Burn

CHAPTER 1

TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions mental illness
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"I'm bored."

"I know."

"I'm bored."

"I know."

"I'm-"

"I swear to god if you tell me you're bored onemoretime-"

"A problem, Mr. Willows?"

Carter whipped his head to the front of the classroom, where his English teacher, Ms. Jenson, was tapping her nails against her desk and sending him a disapproving glare.

Carter gulped. Ms. Jenson was notoriously strict in her punishments, and ever since her husband had left her for his secret boyfriend two years ago, she'd only become more sadistic.

"N-No, Ma'am. Just...thinking." He held his HB pencil to his temple for effect, creasing his brow as though deep in thought.

Ms. Jenson's glare only deepened, lips pursing in obvious displeasure. "Eyes on your own test, please," she berated, those sharp eyes moving from his face as she swept the room.

Carter exhaled in relief, scarcely able to believe his luck. An after-school detention was the last thing he needed today.

"Do you mind?" he hissed under his breath, attempting to glance at the figure hovering nearby with as much subtly as he could muster. "You're gonna get me into trouble. Not to mention make me fail this test. I really need to pass Eng-Are you yawning?"

And he was. The bastard was yawning.

For what must have been the millionth time in the last three weeks, Carter glared hatefully into Ryu's sharp, crimson face and wished he could throttle the demon's slender neck.

It had been a shock, at first, becoming accustomed to Ryu's appearance.

He affected some sort of half-demon, half-human hybrid; his skin was red, and his hair was inky black, but at least he had skin and hair. A pair of large, goat-like ears sprouted from his head, and two small horns sat nestled amongst his dark locks. He had red glowing eyes and a single piercing, and he always wore the same brown leather trench coat over the same black t-shirt.

Demons mustn't have a very extensive wardrobe.

He looked like some sort of teenaged Satan, Carter supposed, if Satan had joined a boy-band and devoted his life to single-handedly keeping the hair-gel industry in business.

But despite the startling nature of his appearance, Carter had lived with (endured) Ryu's presence for almost an entire month, and could now comfortably glare into his weird little face without wanting to empty his lunch onto the floor.

"I don't understand the big deal," Ryu said finally, stretching out his hand to admire those long, ebony talons on the end of each finger. Carter has quickly learnt that Ryu was, aside from incredibly infuriating, also incurably vain. "Not that I don't care about who this Rye is and why you have to catch it, but surely there's something more entertaining to do around here. C'mon, let's ditch this dusty hovel and go set a building on fire."

Carter gritted his teeth and stared down at his test, wishing fervently for the ground to swallow him up. He didn't know if all demons were as insane or if Carter was just incredibly unlucky, but Ryu had a particular fascination with pyrotechnics and seemed to think any problem could be solved if you set it on fire.

"Carter? Caaarter?"

Now Ryu was waving his hand in Carter's face, proving himself once again as the world's most annoying and insufferable nuisance.