The Devil Within

I Thought This Was a Therapy Session, Not a Salon

"Thank you for coming here."

"It's my room, Raphael," you said, giving him a teasing smile. "We can't exactly have privacy anywhere else."

It has been an hour since Chuck abandoned you to pursue Becky and Raphael called you to your room. He said that he wanted to talk to you face to face about something important. Raphael reassured you that talking was the only reason why he was coming down. He was able to get past Michael by saying that you revealed some sensitive information that Raphael should know about. Michael let him go but Raphael only has half an hour to sort this out.

"I understand that," Raphael said, rolling his eyes. "What I mean is that you could have stayed by Chuck or enjoyed yourself in the convention. But you decided to talk with me. Thank you for that."

"It's not a problem, Raphael," you said, giving him a kind smile. "Nothing you need to thank me for. But you did sound a little concerned. What's on your mind?"

"It's about what you said on stage," Raphael said, sitting on your bed. He patted the spot next to him and you had a seat. "I wanted to ask you about that previous relationship you mentioned."

"The one about having a manipulative abuser?" you asked, raising a brow. Raphael nodded and you sighed. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, huh?"

"If you don't want to talk about it, I won't force you," Raphael said as you kept your gaze glued to the floor. "But I will tell you this: it's better for your mental health to talk to someone about it. It doesn't have to be me."

"No," you said, looking up at Raphael. "If I'm going to tell anyone, I'm glad it's you. Besides," you sighed, sitting up, "it's been bottled up for too long."

Raphael nodded and held his hand out to you. "I would be happy to listen to you."

"Thank you, Raphael," you said, grasping his hand. You started to talk about your ex, keeping the other-world-shenanigans to yourself. When you first met Spencer, you didn't trust him that much. He was what your little community called a Wanderer. Wanderers were merchants that travelled from city to city, delivering different goods to everyone at a price. They were known to be selfish and cruel when not given what they wanted. Some communities, like yours, could easily hunt for themselves. The wildlife in Regina was thriving due to the lack of humans so it wasn't too hard to find loads of rabbits or even deer. You even brought down a large elk with your sister, Lyra, once. The group of Wanderers that often frequented your community preferred trading food for medical supplies. Your community would give them food and, in return, they gave medicine that your community required. Your ex, Spencer, was part of that group of Wanderers.

You two met in February 2026. By then, Putin was long since dead and so was half the population. That was when your little community finally got things together and decided to live in the University altogether. Spencer's group of Wanderers stopped by and sold what they could for what you had. It was a nice exchange- considering the greed that those people showed very early on -and you and your little friend group had a good laugh with the Wanderers' kids. Spencer was overly kind to you when you first met that day. You were an oblivious fucker and didn't realize he had a crush on you until his twelfth month of trading with the community. The two of you started hanging out alone whenever he would visit and you started to get feelings for Spencer. He was always charming and nice... Nice. 

No one's ever just nice... you knew that now. 

"A general rule of thumb when it comes to being a human woman," you said, feeling yourself start to shake. Whether it was out of sadness or sorrow, you couldn't tell. "Stay away from Nice Guys."

"Do you not want a relationship with someone nice?" Raphael questioned, squeezing your hand. "Is it preferable to be with a criminal?"

"Nice Guys are criminals, Raphael," you sighed. "The best way I can explain it is; Nice is conditional whereas Kindness is to not expect anything. Well, in this example." You let go of Raphael's hand and flopped onto the mattress with a huff. "Nice Guys think that they're entitled to a relationship- sexual or romantic, doesn't matter -simply because they're nice to you. They expect you to let them cross your boundaries and manipulate you into thinking they aren't like the rapists and murderers that we women have to keep a lookout for." You ran your hands down your face to try and mask the tears that were threatening to spill. "If the Nice Guys don't get what they want, then their true colours show. They get violent and nasty. They try to alienate you from your loved ones or they hurt you."