We need to talk about your cat taking my keys and hiding them around your house.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Into the Dark
Characters: Fionan Lane
Race: Demon
Age: 33, physically about 22
Current residence: Yakima, Washington
Final Word Count: 776 words
 

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There is something to be said about neighbours causing a scene in the hallway in the dead of the night.

I hadn’t been feeling great while at work, so I’d asked to leave early. It was quiet, the shelves had all been stocked and I would have been facing them until morning, so they had no issues with letting me clock out. Usually, I would have been going home closer to seven or so, but it was three when I did. I had somewhat expected the streets outside to be deserted as I walked home, and it wasn’t very far from the truth.

The streets were quiet, there were a few cars driving by but, for the most part, it was dark. The area I lived in was a short way away from most stores, in an area dominated by apartment buildings and few businesses. Most lights were out, a few were on, but they were rare. I live on the third floor of an apartment building that has seen better days but isn’t actually in bad shape. I have a balcony though I rarely use it and an extra bedroom that mostly gets used as a sort of partial storage right now. It’s comfortable, I have a few odds and ends that serve as decoration and the furniture I need to be comfortable.

My upstairs neighbour can get a bit loud in the early morning, usually, as I’m settling down to sleep, but they tend to leave not long after, so it works out for me. I can settle in to sleep for a while and then I’ll go through my daily things. I’ll prepare my meals, I’ll do my laundry if I have to, simple things.

This morning, though, as I came up the stairs—I know about the elevator, I just don’t really trust it—there were two of my neighbours out in the hallway. I think that each floor has eight apartments, so four doors on either side of the hallway. I’d crossed both at some point, but I didn’t know much about it.

What I do know, however, is that they were arguing in the hallway, the woman—my next-door neighbour, I believe—was accusing the man—the door further down the hallway, across—that his cat somehow took her keys and brought them back to his place. Now, if you look at it from an outsider’s point of view, I’m sure you can see the main flaw in this argument.

I didn’t even know the man had a cat—if he does. I know that cats are allowed, as are small pets but no dogs, I don’t think. I don’t have a pet so that’s something I admit that I haven’t paid much attention to. But I’m pretty sure the man doesn’t allow his cat out of his apartment and, somehow, unless the two are dating—I’m pretty sure she’s old enough to be his mother but that still could be a thing—how would his cat even make it out of his apartment, into hers to take her keys, and then bring them back into his own?

Her whole weird thing didn’t even make any sense and that’s me being kind about it. She sounded pretty out there and, if I’d gone any closer to her, I get the feeling I might have smelled alcohol on her breath. She slurred her words in a way that made it seem as though she’d been drinking. If there’s one thing I do know of, it’s how people sound when they’ve had a bit too much to drink.

Now, I know that certain people handle their alcohol far better than others, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m pretty sure that behind this whole argument was just one woman who’d had too much to drink, and who wanted to blame someone for something. I just don’t know. I don’t think they even noticed me when I came up the stairs as it comes up on the opposite end of where they were staying. From there, I mostly caught that one blip from their conversation that was far more argument than not—on her part, he still was pretty quiet—and I slipped into my apartment, closed, and locked the door lest I want an unwanted visitor, and after a quick shower, I ended up just flopped pretty bonelessly on my bed. I don’t think it took me very long to drift off and I woke up a few hours later, feeling a little bit better.

I made a quick snack but went right back to bed, it was the easier option.

Considering I’m a ghost, I had given up on the thought of anything being able to touch me ever again, but I can feel your hand on mine. It’s amazing.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Into the Dark
Characters: Fionan Lane
Race: Demon
Age: 32, physically about 22
Final Word Count: 693 words
 

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To me, the world is not all that an unusual place. I’ve seen my share of halflings, I’ve seen my share of demons and humans being friendly—just as I’ve sadly seen my share of those who think that they need to be vigilante because somehow, all humans treat demons as little more than low-life scum. It’s true enough but it’s also not quite true as not all humans behave that way; I should know, there are a few I can nearly call my friends and one I wish I could call so much more than that.

A few nights ago, as we were unloading the van and placing items where they belong on the shelves, there was a bit of a commotion somewhere near the front of the stores. Items kept on tumbling to the floor; they’d done so repeatedly for the past few days prior to that particular incident and while most of the others claimed to be nothing more than a fluke, I had a fair idea as to what it was.

So once I was done placing the items that I’d had on my cart, I moved to the front of the store, if nothing else to place back the items where they belonged. We could have left them there for the morning crew to pick up but that felt like a childish excuse to things so I went ahead, even though I had a feeling that if I just placed the items and did nothing else, they would come tumbling down again.

