A month

“Nope, I am not doing this Karen. I know we are roommates, but you know these ritual things creep me out.”

“Well, you have to get over it. You know the deal. I need you in order for me to cast this spell. Come on, I do all the other spells without you. It’s just this one spell every month.”

“There is no way this spell is important.”

“Not important!?” She cried out as she stopped drawing a circle on the floor with chalk.

“Karen…”

“No, no, no, I will not hear it! This spell keeps us safe from all the monsters, demons and other otherworldly beings that mean us harm! If we don’t do it… who knows what will happen!”

“I know, I know… it’s just…” he started as he leaned against the counter of the kitchen. The circle was always drawn in this room, every month, Karen had decided one time, and it had never changed. He hated the candles, the smoke seemed to suffocate him, and the light they provided was close to none, he always had to squint whenever they did this.

“No, you know what? I’m not arguing right now. You have to do this. You made the deal, don't you remember?

“What? Come on, that was a week ago!”

“Doesn’t matter, it still happened. Look, it's not like I’m asking you to dress up in a robe and chant along with me! I just need you present.”

“Does that deal really count? Come on, it really hurts!”

“Of course it counts, you agreed to it! Look, the deal was, I bring the spider outside, and you will help me with this month’s ritual. Well I’m cashing it in now!”

“Have a little pity! That spider was terrifying!”

“It was actually quite cute.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Whatever! You have until I finish setting everything up before it would be nice if you sit on the other end of the circle.”

He watched as she finished the circle and added runes in places that seemed random to him, then she sprinkled an ash-like mixture on it and sat down.

“I’m ready. Sit on the other side.”

Reluctantly, he slowly walked over to the end of the circle. When he sat down, Karen instantly began her chanting. The circle lit up and a thrill went up his spine. Suddenly his whole body was tingling. It was soon followed by a sharp pain in his side. Then his whole body hurt. He couldn’t take this anymore, without a second thought he shot up and stepped back from the circle. The circle's light instantly faded into nothing. Karen looked up at him, fear shining through her eyes.

“Why did you do that?”

“I’m sorry! I’m really sorry! I meant to go through with it, it’s just… it hurts so much! It’s fine though we can just do it again, and I won’t pull away this time.”

“It’s not fine, we can’t do it again, my strength is gone, oh… oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Ohhhh noo this is terrible!”

“Is everything all right?”

“No! No it isn’t! Oh no, why did you have to pull away?!”

“I don’t understand! What’s wrong?! I know maybe we won’t be able to do the spell now, but the demons and other creatures won’t flock to us instantly.”

“No no no, you don’t understand,” she cried to him, her eyes welled with tears and her body shook.

“Then tell me! Then I can understand!”

“Otherwordly beings are not a problem, the other spells I do throughout the month keep them at bay.”

“Then why?! Why do we do this terrible spell every month? You’re telling me that I have to feel this terrible pain every month for no reason.”

He takes steps backwards. His skin tingled with the reminder of all the times it had burned. The ritual wasn’t happening but he still felt the ghost of the pain that coursed through him only seconds ago.

“It wasn’t for no reason!”

Tears fell from her cheeks smearing the chalk that lay in front of her. She stood up. Then she let out a hiss of pain.

“Are you okay?”

His anger replaced itself with worry.

“No, no, you need to leave, get as far away from me as you can!”

“Away from you?! I could never leave you in harm!”

“It doesn’t matter! I-I don’t know how to fix this!”

She glanced around frantically.

“Fix what? Tell me what’s wrong!”

“One hour.”

“What?”

“One hour before it happens.”

“Before what happens?! Whatever is coming, I’ll protect you! You don’t have to worry!”

“There is nothing left to do. He’s coming to take me soon.”

“Who’s coming to take you?! I won’t let them take you! You’re safe with me!”

He moved closer to her as if to prove it.

“NO!” She shrieked and he fell backwards in surprise. “Stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away, stay away.”

She kept muttering to herself. And soon fear began to take over.

