guardian devil

n°2

i stood in place for a moment, completely motionless, deciding if it would be okay to react or not.
"ma'am? is there anything i can help you with?"
i meet eyes with a black woman, seemingly in her early forties. "oh, no—uh, i was just thinking about what i was looking for, but thank you." she gave me a smile and walked back to her desk, her coworker immediately engaging into conversation with her.

alright, i have to act natural. i have to calm my nerves. i shake my head a bit and head to the starbucks in the corner of the room. "what can i get you?" the barista says. her eyes look dead and her blonde hair is messily pulled back into a ponytail with a few strands still hanging around her face under her starbucks hat.

"can i get a venti caramel frappuccino with soy milk and extra caramel?"
"okay, and your name?"
"it's gen."
"yeah, okay, jean, we'll call out your name when it's ready."

"wait, my name isn't—" i started but she had already walked off to make orders. i sighed. alright, that's fine, i guess. i take a seat and everything starts to replay in my head again. the singing, the drumming, the spinning and the swaying, but most of all, i couldn't stop thinking about that voice. it said my name, it knew who i was, it's always been around, but who could it have possibly been?

"jean!? caramel frap with soy!"

i stand up quickly and grab my cup, rolling my eyes as i look at the name 'jean' written on it. i walk away until i hear the barista screech. "FUCK, MY FUCKING HAND GOT BURNED WITH THIS SHIT ASS COFFEE."
"yikes." i mutter. i head into an aisle of bookshelves and skim through the titles until one book caught my eyes.
horns by joe hill
i sat down on the carpet floor and started reading, getting lost in words. "that book is crazy, i lost my shit at the murderer." my head snaps up and and i find myself looking into a dark—almost black—pair of eyes. his hair was pitch black and messy and it barely hid his blood red horns. my jaw dropped
it was him. it was the voice i've been hearing all morning. he looked down at me and he chuckled, sending a chill down my spine. it was the laugh that i've been hearing all these years. i couldn't believe it.
"cmon, gen, close your mouth, flies are gonna get in." he reached his hand down to my chin and closed my mouth. his hand warm, so incredibly warm—in fact, he was hot. "w-who are you?"
he tilted his head and knelt down to my level.

"my name's jack, stupid. i've been the one fighting back for you."

"so you've been what? my guardian angel?"

he gave me just about the stupidest look i've ever seen anyone give me. "me? an angel? woah, i thought you were smarter than this. do i look like an angel? i'm a demon. but i guess i'm your guardian."

"okay, you've gotta be fucking joking me—listen, this is really weird prank, alright? and frankly i don't like it, so just leave me alone, ive been through en—"

"yeah, yeah, you almost got in a crash, but you didn't, thanks to ME, so how about you show a little respect."

he leaned in closer to me, only being about seven inches away from my face. i could feel the heat radiating off of him. "you're trembling." his deep and raspy voice made my skin rise. i was terrified.
"why you?"
that was all that was running through my head, all that i could manage to say. why him? he's a demon, i thought demons were supposed to make people miserable, not help them, so why HIM?
"it's a long story..." he stood up but didn't break eye contact with me. "actually, maybe not."
he reached out his hand towards me and i looked at it, examining it for anything that could be a threat to me. "hurry up, my arm's getting tired."
i took hold of his hand and he pulled me up. we walked to a lounging area and sat across from each other.
"so you know the story of how satan was once an angel until god damned him to hell for being evil or whatever?"
i nodded my head.

"well, i guess my story's kinda like that, except the opposite. i wasn't like the rest of the demons. i actually didn't like being around them too much. satan always got on my ass, telling me i needed to cause some chaos, but i just wasn't fucking interested and that infuriated him. he kicked me out of hell. so god decided to give me a shot. i may not have caused chaos in hell but oh shit, i sure did in heaven. those damn angels thought they were better than me, i kept getting into fights. fuck that gabriel guy, hell if i cared if he was some bitch ass archangel? eventually god said i had no place in heaven either, but before he kicked me out, he said he'd see me again, whatever that meant, it's been about a century and i still haven't heard from that guy. so i crashed on earth. i'd watch people and whenever i got bored, i'd cause a natural disaster or something to, ya know, shake it up. over the years though, i was getting tired of it, sick of it. and then i saw you. you were four at the time. your mom had taken you out to the park and while she was on the phone, you had wandered away. i watched you for a moment and you looked at me. you waddled over to me and as soon as you reached me, you fell but grabbed hold of my leg. you were giggling. and i don't know what it was about you, but something told me to stay by you. and ever since then, that's what i did. i shielded you from every brat or asshole that brought harm to you in anyway."

i didn't know what to say. i stared at him blankly, unsure of what facial expression would be appropriate to present. and then it hit me.

"thank you."