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I felt myself jolt awake, panting, I looked around for a few minutes before realizing where I was. Christ, it didn't take very long for Thursday to roll around.
Ever since I met Michael, he started forcing me to wake up at a normal time and sleep at a normal time, for a while it was hell until I eventually got used to it. We haven’t gotten very far on our investigation of Lucifer, he’s seemingly gotten more careful around us since that day. Figures. Today’s a make or break day, though. See, I had this gut feeling that whoever this girl was, Kasey, was gonna give us something valuable. I convinced Michael to hold off on anything drastic until we knew whatever it was she wanted to tell us, so that’s where we’re at now.
“Are you just going to keep staring at the wall?” Groaned Michael.
“I’m getting up, Jesus fucking Christ.” I groaned back.
Living with this guy’s been a huge pain in my ass. I didn’t expect angels, at least the fabled Michael Himself, to behave like this. I expected them to be more… holier than thou, or whatever. Instead, this guy was just so.. Normal. He behaves like people I’ve met before. Impatient, a bit loud, quick to anger, it was so weird, but at least it was familiar. Can’t say the same about the rest of this insane situation.
I yawned, and climbed out of bed, scratching my back before walking over to the bathroom. I took off my underwear and stretched a bit, before turning on the shower, waiting for it to get steamy hot. I then opened up both the toilet lid and seat before taking a piss, then closed them. Every so often I remembered Michael was right there, watching me all the damn time. It was freaky, but I had to get used to it. Just felt weird having no alone time, although luckily he wasn’t exactly judgemental seeing me piss or anything else related to my nads.
I stepped into the shower and felt the hot water hit my body, I winced a bit, feeling slight pain in my nipples. I made sure to be careful around both areas while I scrubbed down my body with bodywash.
“I don’t understand why you’d ever get holes through your nipples just to stick a piece of metal through the hole.” I heard Michael pipe up.
“Cus it's cool and I like it.” I said, turning off and walking out of the shower.
I heard him make a judgemental snort at me, instinctively I rolled my eyes. This guy’s started giving me a habit of that.
I started to dry myself off, pushing my arms into my lower back to crack it, I heard and felt a pop, before grunting.
I grabbed fresh underwear, and slipped into it, exiting the bathroom and turning off the lights. I made it back into my room and opened up my clothing drawers, grabbing a loose black T-shirt, light blue jeans, and black ankle-length socks.
I checked my phone as I put on my socks, shirt, then pants. It was 11:30 AM. Gotta hurry.
I stood up and grabbed my phone, shoving it in my pocket and walking back over to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror, my eyebags were a lot less than they used to be, and I was looking healthier than before, which is good. At least Michael did something good for me. Even if he’s gonna fucking murder me.
I grabbed my hair gel, slicking my hair back. It was spiked and it pretty much made me look kind of like a hedgehog. I’ve had this hairstyle since I turned 19, and it was kinda just a mark for trying to quit drugs and alcohol and all to me, along with finally taking care of my hair after letting it grow out for years.
I stared at myself for a while, it was weird. Me and Damien actually look a lot more alike than I thought, even now in adulthood, honestly. Sure, my hair was a lighter blonde than his, and my eyes were more of an icy blue in comparison to his greenish blue… but everything else was identical. It's just our styles are different, and the fact we grew apart into different directions.
“Hey daydreamer, come on. You’ve got a date.” I heard Michael grumble.
I groaned, washing my hands.
“It’s not a date, it’s just a meetup.”
“Whatever it is, let's get going.” He said with an annoyed sigh.
I walked out of the bathroom, turned off the lights, and grabbed my keys and wallet. I walked out the apartment and locked the door, checking twice I locked it, before walking towards the elevator. I clicked the lobby button and leaned my back against the wall.
Eventually we made it to the first floor, and I walked out with my hands in my pockets.
“No jacket today?” Said Michael.
“Left it in the car.”
