To Love an Incubus

Chapter 16; Don't Mean to Worry You

"Hey, uh, I don't mean to worry you, but your new buddy has been sitting outside since yesterday," Jay said, greeting me at the end of the driveway at Benny's Gas.

"What? Are you fucking kidding me?" I look around Jay's shoulder to see the auburn-haired guy I had been trying to avoid sitting against the wall. His head was tilted up towards the sky.

"Yeah, I would have called you yesterday, but Benny came in and said you were sick so I didn't want to call you in but Benny's gonna get pissed. He's starting to look like a hobo. I can ask him to leave if you want? I kinda owe you one," Jay looks back at Dorrian, shading his eyes with his hands to see him. I shake my head.

"You don't owe me anything, Jay. I helped you, that doesn't require payment," I tell him. He nods but looked unsure.

"So, what're we going to do?"

I huff and speed walk up to Dorrian, Jay follows closely behind me. Dorrian stands upon seeing me.

"You need to leave. I specifically told you not to do this."

Dorrian bites his lip, which I noticed had been torn from so much biting. His eyes had dark circles under them and when he brought his hand up to push his hair back I could see the chewed bits that were his nails.

"Can we just talk? We don't have to go back to my place," Dorrian says. I look back to Jay and nod my head for him to go inside, he listens but I can see him throwing us glances the whole way inside the door.

"No!" I whisper-shout, not wanting to get peoples' attention or have Jay overhear. "No, it wouldn't bother me if you just believed in those things, but the fact that you think I am one of those monsters is word enough that this friendship was never anything but a joke."

"They're not monsters," Dorrian fulminates. I am momentarily taken aback, I have never seen him be anything but mannered and kind.

He stops as if he was shocked at himself as well and starts again. "Just let me explain," he says, softer this time.

"I have work, Dorrian. And I don't have time for your games. I have enough on my plate as it is, I don't need your bullshit too," I tried to make it sound as final as I could.

"Now leave or I'll call the cops."

Dorrian fidgets for a minute before starting to advance further towards me, then he sighs and turns around to leave. I watch him go, I felt heavy like lead had encased my bone and is being pumped through my heart into every one of my veins and arteries. Jay and I worked silently for the rest of the day.

I woke up drenched in sweat. I threw the covers off of me and sat up, trying to slow my breathing. The nightmare had seemed so real.

A darkness seeped out of every inch of my skin, it devoured my body until I was pitch black. A hunger opened a pit in my stomach, ripping it open for the world to see. There was nothing inside of me-no blood, no intestines-I was completely empty.

There was a girl in front of me, a sheen of black hair covered her face, her skin was white. Everything was either black or white, there was no color in this world. She stood there, still and unmoving; until she wasn't.

A mirror took the place where the girl had once occupied. My hands were covered in blood, it wasn't mine. My mouth tasted of copper and dark liquid dripped off of my teeth and down my chin. It was a shimmering black on top of my own blackness. My eyes looked dark and crazed. I screamed; terrified of what I had become.

I sat in bed trying to get my breath to slow. I was wide awake and went through emails and playing games on my phone until the sky started to slowly lighten.