THE DEMON WITHIN
By: William Young
Chapter 1
I…can’t breathe…Is this the end?
I could only think of my death as I float through space grasping on the last bit of life I had left. I watched as the demon’s body flew into the Sun and wondered if this could be real. It felt like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from. Everything that happened up to this point felt like it was all my fault, but at the same time I felt powerless to change the situation. I can only wonder if I did the right thing or if I failed the world. In these last moments, I felt as if my entire life stood before my eyes.
Maybe it was all in my head, but for as long as I can remember I felt like I wasn’t normal. Almost as if I wasn’t…human. I know it sounds like I’m crazy or something, but I have spent my entire life having these…visions…or whatever you want to call them. Sometimes I saw the future and sometimes I saw what was happening right now, but somewhere else. Sometimes I thought I saw the dead, demons and shadows moving on their own, but I kept it to myself, because everyone I told thought something was wrong with me. I soon came to realize that this was more real than I thought.
When I was 5 I had this babysitter that I used to think of as an evil witch. She was so cruel to me, but would be such a delightful person when speaking to my mother, so all of my complaints fell upon deaf ears…I mean adults are always right and always tell the truth…Right?...At least that was how she thought… I sat on the grip pad a few feet away from the edge of the pool as the babysitter spoke to me, “Jamal would you like to swim next?” I shook my head. I didn’t trust this woman and to be honest I was a bit scared even though I wanted to get into the water.
Suddenly I got this creepy feeling as I became cold and chills creeped through my body even though it was 90 degrees outside. There was this feeling of someone standing behind me, yet when I looked back there was no one standing there. Maybe it was in my mind…Or so I thought until I felt hands touching my body and pushing me into the water with a force that knocked the air out of my body. I tried not to breathe in, but I wasn’t able to gather any air and my lungs were burning. It felt like my insides were on fire as I struggled to reach the top of the water, even though I had no idea how to swim. Soon I could feel the water flowing into my mouth and filling up my lungs and bubbles began to pop out of my tear ducts. As the water filled my lungs the burning began to stop and I gave up. As I let go and looked up it was as a bright light shone down on me and the clouds opened. It felt as if a loving woman, who I somehow recognized, was holding onto me. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was like I could “feel” her say that everything was going to be okay through her emotions. Then my body suddenly flew out of the water and I landed on the side of the pool. As I coughed up water the babysitter and her husband laughed at me as if this was some kind of joke. This was the first time in my life that I wished for someone to die.
Then when I turned 6 a new horror began. My mother married Darnell. In front of her he was the kindest man alive, but when she wasn’t home he was so evil to me. He slapped me in my head constantly, told me I was stupid, said I wouldn’t grow up to be anything more than dead or in jail and he beat me on a daily basis. He forced me to wake up early on my days off from school and would have me outside working till it was so dark I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. He wouldn’t like me eat until the end of the day unless my mother was home, so I picked up the habit of not eating much. Things were even worse when I went to school. I got picked on every day. Sometimes people told me they would kill me. Sometimes I was called by racist names. The teachers made fun of me and treated me as if I was stupid and would never amount to anything. The counselor didn’t believe in me and felt the same way as the teachers. Soon I learned how to stop believing in myself and I began to want to die. I attempted suicide several times, but never succeeded.
I felt as if the whole world hated me and I began to hate the world back. As my hatred grew I began to notice shadows moving in the corners of my eyes. I tried to dismiss it as my mind playing tricks on me…That was until the day I confronted my mother and told her that I felt like she didn’t love me. She told me it was the truth and on that day I finally cracked. I went into my room and cried for 3 hours. Then I felt it…the hatred. It was as if a new personality grew inside of me. An evil smile creeped across my face as my body was surrounded by a black whirlwind that shook my bed, dresser and bookcase.