It was once I was there and I had started to pick up the fallen bits and pieces that I felt the area cool just barely and that more or less just gave me the information I needed on the issue. I started talking in a low, hushed voice. I started saying that this place was safe, that it was all right but that they couldn’t stay; it seemed like mindless babbling to me but for whatever it was worth, the presence that had been disturbing our storefront for a few days became visible.

I’m still not sure if that visibility was to me only or not but it was followed by a chilled touch on my hand and I only ended up smiling to the young girl as I finished putting things away. Once I was done, I patted her hand a bit and that seemed to startle her and I admit that it startled me a bit. I’m aware that few have the energy to spare on touch but this was the fact that I could touch her back.

Her eyes were the size of saucers and she just looked so happy. She told me that she’d given up on the thought of ever being able to have anyone touch her and that was a little sad, in a way. From my small bit of experience with ghosts, most seem to be stuck in a loop, though not all. She clearly wasn’t stuck in a loop but It almost seemed as though that particular revelation—that I could touch her and she could feel it—was enough for her to let go of whatever it was that had held her captive into this world.

All in all, the whole thing took maybe a few minutes; just enough time for me to pick up the mess she’d scattered behind and do face the shelves a bit before I was moving back to where I’d left my things and I went back to the pallet that was waiting on the floor for me to snag more stuff off of it so I could repeat the whole deal of wandering off, placing the stuff, coming back to gather some more until it was clear of most stuff until that, too, was taken care of and brought back to the back.

I haven’t heard anyone mention anything falling at the front of the store since that day and I haven’t really felt the presence of the little girl, so I guess that she might really have just finally headed on ‘home’, as was. I’m glad for that.

You said we had to be careful and yet here you are, doing the exact opposite.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Into the Dark
Characters: Fionan Lane
Race: Demon
Age: 31, physically about 22
Final Word Count: 655 words
 

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I didn’t expect to see him ever again. Not after I left him behind in favour of spending more time with my halfling friend. This man I had adopted as a father figure after I had been abandoned by the one man—boy, perhaps, since he was barely eighteen as I remember it—who had forced me away from the life I had known so I could be with him but he’d left me there so soon afterwards.

This full demon who had taught me right from wrong but his vision of right wasn’t quite so on par with most everyone else’s and to keep my friend safe, it was better to distance myself from the older man and that’s what I did.

Finding a job at a place that didn’t care whether I was human, halfling or demon was hard but eventually, I found something that suited me just fine. Moving boxes and places boxes overnight in a closed store is hard and exhausting work but it’s good work, it’s a good type of exhaustion.

My life had this sort of routine to it that I was fine with. It kept me focused and I suppose I was too focused to realize that a certain someone I’d have much preferred to leave behind had come back into my life.

I don’t know why he’s back. Just that he’s clearly unhappy with my choices in life. He’s not pleased that I ‘dally’ with humans and halflings alike. That I don’t prefer the company of ‘my own’, as he puts it. He told me that I had to be careful, that I could end up being on the wrong side of things. He yelled at me about doing the exact opposite of what he’d taught me and I think I almost laughed in his face but I refrained, I had to. I knew better.

He was probably trying to rile me up so that I’d do something stupid and then he could do that thing he’d always done with the stupid vengeance thing. Looking at him now, I’m trying to understand how I could ever see him as anything resembling a father figure.

Then again, after I found him—or did he find me?—I still was new to this world. I didn’t know right from wrong, all I knew was that I’d been a whore and a dancer and that’s all there was to my life. So sure, he was different and he’d been willing to teach me more about the world but his world is different from mine. He came here willingly. I was summoned to be part of that filthy harem. His views are different from mine and I suppose that’s where the issue lies. I imagine he assumed that I would be angry at humans and other non-demons for their treatment of me.

That’s in the past, though. I’m away from that life and I don’t want to even think about it unless I absolutely have to and I don’t have to. I just do my thing and work, sleep, spend time with my friend. This shadow from my past, I’m going to have to get rid of it, one way or another. I know he won’t leave peacefully, not now that he’s found me and I don’t like having to resort to violence. I never have before, not really. I don’t want to.

I’ll just have to find a way, somehow. It’s not going to be easy, I just know it won’t be but there’s little else I can do about this at this point. I refuse to let him touch my friend. He’s not going to be turned into a victim because some asshole demon thinks he’s better than everyone else. That’s just not how these things work and I’m going to make him regret ever coming back into my life, even if it’s the last thing I do.

I’ve got a sick sense of justice, but you knew that.