“You always wear that thing, can I ask why?” He said, sounding genuinely curious.
“... Gift from my dad. He wore it in High School.” I said reluctantly.
“Ah.”
I made it to the car, unlocking it and opening the door, climbing inside and immediately getting hit with cigarette stench. I’ve smoked a lot less since I met Michael, simply because he hates the feel of it, and apparently has the ability to keep my cravings down. He acted as if I could do the same shit, I guess angels don’t know what addictions are.
I turned on the car, put on my seatbelt and pulled out, making my way to the meetup place.
______________________________________________________________________________
I turned the car off, unbuckled my seat belt, and climbed out with a sigh. I checked my phone, it was 12:15 PM… Shit.
I texted her, walking into the coffee shop, before immediately spotting her based on the photo she sent the other day. I waved, strolling toward her and awkwardly taking a seat across from her.
“Kasey Farin, yeah?”
“In the flesh, so you’re his brother? Wow. It’s a little hard to believe you’re twins.” She chuckled.
“Heh, yeah. We kinda started uh. Looking different and all around High School.” I said, scratching the back of my head a bit.
“I guess I can see the similarities… mostly in your face, at least.”
“Yeah, uh, so who.. Who are you anyways? Said you’re a friend of his, doesn’t tell me much.”
“Did he seriously never tell you about me??” She sounded surprised, and grumbled under her breath.
“We haven’t had a meaningful conversation since we moved here, so I’m in the dark.” I said bluntly.
“Jesus Christ.. That sounds rough.” She made eye contact with me, I could sense a little sympathy.
“Uh, yeah, I guess. It’s whatever.” I said, shuffling in my seat awkwardly.
“Well, I’m his ex-girlfriend.” She said pretty nonchalantly.
He… he dated someone? What?
I stared at her for a bit, in mild shock. This was almost as insane as finding out there’s an angel inside of me. I eventually blinked and looked over at the line to order things.
“Uh… hey. Mind if I get up to grab a coffee real quick.”
“Uhhh, sure?” She seemed a little confused, but I stood up anyways, going over to the line with my hands in my jeans’ pockets.
“I can’t believe he had a partner and didn’t ever tell me,” kept on repeating in my head, but I knew. I knew deep down that it makes sense. He wouldn’t tell me, why would he? I shouldn’t be shocked at all, he’s him.
I made my way to the front of the line eventually, ordering a vanilla iced latte, paid, then went back to sit down, still thinking about what she told me.
I fidgeted with my hands a bit, my knee bouncing. “Sorry. Just needed to process that.”
“It’s fine, it was probably a little shocking to hear. We broke up 6 months ago, and dated for 6 months, we’re just friends now. Until.. Well.. Recently.” She sighed, looking away slightly with just her eyes.
“Recently? What happened?” My fingers tapped on the table.
“That’s actually why I wanted to speak to you-” I heard my name get called for my order, interrupting her for a quick moment.
I stood up and walked over to grab the latte, before going back to our table and seating myself.
“Sorry, continue.” I said, taking a sip of my coffee.
“You’re alright, uhm, well… we ran into each other at a night club recently, I noticed he was having a panic attack of some kind so I dragged him out back to cool him off, and we talked.”
“Yeah?” I said, looking around the cafe as I listened to her.
She looked away a bit, diverting her eyes. I looked back in her direction, waiting for her to continue.
“He told me he planned to leave to go back “home.” That was his plan since he got here, it upset me obviously because he never told me this! But, uh, it’s.. Not just that. This isn’t really about me, I need your help convincing him not to go back. You’re the only person I know who maybe could.” She did the quote fingers gesture at me when she said the word “home,” she was looking at me with almost pleading eyes. I could tell she cared about my bro a lot, and was clearly desperate enough to contact me over this; despite the fact I’m a stranger.
I crossed my arms, adjusting myself in my seat before putting my elbow on the table and my head in my hand, I made eye contact with her… or at least tried to.
