A Little Death/Part 3

"A Little Death" is the second story of the Universal Clarification Series.

Story
The bell was about to ring and usher in the weekend, which Jonathan greatly anticipated. Although he appeared calm (even bored), there was turmoil beneath the surface and Sock’s childish comments were of no help. He tried not to look at the demon sitting on the desk to his left, who was swinging his feet. He could feel a pair of feverishly glowing green eyes staring at him.

“You could always kill yourself if she bothers you that much,” he mentioned cutely.

The teenager cast his eyes down and played with his pencil.

“…You know, or else she might talk you into the ground.”

Jonathan was silent. He could hear small sighs and tapping feet or fingers from several other students across the room over the teacher’s drab weekend homework reminder. At least by the bell, everyone who jobless, hobby-less, or able-bodied would have two days of freedom to help them survive the upcoming week. Nobody needed it as much as he did.


 * RING! RING!

“Finally,” he breathed before pulling himself out of his seat. With his satchel in hand, he brushed past his classmates and avoided catching Claire’s attention. He shot a glance at Sock when he saw him looking at her in his peripheral vision.

“I wanna see her collection so bad,” he whined.

“C’mon, idiot,” Jonathan replied, taking him by the scruff of his scarf and yanking him out the door. He ignored his high-spirited struggling – but he did notice the stares from a couple kids who only saw their classmate holding the air. “You’re making a fool outta yourself again.”

“Lemme go! Gaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Sock cried. He kicked his feet like a toddler, but soon gave up and curled himself into a pouty ball. He managed to settle onto the tiled floor of the hallway, so his counterpart felt as if he were dragging around dead weight. In a sense, he was.

He made it outside and Sock bounced down the small stone staircase leading to the bus relay point. Jonathan finally let go of the ghostly scarf, flexed his hand with a frown, and slung his satchel over his shoulder. His demon picked himself up from the concrete and unconsciously brushed off his clothes – although dead threads garner no stains – to catch up with his evasive counterpart.

They stood side-by-side at the bus stop with angst and tension in equal balance.

"Hi, Jon!"

Both boys jumped at the sound of Claire’s bubbly voice behind them. They had not heard her rolling up, but Sock’s frown turned upside-down – even though she walked right through him to stand next to his counterpart. He started to greet her, but cut himself off knowing she wouldn’t hear him.

“Hey,” the teenager greeted less enthusiastically. He reached into his bag in search of his music player, only glancing at her when she asked a strange question.

"Where's Sock?"

"What?"

With a shrug, she confessed, “I’m curious,” to which he and Sock exchanged awkward glances.

“He’s, uh…sort of over here,” Jonathan told her. He gestured to the space over Claire’s shoulder, which made him look like he was trying to touch her hair. Her eyes followed his hand and she smiled, so he withdrew and turned away, adding, “Not like you can see him, though.”

“Maybe not, but it looked like you were dragging something back there.”

Sock slid up Jonathan’s back like a sea snake and made him shudder before he could respond, prompting his classmate to ask, “What’s wrong?”

“Stupid demon – cut it out!” he growled. He reached around his shoulder to seize his ghostly counterpart, but Sock plunged through the pavement and disappeared. Jonathan dropped his shoulders with an exasperated sigh, muttering to Claire, “And now he’s gone. Great.”

“Sorry to hear that,” she said with a tiny giggle.

“Shuddup, it’s not funny,” he insisted. “He just comes and goes as he pleases. It’s frustrating sometimes.” Then he paused as their bus approached, letting her board first when the doors opened. “At least if I’m lucky, I can deck him in the face.”

“You can?” she asked dubiously. “I thought demons were only spirits whose forms take after their human existence, but they’re just made of elements that can be –”

“Yeah, yeah, I know – I got it,” he interrupted flatly. He kept walking, so Claire wound up in the back of the bus again. When he took his seat, he lowered his head and flipped open his satchel to remove his headphones; he hooked the cord into his music player, which he stowed in his right hoodie pocket. His headphones fit around his ears as well as his satchel did between his legs.

Claire took a seat next to him in the exact moment that Jonathan lifted his head to see out the window. The sight of Sock’s wide-eyed grin a hair away from the glass gave him a jolt; that grin revealed a gleaming set of pointed teeth. He nearly bumped into his classmate as his headphones fell around his neck, but she put her hands up to hold his arm.

