Teen Ink

The Demons

Demons in ‘Wonderland’

The last thing I remember is being at the party, I wasn’t drunk because I wasn’t drinking. But I was dancing, then the sudden pain on the back of my head, then darkness.

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I sat up, rubbing my throbbing temples and looked around. I was sitting on a big cement square floor; the carvings on it were almost real. They looked like people, but not humans. I was surrounded by forests. Was it still night? Or was it day? I couldn’t tell. Everything was gray or black, the leafless trees were black, the ground was gray, the cement was gray, even the sky was black.
I jumped up and stepped off the cold cement and into the black grass. The grass was wet and jagged, cutting at my feet. Wait- where are my shoes? I know I was wearing them at the party, because I love those shoes! They were neon green and lace up to my thighs. They went with my outfit, black (very tight and very short) shorts and a neon green belly shirt.
I jumped back onto the cement floor, the grass was moving. There was no wind, but the grass was swaying and growing! I could see little black animals hunched over and coming toward me, obviously trying to hide. They were in all directions, coming at me fast, like a movie on fast forward.
One wasn’t hunched over, it was walking out of the black forest like a person, but his arms and legs were long and crooked. His head was long and angular. He didn’t stand out at all except for his size, because he was as black as the trees. He was probably the leader. “She. Ak. Oo. Saa.” It said. It had a quiet raspy voice, but I could hear it perfectly. “She. Ak. Oo. Saa. Sai. Un! Hjuh. Plew. Kunj.” The crawling things slowed down, like time slowed to slow mo.
The grass was as high as the cement floor now. The demented person walked closer. “Get away from me! Who are you? Where am I?” I screamed at it.
“Hinjun-“
“Stop! Oh my God! Who the hell are you?”
“God? God? God isn’t going to help you.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I took a step toward him. The crawling things were almost to the steps of the cement floor and he was right behind them. “God will help me. As a matter O’ fact, God will help you with your problems, Freaky Dude!” The man/thing chuckled.
“God doesn’t help Demons! Especially in The Irretitus.” He chuckled again.
“Game? What Game? You’re a Demon? These,” I gestured toward the crawling things who were now on the cement, surrounding me, “are demons? Demons are in Hell, not in,” I lifted my hands up and waved, “whatever place this is.”
“This is Wonderland.”
“This is not Wonderland! Wonderland is a place with Alice and the Mad Hatter. This is like, Creepyland! I want to go back to the party! Get me outta here! How did I even get here?” The crawling demons were grabbing at my ankles now, and I was kicking at them, flying them across the cement and slamming into others. “Get them off me!”
“Shnue off. Danteri vutft.” The crawling demons stopped in their place, like time had stopped.
“Whoa, you’re their leader person!” He was in front of me now, so close I could see his disoriented features. His eyes were slanted upwards and his mouth was huge. When he smiled, his jagged teeth were rotted and his breath rank.
“Right, Elise, I am the Devil’s best Demon, The King of Demons. My name is,” He bent his shaky body into a low bow and took my hand in his, his nails scrapping into my palms, “Asmodeus.” I winced and pulled my hand back as I saw what he was about to do, he was gonna kiss the top of my freaking hand! EWWW!!!!

“Umm, ok, Asmodeus, I have to go home, so,” I started moving the crawling demons, which were still frozen, out of my way with my feet. I planned on going home, taking a long nap to get this out of my head.
“Well,” Asmodeus chuckled again, and God, I hate that sound! “You really can’t go to the place you call ‘home’ until you finish The Game.” He grabbed my arm, dragging me to the center of the cement.
“Ouch! That hurts!” He twisted my arm some more. “Ouch! Stop!”
“ Gnufn irsh iff!” He shouted, pulling at my arm one last time. The crawling demons around us started moving again, and in an instant, they were pulling at my ankles and clawing at my body.
“Bnuvn ecre unhu jnew pfde khres!” Asmodeus shouted again. I heard a popping sound and then a sizzle, I jolted and fell to the ground, but we weren’t in the woods on the cement any more. Asmodeus and I were in a little shack with no windows and little light.
“The Irretitus is in your imagination. You chose what happens. You have to escape before time runs out.”
“How long do I have?”
“An hour.” He turned his back to me and picked something off the ground. “An hour to try to get out. An hour ‘till you go to the Second Level of Hell. With me,” He chuckled, “forever.”
