As I opened my eyes, waking from a deep slumber, I froze, then slowly began to back up from the creature staring at me from the foot of my bed. I was scared.

“Please don’t hurt me.” I whisper. I wanted to scream, but I knew it wouldn’t be the safest possible option. The creature smiled. 

“Why would I hurt you?” it asked me, with a deep voice, which sounded like someone dragging a wire across a piece of metal. I quickly figured out what this thing was. It was a demon. No… she was a demon. 

Her skin was born of poison and hate, her limbs were long and lanky; her body was painfully thin and I could see her ribs easily. Her wings, ripping through her back, were black and charred, like an angel who fell from Heaven. Her hands were claws, and they were crimson. Her head was tilted slightly to the side, as if she had a question. Her mouth was hanging open, and her pointed teeth were dripping blood. Her long, split tongue slipped out of her mouth between her teeth and hung below her jaws. But out of all the things about her, it was her eyes that scared me the most. They were the color of blood. 

“What are you? Just please go away. I don’t want to die!” I was terrified. 

“You have no reason to be scared. I cannot kill you. My job is to protect you, my job is to keep you alive. I am you guardian.” 

“You’re… you’re my guardian angel? You’re an angel?” I asked her. She began to laugh, but it came out as hisses.

“I am no angel. You were supposed to get a guardian angel, but… your paperwork had an... unfortunate mistake. They were trying to fix your paperwork for years, but they can’t really change it. They actually just accepted the mistake, and decided to keep it. You do not have a Guardian Angel. No… you have a Guardian Demon. It’s… complicated to explain. I apologize.” She sounded sad, hurt even. 

“You don’t need to apologize, It isn’t your fault. You don’t seem that bad to be honest.” I said with a smile on my face. She tilted her head again, then began to speak. 

“You seem better than most people. Most would scream, but not you. My name is Joelene. It’s…. Nice to meet you. In hell, there are no kind people. Only those who deserve punishment. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Does this form bother you? I can change myself to something more… Human. Would that please you?” she asked me. I decided I liked her, even though she was a demon.

“I would not stop you. It’s up to you though. It’s your choice.”

“Very well, please give me a moment. I will change my form.” as she said this, her body began to change, making her human. Her skin became pale white, with short cut hair, which was blonde. She was still tall and skinny, but it was in the realm of being normal. Her smile was still perfectly white, but it looked like a normal human smile. Her irises however, were still blood red, making her not entirely human. She was wearing a simple white shirt and blue jeans. 

“Is this better?” she said with a smile on her face. She looked happier. I smiled.

“That depends. Do you like it? Does it make you happy?” 

“Why does it matter if it would make me happy? My opinion does not matter.” She responded with her head tilted to the side. I liked how she did that, it was fascinating.

“Why would your opinion not matter? So… what do you want me to do right now?” I ask. I wasn’t sure what was wanted of me. Go back to sleep, continue the conversation. I had no clue. She laughed, and it sounded more human this time. 

“Sleep. You need it. I can tell. Sleep well.” she placed her hand against my forehead, and I fell asleep immediately. 

***

“Good morning, Lucas. Your sleep didn’t appear to be easy. You tossed and turned a lot last night. Do you do that normally?” said Jolene. She was staring at me from the corner of my room. Hunched over, and back to looking like a demon. Her head was, once again, tilted slightly to the side. 

“So I guess that wasn’t a dream, huh? Yeah, I’m a restless sleeper. I wake up extremely exhausted. Do you sleep?” For some reason, I had decided to just accept that this was happening. I guess I’ve seen weirder. Besides, this should make life a little more interesting. 

“I don’t know. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. At least I think that’s right. I’m not sure if it’s counted as sleeping. I’m not sure of a lot to be honest. My race is… Fascinating. Does that bother you?” 

“Not really. I find it to make you seem more normal. I have to get ready for school. Shower, eat, brush my teeth, and wait for the bus.”

“What exactly is school? We don’t have that in hell.”

“I think most would refer to it as ‘Hell on earth.’ most people hate the damned place. There’s a reason most teens have major depression, or commit suicide, or do drugs or drink. That’s… that’s high school. The place sucks.” 

“Then why do you go?”

“We have to. It’s a weird human thing. It’s only this bad in America.”

“Then why doesn’t your country change it?”

“Because people hate change. It’s part of what makes us human.”

“Do you enjoy that?” 

“No one does, but we’re too stubborn to change it. It’s unfortunate. With that being said, I need to go shower. What are you going to do?”