“What’s the issue with him going home? I mean, I agree what him not ever telling you was shitty, don’t get me wrong, I’m just wondering why that concerns you enough to call me out here.” I asked as genuinely as possible, I was being blunt but didn’t want to sound rude, since I was really just confused.
She blinked at me a bit, before opening up her mouth with hesitation.
“I… I think he’s in some kind of a cult, that's why.” She finally mustered out, “and he’s too good to waste away in that. He doesn’t deserve that.” She said sternly.
A cult? I blinked with a bit of confusion. Even though we don’t talk at all, I feel like I’d know if he’s been in a cult… unless this is really recent? But, what does that have to do with home? Sure, our hometown was shitty and religious as fuck, but I always thought they were just regular isolated bigots.
“Finally, a lead.” I heard Michael say with amusement.
I couldn’t respond to him without looking crazy, so I just put my focus back into Kasey.
“Uh, elaborate?” I finally said.
She stared at me with slight hesitation, before speaking up.
“Everything about his life and his extreme attachment to being religiously perfect aren’t normal, your parents are super controlling towards him even though he’s 21. When I even tried to tell him any of this, he walked off, telling me he was gonna go to hell if he kept talking with me, and blocked me on everything.” She said, I could tell she was getting frustrated, but it probably wasn’t because of me.
“I get it isn’t my business but I really do care about him, I’m worried he’s in serious danger, I mean he kept talking about these rituals to me but wouldn’t explain what they even were for starters, and it all seems so… off. I don’t feel comfortable letting him run off if my gut’s right, I’d feel horrible if he gets hurt and I had the ability to prevent it.” Her face eased up with a shaky sigh.
“... Please.”
I scratched the back of my head, hesitating a little, clearly she was telling the truth, at least in how she felt.
“We could use the help, considering she knows more about your brother than you do at the moment.” Michael chimed in.
I felt anger at that statement, even though he was just being honest. Didn’t mean anything by it. I tried to just let it go.
“... Fine. I can try to help the best I can.” I said, closing my eyes.
I opened them back up to see her smiling gratefully.
______________________________________________________________________________
It had been a few weeks since me and Kasey first met, we started to meet up more and more regularly from that point to figure out game plans on handling Damien. Neither of us really had much to work with though, only knowing places to start. I hadn’t told her about any of the Lucifer or Michael shit, not sure why I would, she was just a stranger to me and I already know she’d think I’m insane if I even tried having that conversation, so I’ve kept quiet about my own goals with this. We just had one simple mutual understanding… something isn’t right with my brother, and we need to get to the bottom of it.
I was tasked with privately investigating him since I lived with him, while she was tasked with looking more into Curchen, Wisconsin; our hometown. Our goals were to collect anything unusual, and take note of it, then give each other what we found at the next meetup.
Because of this, I started forcing myself to wake up even earlier, just so I can make a better effort to watch Damien; but I had to be nonchalant, otherwise he’d notice, or at the very least Lucifer would. No pressure.
For once though, I guess I actually had God on my side, or something like that, because I’ve managed to slip by undetected often and snoop, the big problem though is Lucifer’s damn good at covering his tracks… so I had to get creative.
“Is that a camcorder?” Michael spoke.
“Yeah, it is, I had an idea.” I said while I was checking the charge and making sure the device was functional, this thing was a little old; it was my favorite object as a kid and even as a teenager, I used it for a shit ton of stuff, and it looks like it’s about to be my closest friend again.. If everything goes smoothly, that is.
“What’s your idea, bright guy.”
“It’s Sunday, church day, which means Damien’s gonna be doing his mysterious ritual shit, I was gonna set up my camera to record his room the whole day in an area he can’t see, then retrieve the footage when it's safe.” I said as quietly as possible, out of paranoia he could somehow hear me.
“... Sounds like a shitty idea.” Michael muttered.