“What? The Second Level of Hell? For what? What the heck did I do?” I was in a frenzy, did he mean in an hour I would have to go to Hell with him? I mean, if I don’t escape?
“I’m the demon of lust, you have sinned, Elise, you have sinned. You will live with me, or a demon that chooses you, when you don’t get out. You control how you get out, as soon as you step foot out of here, your time will start.
“Do I get weapons or something?”
“Like I said, you control everything.”
“Then give me a weapon, I prefer knives.”
“Hopeless,” Asmodeus mumbled and shook his head. He turned and held out his hand, giving me an hourglass the size of a small dog. It was frantically shrinking, getting about as small as a paper clip. He took a handful of my long black hair and stroked it like a snake
“Um? Ok? This is for the time, I imagine.” I mumbled as Asmodeus studied his fingernails, which we as long as my fingers.
“For the time,” he looked up, “yes. Flip it as soon as you get outside.” A table and a chair appeared, out of nowhere, nowhere! “Mmmm, now go. Before Jezebeth get anxious.”
“Who’s Jezebeth?”
“Go.” He pulled out the chair and sat, reading a black book that sat on the table. A gust of wind pulled me to the door; I ducked, stepped, and flipped the hourglass.
Great, how the hell do I get out of a fantasy world?
I decided to just wander around; I was beginning to think this was a big joke. Everywhere I looked was those stupid black trees, and when I looked back at the shack, it was gone.
I was only walking for about five minutes when a demon walked out from behind a tree. It wasn’t a crawling demon. It was walking, like Asmodeus. It was thinner and had more curves, it didn’t look as scraggly. Its long black hair was matted and greasy.
“Who are you? What do you want?” I said, wishing there were more light.
“I’m Jezebeth, a demon, obviously. If you want to get out of here, you have to follow me.” As she was talking, the forest was getting lighter, like it was finally day time. “What’s this?” Jezebeth reached out her arm to touch the light that was trickling though the branches of the trees. When her fingers touched the light, she screamed, jumping back and clutching her hand to her body. “You,” she turned her eyes on me, sneering, “come with me, I’ll take you to were you need to be.” She turned heel and I followed. Everything was different from when I had passed through there before.
“Come, Darlin’, hurry, we haven’t much time.” Jezebeth giggled and covered her mouth. “I love to talk like that.” I noticed she danced around all the shimmery spots of light.
“So, you said you’re Jezebeth?”
“Yes, I am Jezebeth.” We made a left turn past…more trees.
“Oh, ok. I thought so.” I planned on looking her up on the internet. I took out my phone and pushed the internet ap. On Google, I typed in:
Jezebeth, demon.
Jezebeth is the demon of falsehood and lies. Pray you never meet her, she lies and cheats. Never trust this tricky demon.
“Hmmm, falsehood and lies” I mumbled under my breath.
“Whatcha say darlin’?” Jezebeth turned around to face me. She heard me. No doubt about it. She grabbed my wrist, her fingernails jabbing into my skin. “Did you say ‘falsehood and lies’?” Her face was right up against mine. Her breath rank like rotting flesh. “Retched little thang.” She took my phone and threw it on the ground, stomping on it.
“What did you do that for?” I yanked my arm back and spun away. I ran as fast as I could to get away from her, but she was way too fast and there was nowhere to go. Everywhere I went, she was already there, waiting.
“Hey, Girl, ready to go now?” She was slumped against a tree, studying her nails. “I mean, you’ve got what, about forty three minutes left?” she smile and put her arm down and I took the hourglass from my pocket, almost exactly half the sand was on the bottom. “Yup, forty three minutes, maybe you should stop,” she stepped over to me, cupping my chin in her right hand, “running away. Just follow me!” she smiled, a fake loving smile. Her hand/ claw thing tightened the grip on my face.
“I’m not coming with you, Jezebeth. You’re lying; you’re the Demon of lies.” I twisted my now bruising face away from her and shoved her into a patch of sunlight. She writhed and screamed, smoke curling from her skin and spiraling toward the tops of the ash black trees. I turned and ran, randomly choosing were to go.
I stumbled and fell over something, feeling a sharp pain in my palms; I lifted my hands and looked at them. Blood stained my skin. That’s a problem, blood attracts the weak demons. I took an old tissue from my shorts pocket and smeared some of the blood off my hand. I stuffed the tissue back in my pocked and started running again.
