Page 27 of Demon's Desire
My eyes went wide. “Possessed?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I know what you’re thinking, but that’s the only explanation. Whatever it is, this spirit, it’s following you around. It’s haunting you. It possesses a host to get close to you, then when it leaves, the host has no memory of the incident.”
“Um…” I closed my eyes for a second and shook my head. “I’m sorry, how did you even hear us?”
“I had my window open,” Helen explained.
“Your window?” Kelly frowned. “Helen, it’s, like, fifty-eight degrees.”
“I’m well aware, thank you,” the older woman said curtly. “Mia, I’m serious about this. Possessions are rare, but they’re real. I have a sense about these things.”
“I… Uh… Thank you.” I nodded at her, unsure of how else to respond. “I appreciate your insight. I’ll… look into this.”
“You may not believe me now,” she muttered, shaking her head, “but you will. This is only going to get worse. You need a plan to protect yourself.”
“Do you have any… suggestions?” Mica asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Nope.” She shook her head. “I avoid this shit like the plague. But that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize it. Trust me.”
She turned around and went back into the apartment without saying anything else.
“What the fuck was that?” I whispered, looking at everyone else.
“I don't know…” Torie muttered.
“Let’s get inside,” Kelly suggested, pulling out her keys. “Before she hears us talking about anything else.”
We all got up and made our way up to the apartment. I didn’t know what to think. I mean, I did. Helen was either lying or she was delusional. But I didn’t know what to think about Elias and Marcus. This whole situation was weird. I wanted answers, but clearly I couldn’t get them. Not when the people I needed answers from didn’t remember that I existed.
I took a deep breath and went to put the groceries for dinner away. I couldn’t think about this now, or I was going to drive myself up a wall. Today, I would focus on food and hanging out with my friends before they left again. That was it.
7
We made some snacks and spent a while watching YouTube videos, showing each other some of our favorite videos. Eventually, we put on the movie Ju-On: The Grudge because Kelly had never seen it and Mica insisted that it was a rite of passage. Of course, if Mica wanted to do it, Kelly was more than happy to agree. It was actually one of my favorite horror movies. I liked it way more than the American adaptations.
At around six, I got up to go prep the food while they put on the sequel. I could hear the movie in the next room as I got all the ingredients out, so I grabbed my headphones and started playing some music. I started measuring out the dry ingredients, cutting the onion, mincing the garlic, and getting everything ready. When I had everything prepped for the meatballs, I went ahead and measured out everything I’d need for the sauce. I’d never actually made this before, but I figured it would work out. The recipe was literally titled “Easy Swedish Meatball Recipe,” so how hard could it be?
I sang to myself as I measured the heavy cream, cataloged everything in my head, then double-checked the recipe on my phone. It looked like I had everything, and I smiled to myself as I pulled out the ground beef. This was going better than most of my cooking exploits. Just as I grabbed the scissors to open the ground beef, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped at the unexpected feeling, but I was careful not to smack myself with the scissors. When I looked up, I saw Mica next to me. I set the scissors and the beef down quickly and went to pull off my headphones.
“Hey, Mica. What’s up?” I smiled at him.
“How’s it going?” he asked, looking at the counter full of ingredients. “You’ve done a lot of work.”
“Oh, not really.” I shrugged. “So far it’s just measuring. But I’m all right! I don’t want you to miss your movie.”
He chuckled slightly. “I don’t care about the movie, Mia. I’d rather be here with you.”
I blinked, utterly confused at that statement.
“Um… What do you mean?” I looked over his shoulder to see if this was a joke the girls were playing on me. He reached up and cupped my chin, pulling my gaze back to look at him. My eyes went wide, and I stepped back out of his reach. “Mica!”
“What’s wrong, beautiful?” He chuckled, tilting his head. “You don’t need to be scared. You know me.”
“Yes, I know you!” I pointed out. “And you’ve never acted like this toward me!”
“There’s a first time for everything.” He shrugged, a smirk on his face. “It’s getting harder and harder to resist you, Mia.”
“W-What the fuck are you talking about?” I stepped back again. “Mica, we’ve been friends for years. What the hell is going on? Are you trying to play a joke on me? Because I am so not in the mood after today.”