Ayaka’s eyes fluttered open. She was staring straight up at a ceiling, wondering where she was or how she got there. She looked around and realized she was in an apartment, laying on a couch. But, taking in her surroundings, she started to realize that some of the furnishings seemed familiar…where had she seen this place before?
“Hello!”
“O-Oliver??”
“Yup!” he smiled.
That’s where she was—she was at Oliver’s apartment, on his couch. But why…? And then she saw it—he was wearing the same outfit as the demon she fought. But that meant…
“I’m a demon, like you,” Oliver explained, seeing the confusion in her eyes. “Well, I’m a half-demon…but yeah, still a demon.”
She attempted to resist, wanting to get up and run or maybe fight—at least try to think—but found she couldn’t move. “WH-WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?!” she screamed, straining.
“Nothing,” he explained, “there’s just a demon-metal necklace around your neck.” She couldn’t see it from her angle (since she could only move her face, not her neck), but she could feel the cool metal on her neck. “What the hell were you thinking, doing all that shit?” Oliver asked, sitting down on the couch.
“Shut up, Oliver!” she snapped. “You wouldn’t understand!!”
“Well how am I supposed to understand, if you don’t tell me?” She didn’t answer. “Come on, Ayaka. We’re friends.”
It was hard for her to come to terms with the idea that Oliver was a demon too. “Fine,” she muttered. “I’m just…tired of being so damn poor.”
“...t-that’s all…?”
“Yes!” she yelled defensively. “Besides, all humans are trash, anyway!! All they care about is money, and that’s the one thing I don’t have!”
“You know you could have just asked me for money,” Oliver said. “I always want to help out my friends.”
She looked at him wistfully. “I—I wish I would’ve known…” she said, looking away from him. “You hate me now, don’t you Oliver?”
“Nah, it was pretty fun fighting you,” he laughed. “Bu-u-ut you are gonna have to go to jail.”
“...shit!”
“But don’t worry about that now,” Oliver said. “I’m getting some food for you guys first.”
“R-really?”
Across the room, someone gasped suddenly. He realized he was somewhere unfamiliar, and that he couldn’t move. He started to scream angrily. “AHHHH!!!!”
“SHUT UP, RALPH!!!”
He stopped. “B-babe?” he asked Ayaka.
“Yeah, it’s me. What?”
He looked around. “Where are we? What are we doing here?”
“Well,” she started, “Oliver beat us, so we’re at his apartment, and we’re gonna be going to jail.”
“NOOOOOO—!!!!”
“I SAID SHUT UP!” she screamed. “He’s gonna buy food for us, so you better be nice!”
He didn’t say anything for a while. “W-wait, what was his name again?”
“Oliver.”
“Oh. Well, thank you Oliv—” And then it hit him. “Wait, M-Mr. Frog!??”
Oliver’s eyes widened. “EmptyChipBag_?!?!”
“You’re Oliver?!?”
“You’re Ayaka’s boyfriend?!?”
“Yeah!” Ralph said, mind-blown. “Dude, you’re so good at Battle is Calling!!”
“Nah not really, you just suck.”
“No I don’t!”
“Bruh you get carried hard like every game!! Yeah you do!”
“Shut up,” Ralph yelled back. “You get carried in Lost in Space!”
“Cuz that game is trash!” Oliver laughed.
“No, because you’re trash!”
MEANWHILE
Naomi sat on her bedroom floor, surrounded by a pile of camera pieces. She picked through them carefully, examining each piece with her thumb and index finger, squinting behind her glasses. She fumbled when she found the piece she was looking for, and put it into her laptop excitedly.
Click…click.
“Yes…yes…YESSSS!!!” she yelled. “I GOT ONE!!!” She zoomed up on the hooded figure. “You can only see his eyes, but it’s still something!!! On Monday, everyone is gonna read the school paper!!!!”
“Naomi!” her mother yelled from the kitchen. “Is everything okay?”
“U-um, yeah, Mom!” she called. She didn’t realize she was being so loud.
“Okay…Well, dinner is going to be in about an hour, what do you want, sweetie?”
“Uhh…french fries and fried fish!” Naomi yelled, looking at the picture.
