dinner is happening at his place.

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