Chapter 7: Of devils and contracts 1/2
After the attack, we went back home, were we encountered the bane of all families... money problems. Or at least I thought we would. My parents didn't seem to care much about that, and the only change in our living style was that I began sleeping with them. The broken wall of my room was kind of covered with wooden planks, though since we lived on a sixth floor it wasn't like we would have to worry about anyone coming in through there.
For once, I felt grateful at the ugly way houses were simply piled above each other to create buildings. Not only was it insanely hard to climb even a single floor from the outside of the building, but having an entire wall made out of wood planks wasn't all that weird or ugly.
"The devil hunters will take care of the devil, so don't worry my dear," said mom, though it felt as if she was trying to reassure herself more than anything.
I nodded at her words, scratching the bandage that wrapped my throat, only t have my hand held by my dad.
"Come on kiddo," he said, shaking his head. "Literally the first thing the doctor said was that you shouldn't scratch it."
We were currently laying down on the floor of their room, we're I buried myself under their blanket and between them.
It felt slightly weird being able to do this without thinking that 'she', who I now know is the obsession devil, will show up jealous and kill them.
It didn't make much sense, but I was pretty certain that devil hunter dude would deal with her. Weird considering how nervous I was before while thinking about this, but they seemed to have already sealed with her, right? I mean, if they could kill her once, they can kill her however many times it takes.
What I should focus on is why Parallel hasn't showed up at all. In theory, it would make sense if he showed up after my first death, after all why would e want to see his own world through my eyes? But still… he said he would give me a power, and while I am pretty sure it won't help me fight a devil directly, it would make me think faster and more efficiently, which would help me plan how to deal with whatever comes as well as figure out what the hell attracted the Obsession devil in the first place.
Well, for now I should begin asking questions about devils, because not knowing anything about them certainly won't help me. Or maybe tomorrow…
'Yeah, tomorrow sounds good…' I thought to myself as my eyes closed and I accepted the sweet sleep that I hadn't felt for a long time.
Waking up rested was even nicer than I remember. The feeling of your body smoothly sliding out of the blankets, your muscles tightening and stretching as you yawn, the ray of sunshine coming through the window. It felt like the perfect morning, and I would like to think I earned it.
.
Waking up, I was greeted by an empty space were my parents should have been sleeping. My head hurt and I could feel something was… wrong? There was no way of putting it correctly, but I felt I was forgetting something important.
Shaking my head, I up from the floor and walked to the kitchen. Neither mom nor dad were there, which was definitely weird. The headache I had grew, so I went to grab a glass of water.
I was forgetting something important, wasn't I?
Drinking the water, I placed the glass back in the table, only for it to fall down.
*Crash*
"No!"
My eyes widened as I immediately jumped back. Moving my gaze around, I didn't find anything strange, other than the shattered glass on the floor. A frown formed on my face, because I could swear I heard…
'Whatever,' I thought, shaking my head. The headache intensified and I didn't want it any longer.
As I went down to grab the glass, I felt pain hit me in my fingers.
'Wait, why did I go to pick up the shards with my bare hands?' I wondered before the sound of drops hitting the ground made me focus again. Looking down I saw the cut on my fingers, as well as the blood coming out of them.
"Stop! Please stop!"
My head snapped to the side as I raised my arms. Looking around I once again found no one there, yet this time I was sure that someone had spoken…
"Arghh!" I screamed in pain as I felt my ribs crack. I fell to the floor, landing right where the shards of glass were, and cutting my arms, as well as the left side of my face. Just as soon as the pain came it vanished, but I remained on the floor, bleeding out. I wanted to scream more, to call for mom and dad, but my throat tightened and no words came out.
"Don't do this, Obsession!"
There was something wrong with me.
Three hours later no help had come. Both mom and dad must be out working now that I think about it, which meant that I still had a couple more hours left alone.
I went to the bathroom first, and after searching through the single drawer we had that contained everything the three of us used at the bathroom, I settled for a small gripper mom used to pluck hairs from her eyebrows or something like that.
Slowly, I began to carefully remove the small pieces of glass from the wounds on my face. It was hard and it hurt, but it was better than leaving the glass inside. The wounds themselves weren't exactly deep, but they might still get infected nonetheless, and that is something we can't afford dealing with.
Eventually I finished taking out all the pieces of glass I could find, and began looking through the drawer for something to cleanse the wounds with. After finding nothing, I couldn't help but let a curse out and go to my parents room. Searching through their closet I found the single bottle of sake they had, one which I am sure they bought as a luxury. Grabbing it, I brought it to the bathroom and began pouring a bit over my wounds. It hurts, it hurt terribly, and yet every time I was about to scream I felt my throat tighten all over again. Tears left my eyes as the pain stung, but soon enough I finished, and returned the bottle back to the closet.
Once I was done, I found myself staring at my body in the mirror. My face now had four small scars, two on my cheek, one on my chin, and one right above my eye, which began on the lower part of my forehead and cut right through my left eyebrow. I might think it looked cool if I wasn't a kid, or if I wasn't in pain, or if the splitting headache had gone away and I was able to think decently.
Before I could properly take in the rest of my body and check if something was wrong, everything around me changed. My reflection was still in front of me, but it looked blurry, as though the surface was unstable. Everything around me was slightly darker and, once I lifted my eyes I noticed it was night.
"Huh?" I mumbled as my gaze wandered through my surroundings.
I was… not home.
A screech pulled me out of my thoughts and I found my body moving on its own, turning around to see what made the sound. Logic dictated that I should run away, it's what everyone always says they would do in a horror movie after all, and yet I didn't, or rather my body didn't. I wanted to run, I wanted to leave, and instead I found myself frozen on my spot.
The sound I heard had come from a woman behind me. Both her hair and her eyes were of a familiar blood-red colour, but her expression was what drew my attention the most.
Pure, unadulterated rage.
She was fucking livid, and staring right at me.
There was something about her that terrified me more than anything I have ever seen. She scared me on a fucking existencial level, to the point where Parallel and Obsession were nothing. She reminded me of the one thing I dreaded the most, she reminded me of my heart attack.
I want control.
My mind didn't even register as she lunged forward in my direction, all I felt was the pain of my ribs cracking and the skin on my torso being ripped open. I wanted to scream, but it felt as though my lungs were simply in too much pain to even take air in, much less make air leave.
"You fucking bitch!" I heard the red-headed woman scream.
My head managed to raise just enough to see what was going on. In front of me, the red-headed woman was in the middle of a fight with…
And my heart dropped.
Obsession. The Obsession devil.
The splitting headache returned and memories rushed in.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone