Devil's Plaything

Tic-Tac's and Master Plans

Mira spent the entirety of the next day searching the news for people who had gone missing or been killed in the local area. She found nothing that would help her figure out if the robber who had taken her wallet last night was still alive. Her wallet had since remained untouched on her bed. She had tried to sleep on the floor but she couldn't get herself to close her eyes for long enough for her to be able to drift off. He had been in here, in her room. Seeing him was no longer something she had to overcome once, but something she was now worried about constantly. She felt terrified and, almost worse, she felt completely alone.

Every person who knew what she was going through wasn't going to be there to tell her everything was okay. Marci thought her story was crazy, Charlie seemed to only care about studying her and not helping her, and Sam was ignoring her completely. She had skipped class and spent the entire day trying to find information about the well being of someone who, as far as she knew, maybe would have killed her had she not been so compliant while he was robbing her.

Her stomach growled and she realized she hadn't eaten all day. She reached for her phone to order some food, trying not to grimace when her home screen was empty of any notifications. Pizza could be her friend, she thought optimistically. Pizza was reliable and unbiased.

But too much pizza gives you heart problems, her mind reminded her. And pizza can't give you hugs or tell you that you won't have to spend eternity in Hell.

She covered her face with her arm and let out an unsteady breath. She was about ready to cry over pizza when a sharp knock made her jerk up into a sitting position. She stared at the door, suspicion overwhelming her. She didn't think the devil would knock if he wanted to visit her, but she didn't wanted to be proven wrong by letting him in.

She stood, inching toward the door as silently as possible.

"Mira?" Sam's muffled voice came from the hallway. "Are you in there? It's Sam."

Hearing that it was him made her feel relieved and angry at the same time. "What do you want?" she asked, opening the door.

He stood in front of her, nervously clutching and tin of Tic-tac's and staring down at his feet. "Are you mad at me? You sound mad." Mira didn't respond. At first, because she didn't know quite how to and then because she realized her silence made him more nervous. "I really don't like conflict, I can't handle confrontation." He chanced a glance up at her and she hoped she looked stern but was finding the situation a little rewarding. For the first time in a long while, she was in the position of control in the conversation.

"I'm not mad," she said pointedly. "I'm just disappointed."

His brow creased. "You sound really serious but you're smiling so I'm confused about what I should do."

"Why are you holding mints?" she asked, again too unsure about how she felt to respond to his statement.

"Oh, uh." He blinked down at the Tic-tac's in his hands as if he had forgotten he was holding them. Then, very awkwardly, he extended them towards her. She stared. "They're for you," he said.

She didn't know whether she should laugh or be offended. "Now is not the time to make a statement about how my breath smells."

"No! That's not what I meant!" He took a deep breath. "I wanted to say I was sorry for the way I've been acting. I was frustrated when it first happened but I realize that what you did—or, what you thought you were doing—was actually really brave and selfless. And kind of dumb, actually-."

"Sam," she warned.

"Which is not the point, of course," he continued. "I just should have understood earlier that you did something really nice for me and you don't even know me that well. So I brought you these." He extended the mints towards her again. Hesitantly, she took them from his hand. "I didn't want to get you flowers because then you might think I was trying to hit on you or something." His laugh was nervous and brief.

She sighed and leaned against her door frame. "I'm really sorry if I messed some deal up for you. I thought you were in trouble and instinct kicked in."

"Your instinct is to try to exorcise people?" he asked. She narrowed his eyes at him but he cracked a small smile and the tension between then waned. She found that, despite everything, she was tempted to laugh. His expression grew into a somber one with which she was more familiar seeing on him. "I know I told you this before, but I will find a way to undo this. I'm going to get you your soul back. We just have to figure out how to get the demon to talk to us again-."

"I saw him last night," she said quickly. "He was following me after I left the library." Sam stared at her, suddenly looking very panicked. Naturally, she did what she always did when she was nervous and started babbling. "I think he may have hurt someone. There was this guy who robbed me and later I found my wallet that he took on my bed. That demon was in here, he got my wallet back from the thief and he left it for me here." She motioned to where it still lay behind her on her bed. "I haven't been able to sleep on my bed or even touch it. I can't sleep at all, actually. And no one will believe me or talk to me."

"I believe you, of course," he said, touching her shoulder softly. "I'm sorry I wasn't talking to you before, but I'll listen now. This is all my fault and we're going to solve this." He sighed and run his hand through his hair. "This whole seeing you thing? I don't want to freak you out, but it doesn't happen. Once a demon bargains with you, he's supposed to leave you alone."

"Supposed to?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, he has no use for you now that he has your..." His let the rest of his sentence fade. "From everything I've read about this, this is highly unusual."

Mira perked up. "You have books on this?"

Sam blushed and glanced down at his shoes again. "I mean, I summoned him. I found information on how to get him here. I assume if that worked then the rest of the information in my books are accurate."

Mira grabbed his arm and he jumped a little in surprise. "I need your books. And your brain. I met this girl at the library yesterday and you both are going to help me." Sam looked up at her and her grip on his arm tightened. "We are going to find a way to reverse all of this. If he's not following protocol then maybe that's a good thing. Maybe we can find a way out of this."

"Yeah," Sam said in a breath. Then, more confidently, "We can fix this, Mira." 

Some Updates:

1. I have already decided my New Year's resolution will be to finish the books I have on here. Thanks to everyone who has voted/commented/followed. These three things make me really happy and inspire me to update. Also, many of your comments on this story in particular are hilarious and make my day. Please, if you like this story and my other books, vote and comment! I want to know your opinions. Favorite character? What you want to see happen? 

2. Hope you all are having nice holidays! I'll update GIM and YM before the new year!

3. Also, check out You're Mine. I recently posted the first chapter and plan to upload the second very soon <3