The next day, Ace and Candice were in his room, and they had made a very good impression of a monster with two backs.

  Ace was panicking because he didn't know how much time he had left until Fenton came back and didn't want him walking in on them again. Candice didn't care though. She stood, hanging her head out the window, smoking and topless, breaking several rules and probably several laws at once.

  "At least put your shirt on first," Ace pleaded.

"Fine," she sighed.

   She looked around for her bra while Ace quickly got dressed. While he was putting on his pants, he looked at his calendar on the wall and swore under his breath.

 "What's wrong," Candice asked.

  "I have a test tomorrow," Ace replied. "I don't even know why they make us take this stuff. None of us go on to college after training anyway, and we stay here a year longer to finish training."

  "Then just skip class," Candice suggested.

 She found her bra in a corner of the room and put it on. She went back to smoking, savoring the nicotine on her lips.

   "I can't, I already failed this class last year!"

Candice was not surprised, but just amazed that they let him retake the class. She took one last long drag and put out her cigarette on the back of her hand which made Ace grimace.

  "I'll help," she offered. "I got nothing else to do today anyway."

Ace grinned. "You're wonderful."

Candice blushed and glanced away, wondering why she had a soft spot, for all these years, for a meatsuit like him.

"Don't make a big deal of this," she grumbled.

After getting their clothes and washing off anything suspicious from their hands in the bathroom, Ace finally decided to take the class seriously for once in his very short life.

  He opened the drawer, looking for a pen, and instead saw the strange watch he had found in his father's closet. He had left it there the moment he came back from his father's house. He had long forgotten about it, his brain like a strainer, facts like water, draining right through.

  Candice saw the watch and immediately recognized it. She tried to play it cool, to pretend that she had no idea what it was. She was so excited that she forgot that once she touched it, it would hurt her. 

    "Cool watch," Candice said.

She grabbed it out of the drawer and suddenly, she felt very strange. Ace watched in horror as she suddenly looked younger, much younger, like a small child. She dropped the watch to the floor and looked around, her clothes too big for her.

 “I’m going to prison,” Ace mumbled.

  Candice picked up the watch again, and Ace shouted at her not to touch it, but this time she instead became old. Ace gripped his desk chair and watched as she grew taller, her skin gained wrinkles, her hair turned grey, and her nails grew, curling and winding.

"Put it down Candice," Ace whispered. "Please."

  Candice put the watch down on the desk.

"I feel very tired," she mumbled. "I think I should take a nap."

Ace ran up to her and held her, careful not to break her old bones.

" Don't sleep," Ace said. "You might not wake up."

"Can you repeat that," Candice shouted. "I can't hear you!"

Ace glared at the watch on his desk, wary of what it would do next. He heard it, breathing loud and fast, as if it were right next to him, breathing and grunting into his ear.

 "Please stop," he pleaded. "Please turn her back."

  He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the groans and whispers that came into his mind. The words were incoherent, and it sounded like many people were mumbling on top of each other, speaking at once, arguing, and crying.

"Ace, open your eyes," Candice whined.

She shook him hard, and he opened them in fright.

  She was back to her normal self, none the wiser that anything had changed.

  "I feel kinda weird....," Candice said.  

 "Don't worry about it."

   She eyed him suspiciously and went back to look through the drawer. Ace's heart paced fast and he heard it in his head. Soon he realized that was not the sound of his heart, but the watch. Reluctantly he picked it up from the desk, fearing that it was angry, but that was impossible, watches couldn’t be angry. Nothing happened and he breathed a sigh of relief.

  He put it into his pocket, making sure that no one else would touch it. He wondered why the same thing didn't happen to him and decided to return it to his father in the morning and face the consequences.

  Trying to forget the horrific scene he had just experienced, Ace tried to focus on studying. He and Candice sat on the bed, and she explained things to him, but he just didn't seem to understand anything, or even really listen.

  "Are you even trying," she groaned. "You look distracted. What's your problem?"

Ace was still shaken up about everything, but he didn't want to talk about it. Candice saw the fear on his face and took his hand.

 "Don't be scared," she whispered. "It's just us." She smiled at him, and Ace started to relax, feeling her soft hands and smelling her perfume.

Don't trust her, said the voice. She is not as she seems.

