A Demon Made Me Do It (25 page)

“
Which ones?” I ask,
tucking my hair behind my ear. I pull up my knees and rest the book
on them, thumbing through the pages.

“
Well…there’s a couple in
particular. Want me to tell you one?”

My skin tingles as I nod, handing him
the book. But he shakes his head, holding up his palm. “It’s okay…I
have it memorized. And I’m sure you’ve heard it before…”

“
Tell me…”

He takes a deep breath and leans back
on his arms and begins speaking in dulcet tones.

She walks in beauty, like
the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one
ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and
o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

He looks toward the ground
as I stare at him wordlessly, unable to believe what I’ve just
heard.
Of course
I
know that poem; it’s one of my favorites. But to hear Kieron speak
the enchanting words of Lord Byron directed at
me
…

“
Thank you, that was
beautiful,” I whisper, not knowing what to say. How
does
one properly express
the euphoric, dream-like state I’m in?

He glances up, almost shyly. “I was
hoping you wouldn’t think it was totally corny. Certain parts
really struck me as…well...I hope it’s all right I shared that with
you.”

“
It’s more than all right,
I love it.”

He grins shyly. “I like how I don’t
feel stupid telling you things like this. If I told anyone else how
much I liked poetry they’d think I was a total wuss.”

I smile. “I don’t think you’re a wuss
at all. I love poetry. It’s powerful and deep. Most people just
don’t get it.”

“
But you do.”

“
Yeah…I get it…” My words
fade away.

“
Can I read you one more?”
he asks. But this time he doesn’t look shy or embarrassed. He looks
almost afraid. “This one…well, it’s more about
me
. How I feel.”

“
Please do,” I
urge.

I sense his hesitation, and he looks
away, unable to meet my gaze. He’s quiet for so long, I begin to
fear he’s changed his mind.

“
I’ve never told this to
anyone before…read the poem, I mean.”

“
I’d really like to hear
it,” I say softly.

He takes another deep
breath and fixes his gaze on a headstone. “Okay…here it goes, it’s
called
We Wear the Mask
. Do you know it?”

I shake my head.

He pauses briefly, and then begins to
speak…slowly, quietly. There is a marked change in his tone. When
he recited the first poem he sounded confident, strong, and
lyrical. Now he sounds sad and remorseful, almost
haunted.

We wear the mask that
grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be
overwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great
Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

My breath is short as he finishes.
“It’s about hiding your pain and unhappiness and pretending
everything is good and normal and wonderful when it’s really not.
Pretending to be one way, when you’re really another
way.”

“
Yeah, I got that,” I
whisper. Why did he say this poem was about him?

What is he
hiding?

What mask is he
wearing?

Chapter 14.
Liora

“
What do you wanna see?”
Corinne asks, scanning the marquee. Her round eyes are wide with
excitement, and I’m happy to see she’s back to her normal self.
It’s only been four days since the gruesome discovery at school,
and I’d been concerned about her, especially since we hadn’t seen
each other since then.

She was so thrilled when I called her
last night and reminded her about our plans. I tried to match her
excitement, but the truth was, I was sad. Sad because even though
it had only been a few days, I hadn’t seen Kieron since that
afternoon in the cemetery.

Being with Corrine helps to take my
mind off him, if only for a few hours. It felt a little strange at
first, coming here with her. Although we’ve spent time at school
together for the past few years and talked on the phone
occasionally, this is the first time we’ve actually hung out away
from school.

“
It’s your birthday…you
decide,” I say as I lick my chocolate ice cream cone. We’d just
walked to the theater on Main Street after eating lunch at the
diner down the block.

“
Well, I don’t want to
choose something you won’t like…I want you to have fun,
too…”

“
Anything you pick is fine.
Promise.”

Corinne squints her eyes,
pondering her choices. I glance at the list of titles and almost
drop my cone when I see one titled
Demon
Desires.

Good God, please don’t
pick that one
, I pray silently. I’ve never
seen any movie or TV show with demons that’s anything short of
cringe-worthy. Viewing them is downright painful sometimes, with
their cheesy, pathetic caricatures of demons and their lifestyles.
Grossly misinformed.

“
Okay, I want to see Demon
Desires,” she says.

Of course you
do.

“
It’s supposed to be a
horror, are you cool with that?”

More like a slapstick
comedy you mean
. “Sure, whatever you
like.”

I could kick myself. Why
didn’t I just say that horror movies give me nightmares? It
wouldn’t even be a lie, really. This lame movie probably
will
give me
nightmares…daymares, whatever.

It’s my treat, so I step up
to the window to buy our tickets. I try not to choke on my words as
I say, “Two for
Demon
Desires
, please.” But Corrine is happy, and
today is about her, not me. I just have to put my demonic issues
aside for a few hours.

