Photograph | Mammon

Seventeen

The drive to the hospital was dead silence. Both of them were unable to speak up about the other night. While he drove he caught Jonah glancing at him but felt equally as awkward to bring up what happened.

"I--"

"I--"

Their simultaneous words cause a further silence, "U-um, you go first"

Mammon's words finally gave Jonah the confidence to speak. He hung his head low. He was freshly showered, shaved and trimmed his hair so as not to cause further distress to his sister. "I'm... sorry for being such a dick"

"You've been a dick since day one, why apologise now?" Mammon attempted to lighten up the grim situation. "Don't joke around, what I did is irredeemable, an apology cannot even make up for the disrespect I showed you last night"

Only last night? Mammon wanted to quip but understood it was not the right situation for his humour. "what's done is done Jonah, no point in dwelling"

Jonah shook his head as he pondered in thought, "There's only one way... you should hit me back"

"do you even hear yourself?"

"An eye for an eye, a punch for a punch--"

"Kid, you hurt your fist when you hit me—if I hit you, you might die" he shamelessly cackled in the boy's face at his ridiculous conclusion.

Jonah nervously gulped at Mammon's casual threat, "T-then control yourself!"

Mammon pursed his lips. Normally it'd be easy to control his strength but he had a lot of pent-up anger towards Jonah due to their past encounters, he wasn't confident he'd be able to hold himself back with such a golden opportunity.

"As much as I'd like to... I won't"

Jonah sighed dramatically, "Come on!"

"Piss off, she'll kill me if I hurt you"

"...and if I tell her?"

"Tell her what?" As they locked eyes the demon unfortunately understood. Mammon abruptly pulled over with an exasperated sigh, "Alright... you asked for it"

"I can't..." The utter pain in her voice made Milo tense up. "I know it's hard... but how about just a few bites? I'll even do the aeroplane bit if you want"

He scooped up the goop onto the spoon. He vibrated his lips together to make a 'brr' noise as he playfully moved the spoon through the air. As the spoon neared closer, so did the stench. A sickening stench that caused her empty inside to churn.

Like instinct, she slaps his hand away, "I SAID I CAN'T!"

Even she's taken aback by her outburst, she never felt this way... she never wanted to feel this fucking way.

"I...Milo--"

"I know... don't worry, love" he gently reassure her but she was already disgusted by her reaction.

Her lack of desire and continuous emotional outbursts was sickening. It was a tragic reminder of the ticking timebomb that was her life.

His eyes widened as she clasped onto the spoon, "D-don't force yourself!"

Her tentative hand shoves spoonfuls of the food into her mouth. She wasn't sure if it was her illness or the lack of sugar, salt and oils but it tasted genuinely horrendous. And she was not hiding it well.

He immediately hands her a bowl.

The food comes out as soon as it comes in. He instantly noticed the pain on her face. The realisation of her lack of normalcy. "I can't blame you, hospital food is dogshit"