Mimi's Demons

Chapter 11: A Sense for Beauty

Unfortunately, having a late-night friend also meant Mimi became increasingly sleep deprived. She use to be able to get herself up and ready for school on her own so her mother, with her poor light sleep, could sleep in. But after a few late days, the school had to call in and inform her poor mother, meaning she got to be woken up by a very grouchy Mom.

"I have work to do, Mimi, you can't keep staying up late," she said. "You want to have food and a house, don't you? Do you want us to be homeless?"

The answer was 'no.' Mimi wanted anything but, and she hated feeling like a bad girl. She wanted to help her mother, make her happy, not stress her out and get glared at.

"Mother is annoying," hissed Honrye that night.

"She's just trying to make sure I get sleep," whispered Mimi from atop her bed. She preferred to lay on the floor so she could see his eyes and its expressions, but after finding her one too many times asleep on the floor, her mother figured that was why she was getting bad sleep and demanded she use her bed.

"Ignores needs," said Honrye. "Boss. Don't like boss."

"That's because you're a demon. Moms are supposed to tell their kids what to do, it's for their own good. And it's bad for me to be late for school or to make Mama lose sleep."

Honrye seemed to disagree with that, but he didn't say anything, probably doubting his knowledge of humans and friendship in that moment. The more Mimi talked to him, the easier it was for her to guess what he was feeling or thinking. It seemed to come to her like a hum in the air, and maybe he was humming. If she thought about it too long she got confused.

Just as she was edging towards a dream, Honrye spoke up.

"Mimi lonely. Mother ignore. Not for own good."

Mimi groaned. "It's my own fault. She told me to not tell people about seeing demons and I did."

"You were truthful. That's good."

"Yeah, well...not saying anything isn't lying."

Honrye didn't argue, so she figured he agreed.

Sometime afterwards, after days of ignoring the ache in her chest and the teasing of her classmates (one boy in particular liked to come to school wearing plastic demon horns to taunt her), she woke up one morning to find the last thing she wanted to do was go to school. Usually she could push through the dread. But now it cemented her in place as though Honrye had reached out to hold tight onto her ankles. Usually she woke up hungry, but today she did not, and her head couldn't seem to settle on any clear thoughts.

Her mother spotted her later when she got up, a full hour after school had officially started.

"Mimi? Are you sick?"

A bit of the ache in her chest warmed with her mother's concern. Her brother was with his dad today, and the thought warmed her further.

"I don't want to go to school," she said.

Her mother's face hardened. "Honey, that isn't an option. Are you saying you just sat there because you didn't want to go to school?"

Mimi looked down, any warm feeling gone.

It was because she was looking down that she got her first glimpse of Honrye's face as he slid out to get a look at her.

She missed her mother's next words, caught up in the familiar jerk of her stomach when she saw a demon she didn't entirely recognize.

His skin was a dark gray and his eyes were too large for his head. But he had black curly hair, with little horns at his temple and sharp, elfin ears.

It was only for a brief moment and then he was gone with a little whoosh of expelled air. A gasp?