  Ace looked around, paranoid that something obscene would happen next.

"Tell me what's wrong," Candice insisted. Ace looked around the room and decided to just tell her. He leaned in and whispered in her ear.

  "I think I'm going crazy," he whispered. "There's a voice in my head."

Candice did not expect that answer. She looked away and tried to ignore what he said, but instead, he continued.

  "Someone is telling me not to trust you," Ace said.

   "Is it Fenton," Candice groaned. "This bitch-"

   " No, I mean yes, but not him. Someone is whispering in my ear, Candice. I think I need to go to a doctor."

  "Yeah," she said in a mocking tone... "You do. You're ill."

She is a demon, the voice whispered. Its true name is Deceit.

  Ace let go of her hand and became increasingly paranoid. Candice saw the look on his face and became irritated.

"Are you really hearing things," she shouted.

He looked away, never meeting her eyes. Candice took a deep breath and tried not to choke him. Yet.

  "What are the voices telling you," Candice cooed. "Tell me, I can prove it's wrong."

  "Oh…That makes sense." He laughed nervously. "I'm being ridiculous!"

Candice laughed along with him, and soon Ace felt quite silly at the preposterous claim. Demons? Monsters? Magic Watches? What next? Vampires?

  "Yeah, it's just stress," she laughed.

They laughed together and he immediately felt much better.

"I must be freaking out after what we went through," he sighed. "My stupid brain told me your name is Deceit."

  Suddenly Candice's smile went away, and she glared at Ace.

  Ace stopped laughing and scooted down the bed away from her.

  She stared at him, not blinking as if she was frozen. It didn't look like she was breathing either, the entire world seemed to stop turning. She was stiffer than a statue, but the stare looked right into his eyes, and he again was made to feel small in front of her.

  "I guess it's time to kill you," she whispered. "It was fun playing house."

“I could just leave,” Ace said. “We could just forget about this.”

"Don't worry," Candice whispered. "I really like you; I always have. I won't kill you. I'll just do it halfway."  

 Ace backed up the bed and accidentally fell to the ground. The watch fell out of his pocket, and he quickly grabbed it. Ace nodded rapidly and stood up, backing into the closet, his fear clouding his mind. He was afraid she was going to hit him again and didn't want to get in trouble if he fought back in self-defense.

  Candice took off her shirt, and tiny, flesh-like wings sprouted from her back. "I want your body," Candice moaned. Ace flared his nostrils, and his mind went to a different place.  

 "We, we can do it again, if that's what you want," Ace offered. "I don't see what the problem is."

 He slowly edged to the door, his eyes stuck on her wings, wondering why he had never noticed them before.

   "That's not what I meant," she smiled. "I want to be inside of you."

Ace reasoned that it wouldn't be that bad, it would be better than her hitting him again. It wouldn't be the worst thing she had ever made him do, and it wasn't like he wasn't experienced in that department.

 Ace's face changed color and he mumbled something incoherently.

"Speak up," she barked.

  "I mean… if you're into that sort of thing I could try it once," Ace whispered. "To be honest, I think I would like it. In fact, I and this guy used to fu-"

  Candice gripped her head and made a strange guttural noise, interrupting his strange sexual confessions.

"Why are you so stupid," she hissed. "I am about to kill you, and somehow you don't even understand it!"

 Ace stood there, clutching his strange watch as it whispered into his ear, I told you.

  "Shut up," Ace shouted.

I will bring you to Deceit, the watch shouted. I do not lie!   

"Don't talk to me like that," Candice shrieked.  

"I'm not talking to you," Ace snapped. "I'm talking to the watch!"   

"Oh wow," she whispered. "You are truly crazy. You've lost it."   

"This watch, it's talking to me and-"      

"I was so wrong this entire time," she cried. "You aren't strong. You're a sad, sad little boy." She sat on the bed and flapped her little wings.

 "I've wasted my entire life," she sobbed. "I waited so long to find you, and you're crazy! Y-you, don't even remember anything!"

  Ace was easily swayed by her tears, especially since for the first time they were real. He came over to her, reluctantly, and held her hand.

 "It's okay," he whispered. "You're only eighteen, you haven't wasted your entire life."

She was much, much, much older than that.

Much.

