The Demon Inheritance

TWENTY-NINE

It was Friday night when I came home from my first soccer practice. I had changed out of my uniform and put on my baggy Metallica tee and sweatpants there, but the sweat still stuck to me like my skin was made of glue. I pushed myself onto the lawn; the field wasn't very far away from my house, so I took the liberty to walk home. The water bottle swished in my hand, and I took a swig of it before picking up my bag again and continuing home.

I walked into the house, immediately greeted by baby Rachael, who was waving excitedly and yelling in her foreign baby language. I dropped my stuff by the door and immediately got to my knees. "Did you miss me?"

Rachael shouted something indeterminable and laughed, throwing her arms up. I took the liberty of tickling her as a response, laughing as my little sister squirmed in place. Also standing in the living room, my father watched both of us with an expression of complex emotion. He was probably wondering how a person like me, who had gone through Hell, could be this fine again. Of course, my adventure hadn't really been that bad, but he had no idea...

I hugged my little sister and kissed her forehead, then pet her tufty brown hair. "You don't look like me at all, kid!" I then glanced up at my father. "Where's Mom?"

Dad seemed to snap out of a trance, jaw dropping slightly in the shock of being spoke to before he crossed his arms. "I think she's in the garage. How about I go check up on her? You go rest. If you don't mind, could you go put Rachael in her crib?"

I nodded, picking up my sister. Neither of us fussed about this. I curled my arms around her scrawny little body and kissed her forehead before we headed off deeper into the house. I left my stuff by the door. I blew in my sister's ear, and she giggled on the way to her room. We walked into the pale purple room, and I set her in her crib. She didn't hate this; being in the crib always meant seeing magic.

I closed the door, then picked up her teddy bear with my wind. I made it look as if it were crawling up her crib. Slowly, I pulled more of her stuffed toys into the game. She giggled and laughed as she watched them slowly crawl towards her. She grabbed for a stuffed bunny, and I made it leap onto her hand. She immediately squeezed it and hugged it.

"Can you say 'magic', Rachael?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"Ma-gah!" she exclaimed, hissing a little in her words. The stuffed animals all piled into her crib. She gave a giddy laugh, and I let a breeze go against her hair.

"Nee-Nee will be in here, okay?" I told her. "Just not my body." I continued playing with her with my wind, although I opened the door and walked off to my room. I could feel when one of the toys was being grabbed. Then, after it would grabbed, I would merely pick up another and make it dance blindly until she got bored of this game.

I collapsed onto my static sheets, reaching up to grab my phone. I opened it to find two text messages, one from Fango and one from Mary.

Fango had typed in, "U free tonite? Group is going 2 pizza hut"

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, it isn't that hard to type actual words..." I went to Mary's message after telling Fango that I was going to stay home.

Mary had sent, "I found out how to set things on fire without destroying them!"

This one made me laugh. To anyone who didn't know, it would almost seem like she was crazy, and I was just as so. I then went to her contact info, then clicked 'call'.

"You're going to Pizza Hut?" I asked when she picked up.

"Well, hello to you too!" Mary Clarkson said, husky voice crackling. "Yeah, I am going. You aren't? Oh, yeah. Soccer... Damn it. Is it not over or something? Oh, don't tell me you're still antisocial!"