“Shitty? The fuck do you mean shitty? Got anything smarter?” I growled.
Silence.
“Just be careful.” He said, sounding a bit ominous.
I felt myself get nervous at that strange warning, but shook it off the best I could. I exited my room to check and make sure he wasn’t anywhere in the house, and once I confirmed that I went to his door, grabbing the tailored lockpick Michael helped me make. I fiddled in the knob for a bit before unlocking it, and entered.
I nervously looked around, before wrapping the camera in a black cloth, keeping the lens uncovered. I turned it on and got it to start recording, I then carefully climbed up enough to place it up on a tall shelf with a dark corner. It melted into the shadows pretty easily. I started thinking of this plan not too long ago after mentally mapping out his room, noticing this one part of it that I could easily use to my advantage. I held back a grin as I hopped down and toed out of the room, locking the door before closing it. I quietly went back towards my own room and closed the door, grinning.
“And they always told me I was a fuckin moron.” I chuckled, proud of myself.
“Don’t celebrate yet until we get the footage.” Michael said bluntly.
I felt my grin melt away a bit, I pulled out my desk chair and sat down, opening my laptop.
“Yeah. Whatever.” I muttered, getting frustrated with him. What the hell is his deal?
I pulled up an essay I had to complete, using this opportunity to get schoolwork done while I waited for the gold.
______________________________________________________________________________
I stretched back in my seat, releasing a big yawn from the chest. I rubbed my eyes a bit and checked the clock on the corner of my laptop’s screen. It was later in the evening, and I’ve been sitting here busting my ass with assignments since basically 10AM. I haven’t eaten or drank anything since then, either.
I stood up, cracking my knuckles and stretched my arms a bit, exiting my room to grab myself a snack and some water and take a well earned break.
As I made it toward the kitchen, I noticed Damien’s car keys were missing. I blinked a bit, before remembering the footage. I looked over toward his room. I had heard him get home a while ago, so if his keys are missing, that probably means he’s gone again. A common routine I’ve noticed of him on weekends.
I smirked, making my way over to his door quietly; I put my ear against it softly to check for noises, and after a few minutes of hearing nothing but my own breathing, I lockpicked it slowly, before gently opening the knob and opening the door.
Every light was off, but it felt much darker than usual. The blinds were down, I entered slowly, feeling extremely off. My flight or fight was going off like crazy. I felt paranoid, and I most likely was just being paranoid.
I looked up towards the bookshelf, then suddenly felt eyes beating into the side of my neck. My heart immediately stopped.
The camera was gone, and someone was watching me.
I immediately looked around, getting defensive. I was trying to keep myself calm from the heavy pressure in the air. It felt like gravity itself was trying to keep me down, but I held my ground. I held my guard.
Then I felt something hit my head from above, and saw it fall to the floor.
I froze.
“Don’t panic.” Michael said as sternly as possible.
I panicked.
I felt my body fall backwards and scoot away from the object, I was hyperventilating, I could hear the blood rushing through my ears as I looked above.
A figure slipped down from the ceiling, formerly clinging to it like a disgusting lizard, he intentionally moved slowly, reveling in me staring at him with absolute fear. His neck was twisted backwards, the skin tightly folding to accommodate what should’ve been broken, but simply wasn’t. He hit the floor on all fours, spinning his neck around in the correct direction slowly, I could hear every pop and crack. He reached an arm out before clenching his fist and smashing the camera.
I instinctively reached to grab the camera, before he looked up at me, grinning muscle-tearingly wide. My heart wouldn’t beat. It just wouldn’t. I flinched back.
“Not fun being watched, is it?” He said, he sounded so casual but I could hear just how much he enjoyed every twisted second of this. He flicked two objects towards me, which happened to face upwards to stare right at me.
“Someone doesn’t know anything about us angels.”
