A Test of Love, Affection, and the Demonic.

Chapter Eight

I continue to state at him for a few seconds before deciding against sounding crazy.
"Nevermind, I thought I saw something. It was nothing" I shake my head and look away from him, the very action of me turning my head a few inches sending ripples of kind warmth and remnants of pain throughout my body. "I'm sure my mother wouldn't mind you staying with me for tonight, but I need to call her and tell her about . . ." I let my voice fade away from the obvious statement.
He closes his eyes and breaths for a few seconds and as that's happening, I hold my breath for the next fogs appearence. I wait with anxiousness seeping through my body. Seconds pass, and several deep breaths from Beck, and the fog starts to fade back into his body, taking away the warmth and stinging sensations it caused. He looks up at me with sad, tired eyes and nods.
I keep driving straight to my house and call my mother on the way to let her know that she should expect company for the night.

We get to my house and are sitting at my dining room table, silently sipping hot chocolate and pushing around sweet sugar cookies on a plate. I hear my mom sniff from across the table and wipe away a silent tear. As soon as we walked in I sat her down with Beck and let him tell her what happened while I made refreshments to maybe help the coping process. She had just been told her best friend for most of her life, had just died in a very gruesome way. It was impossible not to feel sorry for her.

"I'm sorry, Mom. And you, too, Beck. You've both lost one of the most important people in your lives, too suddenly." I say trying to break the awkward somber silence. "She was a very wonderful lady, mother, friend, and person, and we are all going to miss her. She was taken too soon, but at least she's in a happier place now, right?" I look at my mom and Beck. They smile back at me and nod.

"You're right, Sierra. And knowing the type of person she i-. . . Was." She coughed as if to clear her throat. " she would not want us to be sitting around moping. She'd want us to celebrate the wonderful life she had and all the good that she managed to get out of it." With that she stands and lifts her mug of cold hot chocolate and lifted it. Beck and I stand and so the same. "To a wonderful, mother, sister, and friend. You will be missed," we clink our cups together before draining them.

I pick up a cookie and munch on it, filled with a renewed happiness instead of loss. I notice a yellow fog drifting around my ankles and when it touches my skin, I'm filled with a cool refreshing feeling, like dipping your feet into the edge of a cold pool. I look up and notice Beck and my mother chatting away their best memories of his mother, smiling, laughing, grinning, and crying as the stories go on and on.

Suddenly I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and pull it out. My happy feeling dissipates when I see his name on the caller i.d. I count my blessings before answering the phone regretting the day I ever gave the boy my number.