Demon Stories

Cheol: Happiness is Contagious, 1986, Northeast Corridor, USA

Cheol

Happiness is Contagious

1986, Northeast Corridor, USA

Happiness is contagious. When I smile, someone else will smile. When I laugh, someone else will laugh. Different people learn this at various stages of life, but there's always something which causes them to learn it. Today was my day. I learned it, because I found you on the train. It was such a coincidence, meeting you like this. It was a coincidence, even if you don't believe it.

I was about to fall asleep. If it wasn't for the noise Violette was making with her little cup and ball game, I would have drifted off. Her little head was leaned on my shoulder, and she was all the way on her seat with legs up, wedged between me and the wall of the train. One arm was around my front, clinging to me like the child she appears to be. The other was between us in an awkward position, swinging that ball over and over again.

Outside was darkness, inside was light and her warm little body. Normally I would not let her cuddle like this, but today was different. She was sick from the swaying of the train, and she had been feeling sick for a while. Yes, demons get sick just like everybody else. They can get nauseous, and they can be sick all over everything. And Violette had, so I took care of her like this.

My eyes opened, and I smiled to her. She looked up at me momentarily and smiled back with her sick, flushed child's face. She stopped swinging the ball. Gently, I moved her fist which contained the cup's stick so she'd know I was okay with her swinging it. "The green ball," I said quietly to her as to not upset her stomach further, "swing the green ball. Focus on it, maybe it can help you forget your stomach."

She nuzzled the side of her face into my arm, getting into a more laid position, and began to swing the ball again without a word. But I could see her eyes focused on that ball. She was listening. It made me happy to see it.

However, without warning, she dropped the cup and ball. Her grip just seemed to fall away from her. She stared at it as it rolled away under the seats, and we both stared at it as it took a turn and ended its path in the center aisle. 

"I'm sorry," she said plainly, for plainly was all she could muster in her state. I rubbed her head gently and got up from my seat. 

"I'll get it, don't worry about it," I told her. 

But as I stood up, there was such a sight. Those orange wide curls. The wavy texture. Just laid over the seat back without a care in the world. 

My heart stopped in my chest, my face went blank.

Quietly, I made my way up the center aisle, wobbling with the movement of the train, and leaned to pick up the cup and ball. With it safely in my hand, I made my way back. In these brief moments, Violette had laid herself on both of the seats, and had closed her eyes. 

"Is that a better position?" I asked, trying for my sudden feelings to not betray my words.