“Whoa there, Jon,” she murmured with amusement. “Is it Sock?”

As he leaned away from her and frowned, he replied, “No, I saw a couple of Mormons. Who else would it be?”

Right then, Sock phased through the window and stuck his tongue out, making a couple strange noises to antagonize the teenager.

"Oh my God..."

Jonathan buried his face into his left hand, so Claire lifted a brow and tilted her head at him. For a moment, they were silent – except for the demon’s various noises, which she was unaware of. What bothered Sock was that his counterpart was ignoring him again.

“Hey, Jonathan, look! Check this out!” He cried, batting at his shoulder. “C’mon, look at me! I’m gonna do something cool! You’re gonna miss it!”

“Oh yeah, so I know you’re not too busy this weekend…” Claire started to say. Only then did the teenager move his hand so he could show her he was listening. When he did, his demon lifted a brow.

"...Yeah?"

“So, I was hoping maybe we could hang out. My mom works during the day, so if you wanna come over, we’ll have the place to ourselves – and I can make pizza bagels or something.”

“Oh dude, please say yes,” Sock whispered.

“And maybe we could walk down to the mall and do some bum shopping – you know, just try things on, not really looking for anything in particular. That sort of thing! I mean, I’d buy stuff, but I don’t have a lot of money saved up right now, so I try to hold off on mall visits unless I’m looking for specific things, but…”

She realized that her classmate was wearing a strange expression, so she ducked her head. He looked away at first, but Sock put a hand under his chin to guide him back towards her, so he kept his focus there.

“So, what else besides dead things do you like?” he asked. “Any music? Movies? Maybe food…?”

"It's kinda lame," she answered.

"Do I look like I'm gonna care?"

With a giggle, she shook her head. By now, Sock was in the seat ahead of them with his arms folded over the back so he could rest his chin in comfortable observation.

"Well, I'm really into shoes."

"...Shoes?"

“Yeah, like mostly heels and boots and booties – those kinds of shoes. I guess ‘girly’ shoes.”

"Huh."

Jonathan glanced down and studied her brown heeled boots for a moment, and so did Sock. They noticed her pair was a little scuffed, but relatively new; the teenager figured she had acquired them at the beginning of the school year. However, he remembered when Sock had possessed him, she had worn black flats.

“…So, could we possibly hang this weekend?” she asked with more optimism. “I mean, you don’t have to go into a shoe store with me – I’d understand.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly as their gazes met, but her stare was gentler than he had been expecting. It was certainly a less intimidating stare than that of his ghostly counterpart’s – and he could feel his stare in the seat in front of them. A moment or two passed before he answered.

"...Sure."

With nothing more to say, he fixed his headphones back over his ears and pressed his side into the window. He thought he could finally enjoy the rest of the ride home, but then came the sound of Claire’s voice being muffled by his music, so he darted his eyes in her direction.

While she chatted away, he could see Sock leaning over the back of his seat gazing at her with bright eyes and a broad smile. For half a second, he wished Claire could see him, too. It was obvious this basic demon was entranced by the girl and they would be best friends instantly. That thought was destroyed when he remembered that they could interact with each other; all Sock had to do was possess him.

To rid his mind of the nauseating idea, Jonathan snagged his phone from his jeans pocket and opened the internet browser. He typed in a few key words, waited for the page to load, and then offered the phone to Claire.

“Here,” he stated. She took his phone with a hushed squeal of delight.

“Shoes?” asked Sock. His counterpart nodded, so he smirked and tapped his nose. “You’re a lot nicer than you pretend to be, aren’t’cha, hot stuff?”

"Shuddup."

"Oh-kay!"

Jonathan closed his eyes and faded into an empty world with his music surrounding his mind. Claire was going to be occupied – and quiet – for the rest of the ride, so he had nothing to worry about. They were not friends and he would attest to that, but at least he knew enough about her to protect his sanity and in doing so, they were slowly establishing a mutual co-existence.

He prayed that Sock would let him keep it that way. Only time would tell.

~To Be Continued~

Continuation

 * Part 2
 * Story Three -- "Keep Your Head Up"