While running, Asmodeus’s words rang in my head, “The Game is in your imagination. You chose what happens…” I thought about when I wanted more light and seconds later, this ‘Wonderland’ became lighter. Jezebeth was sort of surprised by it, so maybe it was me. I wanted light, so it came.
“I want a clear path so I don’t have to go around trees.” I whispered. I stopped running and leaned against a tree, waiting for a pathway to magically poof up in front of me.
“Now, that’s not going to work.” Somebody stepped out from behind the tree I was leaning on; I jumped forward and spiraled to meet the person. Well, actually, it was a demon. He was much better looking than Asmodeus. He had black hair, like all the demons, but his was lighter, beautiful. He didn’t look as weak and crooked. He had more skin than Asmodeus, and he wasn’t as skinny. “You have to believe that what you want is going to happen.” He reached out and took my hand. “My name is Leviathan.” He bowed and almost kissed my hand before I yanked it back. I mean, who knows what demon slobber would do to my flawless skin?
“Yeah, um, so what demon are you?” I removed my hand from his and put them both behind my back. “I mean, what are you the demon of?”
“Well, I’m the gatekeeper of Hell, and other stuff.” He mumbled. “Come with me.” He started for the path that was slowly appearing about ten feet from us.
“Uh…no. I’m not going anywhere with you.” I folded my arms, trying to look like I meant it. But I actually wanted to go with him. Even though he’s a demon, he made me feel safe; I wanted to go with him.
“Ah, so you’ve met Jezebeth. You see, I’m not the demon of falsehood and lies. I’m the Gatekeeper of Hell, I can’t really do anything. I can’t convince you to do anything or make you feel dread, or anger, or sadness.”
“Then what can you do?” I took a step toward him, just a small one, ready to go with him.
“Not much. Look, I know you can’t trust me, you can’t trust any demon, but you don’t have much time.” He took my arm carefully. He didn’t dig his nails halfway to my bone, he was extremely gentle. He led me to the path and let go of me. “I’ll lead you, the Jihct Demons can smell the blood on your hand and-“
“How’d you know I’ve got blood on my hand?” I stopped walking and he turned to face me.
“I’m a demon, I can smell blood.” He turned back around and started walking some more.
While walking down the dirt path for half an hour, I studied Leviathan’s back and shoulders. They way his scrawny muscles rippled and twitched under his ripped shirt made me think about how beautiful ugly things can be. “That makes no sense, no sense at all. Ugly things can’t be beautiful.” He stopped and turned to me.
My cheeks flushed red and I crossed my arms. “You can hear my thoughts, too.”
This time, his grayish skin turned an awkward blue. “Yes, that’s why they put me in The Irretitus. They wanted me to read your thoughts and report them to Asmodeus.”
“So, then why are you telling me this?”
“Because, I don’t agree with The Irretitus. It’s wrong.” He turned and once more, started walking.
“Well then, are you helping me or what?” I followed him.
“Yes, I want you out of here. You don’t need to go through the same thing as I did.”
“What did you go through?”
“I sinned too much, Asmodeus brought me here. When Jezebeth saw me, I guess she shattered inside,” He chuckled, “because she refused to help me, instead, she went against Asmodeus’s orders and led me the wrong way. She tricked me. When I ran out of time, she killed me and dragged me to Hell. There, she gave me a few powers and made me the gatekeeper.”
I checked the hourglass. “Ten minutes! I have ten minutes!” I started running on the path, as fast as I could.
“Stop! Elise! Just say you want more time!” He shouted after me.
That’s right! I control it! I stopped running. “I want more time!” I shouted into the treetops and shimmers of light. I turned to Levithian and waited for him to catch up to me. It took him longer than it should because he had to find ways to get around some patches of light at times.
When he finally caught up, he stepped in front of me. “You could have been kidnapped by a Jihct, you know.” We started walking again, with him leading. I tried my pockets for the hourglass, but it wasn’t there.
“I must have dropped the hourglass. I can’t find it.” He stopped on the path suddenly and I almost bumped into him.
“What?” I walked around him. There were no more woods in front of us. If I took one more step and looked to my sides, I wouldn’t see any trees. They all stopped in a straight line. Ahead of us, was a building, tall, round, and skinny, it looked like a tree itself. In fact, it might have been a tree at once, a very big tree, almost four hundred feet tall and maybe about forty feet around.