“Alright, then,” she yelled back. Naomi zoomed in even more, trying to figure out who the eyes could possibly belong to. Everything was happening so quickly by the time she got to the scene of the battle, she had no idea who was there or what was going on. All she saw was a blur of colors and enough destruction to film a sci-fi movie. She zoomed in 200%...225%...250%...
“Oh, by the way, Naomi—”
She slammed her laptop shut and spun around. Her mom stood in the doorway. “Yeah, mom?” she asked quickly.
She didn’t seem to notice. “How’s Oliver?” she asked.
Naomi opened her mouth, but nothing came out. “He’s…good…”
“Well have you talked to him recently?”
Naomi hesitated. In all honesty, she hadn’t talked to Oliver in longer than she’d like to admit. And despite her plans to talk to him at the start of the school year, things just kept going sideways. He got suspended on the second day of school and disappeared on the first. And then there was…
“Um…no,” she admitted.
Her mom frowned sympathetically. “Naomi, how do you expect to have a chance with Oliver if you don’t talk to him?”
“I…I think he has a girlfriend, Mom…” Her mind flashed to the blue-haired girl, the one everyone used to make fun of.
“What?? How come?”
“I don’t know…he’s always hanging out with this one girl named Marilyn.”
Her mom thought about it. “Is she pretty?”
“Yeah…”
She nodded sympathetically, sad for her daughter. “Well, you never know!” she said. “There’s a chance they could just be friends!”
Naomi sat cross-legged. “But he stopped hanging out with me because of her,” she said, looking at her socks.
“Well…” she thought about it for a moment. “Maybe you should just ask him.”
Naomi gawked. “Just ask him??”
“Yeah, sure,” she said, leaning against the doorframe. “Just ask him if Marilyn is his girlfriend. I mean, you guys are good friends, aren’t you?”
She had a point. “Yeah, I guess…”
“Come on, Naomi,” she said, walking into the room. She sat down next to her and gave her a hug. “Won’t you feel a lot better if you know for sure? I know you like him a lot.”
Naomi nodded and smiled weakly. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
LATER
Oliver, Marilyn, and May walked back through the portal, the door shutting behind them. They had just dropped Ralph and Ayaka off in the demon prison, and it was now late in the afternoon.
“Shit, I’m beat,” Oliver said. “I need a nap.” The two girls stayed behind as he walked to his room. He opened the door and walked in, shutting it behind him. It was dark inside—the shades were drawn—so he had to feel around to avoid bumping into anything. He found his bed and collapsed onto it, wrapping himself in the sheet. Shit, I think I deserve some sleep after everything today…
He laid in silence for a while, thinking he heard something move in the back of his mind, but not having the energy to care. He did care, though, when he felt an arm wrap around him, fingers grazing his neck. He opened his eyes and peered in the dark, expecting to find Marilyn, but instead seeing Teri.
“I’ve got you right where I want you,” he whispered into Oliver’s ear.
“SHIT!!!” Oliver screamed, jerking back reflexively. He tried to get off the bed, but Teri pulled him back down, holding him nose-to-nose by his neck. Oliver practically fell into him.
“Don’t be shy, Oliver,” he grinned coyly, putting his mouth to Oliver’s ear. “I don’t bite that hard.”
“BRO, I AIN’T LIKE THAT!!” Oliver screamed, pushing Teri back and falling off the bed on his ass. He kicked off the blankets and threw open the door, running out into the lit living room. May looked over alertly as Teri came following out of the room.
Oliver spun around, red in the face. “What the hell was that!?!” he screamed. “Why are you still here?!”
“I was sleeping!” Teri yelled back.
“At 5 o’ clock!?!”
“I was awake all night!!”
“No you weren’t,” Oliver screamed. “I watched you fall asleep!!”
Marilyn walked out of the bathroom. “Oh, hey Teri,” she said.
“Marilyn—” Teri started, “was I not awake all night?”
Marilyn looked between Teri and Oliver. “Uh…I…think so,” she answered cautiously.
“See?” he yelled.
Oliver groaned, exasperated. “Whatever, dude, just go home!”
“No,” he said, “I want to get some more sleep.”
“Dude! I don’t have enough room for that! I’ve already got Marilyn and May here, and it's a one-bedroom apartment!”
