"What?" I shot to my feet, knocking the chair over. The sound of the wood banging on the floor seemed loud, and all three of us jumped.
"Yeah. Satan, Lucifer, whatever. That motherfucker was scary." Ryan let out a shaky laugh and used his free hand to dig in the front pocket of his jeans.
I wanted to rush over and shake him, to make him spill his story quicker. But I also wanted to run away and hold my hands over my ears for some reason.
Ryan finally fished a pack of smokes from his pocket and a lighter.
Jason released his hand but didn't move away. His face paled, reminding me of titanium white paint, so devoid of color it hurt.
"What happened?" I tried to keep my voice steady, but I could hear a small tremor.
"Remember when we used to give you shit? Especially that day in the library?" Ryan asked.
I nodded, remembering it well. These two boys had made it their mission to terrorize me.
"Well, this evil fucker dropped out of thin air by that old shed we used to smoke. Like, literally, justpoof. He had these enormous black wings that seemed to stretch forever. And his eyes—"
"Just hurry up. Tell the damn story and be done. I hate thinking about his eyes." As if he could drown out Ryan's words, Jason covered his ears with his hands and grimaced.
Ryan took a quick drag on his cancer stick, closing his eyelids for a quick moment, then let out a cloud of gray smoke. It curled around his head and drifted toward the ceiling.
Normally, I'd harp on him to go outside, but not today. I needed answers more than I needed to breathe. Something in the pit of my stomach told me Jason and Ryan returning home explained Lucian's sudden disappearance.
But how? I never got the chance to explain to Lucian that they were my roommates and harmless. I wasn't their cup of tea, so to speak, and they'd treated me like a sister ever since that day in the library.
"We never told you this before because…." Ryan rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Well, becauseyouwere the reason the demon appeared."
"Wh-what?"
"When we were younger, you used to mention you were friends with a dark angel." Jason plopped into a chair at the table. Tiny beads of sweat popped on his brow. "We thought you were crazy. I guess it's why we felt the need to be such shits to you." His eyes pleaded with me to understand. "We were wrong, so wrong."
"Are you going to let me tell this story or not?" Ryan took one of my hands but kept his focus on Jason. "Anna knows how sorry we were for being assholes. We've spent the last few years making up for it."
And they had. The next morning, they'd met me in the cafeteria and nearly fell over themselves apologizing for their past actions. From then on, they'd made it their mission to protect me from other bullies.
It was ironic, really. The orphanage's bullies becoming my protectors.
I'd wondered if Lucian had had something to do with it, but they'd never mentioned it and I was too afraid to ask. I'd already been through the shame of an entire class laughing at my claims of knowing Lucian—I wouldn't go through it again. But somehow, hadn't I always known? Or at least suspected?
"What happened?" I asked, dreading what Ryan was about to reveal but helpless to stop it.I should be ecstatic my eyesight is back, but at what cost?A dark, invisible rope slipped around my neck.
"He told us if we didn't stop harassing you, that he would take us to Hell."
My legs weakened and I threw myself into the opposite chair from Jason.
He nodded and removed his hands from his ears. "He also told us he would make us permanently blind if we tried to slip you some weed and drop you off, and then he actuallydidblind us."
"It was horrible. I've never been so scared in my life." Ryan paced in the small living room, which was open to the dining area.
"Wait, that's..." I didn't know what to say. "I can't believe—"
"We know, trust me." Ryan stopped in front of me and knelt. "We will always be sorry, and not just because he scared the motherfucking shit out of us. We were so terrified at the thought of people finding out about us that we tried to put the focus on you. I guess we deserved what he did to us."
"But he didn't permanently blind you."It could've been worse—so much worse.Though I never enjoyed the taunts and constant torment from the boys when we'd been younger, I wouldn't have wished anything too awful on them.
Mostly.
The boys looked at each other, then Jason's quieter voice broke the silence. "Everything was black for a few hours, so we found our way into the shed and stayed there. Our vision gradually returned and that's why the next morning, we were at your side." Both boys hung their heads.
