Keep Your Head Up/Part 2

"Keep Your Head Up" is story three of the Universal Clarification Series.

Story
“You’re the worst,” Jonathan spat over his shoulder as he stormed into his house. He tossed his satchel strap over the hook by the door, taking little care in making sure it stayed in place; the fury of cold fire flared up in his eyes.

“You’re not still mad about what happened at lunch, are you –”

SLAM!

Sock hovered on the front porch in utter shock that his counterpart had literally slammed the door on his face. When he recovered, he phased halfway through it and furrowed his brows, watching the teen as he tried to escape up the stairs.

“Where do you think you’re going, huh?” he interjected. “Don’t you walk away from me, mister! We’re not through here!”

Jonathan glanced back and gave him the middle finger before continuing on his way, but that rattled Sock’s chains. The demon raced ahead of him and stared him down, forcing his human to grab a hold of the railing along the wall.

“You can’t ignore me, Jonathan,” he stated. “I’m not going anywhere until ya kill yourself.”

"Outta my way, Sock."

“No, you listen to me – I am this close to jumping back into you right now, so just –”

"You wouldn't dare."

Sock’s eyes flickered as he said, “You bet your sorry ass I would.” This earned him a two-handed shove through the floorboards, but seconds later, he was back up in the teen’s face. “I mean it!”

“Just stop, dude! Just – seriously, just stop.”

"Make me!"

Jonathan was at a loss for words. Insults and slurs were at his mental disposal, and yet not a single one of them was suitable for this situation. He stood in silence with his hands up in a monster claws position until he let out a defeated sigh. His hands lowered, as did his head, to collect himself.

“…You can’t make me kill myself,” he said at last.

"Yes I can," Sock argued. "It's my job."

“Which you suck at,” Jonathan rebutted. He walked through his ghostly counterpart to climb the rest of the stairs, keeping a hand on the railing. As he did, he overheard the demon stuttering, but paid him little mind. It was the moment he set foot on the last step that Sock reclaimed his attention.

"I didn't expect you to care so much."

The teen froze. He could feel the fellow boy’s eyes watching and waiting for his next move, so he hesitated to respond. This prompted Sock to continue, although his tone turned more solemn.

“I just…didn’t realize how much you cared…about Claire, I mean. I know possessing you and making you talk to her wasn’t the nicest thing I’ve ever done, but…ya know, it’s not the worst I could’ve done, right? I mean, I could’ve made you streak across the football field or something, so just keep that in mind…”

The very thought of such a scene made Jonathan’s shoulders tense. He willed the nightmare away and straightened his back before addressing his counterpart.

“On that note,” he began, pausing to turn towards the ghost boy, “I’m still pretty pissed about being your puppet.” To that, Sock frowned and drifted higher up the stairs after his human.

“Still? Jonathan, come on – that was, like, two weeks ago! Get over it already!”

“If you hadn’t done it, I’d still have a lunch table all to myself,” Jonathan barked back. He briskly turned away and continued towards his room, veering a hard right from the top of the stairs. He only spared a second to realize his sister’s door was closed – a sign that she was out of the house – before entering his room. Then he shut the door, but Sock phased through it with ease.

“Okay fine – sure. But hear me out on this one,” the demon pleaded. He waited until his counterpart sank into his bed before zipping around to meet his distant blue-eyed gaze. The teen avoided making eye contact, but had no other choice when Sock took hold of his chin and turned his face towards him.

“Whatever happened back in middle school doesn’t matter anymore,” Sock contended with a quick shrug. “It’s in the past, right? And besides – she’s probably a different person by now. She’s kinda freaky –”

“– Are you kidding?” Jonathan quipped. “She’s insane. She collects skulls by picking up roadkill. With her hands – and who keeps latex gloves in their backpack?”

“Okay, okay, fine – fair point, but still,” Sock continued. He hovered back several inches from the bed and crossed his legs, sitting in midair. “But she looks pretty harmless. Maybe she’s just lonely like you?”

His counterpart rolled his eyes and slouched forward with his hands between his legs as he let out a soft sigh. A moment of silence passed before his demon smiled, stating, “And ya might even like her after a while. It’s kinda cute how much she already likes you.”

The chill returned to Jonathan's icy blue eyes.

“I don’t want her to like me, Sock. I never wanted to befriend her in the first place.”

“You could always tell her to hit the bricks,” Sock suggested, but his tone soured as he added, “Or push into oncoming traffic.” Before the teen could respond, his eyes darted away in thought. Then he chuckled. “Yeah, do that! Then she could add her own skull to her collection –”

"Sock."

The demon was too busy drifting around the room to hear Jonathan.

“– And then you’d go to Hell for committing murder –”

"Sock, wait."

Jonathan lifted a hand to grab his little ghost, but barely missed when he passed by.

“– And then she could haunt you, too –”

That brought the alarmed teen to his feet.