Eyes. Those where eyes. I couldn’t stop staring at the eyes staring at me, but I forced myself to look up at the mangled figure in front of me, immediately regretting it.
He had no eyes.
I looked down, then back up, I felt bile come up my throat immediately, nausea poured over me, I was light-headed, I needed to vomit. I needed to faint. I needed to run.
But I couldn’t. Instead I just sat there, pitifully frozen.
“... Michael. Help.” I finally mustered to squeak out, I was desperate.
Silence.
I heard Lucifer cackle at me, mocking me, I trembled so violently I felt like I could combust.
I saw him smoothly stand upwards, leaning down to pick up the eyes like they were marbles, and popped them back into his sockets, blinking and looking down at me with a slightly open mouthed smirk.
He leaned over at me, scanning me up and down, before kicking me in the chest, I felt my back thud against the wall and he let out a laugh.
“To think this is the only reason you even exist and you’re just so pathetic.” He gave a small dramatic sigh, amused.
He got down on his knees to look at me, grabbing my face to force eye contact with me.
“I don’t believe much in signs for me anymore… but I’ll happily take your existence as just a little more proof I’ll always be better than Michael, not like I need it.” He grinned.
“Just like how Damien’s the superior vessel, and brother, isn’t that right?”
…
“People are born with a set worth, superiority is both a fact of life and just another thing to make you small little things feel more worthwhile as you await eternity.”
…
“The great man knows how, but the smart man knows why. That’s the difference between feeling superiority, and being superior.”
He slammed his elbow into my windpipe, rubbing it slowly applying pressure, I felt my body relax, despite me still violently shaking.
“Giving up? Gonna let the adults talk? Or, maybe, you’ve recognized there’s always something worse than death and tossing in the towel? Either would be the smart choice, but I don’t take you for a clever boy.” He sneered.
I gripped his forearms, glaring daggers into him, breathing hard, but I was focused.
I wasn’t giving this cumstain the satisfaction of seeing me die pathetically.
He simply rolled his eyes smirking at me, grabbing my head seemingly ready to smash my head against the wall. I tried my hardest to fight off the fear. The complete terror of being murdered. I didn’t know how, but I had spite. Spite was enough to stay composed. Barely.
“You think you’re special but I’ve never met anything unique in my lifetime.”
He suddenly flinched backward, his face twisting into pain and rage, he was gripping his arms, I looked up and down at him confused, while he glared complete daggers into me.
I noticed he, somehow, had severe burns on his arms. I blinked. He was staring at my hands, and I looked down and noticed they were glowing white-orange, like hot metal. I was too much in shock from everything to really react.
He scoffed, raising his arms to try and heal the damaged body, but to his, and my shock, nothing happened. He started to shake with rage… before suddenly looking off to the side. Slowly starting to grin, for some insane reason.
“Pain.”
“I feel pain.” He hugged his body with his eye twitch, he slowly started laughing.
I watched him manically cackle before looking back towards me, nearly stumbling over.
“You’re no kid.” His final ominous words, before I watched my brother’s body flop over and hit the floor with a thud, limp.
I sat there for what felt like an eternity. Before grabbing the crushed camera, I knew it wasn’t salvageable but I’d at least like to have the pieces.
I blinked in surprise, the thing had all of a sudden reverted back into its former shape, unscathed. It looked like someone rewound a video.
I grabbed it, standing up with immediate vertigo, I looked at Damien, then panicked and looked around. I placed the camera down on his bed, before picking him up and placing him on it.
I aimlessly stumbled around the apartment looking for gauze and ointment, before eventually finding it, and making my way back over towards him.
Nothing felt real, but I bandaged him up anyway, then tossed a blanket on him.
I glanced back at him, grabbing the camera and exited his room, closing the door.
I made it back to mine. I sat there.
And sat there.
I looked at the camera. I looked at my hands.
“Michael.”
“Yes?” He replied.
“I need you to tell me what the fuck just happened. Now.”
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