“It’s fine, I’ll just sleep in your bed.”
Oliver gaped at him. “.....WHAT THE HELL?!?” He’d had enough of this. “HELL NO!”
He shoved him towards the door, opening it and pushing him out, slamming it in Teri’s face. “See you at school!”
He knocked at the door. “No fair, Oliver! Lemme in!”
He locked it and collapsed onto the couch. Teri continued to knock and ask to be let in. Marilyn started walking to the door.
“DON’T YOU DARE LET HIM IN,” Oliver yelled.
She froze. “Um…ok…”
LATER
“Oliver?”
Oliver opened his eyes. May was standing over him. “H-huh?”
“W-wake up, it’s time for school!”
It was Monday.
Oliver sat up and stretched. “You still want to go to school?” he asked.
“Yeah!!” she smiled.
He nodded and got up. “Okay, I’m gonna get changed May.” She just stood there. “...So could you step out, please?”
“O-oh! Sorry!!” she blushed, hurrying out.
Oliver got dressed and opened his door, kicking something in the doorway as he tried to leave. “Marilyn?!” he asked.
Marilyn looked up, curled up on the floor in front of Oliver’s door in her underwear. “Oh, g-good morning, Oliver,” she said groggily.
“What the hell are you doing on the floor??” he asked.
“Well, I tried to go in your room, but the door was locked. So I just slept here.”
“Shit, weren't you cold?”
“Yeah, but the door was locked. How was I supposed to get in?”
He couldn’t help but feel bad. “Shit…my bad,” he said. “Well, just get dressed: we gotta go to school.”
She stood up and saluted. “Yes, sir!” she said before scampering off to the bathroom.
Suddenly, Oliver’s phone started to ring. He checked an it was an unknown number. “What’s up with all these damn scam calls?” he said as he hung it up. A second later though, it rang again. It was the same number. Oliver groaned and picked it up.
“Hello?” he snapped.
“...O-Oliver?”
Oliver froze. He recognized the voice immediately. “M-Mom…?”
“Yeah,” she answered, “hi, honey.”
He didn’t know what to say. “H…how did you find my number?”
She chuckled briskly on the other side. He could tell she was smiling. “Well, I ran into this blue-haired girl the other day when I was walking the dog. She stopped me to pet him, and mentioned your name when talking to the dog.”
“Marilyn?” he interrupted.
“I don’t think I got her name,” she said. “But when she mentioned your name, I asked her about it. And turns out, it was you. She told me she was your friend and gave me your number.”
May pulled Oliver’s sleeve, and he looked over at her. “Oliver, who is that?” May asked, hearing a feminine voice on the other end.
“Oh, it’s my mom,” he said.
“Is that a girl I hear?” Oliver’s mom asked. She didn’t sound judgemental—just curious.
“No! I mean, yes—I mean…we’re just friends!”
She laughed on the other end. It had been too long since Oliver heard that laugh. It brought back memories and emotions he forgot he had.
“Well, what’s she doing in your house?” she asked, laughter still in her voice.
“Shit,” he muttered. “Well, she, uh…she lives here.”
“Is…she your girlfriend?” she asked, confused.
“No!”
“Oh.”
There was silence for a second. “Marilyn lives here, too,” Oliver blurted. “The blue-haired girl. She lives here too. So it’s not just me and that May.”
“What the hell? You live with two girls?” she asked.
“Well, I—it’s my apartment, they just live with me. I can’t really do anything about it—May cooks and cleans for me just so she can live here. And, well, Marilyn doesn’t really do shit, but…yeah.”
“Really?” she asked. “This May girl sounds sweet, Oliver—who knows, maybe you can marry her eventually.”
“M-marry May!?” he cried. Oliver and May made eye contact, both blushing. May didn’t hear what his mom said, but she heard Oliver. “Mom! I—”
“She sounds like she’ll make a good wife, honey!” she smiled. “Maybe you should think about it!”
He blushed. May had backed up a little, so he whispered into the phone. “I dunno, Mom,” he said. “Even if I wanted to, she’s kinda…out of my league. She’s too high on the spectrum for me.”