“This is where you go home. Just walk into the front door and… um, I’m sorry.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me across the imaginary line of trees, into the light.
“Why aren’t you burning?” I stomped my heels into the wirery grass, feeling it cut into my flesh as he dragged me. “Stop! What the heck are you doing? Why aren’t you burning?”
He stopped in his place, let go of my arm and turned to me. “You ran out of time three minutes ago. I’m sorry, I should’ve found you sooner, or at least told you that your time ran out. You can’t have more time than Asmodeus gives you. I just, I just didn’t want to worry you. You’re stuck here. I’m not burning because you’re not in control anymore.”
I was completely stunned. I have to go to Hell. I have to live with demons. I’ll never go home. I’ll never see my parents, or my sister, or my dog, or my family. I’ll never sleep on my uncomfortable scratchy black comforter again. “So that building isn’t taking me home.” I said.
“Not to the home you know, but to my home. Now come on.” He took my arm again, gentle but forceful. I didn’t try to fight him. I obediently followed along. I had accepted my fate.
“Hell.”
“Yes, Hell is your new home.”
We stepped onto the step of the building and opened the door. I stepped in first as Levithian held the heavy wood door open. There were demons everywhere. Some female, some male, and some you couldn’t tell what they were. They were all sitting in booths lined on the walls in layers, all the way up to the top. There was a single stairway to the left of the door that lined all the booths.
“Come on.” Levithian took my hand. I didn’t even pull back. He led me to the center of the room, where a small circular platform waited for us. “Up you go.” He put his hands on my waist and lifted me up onto the platform with ease. He climbed up after me.
“Quiet Everyone!” Someone shouted. “We have a new one!” All the demons stopped chattering and everybody, including Levithian and I, looked toward the speaker. It was Asmodeus, at the very top of one of the booths, beside some female demons that hung all over him. “Today, Elise Polragotti failed The Irretitus. She will be turned as soon as someone claims her.” He gave a small wave to me. All the demons started to stare at me. I got kind of nervous. Would dying hurt? Probably. I tried not to think about it.
“I claim her, darlin’.” Someone in the bottom booth said. I looked, it was Jezebeth, she had a small smile on her face and she had no hair. She stood. “We have a great bond.” Her smile got wider.
“No, Jezebeth, nobody can trust you with training.” Asmodeus told her.
“Oh, whatever.” She sat down after giving me a strange sneer.
“I’ll do it.” Levithian said, lifting his hand.
“You’ve only been a demon for a year. You need to be a demon for at least three hundred years.”
“Yes, but it’d be perfect, I could read her mind and do everything that needs to be done.” He raised his voice. “We could learn to be demons together.”
“Very good idea. An experiment. Ok. We’ll try it. Levithian is her claimer. You can kill her now, Levithian.”
“It’s going to be ok. If you don’t move, you’ll die sooner.” Levithian whispered to me and squeezed my hand. “You’ll be in Hell soon and you’ll get to see my house. You’ll have to live with me until Asmodeus builds a house beside mine for you. It’ll be great.”
I didn’t say anything. I could feel my eyes well up with tears. I didn’t want to cry in front of so many demons.
“Are you ready?” Levithian asked. He took a knife from his pocket.
“What about my family and friends?” I asked.
“You’ll be a runaway or something. They’ll think you disappeared.
“The last thing I told my mom was ‘Don’t worry about me, I’ll be back by one, and I won’t go to any parties.’ Can’t I talk to her one last time or something?”
“I don’t think so, maybe after a couple human years.”
“What do you mean ‘human years’?” I asked.
“You’ll learn.” He raised the knife. “Are you ready to go home?’’
“I think so.” I shut my eyes tight and waited for a stab in my chest, but it didn’t come. I opened my eyes. Levithian was looking at me, still with the knife raised.
“I don’t think I can do it. It was terrifying for me, I know how you feel.”
“Levithian, do it now, or someone else will claim her!” Asmodeus shouted down at us.
“I’m ready, Levithian, I can do it.” I didn’t close my eyes this time; I wanted to see what everything looked like through dying eyes. Levithian raised the knife hesitantly. I nodded and smiled at him. “See you at home.” I said.
Levithian brought the knife down and I felt a very sharp pain just above my collar bone, he cut my jugular. I dropped on my knees, screaming frantically. It hurt like heck. I could hear faint clapping and Levithian brought the knife down again, on the back of my neck.