  Instead, this just made her wail even louder, and Ace panicked, completely forgetting that she threatened to kill him only a minute ago.

 "My dad will kill me," she wailed. "I have nothing! No one!"

Ace patted her knee and sat next to her, awkwardly, listening to her wails.

  "It's, it's okay," Ace mumbled. "It never happened. I-I was just making stuff up! I'm not hearing anything!"

  Candice nodded, sniffling, willing to believe the lie, wondering if maybe she should let him live a little bit longer. She nodded and wiped her tears away.

"You're right," she sniffled. "Let's stop fighting for once."

 Her little flesh-colored wings flapped in joy and Ace looked away, disgusted and scared.

"I'll just keep you anyway, I don't think your crazy brain will fuck me up once I'm in you," she laughed.

"My what?"

  Candice jumped on top of him, and Ace instinctively covered his face with his hands. Instead, she gripped his neck and started to choke him. He squirmed underneath her, and she watched silently, waiting for the right moment to loosen her grip.

  Once he started to get quiet, she loosened her grip and Ace gasped. Again, she choked him wanting to prolong it, so he would just be on the precipice of death. She wanted to make sure they would be two souls together, inhabiting one body until the sun exploded and killed them all.

  This time Ace went limp, and Candice suddenly let go, afraid that she had killed him. She stared at him and commanded him to speak but no sound came out.

Can't believe I'm happy for someone to be alive, Candice thought.

  Ace was unconscious, and she was giddy that she could finally have him forever. She rubbed her hands on his face, her black acrylic nails scratching his face. They were sharpened to look like claws, and with her strength they were almost as strong.

"You can't leave me," she said. "We've been through so much together."

  The room started to shake, and Candice let go of his face. She looked around the room and couldn't tell the source of the tremors.

"Is this an earthquake," Candice wondered aloud.

 She gripped Ace's shirt, afraid to lose her prize after she had just won it.

  Then the shaking stopped, and Candice let out a sigh of relief.

"Just a little tremor," she laughed nervously.

   Candice screamed and Ace jumped awake.

   "Don't hurt me," he cried. "I won't tell anyone!"

  "You're disappearing," she screamed.

   Ace looked at his hands, which were fine, and then his legs, which were no longer there. He watched as slowly his body faded away, and he cried, confused about what to do. He disappeared, crying, and screaming, unable to make it stop.

 Candice sat alone in the room, and for some strange reason, the world sounded eerily silent. Like everything was put on pause.

 Someone pressed play.

  Candice covered her ears and screamed, she screamed over and over again, the room shaking, her head feeling like the inside had been cracked wide open, and someone was screaming inside her head.

  A cacophony of voices screamed and mumbled inside her head. She felt like someone was staring her down from behind, breathing into her hair and caressing her neck. The voices of the belligerent and damned went quiet and then suddenly came back, louder and louder, taunting her, telling her that she was nothing but a pawn. She screamed and shook, black tears coming out of her eyes, hoping that she would soon die rather than continue through the misery.

  The sounds suddenly stopped, and she looked around the room, arms crossing her chest, shaking and confused.

"What the fuck," she whispered. “What the fuck?"

  Loud knocks came from the door.

 "Stop being so loud, we can all hear you banging!"  

 Candice let out a roar, and then the banging stopped. She put her wings away and then put on her shirt. She was still sweaty and took out another cigarette to calm down.

  "I am so fucked," she whispered to herself. "I have nothing to show for after all these years."

She opened the window and leaned out, so she wouldn't set off the sensitive dormitory fire alarms.

Maybe he just teleported far away, she told herself. He'll be back by the end of the day.

He was not.

  Ace never returned that night, and Fenton noticed. He saw Candice in their room, and he was confused.

 "Please leave," he said. "I come here to get away from everyone!"   

"I'm waiting for Ace," Candice replied.

She was no longer her usual haughty self. She looked scared and that made Fenton scared too. What could a monster be afraid of?

"Go wait in the living room then," he told her.

  She left and waited in the living room all night for him. Fenton smelled the air and grumbled. She had been smoking in their room again, and Fenton didn't want to get written up again. He unpacked his backpack and looked around the room. Something was different, he couldn't tell what, but he could feel it. He tried to ignore it and went to sleep early, his head still pounding.