“I’m dangerous!”

“Calm down, I need to know what is happening! I can fix it!”

“You can’t…”

“Let me prove you wrong,” desperation seeped through his voice and he moved closer to her again, until he could hold her face in his hands. “Please… tell me what’s wrong.”

She looked down at the ground before finally starting to talk, “I’m not supposed to be here, but one day, I snuck away, I disguised myself, and I was going to start causing chaos. I was going to do evil things. I was going to do one on you, but then you walked right up to me and engaged me in conversation. I-I just couldn’t be evil anymore.”

“Evil? What are you talking about” he asked as he gripped her hand tightly.

“Just by talking to you something changed inside of me, and so when you and I were roommates I decided to try to become your friend. That was one of the best times of my life. The only problem was I had to cast a spell every month to keep my disguise on and to keep him at bay. I only needed one person at the start, but the longer I did it the harder it was to hold him back. Only half the way through the month I started to see little portals open up, but not big enough to fit anything more than a finger, but I knew if I kept things up how I was, then I knew it wouldn’t be long before my disguise failed and I was brought back to him, and so I needed a second person. Two powers of life are much greater than one. So one day I asked you to help, then you know how the rest went.”

“I don’t understand, who was after you?!”

“The devil. I’m a demon, not a very good one though. When my disguise fades away you’ll see me for what I truly am. You shouldn’t be here when he comes. You must run away, if he sees you who knows what he will do. I shouldn’t have made contact.”

“I can’t just leave you!” when he said this he looked up at her face, which now had a red tint to it, and if he squinted he swore he could see horns and wings slowly coming into view atop her crown of curls.

“10 minutes before he comes! You have to go!”

“How can you tell how much time! It hasn’t been an hour! I have to have more time with you! You’re my best friend, if you leave what will I do?!”

“I can sense him, and it is true, he will be here soon,” she cried as tears flowed down her face.

“Who will take the spiders out of the house for me?!”

At this she smiled but the tears didn’t stop. “You're brave, you'll figure it out.”

“I can’t do this without you, last minute to tell me it was a joke.”

“It’s not. We have five minutes.”

Horns and wings were fully formed now, and her expression twisted into a hideous scowl. Her hands turned to claws, and her clothes fell off her now completely red body, no longer the person he remembered but now, something horrendous. Still he held tightly to her claw.

“Don’t leave…”

“I must. I can’t do anything to stop him.”

“This is all my fault, I should have just bore the pain.”

“You didn’t know. What I was asking you to do was unfair,” her voice was still the same, still calm and as sweet as honeysuckle until it wasn’t and it became ragged and raw.

“He’s here, hide!” her cry was a raspy yowl.

He dove behind the counter as the circle she had been drawing lit up and glowed red. Slowly it twisted into a portal, and out of it came a being much worse than Karen. He was almost ten times the height as her, and when he fully emerged from the portal his horns dug into the ceiling, and he was suddenly glad they had opted for a high one. When he spoke his voice boomed and echoed all around the house.

“You have left when I did not say you could! When it was time to go back you casted a spell to stop me! You stayed away from me for decades, by having someone cast the spell with you! Who was it?! Who helped you?!”

“Can’t you tell?! Aren’t you an all powerful being?!”

“Don’t you talk to me like that! You know you casted a spell that prevented me from telling! I would have had their head by now if you hadn’t!”

“You’re wasting your time, I won’t tell you!”

A“Fine! Be that way! We’ll see if you keep that promise when you go through the tortures I have planned for you!”

And with that they fell through a portal which soon closed behind them.

“No! Please come back to me!” he cried as he dashed from behind the counter.

He groped uselessly with the ground where the portal was, his tears falling rapidly.

“I’m sorry, this is all my fault,” he cried.

***

It was his goal for the rest of his life to be evil and mean to everyone he came across. Each morning as he crossed the threshold of where Karen was taken from him, he whispered a promise to her.

“I’ll see you in hell.”