The Demon and the Child

The Crash

TW: blood, broken bones, car crash, death (starting off spicey)

"I've been thinking about us taking a trip," Anna, Virgil's mother had randomly said, pulling Virgil out of his thoughts.

"Hm? Oh, that sounds nice," he replied, turning from the car window to face her.

Anna kept her eyes on the road. "I just don't know where. A beach? Oh! We could go camping!"

"But there's so many bugs when you go camping."

"You know bugs don't like you for some reason. Except for spiders."

"Spiders aren't bugs, they're arachnids."

Anna laughed, "That's true. If it weren't for your uncle's fear of them, I would have adopted one for you. But I don't want him fainting every time he comes over."

Virgil smiled. "You know I can just hide them in my room, Uncle Pat won't ever have to know!"

"I couldn't do that to him, but maybe I could get you a dog?"

"Really!?" Virgil smiled bright.

"You did get straight A's before the end of the school year. But first, I want to plan the trip. Maybe I could try to find a nice hotel by a beach? Or maybe an amusement park."

"What about Disney World?"

Anna snorted. "With what money? The only thing I want to spend a lot of money on this summer is a dog, cause to be honest I really want one too."

Virgil chuckled. His mom was in her late 30's with gray hair starting to grow in her brown pony tail, but she still acted like a child. It's probably why he got along with her so well, or maybe it was just because she was naturally a good mom.

"Okay then, something smaller. What about Hershey Park? Their tickets are like half the price of Disney World tickets."

"Hmm, I could try to save up some money. I'm sure I can do it, just the two of us! Of course, I'll have to do a lot of planning, it'll be a weekend trip!"

"Yes!" Virgil cheered, turning to look out at the road. It was so dark out, woods on the left side and a field with a large ditch on their right.

Anna loved to buy from farmers markets since they had the freshest food and drinks, but it was a long drive out. Virgil didn't mind, he liked the long car rides, which gave him time to think. They were about to enter town anyway. The small town sign was already in sight, even if Virgil couldn't read it in the dark, the car lights too far away to light it.

"So, about the dog? What kind of breed are you thinking?" Virgil asked.

"Well, I was thinking long haired because their fur is-" Anna cut herself off with a gasp before she swerved off the road.

Virgil didn't have time to grab onto anything, but thank goodness the seat belt tightened as the car threw them around. He grit his teeth as metal crunched and glass shattered around him.

He hit the door, the window cracking from the force of his head hitting the window as pain exploded in his arm with a loud snap! By the time his head stopped spinning just enough for him to realize what had happened, the car had stopped rolling and they were upside down.

"M-mom?" his voice came out weak and strangled. He couldn't feel his right arm, something warm and sticky was running down the side of his head, his vision was swimming and he could barely see anything through the black spots.

He tried to turn his head to see his mom, but the moment he tried to move his neck he gasped in pain. It hurt too much to turn anywhere, and with growing panic he realized he didn't hear his mom moving at all.

"Mom!" his cry was strangled, his chest burned when he tried to take a deep breath. What happened?

Something had fallen in front of them, it had to have been a giant bird since he remembered seeing white wings, or maybe the car lights made it seem white. It seemed crazy, but it almost seemed like the wings belonged to a human figure.

Virgil tried to tug at the seat belt with his left hand, but moving too fast and too hard jostled the rest of his body which hurt more than Virgil could handle.

He heard sirens, at least that's what he thought it was. The blood was pounding too hard in his ears for him to hear much of anything now, oh god the blood was going to rush to his head and he was going to die!

He was probably crying, but he couldn't tell. His body was starting to become numb and his vision was almost gone at this point. He continued to call for his mom even after things were starting to move around him.

Someone had opened his door, he felt hands grabbing him, when had they gotten the seat belt off?

He heard voices, but they were all muffled. He tried to look for his mom, but he couldn't turn his neck. He felt something strap him down and something was placed on his face before he passed out.

~~~

"First day of school!" Patton said with a smile. "Are you ready?"

"I guess," Virgil said with a shrug.

It had been two months since the car crash, two months since the doctors allowed him to leave his hospital bed to say goodbye, almost two months since the funeral.

Virgil had been sent to live with his Uncle Patton after that, the two of them struggling with the grieving process. Virgil's arm was still in a cast, but the scar on his temple had healed and so had any bruises.

Patton was nice, he really was! But Virgil wasn't too enthusiastic for the huge change. Patton lived in a much larger town than Virgil was used to, so the school was going to be bigger and the kids were going to be different.

A new town is like that, though, Virgil wouldn't have minded if he had his mom with him. But he didn't, and that was still so hard for him to accept.

"I have time before work, so I can drop you off," Patton said, carefully putting his hand on Virgil's shoulder. "I am really proud of you though, you're really strong choosing to go to public school instead of being homeschooled."

"It would be easier, in the long run." Virgil avoided Patton's eyes. "Colleges like it better, homeschool is hard, and it's more... normal."

"There's nothing wrong with things not being normal, but if this is what you want to do I won't stop you. Just promise that you'll try to make some friends, m'kay?"

Virgil nodded. "Yeah, sure. We should go, I don't want to be late."

One thing Virgil appreciated about the big town was the traffic. He did not like it when they had to drive over 40, not that there were many streets that went above 20 or 35 in town. But it was still a comfort, knowing that if there were any car crashes it wouldn't be anything too bad.

Plus the school wasn't too far away, it was just a 15 minute drive from Patton's small home. In no time they were pulling up to the curb in the drop off circle.

"Well we're here," Patton said, turning to Virgil. "I won't be able to pick you up because of my work, so do you remember your bus number?"

"Yeah don't worry, I'll make it home just fine. Bye, have a good day," Virgil told him as he left the car.

"You too, kiddo!"

Patton drove off as Virgil walked towards the school building. He took a deep breath, it was the first day in his sophomore year at a new school in a new town. What was there to be nervous about?