American Devil

Chapter 6 - The Night Keeper

The smell of rotting meat litters the sterile air of the Medical examiner office, that one Terry Mcguinness mindlessly works into the midnight hours. You could during these hours the only ones active are witches, demons, ghosts and Terry during the witching hour. Glasses hanging off his aged face as he slowly types away on his computer, compiling death certificates, a dull but necessary part of his job. Not as fun as figuring out how a person died, but someone has to do it. While the other much younger examiners have already compiled their work for the day, the technological disabled Terry tends to spend his night catching up. Terry isn't complaining, especially when he gets to be left alone to do his job in peace and quiet, while those youngsters he calls his coworkers are already at home and warm in their beds.

As he works, the light above him flickers before going out completely, taking along with it the rest of the light in the room. An audible ensemble of grumbles and grunts follow as he rises from his chair, to the popping and cracks of his bones. Luckily, he knows his office like the back of his hand, so it takes him no effort to get up, amble over to the switch and flick it off then on again. The light turns back on. He stares at it for a bit, waits to see if it will go out again. He even goes so far as to click the light on and off several more times, before he deems that the light works just fine now. He sighs in relief at that. He doesn't have to go out in search of a replacement bulb.

His relief is short lived, however, when, just as he sits back down in his chair, a voice calls out his name. Terry is instantly out of his chair again, gripping his chest in fear. He swings his head around and sees a porcelain mask gleaming in the fluorescent light. There's a scream threatening to rip out of his throat but he contains it once his brain catches up to who is standing in front of him. The scream is instantly replaced with a grumpy yell and a swing at the youngster.

"Goddammit you brat! You shouldn't be going around scaring old people like that!" He exclaims with his fist colliding with Kyro's shoulder. "Do you think my heart can handle being scared like that? It's old. It's falling apart, just like the rest of my body. Do not play with me like that. You're going to make me go grey!" He says with a wag of his finger.

"Go grey? I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, old man, but you barely have three hairs on the top of your head. There's nothing there to go grey." Kyro teases, and the man just punches him once more for his efforts. Kyro yelps, dancing away from the old man to avoid any more hits.

"I'm sorry, okay? Geez, I just thought it'd be pretty funny. And why is everyone punching me now? Is this a new trend I haven't heard about?" Kyro sounds mock offended as he rubs at the now aching shoulder.

"Well if you didn't keep going around scaring people, you wouldn't keep getting punched. You can't play with people like that. One of these days you won't get a punch to the shoulder but a fist to the face instead." Terry continues scolding.

"Is that a threat, old timer? You think you can take me down?"

"I may not be in my prime anymore, but I am positive I can still pack a punch and knock some of those pearly whites of yours loose." The man tries to show off his muscles and Kyro almost doubles over laughing. This doesn't disrupt Terry however. The man just turns his nose up at Kyro.

"Just you laugh, but if I were your age now, you'd be lying on the ground with a black eye. I might still do it, if you keep teasing me." Terry warns, but there is a joking note in his voice.

"Oh no, I am very scared now. Please don't do it! Spare me! I like my teeth!" Kyro turns up the theatrics and Terry can't help but chuckle in good humor. He waves the younger man off after a second, ignoring his silly antics with a fond smile. He walks past Kyro, going for the door. When he doesn't hear any footsteps following him, Terry turns around and sees Kyro still standing around the office.