“Whoa, hold on –”

Suddenly Sock was back in his face, beaming at his counterpart with green eyes flickering like fire. His smile took up most of his face as he ecstatically cried, “And if she haunts you with me, then I’ll finally have a friend! Wouldn’t that be great? Two demons for the price of one! That’s – what, like – the deal of a lifetime, I think? It’d be great! Do it, Jonathan! Kill Claire!”

“Will you shut up and listen to me for once?” Jonathan shouted. He grabbed Sock’s shoulders, which startled the little demon into submission. The teen continued to scold him, giving him a firm shake now and them for emphasis.

“Back in middle school, she was anime trash like you. Her hair was as colorful as your stupid hat, and if anyone made eye contact with her, she’d go up and talk to them. She was a curse in motion, just like you. Maybe her hair is different now and she’s got new glasses, but she’s still a walking disaster. Nobody ever really changes, Sock, and if you think I’m gonna do you a favor by being her friend, then you can just go back to Hell and burn for all I care.”

Another wave of silence washed over the boys, which gave them time to collect their thoughts. While Sock processed the barrage of insults his counterpart directed at him through his criticisms for Claire, he blinked and twitched his nose.

“…Okay first off, how dare you.”

Jonathan groaned and shoved the demon away, turning his head as he muttered a bad name for him. Sock fixed his goggles back into place after phasing partly through the wall, and then kicked it. The force sent him traveling back towards the teen.

“Jonathan, if you want her to leave, you gotta be honest with her. She said so herself that she’d understand, remember?”

"People say lots of things they don't really mean."

“But I know she meant that!” Sock argued. “Why would she lie to you?”

Jonathan hissed airily in disagreement and told him, “To make me stay, I bet.”

“But you chose that for yourself – or did you forget?”

“Yeah, I once said I was vegetarian, too,” he muttered. When he unzipped his hoodie to take it off, his ghostly counterpart growled childishly and tugged his earflaps.

“So lemme get this straight,” Sock said. “You’re mad at me for making you talk to her.”

"Yep."

“But when you had the chance to let her go, you told her to stay.”

Jonathan did not respond. He focused on pulling one arm out of his hoodie sleeve.

“…But you’re mad at me for that, too?” Sock continued.

“Look, it’s complicated. I can’t just say ‘Piss off and good luck’ to her.”

“Why not?” His demon asked, looming over his shoulder now. “What’s stoppin’ you?” He watched as the teen struggled to get his other arm out of the hoodie and made no offer to help him.

“It’s just – it’d be rude, that’s all. She has feelings.”

"But I thought you didn't care."

Jonathan freed himself from his hoodie at last and held it at chest level as he glanced over his shoulder. He scowled and told his demon, “Will you just leave me alone?”

“Make me,” was Sock’s snarky reply. He crossed his arms and gave the teen a cold shoulder.

“I swear to God…” Jonathan sighed. He tossed his hoodie onto the bed, thus freeing his hands so he could push back his wild bangs. An image of Claire’s precious smile flashed across his eyes; it was a memory he retained from standing at the bus stop after school with her yesterday, and it left a vile taste in his mouth. She was sickeningly sweet, but still easier on the nerves than his personal demon.

“I wish you would kill yourself and get this over with,” Sock admitted in a soft tone. He refused to look at his counterpart, but felt his cold blue eyes upon his spirit.

"Don't start with me again, Sock. I'm not doing that."

“I don’t have all eternity to wait for you, so just…” but Sock’s thought trailed off at the sound of Jonathan’s phone vibrating. Both boys turned to see it; having fallen out of the front pocket of the grey hoodie, it sat face-down on the bed. The vibrating was muffled by the unkempt sheets.

The teen reached for it.

"Don't answer it, Jonathan."

He looked up at Sock; the little demon had put on a serious expression with his hands curled into fists at his sides. He lowered onto the floor to take a stand, darting his eyes back and forth between his counterpart and the pesky phone. Jonathan dismissed his threat and tried again to take it.

"I said don't do it," the demon warned him.

Jonathan glanced at him again and narrowed his eyes. A second later, he snatched his phone and was met with an angry spirit. Sock lunged at him and attempted to steal the device, but his human counterpart flung a hand up to combat him. In the midst of several strange noises between comments like, “Gimme that” and “Lemme have it,” he managed to click the green phone icon and answer the call.

“Dammit, Sock – stop it! Who’s this?”

To his dismay, Claire was on the other end and she sounded clear as a bell except for the breathy tones in her voice and some background noise. Was it wind he heard?

"Jon? Okay good, this is the right number. Yay!"

“Wha – Claire?” He kept Sock at bay with a foot raised off the ground, leaning against the wall to maintain his balance. “How’d you get my number? Oh wait – Nevermind, I remember.”

“Gimme the phone, Jonathan!” Sock cried. He started snapping his jaws, but his sharp teeth struck no visible fear into his human. That only made him more determined to take the device away.

