Spook The Insider 2018 – 2nd Place Winner
Misery Loves My Company
“Don’t look at me like that Cerberus,” said a small woman with feisty red hair, “move your butt and fetch it!”
The giant black pug towered over the redhead and huffed, sending traces of mucus on her face. She frowned, “Fine.”
She stomped her feet as she went to pick up the Milk-Bone but ended walking straight into a pink wall.
What the… Her walls weren’t pink. This wasn’t her house. She grounded herself and realized she wasn’t even in the right dimension.
Oh.
She knew the drill–some guy wearing black lipstick and too many piercings would be behind her demanding she takes him as a servant.
Ever since Marilyn Manson came in with his deranged ideas of biting off bat heads, humans drilled into their own heads that Summoning was a good way to pass the time. It wasn’t.
“Hail Satan?”, squeaked a voice. She looked and saw a teenage girl standing as proud as a wobbly noodle in front of the pissed angel.
“Is that a question?”, an expression of pure terror appeared on the teenager’s face. Why, oh, why was this Lucifer’s fate–stuck dealing with spineless humans who have Twilight posters stuck on their pink walls. – If only it was written on that web they love so much, just what her powers did to them. Instantaneous combustion would hopefully be less appealing to them. But, one never knows, some humans are into really freaky things.
“Sorry–I mean-Hail Satan!”, she finished with a sad attempt at a military salute.
The redhead took a deep breath and called all the patience she held somewhere inside her. “That’s not my name.”
When the teenager opened her mouth to speak, Lucy cut her off.
“Doesn’t matter, just tell me what you want.” Before you spew a hundred more apologies, she thought.
The lanky girl blinked too many times, opened and closed her mouth, like a fish. The angel rested her hand on her hip. This would take a while…
“I… uh. I was wondering if you could–you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but-”
“Get to the point,”
“Right. So, there’s this boy-”
No. please tell her this wasn’t what she thought this was.
“-and I really, really like him, but he doesn’t know me-”
“Stop. Stop right there.” Lucifer could not believe what she just heard. She marched towards the girl who jumped but stayed on her spot.
“You summoned the Devil. You drew the pentagram, called every other sick demon in the Underworld, right?” the girl nodded. “Yeah, so you risked your life for, what? A boy?” Lucy frowned at the teenager and placed both her palms on her hips.
“I really like him.” She whispered looking at anywhere but the angel.
“Yes, you made that clear, don’t worry.” Lucy looked up at the taller girl and studied her face. She was blushing and wasn’t looking at her. The redhead was astounded to realize that she could not detect an ounce of fear in the teen. She was, bashful? What in the world is the deal with this one?
“So,” dragged the teenager, “you won’t do it?”
“What, bewitch the boy into falling head over heels for you?” The red on the teen’s cheeks spread to her whole face, and she glared at the other girl for a second before averting her gaze. The Devil laughed at her and stood on her tippy-toes.
“Hell, nah.”
The human’s shoulders hunched over, and her eyes got all puppy-sad. She wondered how this girl had survived the encounter with orgy-loving Asmodeus, one of her most annoying demons.
“However,” said The Devil and the taller girl looked at her straight in the eyes.
“No one has summoned me and received nothing.”
As true as that was, Lucy would omit exactly what the humans who got on her nerves received. Or rather, suffered. It wasn’t precisely what they had in mind, but they got something.
“That’s why I’ll be giving you something better than the attention of a silly-”
“-He’s not silly!”, jumped the teen.
“Shush!”, The nerve on that girl, “Like I was saying, you’ll be getting the gift of a lifetime.”
The lanky teen stared at her with a frown.
The Devil smirked and said, “My company.”
Written By: Anto Nayla Spera
