A dance with darkness

I knew it was wrong when I drew my own blood to summon that demon. But when he appeared in front of me, I felt that rush of thrill that I craved so badly. I couldn’t help but take his hand and smile. What I didn’t know was that it was about to be the biggest mistake of my life. 

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Twenty-four hours ago... 

I sat up in my bed, the bright sunlight burned my eyes. I blinked and rubbed my eyes as I climbed out of bed. I sat on the edge of my bed for a while before walking into the bathroom to wash up. I looked into the mirror. I noticed how dark my eye bags had gotten and how bad my posture was. I gripped the sink and leaned into the mirror more. I tugged at my dreads and sighed. I turned on the faucet and cupped my hands as the cold water collected in them. I washed my face slowly. Truthfully, I was a bit more on edge than usual. Last night while I was sleeping, I dreamt about a demon. He was tall, black, and only had one red eye. His body was spiky, and it kept glitching for some reason. He definitely wasn’t real. Demons aren’t real...right? But even if he was real, I don’t think I would have minded, especially since my day-to-day life is so boring.  

Eventually I got myself together, for the most part. I wore a black hoodie, grey sweatpants and black Dr. Martens. I stuffed my pockets with my phone and wallet. Then I tied my dreads in two pigtails. I left my apartment and took the elevator to the lobby. I glanced around the lobby and saw people chattering loudly. They all seemed so happy. Lucky bastards...just standing there and running their mouths. I left the apartment building grumbling and walking down the street with no sense of direction. I just kept looking straight ahead. I guess I had an intimidating aura because people moved out of my way. I think I might have walked at least ten blocks away from my apartment building. The sidewalks were narrower and there was a lot of trash on the street. I started to turn back but I noticed a woman a few feet away from me.  

She noticed that I saw her and started walking towards me. I stood my ground, my breath hitched in my throat. Although I was a bit scared of her appearance and the fact that she was a couple inches away from me, I enjoyed the thrill of my situation. Perhaps this day wasn’t going to be as boring as I thought. She stood right in front of me, her clothes were worn out and her brown hair was a mess. She seemed to be whispering something in a low voice. 

“Hello? What are you saying? If you’ve got something to say...just speak up!” I said as I put my hands on my hips. My tone was annoyed, and I was so close to walking away from her. 

“Demons...demons....have you seen any? They’re real...I know one of them personally.” She said as she staggered towards me and placed her hand on my shoulder. 

I was grossed out and I backed away. However, I felt a little tingly and my head was pounding. I stumbled backwards.  

“What...what the hell did you do to me lady?!” I asked frantically as I reached out to grab her. 

She moved away from me before I could grab her hair. I fell onto the ground and struggled to get up. My eyes were feeling droopy. She crouched down next to me and grabbed my chin, tilting my head up. 

“Thats not what you need to worry about, boy. Draw...your blood tonight.... summon a demon. Get that thrill that you crave so much.” She says to me before she gets up and walks away, giggling softly. 

I stay on the ground for a bit before getting up. The headache had passed but I was ready to go home. That lady obviously had a screw loose. How dare she put her hands on me? Either way that entire interaction was weird. I keep thinking about the words she said to me as I walked back to my apartment building. I rode the elevator back up to the third floor. I went inside my apartment and laid down on the bed. 

“Gah--! This whole thing is so...weird! First, I had that dream and now I had that weird ass interaction with some creep?! Does she just expect me to cut open my arm and draw a circle on the floor? Just to attract some dumb demon that I don’t even know is real?” I grumble as I hit my pillow in frustration. 

Even though I was denying this whole thing for about an hour, I couldn’t help but think about if that lady was telling the truth. If I did what she told me maybe I could make a deal with this demon. Maybe I should try it. I fell asleep and had this dream where I saw myself cutting my arm and drawing this circle with a triangle in the middle of it. I assumed it was the demon circle. Once I woke up, I smiled with excitement. I got out of bed and went into the kitchen. I grabbed a sharp knife and sat on the kitchen floor. I cut my arm semi-deep and let the dark red blood pour out. I waited patiently until I felt like I had enough. I put a band aid on the wound and began to draw the circle with the triangle in the middle. To be honest, the process wasn’t that hard but the fact that I was trying this nonsense seemed a little crazy. Even for my standards and I’d usually do anything to feel the thrill.  

After I had finished drawing the circle, I waited for something to happen. The ground shook underneath me violently and I noticed a pitch-black figure towering over me. It had one big red eye that was staring down at me.  

“Damn...you’re real? So, are you going to cut a deal with me or what?” I asked as I smiled confidently at the demon. 

“Yeah...I probably should. What do you want human?” The demon asked in a gravelly voice as he seemed to be glitching. 

“I want my life to be more exciting.” I shrug as if my wish was as simple as that.  

The demon smiles widely at me and gets all up in my face. The demon holds out his hand for me to take. I took the demon’s hand, and I noticed that the demon was absorbing itself into me. I started panicking as I swatted my arm to stop the spreading. Nothing I did help and all I could hear was the maniacal laughter of the demon. He was glitching and his neck was growing taller. I was about to speak when I collapsed on my knees and grabbed at my throat. I felt needles poking me from the inside of my throat. I noticed they were piercing through my skin, and I started to bleed out. As I twitched on the ground and stared up at the shadow of the demon. For the most part he had gone into me, messing up my insides. 

“I can’t believe you trusted a demon. God, humans are so stupid...I hope this was exciting enough for you.” The demon said as his face twisted into a wide smile, its mouth expanded and hovered over my head. 

“W-wait a minute.... you’re not going to eat me, are you?” I whispered as I trembled in fear. 

The demon's red eye blinked as he chomped off my head. It came straight off, blood splattered everywhere. The apartment filled with maniacal laughter as the ground shook. The demon disappeared and my headless body disappeared with it.