As it turns out, I barely
make it six minutes before I start laughing at a ‘scary’ part.
Corrine shushes me with an annoyed scowl, but I can’t help it; it’s
just so
ridiculous
. I mean really, the music, the makeup…and
seriously
, why are Hollywood demons
always so ugly, with horns and glowing yellow or red eyes? Well, I
have to admit some demons have yellow eyes, and a few have red
eyes,
sometimes
…but certainly not all of them. And I’ve
never
seen any with horns…well,
except a few of the creatures…like the satyrs.

“
How’d you like it?”
Corinne asks as we exit the theater two torturous hours later. I
shield my eyes from the bright sun.

“
It was all right, I
guess.”

“
I thought it was
awesome…imagine falling in love with the man of your dreams only to
find out he’s a demon and he wants you to bear his evil spawn? That
would totally suck, huh?”

“
Totally.”

We walk toward my car. “So what do you
want to do now?” I ask, unlocking the doors.

Corrine slides in the passenger side
and snaps on her seatbelt. “Um, I dunno…do you want to hang out
more?” She sounds almost shy, but hopeful.

“
Sure, I have a few more
hours if you want.”

“
Wanna cruise around the
mall?”

“
Sounds good. I wouldn’t
mind looking for some new tops,” I say, surprising myself. I’ve
never been one for shopping; that’s Lucky’s department. She’s
the
fashionista
. I
prefer not to stand out or be noticed, hence the ‘all black all the
time’.

“
Oh, I just wanna walk
around and look at stuff,” Corinne mumbles. “I don’t have any money
to actually buy anything. But, of course,
you
can if you want…”

“
It’s your birthday. We’ll
find you something cute…my treat.”

“
Liora, no. You don’t have
to…I didn’t mean for you…”

“
I insist. No arguing.” I
pull out of the movie theater parking lot and head toward the
Riverdale Shopping Center fifteen miles away. I don’t know where my
sudden urge to bond with Corrine is coming from, but making her
happy is making me happy. So I’m going with it.

“
Liora, can I ask you
something…something kinda personal? You don’t have to answer if you
don’t want to,” Corinne asks as I merge onto the
highway.

The tone in her voice puts
me instantly on guard, and I grip the wheel tight.
Please don’t push it, Corrine
… “Sure, what’s up?”

“
Umm, I was just
wondering…have you ever, you know…
done
it
with a boy?”

I exhale and press my lips
together to keep from laughing. That’s just about the
last
thing I expected her
to say right then. “No, I haven’t…Have you?”

She looks down at her lap and fidgets
with her seatbelt. “No, but I want to. I want to be in love. I want
love like those people in the movie had…crazy love.”

Good
grief
. “Well, not to sound like your mother
or anything, but you know that sex and love aren’t the same thing.
And insane love isn’t necessarily good love, either…”

“
I don’t know whose mom you
think you’re channeling, but it’s
definitely
not mine,” she says with a
grimace. Well, at least she has a sense of humor about her wanton
mother.

“
I just mean,” she
continues, “just imagine being so super crazy in love with someone
that nothing can tear you apart, no matter what…no matter how awful
or scary or horrible or anything. I want someone to love me like
that…and then that’s where the sex would happen.
Obviously.”

Obviously.
“Yeah, I mean, it would be cool to be in love and
all, and have someone be super in love with me…but not like
those
people…in the movie
I mean. That was just
creepy
and all
kinds of
wrong
.
” My eyes
stay focused on the road ahead. I rarely drive on the highway, so
I’m more concerned with the cars flying past than I am with
Corrine’s deluded sex life.

“
I guess…”

I glance over my shoulder as I change
lanes, and catch the disappointed look on her face. “Her feelings
for the demon weren’t real… she thought she loved him, but did she
really? He possessed her to feel that way about him. And he killed
her family and friends when they discovered the truth about him. I
don’t think that’s someone I would want to love…”

“
Yeah, I know…I wasn’t
talking about that part necessarily, just…when they were
together…how much he loved her…so much so that it made him do all
these crazy things…”

“
Have you ever had a
boyfriend?” I ask, trying to steer her away from the crazy movie
she apparently now thinks represents some sort of romantic
ideal.

She blushes and pushes up her glasses.
“No, not really.”

“
Well, you will one day.
And when you do, I hope you want someone who treats you better than
that dumb guy in the movie.”

“
Sorry,” she mumbles,
looking out the passenger window.

I’m confused. “Sorry for
what?”

“
Sorry I made you watch
that stupid movie.”

Oh, g
reat
. Now I’m coming off like a
righteous bitch…taking that movie waay too seriously. It’s not her
fault it offended me personally on so many levels. She thinks we’re
just having a girly-bonding chat over a make-believe fantasy story,
and I go and get all sanctimonious on her. No wonder I don’t have
any friends.

“
Oh, come on, I liked it,”
I lie. “I just don’t think that I would exactly want to model my
love life after it is all…I mean demons…
eww
.”

“
He was pretty sexy when he
was pretending to be a human, though,” Corinne giggles. “I’d almost
be willing to overlook the whole demony-thing to have a guy that
good-looking be interested in me.”

I send her a sideways glance and wink.
“Be careful what you wish for… you never know what might come
creeping in your room late at night…”