"Suck my dick!" Jonathan hissed.

“Whoa, slow down,” Claire responded with a nervous giggle. Her classmate’s eyes widened in alarm and he hastily rectified his mistake.

“No, no, not you! Sock’s bugging me right now. He wants my phone, but – dude, seriously! Can you not right now?”

“But I want it!” Sock remarked. His arms were swinging wildly while Claire chimed in again. He could hear bits and pieces of her voice. Thanks to his badgering, Jonathan struggled to give her his full attention.

"Whadda you want?" he asked, trying not to snap at her.

“Okay, I wanted to let you know that I’m headed to your house right now. You’re home, right?”

He shoved Sock halfway through the floor and said, “Yeah, just me and Sock right now. Why?”

“Well, okay – I’ll be over there in, like, five minutes. I gotta show you this thing in person or you’ll never believe me, you know?” She chirped over the sound of her classmate grunting as he hopped over his bed to escape his assailant.

“Yeah, sure, sounds great – wait, what?”

"Bye! See you in five!"

“Wha –” he started to say, but she hung up on him. He stood with his free hand against the bed as he stared in bewilderment at his demon, who had given up the chase now that the call was over. Jonathan sighed and lowered the phone, stowing it in his back jeans pocket as he straightened up.

"What'd she say?" Sock asked less crossly.

Jonathan withheld an answer. Instead, he yanked his hoodie off the bed and tugged it back over his body, venturing downstairs like someone who was going to miss their flight if they didn’t leave right away. Thankfully, he was not that person; he was just anticipating the arrival of his purple-haired companion.

When he reached the front door, he blew a tuft of hair out of his half-lidded eyes and rested his head against the doorframe. He heard his counterpart twittering on about the mysteries that await them, but he drowned himself in his thoughts and stared off into space.

He was lifted from his daydream thanks to the doorbell. With his head up, he opened the door, but immediately regretted doing so. Standing on his front porch with a perky smile was Claire, and in her pretty little gloved hands was the most disgusting object he had ever seen: a raccoon’s head. It was about the size of a cantaloupe with missing eyes – most likely eaten out by ants – and a mutilated snout, which could have been caused by a fight with another predator. The fur was missing in a few small places and occasionally a drop of blood would fall from the jagged, gaping hole in its neck.

Jonathan was speechless. Completely petrified. He gawked at the head, hoping he would wake up from a nightmare any minute now. A knot built up in his stomach that threatened to send him into a world of nauseating agony, and yet he could not look away.

“…What…even…?” he attempted to say.

“It’s a raccoon,” she told him innocently. “Isn’t it great? It’s an intact specimen!”

While her classmate battled his gag reflex, Sock’s curiosity compelled him to phase through the wall so he could see what was causing his counterpart such grave disturbance. When he saw the head in the young lady’s hands, his eyes sparkled like emeralds.

“…Is that a head?” Jonathan asked nervously. Claire realized he was having trouble processing the nature of her find, so she was patient and nodded in response. Then he blinked and grimaced.

“You brought me the head of an animal…?”

“Not just any animal,” Sock chimed in at his side. He twirled around Claire and beamed with pride. “It’s a gen-you-wine disembodied Procyon lotor! I used to find them in my backyard as a kid – and when they got big, they weren’t easy to kill, lemme tell ya…” He chuckled to himself. He would have gone on a tangent if not for Claire’s intervention.

“Yeah! I found it in the park and was gonna take it to the taxidermist down the street and get it cleaned up, maybe mount it on a plaque or something, and I can keep it for my collection – or you can have it if you want! I mean, I have plenty, so this could be yours and I was wondering if you’d maybe wanna…come along…”

The hopeful gleam in her eyes made Jonathan’s ribcage tighten. Next to her was the sight of Sock’s baby-faced grin; he shook his fists and bounced through the air, telling his counterpart, “Now’s your chance! Tell her to jump into traffic!”

Jonathan glanced at him. Then back to Claire.

“C’mon, one of you guys – drop dead, please,” Sock said as he eyed the girl. “I’ve always wanted a friend to kill stuff with. Do it!”

Finally the teen swallowed his pride (and a small amount of bile) and mustered up the courage to unleash one single, powerful word.

“…Sure.”

Claire lit up like a star. Sock’s bright smile dimmed and morphed into a look of confusion as he lowered his hands. He stared at his counterpart, questioning his sanity as they proceeded down the street after the girl. She led them the opposite direction of the cul-de-sac outlet, explaining something about a shortcut she discovered; apparently it was the route she used to reach the Combs residence in record time. Her pace was light-footed and springy compared to the wild-haired boy trudging behind her.

At one point she asked if he wanted to hold the head. Jonathan’s response sent Sock into a dangerous fit of laughter, and that was the end of that.

Continuation

 * Part 1
 * Part 3