At this stage, I knew I should have put my phone away before things escalated beyond my control, but I was already heated with everything that happened with Alexander that I just had to release all my bottled emotions.
‘No one said you had to be a third wheel,’ Ava replied, ‘Eden has friends you could get to know.’
‘I’d rather die than be friends with sports people.’
‘Wow.’
‘What?’
‘It’s kind of fucked that you’re insulting my girlfriend and her friends.’
‘It’s actually more fucked that your whole world revolves around Eden and you completely forget everyone else.’
Ava responded with a simple ‘k’ and I released a frustrated sigh as I shut off my phone and closed my eyes, surrendering to the warmth of the water. I sunk lower, and lower, until my head submerged completely under.
A crushing weight pinned me down, the smell of rotting meat and decay infiltrating my nostrils.
My eyes snapped open, the Devil’s face inches from mine. His shadowed limbs macerated my chest, the bathroom light flickering to the rhythm of his manic laughter.
Snakes slithered in the water, tangling themselves around my arms and legs. Their fangs pierced my flesh, blood seeping into the soap caressing my skin.
Be still, Augustus.
Rodents crawled over the Devil’s shoulders, dropping one by one to land on my chest. Pain exploded as teeth tore into my skin, claws shedding through muscle and tissue without restraint.
I screamed, but all I produced were soundless bubbles. The Devil’s fingers caressed my face almost tenderly as more rats spilled over his shoulders to gnaw at my flesh. They swarmed my torso, burrowing beneath my rib cage as my organs spilled into the water.
Don’t fight it, the Devil whispered as bloodied water clouded my vision,this is your baptism.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Devil’s voice followed me every hour of every day.
It was difficult to concentrate on schoolwork with him whispering in my ear, reminding me what awaited me after death because of the demon festering in my soul.
You’re feeling sorry for yourself, he whispered on the walk between ancient history to mathematics,but it is all your fault. You drove them all away because you are not good enough. You will never be good enough.
I tightened my grip on my bag strap and tried to shut him out, but my silence only encouraged him further.
You will always be alone. Even Auden will leave you one day. And it will just be you. And me. Forever.
I dropped my bag outside the classroom and carried my workbook and laptop inside, dumping it into my usual seat near the back window. Alexander watched me, his dark green eyes menacing. I dismissed him, as I usually did, and waited for the lesson to begin, ignoring the way the Devil described all the ways he’d dismember my classmates, starting with Alexander.
“Good afternoon, everyone,” Mrs Nguyen greeted us in her usual, clipped tone. She set her laptop down beside a tall pile of papers on her desk. “As promised, I have your exam results. Overall, a good effort, though some of you appear to be neglecting your studies.”
Chatter filled the room as students received their results. There were gasps, high fives, groans and curses. Alexander whooped loudly, his mark no doubt one of the higher ones in the class.
As Mrs Nguyen approached me, her usual warm smile and quiet congratulations was notably absent, the paper placed on my desk in silence.
The fifty-five percent blinked up at me in a glaring red, my ears ringing and head burning as I tried to process what I was seeing. Not once had I received anything below eighty percent. Not even in mathematics, which was definitively my worst subject. While other students may have been relieved to have passed, I felt as though the world was crumbling all around me. This could not be real.
I rummaged through the paper, reading the provided feedback, drinking it all in like a wild animal while chatter continued all around me. I overheard students comparing their marks: sixty-seven, eighty-one, seventy-nine. Alexander bragged about his ninety-six, the highest in the class, no doubt. He must have been surprised I hadn't contested him, for he whirled around in his seat and pinned me with a questioning look. I scowled and avoided his gaze, biting down on the inside of my mouth to avoid the tears that threatened to fall.
"Do you have an explanation for these results, Augustus?" Aunt Vera asked later that evening. We sat across from one another at the dining table, empty plates of food collected by Mrs Brighton as I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I hadn'tintended on informing her of my failure, but she'd caught me staring at my exam papers instead of studying at my desk.
"I…haven't been sleeping well," I murmured, which wasn't entirely a lie.
"There will be no more drawing or painting in your art studio until your marks improve," she said, "and no screen time past seven."