“She sounds like the type of girl you should grow wings for, if you can’t reach her. Nice young ladies can be hard to find, Oliver.”
Oliver didn’t know what to say. His phone read 7:45 a.m.
“Oh, Mom, I gotta go—I’m gonna be late for school!”
“You…you still go to school?” she asked. He could tell she was shocked.
“Yeah, Mom, I—”
“Wait,” she said with a sudden change in tone. “Is that even your apartment? Or do you just leech off those girls?”
“What the hell??” he cried. “Mom! I have a job! I let Marilyn and May live here. If anything, they leech off me. Well, maybe not May…just Marilyn does, but it’s fine since I kinda want her to live here…”
She laughed on the other end. It was a pure, unadulterated laugh. It was her laugh. “Okay, Oliver, I’ll let you get to school. But, one thing before you go…come visit someday.”
“H-huh..?”
She continued without addressing the elephant in the room. “Your little sister misses you a lot. It would make her really happy if you did!”
“Right…Maxine…” he said. Neither of them spoke for a second. “Yeah,” he said, “maybe I will, as long as Raymond isn’t there.”
“Hey, that’s your dad, Oliver,” she said, her voice dropping a tone. “Don’t call him Raymond—call him Dad.”
Oliver scoffed, moving the phone to his other ear. “The man who disowned me? Fuck him. I’m not gonna call him shit. Especially not Dad.”
“Oliver—”
“If you want me to call him Dad so badly, maybe he should’ve kept me as a son.”
The phone crackled on the other end. She sighed. “Oliver, don’t hate your father. Look…we all know what happened. That day. He acted in anger. But there are times, now, where he feels bad for what he did. Maybe…maybe just come talk to him, sometime.”
Oliver shook his head, smiling. “Nah, I think I’m good.”
“Oliver, wai—”
He hung up, dropping his phone into his pocket. “Let’s go,” he told the girls, grabbing his backpack. Marilyn walked into the living room, dressed and ready to go.
“O-Oliver…?” May asked.
“Yeah?” he said shortly.
“Um…th-that was your mom, right?”
“Yep.” He walked to the door.
“Well, um…why did you hang up on her, then?”
He didn’t look at her. “Because I felt like it. We have to go.” He opened the door and walked out, both girls following. He stormed ahead of them, lost in his own world. All he could hear was the voice of his Dad, the last time he saw him.
“GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, OLIVER, AND DON’T YOU DARE TRY COMING BACK!”
Marilyn and May struggled to keep up with him.
“Um…y-you okay, Oliver?” May asked.
“I’m fine. Why?”
“You…you’re crying.”
Oliver didn’t notice the tear rolling down his cheek. He wiped his face. “No I’m not,” he started, “I just got something in my eye!”
“O-oh…”
Marilyn wasn’t as easily fooled, though. She hugged Oliver, squeezing her face next to his. “Don’t cry, Oliver! Marilyn loves you, so no need to cry!!”
Instead of pushing her away, Oliver stopped. He thought about what his life was like before this school year started…the path he was on…the place he was in…and realized how that all changed when Marilyn forced her way into his life.
He hugged her back. May’s eyes widened.
“Thank you, Marilyn…” he said, hardly above a whisper.
Marilyn slowly started to go red, unsure of how to respond. Wh…why do I have this feeling again…?
A few moments passed before Oliver let go. Marilyn clung to his arm, though.
“Hey, let go!” he cried.
“Nope! Not yet!”
He groaned, but the three of them continued walking to school like that. It wasn’t until they actually got to the school that she let go. It wasn’t long before Oliver spotted Erica, and remembered what Marilyn did.
“Shit,” he said. He started walking up to her, ready to explain that everything Marilyn said wasn’t true, but she stopped him.
“No!” Marilyn said. “Let it happen, Oliver! Just trust me!”
Despite everything in him that didn’t want to, he stood there and only watched. It wasn’t long before Erica saw Oliver, and then May, and pursed her lips, sashaying over with a fire in her eyes.
“Hi, May,” she said, flipping her hair behind her. “What was that you said about me??”
“Wh-what?” May asked, genuinely confused. The kids started to look at both Erica and May, wondering what was going on. “I…don’t think I know what you’re talking about.” Erica’s eyes narrowed even more. Her glare was like ice.