Timeline/World: Zenas
Characters: Fionan Lane
Race: Demon
Age: 30, physically about 22
Final Word Count: 594 words

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My grasp of the outside world might still be a little skewed but having grown up as part of the underworld only to then be pulled up top by some idiot who wanted his own harem, I think my knowledge of the ‘outside’ world was always going to be skewed. All I’ve ever known before in my life was what was happening in my own version of the world and then I get pulled up, chained down—so to speak—and told to entertain clients. So I entertained clients. I’m just a minor demon; there isn’t a whole lot to my name. I could have been human for the most part, if it weren’t for the horns.

The boy who took me away from it all, I barely remember him. I remember something close to apathy in him but everything else is mostly fuzzy, I wouldn’t know where to begin. I’m still a little thankful for him though I ended up being beaten up pretty badly when I left the club to follow him. At first, I didn’t think it was worth it but after that, I made my own way. His interest in me waned quickly and I was left to fend for myself until I found someone else like me. Another demon.

He hadn’t been summoned, no. He’d come of his own free will. He helped me settle in, helped me learn right from wrong, though a good bit of his ‘right’ leaned a bit on the side of ‘wrong’ for most other people I’ve learned. I guess he was a bit of a vigilante of sorts. Except he cared more about making sure the well-being of other demons was respected more than anything else. I guess that in this city in general, we’re seen as lower life forms. Things to be summoned and used and not respected the way we deserve to be.

He had odd ways about how he dealt out his justice and at first, I didn’t really know better. I just watched him do all he did and could only shrug a little, it didn’t bother me. I didn’t know better. At least, until I met one particular hybrid, a half-human half-demon. I didn’t know they could exist and my somewhat-mentor sneered at the mention of him. I guess that the latter’s presence in my life is why I stepped away from the former. I didn’t want him to hurt my friend and this halfling was my friend.

Things were different in his eyes and I wanted to learn more about it. He was also closer to my age so it was more like a proper friendship to me than a relationship that was almost more father-son. I stepped away from my almost adoptive father, moved elsewhere, spent more time with my friend and my life has changed. It’s not as dark as it used to be. Sure, I still get looked at as though I’m lower than low by a lot of people but it’s not everyone. I have a steady enough job in a place that doesn’t care whether I’m human, demon or halfling. So long as I do my job well and properly.

It’s an overnight thing so we don’t see a whole lot of people but I like it that way. It’s just so calming. It was hard work at first, hefting all those boxes around and placing them all over the store but I’ve grown into it and having nightly company makes it even better. I can’t complain.

Kind

Timeline/World: Zenas
Characters: Fionan Lane
Race: Demon
Age: 29
Final Word Count: 542 words

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My life was far from sunshine and rainbows, at the beginning. Or what I suppose I call the beginning. I don’t remember my childhood much. I just remember my early teens and forward until I was saved from the life I did have to what I have going on for myself now. I was born into slavery, out to please and pleasure others and that not because I wanted to.

Of course, back then I didn’t really know better so I guess that was just one of these things. I didn’t understand why they would hurt me, how it aroused them to see me in pain, see me on my knees, giving them what they were asking for. It was all I knew and there just wasn’t anything else to be done about that.

So when I was found, outside the club where I usually worked, by this odd soul, I wasn’t sure what to think. He changed the way I saw things within just such a short span of time, I don’t know how to explain it.

Our relationship was very much so short lived, there is no two way about that. He was fickle, I suppose, flighty, perhaps is a better word? I didn’t mind. Of course, I minded back then because I’d gone through hell to get away from my captors so I could be with him but when he moved on to something else, I was heartbroken.

He was all I’d ever known of kindness, he was all I’d ever seen that I could claim as beautiful and I was alone again, what was I supposed to do?

I did the only thing I could do. I struggled to move on.

It took a lot of time and work, several times I fell back down to the ugly sides of the world I’d pulled myself out of when he’d come to pull me out of it. It took work, it took the kindness of other strangers as well so I could get back on my feet but I’ve managed and when I look back to things, I feel a swell of pride within me at how far I’ve come.

It has only been about four years now that I’ve been able to call my life my own. I live in a small community with others like myself, other demons, not so much others who have gone through what I have though I think one of them has. She’s nice but she’s yet to come as far out of her shell after it all than I have. That comes from the fact that she’s only been with the community for about a year at this point but I think she’ll pull herself up and away from the memories. I did, after all and I believe in her strength.

So beautiful and kind stranger I have put myself through near literal hell to be with again back then, I thank you for at least showing me that what I had been living with, up until that day, had been a lie. I would not have the life I have now if it hadn’t been for that much. We didn’t share many words but we didn’t really need to.

Thank you.