He glared back at me. “I am more powerful than you can imagine, human. But there are rules attached to my services that keep me restrained.” I rolled my eyes at him. “Give me control, even just for a night, and I will ensure you taste every bit of their pain.”
My eyes fell as I settled on the reality of my situation. And for a split second, I almost regretted my deal with the demon who possessed me.
Zeth growled and my gaze returned to my altered reflection. “Cris-s-a,” he hissed. “There is no room for regret between us.” His smile stretched and raised to the point that the corners of his mouth were nearly ripping. “Let. Me.Out.”
Without thought, I threw the pillow I held at the demonic reflection in the mirror, knocking a bunch of random shit over. Zeth only laughed and the lights in my bedroom flickered.
“Oh how Iloveto see you struggle. It makes this whole arrangement so much more enjoyable for me.” The demon continued his taunts, the volume of his sadistic laughing and cackling growing as I clasped my ears. His laughter pierced my eardrums and tortured me to the point that blood seeped from within them as tears rolled down my face.
“Stop it,” I cried. He didn’t listen. Instead, the room began to spin and shift. “Stop it!”
“Let me out to play, Cris-sa!”
My nails dug into my flesh as I clawed at my ears to block his voice out. It felt endless, going on for what felt like an eternity until suddenly, the lights returned to normal and the room stopped doing backflips. The sound of Zeth’s voice had waned, for now, and I felt an immense sense of relief. “Finally,” I breathed, daring to look at my reflection. The blood from my ears had left small streams down the side of my face and neck. I frantically wiped it away, drying my eyes when they drifted to the clock. “Oh shit!” Time had truly flown, and if I didn’t hurry, I was going to be late for my shift at Big Top.
“Fucking Zeth…I haven’t been late in the whole year I’ve been working at that pizzeria, and now, I’m going to be late for the third time this week,” I grumbled under my breath. I shuffled to gather my clown uniform, setting it on my bed before I returned to my vanity.
Zeth spoke to me while I dumped my work makeup across the surface. “Is there a reason you constantly perform this ritual of hiding your face?” he asked.
I smoothed the white grease paint over my face, smothering my pores. “It’s part of my job. You’ve seen the pizzeria. The servers dress up in costumes and paint our faces to look like clowns.”
“But why?”
I shrugged, dipping my makeup brush into the colored face paint before raising it to my cheek. “Tawny, my boss, says it's to enrich the Big Top customer experience.”
“And do we like this…Tawny?” he asked.
I didn’t answer. I just stared at my demonic reflection, realizing I’d just painted a blue swirl over my eye. Much like the one used the night I summoned Zeth. Seeing it made my stomach tighten. “You know, it’s kind of hard to do this with your face staring back at me.”
Zeth grimaced. “I’ll leave you for now, but I will remain in the shadows of your heart, watching for my opportunity to present itself.” And just like that, I felt the absence of his dark heaviness. I blinked and my reflection returned to normal. It was my face, my mouth and teeth, and my eyes. But, the more I looked, I noticed there was something else…
I leaned forward and noticed a sharpness to my gaze. One that had never been there before. “Is this from…Zeth? Or—” I shook my head and shrugged it off as nothing, focusing on my face paint before getting dressed for work.
Despite washing it countless times, mycleanuniform bore a faint brownish-colored stain from the soft drinks I lost control of the other day at work. According to Tawny, it wasn’t bad enough to warrant a replacement uniform. Which sucked. Aside from the constant smell of greasy cheese, it now reeked of cherry cola. I sighed, staring at myself in the mirror. “I guess the ol’ cherry cola disaster of 1986 is here to stay.”
I wonder if Sybil had this much trouble getting the soda out of her clothes too.
Since that disastrous day, the group hadn’t come back to the pizzeria. And Lavender had apparently been intentionally working opposite shifts of me. “Figures,” I scoffed. “Really makes getting even hard when the ones you’re trying to fuck with are avoiding you.” But not for long. Payday was coming up, which meant Lavender and her little goon squad were bound to show up eventually. I just needed to be patient.
I stared at my reflection, hating everything about my uniform. “I look like a sad clown.”
Sad or not, there are many humans who find clowns absolutely terrifying.
I grimaced at Zeth’s voice in my head. “There’s nothing scary about clowns.”
Oh, I dare to disagree. And I would be more than happy to prove you wrong…if you’d give me control.
“Not today, demon.”
Weeknight shiftsat Big Top Pizzeria were pretty status quo. Typically, we’d have little to no parties or large groups. There would be a small lunch, then a dinner rush, but overall, it was never that busy. Which meant I had more free time to spend with my little friends.
Plopping down on the curb outside the pizzeria, I reached out and picked a rat up. “I got something for you,” I whispered while pulling a handful of crumbs from my pocket. The rat squeaked and gobbled the crust pieces up. “You wouldn’t believe the week I’ve had.” The rat listened to my story, eating while I stroked its little head.
“Hey, Crissa!” Tawny’s voice shot from the back door. “I got to make a call real quick and need you back inside.”
My body flung from the curb, my hands clasped around the rat. “O-okay!” I kept my back to her.
“Now, kid!”