“Bro, who’s that girl?” one of the guys in the gathering crowd asked.
“Dunno, man,” his friend said, “but she’s hella cute.”
“Bitch, you KNOW what I’m talking about,” Erica yelled, eliciting hollers and exclamations from the crowd.
“N-no, I don’t!” she cried, looking back to Oliver for help. As soon as she looked back at Erica, she was greeted with a bitch-slap across the face. The crowd gasped and ooh-ed. May gaped.
May! Now’s your chance!!
What do you mean? she asked the voice.
Start crying, then hug Oliver to get back at that whore!
“O-oh!”
The two girls stood in the center of a circle of kids, all of them waiting for May’s response. A single tear rolled down her face.
“WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” she wailed, running into Oliver and hugging him. She buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing loudly. Oliver hugged her back.
The kids all felt horrible for her.
“Damn, Erica, what a bitch move.”
“She didn’t even do anything to you!”
“Not cool, bruh.”
But some were more focused on May herself—specifically her in Oliver’s embrace.
“Damn, Oliver,” one kid yelled, “I see you!”
Erica balled her fists. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!?” she cried. “Get your hands off of him!!!”
“How about you shut the fuck up, Erica?” someone called.
The kids erupted into laughter, and Erica looked around in confusion. Why were they laughing at her?? Why were they all siding with that girl??? She didn’t understand.
The bell rang as she stood, embarrassed and ridiculed. The crowd dispersed and Erica hurried away, but Oliver looked down at May.
“Shit, are you okay, May?” he asked. She nodded, but it wasn't enough for him. “See, Marilyn??” he snapped. “Why’d you have to go and say all that??”
“Calm down, Oliver,” she said. “It didn’t even hurt her. She’s an angel—the slap of a human won’t do anything to her. She’s just crying so she can hug you.”
“She’s crying, Marilyn!”
She rolled her eyes. “I know! She’s acting.”
May turned to Marilyn. “Be quiet!!” she hissed.
“May, what class do you have right now?” Oliver asked.
She looked at her schedule. “Umm…English. Room 103.”
“Shit, so we all have the same first period?”
“Looks like it!” Marilyn grinned.
He sighed as the girls followed him inside the school. They walked into class late—Oliver to his seat and Marilyn to hers. May stood at the front of the class awkwardly, all eyes on her. The girls whispered amongst themselves, while the guys traded “Damn!”s. The teacher looked up.
“Oh, you must be one of the new students, right? Why don’t you introduce yourself.”
One of the new students? Oliver thought. There’s more than one? That’s when he noticed another kid standing at the front of the class.
May looked around the class nervously. “Um…I-I’m May,” she mumbled.
There was a faint whistle from somewhere in the room.
“Well, May, um…what do you like to do?” the teacher asked.
“O-oh…um…I like to clean Oliver’s house and cook for him and read manga,” she said.
28 heads slowly turned in Oliver’s direction.
He shielded his face with his hands.
Did…she just say Oliver? The other new kid thought, scanning the class.
“Um, well,” the teacher said, clearing her throat. “You seem to know Oliver well…why don’t you take the seat next to him. Meanwhile, I’d like our second new student to introduce himself.”
May scurried to Oliver as the guy in the front of the class stepped forward.
“Hello, my name is—-” he froze. WHAT THE FUCK!?? There, next to the new girl, was Oliver. And not just any Oliver—the Oliver. He looked back to the class. “My name is August,” he said, with a smile. He couldn’t believe the incredulity. Marilyn and May are here too!!! What the fuck?!
“And what do you like to d—”
“I like to read and write,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I’m currently writing a book. It’s called My Ending World,” he said, looking at Oliver.
What the fuck? Why does he look so pissed? Oliver just smiled back, which made him angrier.
“I’m also reading a book called Lost in his Rage.”
“Oh, that sounds interesting,” the teacher said. “What’s it about?”
“It’s a true story,” he explained, “on one of the most cataclysmic events in history. If not the most cataclysmic event in history.”
“Oh? Which event?” she asked.
August threw Oliver another look. “Depending on how things go, hopefully you won’t find out.”
The class was uncomfortably silent.
“U-um…okay then…why don’t you take the empty seat next to Marilyn?”
August walked over and sat down, smiling at Marilyn. She looked away from him.
The teacher grabbed a stack of papers from her desk. “Okay class, today…”
LATER
May stood in the cafeteria overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people gathered in one place, bustling about. She looked for Oliver and spotted him, making her way over. As she walked, she realized he was sitting with another girl…a blonde girl, with blue eyes and glasses. May started to walk over before Marilyn stopped her.
“Don’t you dare,” she said.
“What? Wh-why??”
Marilyn pointed. “That’s Oliver’s good friend. She hasn’t talked to him even since I made him into a demon, and I feel bad.”
“B-but I wanna talk to Oliver!” May said, looking over at him.
“Well too bad!”
“That’s not fair! I—” she lowered her voice, “I’m the one who loves him!”
“Yeah, well if you look closely,” Marilyn said, watching Naomi, “you can tell she loves him too.”
“So what were you saying about the newspaper?” Oliver asked.
Naomi’s eyes lit up. “Oh yeah! Oliver—I have such a big scoop!” she said, starting to dig in her backpack.
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah! So like 2 days ago, there was all this chaos happening uptown, so I brought my camera and went to check it out. When I got there everything was happening so quickly, but there was like 4 people, some fighting, some knocked out, but it was crazy!! The fight was incredible!! The people didn’t even seem human.”
Oliver listened with scrutiny. He wanted to know how much Naomi saw.
“Anyway, I tried taking pictures, but then the people who weren’t knocked out picked up the ones who were, and then someone grew wings, Oliver—wings!!!”
“Shit, really?” he asked, trying to look surprised.
“Yeah, I know—it sounds insane. But when I tried to take pictures of it, the wing-girl broke my camera. I lost everything,” she said as Oliver breathed a sigh of relief. “But,” she said, “one picture survived.”
“W-what…?”
Naomi grinned and pulled out an 8x10, sliding it over to him. It was a picture oh him, with his face mostly blacked out from the shadows of his hoodie. But without a shadow of a doubt, they only thing that was visible—his eyes—were most definitely his.
“What the hell!??”
“I know, right!?? It’s amazing!!” She grabbed the photo and admired it. I might type out the story later tonight,” she said, putting it in her backpack.
Oliver nodded distantly. She looked up at him.
“Um…is s-something wrong?”
“Uh, no,” he said, standing up and picking up his trash.
“Wait!”
Oliver turned around. “Yeah?”
“Um…do you wanna go to the arcade later? With me?”
“Oh. Sure!”
Naomi smiled. “Alright! See you at five!” Oliver walked away, leaving her by herself at the table. Shit, she thought, I didn’t ask him…
Meanwhile, August stood a few dozen feet away, watching her. “She’s…here,” he muttered. He knew to expect this, but now that it was actually happening…He walked over and sat down in front of her, slowly. He didn’t know what to do or say, but…he had to talk to her.
He sat down and opened his mouth to talk, but Naomi got up and started to walk away.
“H-hey!” he called, but she continued to walk. He got up after her, trying to catch up as she disappeared around a corner, but ran into Oliver along the way.
They faced off for a second, deadlocked in a stare.
“Hey,” Oliver said.
August turned around and started to storm away.
“Hey, wait—!”
He stopped as Oliver ran up to him. “What?” he growled.
“Here, man,” he said, holding something out to him. It was a bag of chips.
“What the hell is this?” he snapped, snatching it from him.
“It’s for you. Welcome to the school!” With no thank you’s said, Oliver started to walk away. “See you around!” he called.
August looked down at the bag of chips. He crushed it in his fist, angrily looking up at Oliver as he left. That son of a bitch…he’s…he’s mocking me!! He threw the bag in the trash and sat down by himself, pulling out a small book and a pen. He flipped to the next blank page.
Day 487 he wrote at the top.
I found him. I want to kill him now, but must learn more about him first. His weaknesses. His skill. Who knows how powerful he is right now. I must learn everything about him. If he doesn’t show me that he is a force to be reckoned with, then in 5 days time, I’ll fufill my vow…
…and kill him.
The end of chapter 19