“I must make my leave. I have things to attend to. Goodbye.” and with that, Joelene disappeared in a puff of smoke. I sighed.

“Today’s going to be weird,” I say to myself. 

***

As I walked into my first period, I stopped dead in my tracks. Standing at the teacher's desk was Joelene in her human form. She was wearing a crimson top and green jeans. She was standing with her hips cocked to the left. Her head, like always, was tilted slightly. She looked at me, and winked. 

As we all took our normal seats, The teacher, Ms. Drago, Cleared her throat and begins to talk in an Italian accent.  

“Hello class. Today, we have a new student joining our first period. Meet Joelene Chadwick. Joelene, why don’t you go take a seat near… Lucas.” 

Joelene comes and sits next to me. She smiles, then begins to whisper. 

“Surprised? I bent a few…. Rules.” she said quietly, her voice still abnormal, “I changed some things. Quite simple for a demon like me. Life is much more simple as a demon. I am curious, however, to see what being human is like. I have been wondering. Sinful of me, isn’t it?”

“Not really. Curiosity is normal, at least for humans. You’ll get used to it.” 

That’s how a majority of the day went, her being introduced to each and every single one of my classes, her making quiet remarks about problems with something. The teacher is wrong, or that outfit is horrendous. Small things like that. That is, until after school ended. That’s when… things changed. 

“Hey, Shithead!” He said to me. His name was Conan Brady. He was known for one thing and one thing only. Beating people to a pulp. As I turned out, I was the person he beat the crap out of the most. Seems like it would be my luck that he would choose today to pick on me. I just wanted one day where I didn’t have to go through this. 

“Just screw off! I’ve got things to do!” I shout back. I had homework to do tonight, and I did plan to do it. The last time he messed with me, I didn’t get to do my homework. I didn’t have it after the encounter. Conan began to laugh.

“Don’t we all? Today, I was thinking about beating the crap out of you. How does that sound?” 

Before I could retort, Joelene stepped between Conan and me, her body taking a more protective stance. Conan laughed again. 

“And what are you going to do? You’re built like a twig.”

“To get to him, You’ll have to go through me, and unfortunately for you, you won’t be able to go through me.”

“If you say so, but you’ll regret it!” he screamed at her. He then threw a punch, and it all went down from there. 

Joelene dodged his punch, ducking to the bottom left, then let her right hand fly, Hitting him in the stomach with so much force that the gasp that came out of his mouth was almost unbearable. Then, without hesitation, she swept Conan off his feet, and he came crashing to the ground, where she landed one final punch to his stomach. 

“If I’m built like a twig,” she spat at him, “Then what the hell would you be made of? People like you are nothing. All bark with absolutely no bite. I’m a hellhound, you’re a poodle. Mess with him again, and I’ll be sure to break both your arms.”

I looked in Conans’ eyes, and saw something I have never seen in his eyes. Fear. Pure fear. He was terrified of Joelene. The man who has never been bested, never lost a fight, Just lost a fight with someone as skinny and frail looking as Joelene. Unlike Joelene, Conan only had brawn, no brains, where Joelene had both. He was nothing compared to her.

I shivered.

***

“What are you doing?” asked Joelene, now back in her normal form, sitting on my desk. 

“Homework. Why do you ask?” I respond without looking up from my place on the bed. It was my easiest subject, english, and I didn’t have any other homework that night. 

“What is homework?” 

“Something everyone hates. It’s just school work brought home. It’s designed to be done at home. After we finish, we bring it in to class the next day, and turn it in. sometimes we talk about it, sometimes not.” 

After a few minutes of silence, Joelene asks me a question.

“Would you call me a friend? I’ve heard others say it, and I know what friends mean. Would you define me as a friend?”

“That’s an interesting question,” I begin as I look up from my work, “I’ve never really had friends. I’ve always been the outcast, never fitting in. But I think I think of you as a friend. You’re fun to be around, and even though you’re only here to protect me, I think it’s nice having you around.” 

“Thank you. I… I would like to think of you as a friend as well. Is that okay?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” 

“I’m not sure. I am not good with people and their emotions.”

“Aren’t all demons originally human though?” I ask as I look back down at my work.

“Most are. I am one of the first demons. When Lucifer first created demons, I was one of the first he created. There was a total of ten of us at first. It was only after all creation that people began to become demons. I was the Seventh who was created. I was also the most hated.”

“Why were you hated?” 

“Seven is the most hated number among demons. I don’t know why, but I do know that Lucifer hated it as well. I wasn’t liked from the moment of my creation. That has always been my life. I was born a demon, and I shall die a demon. That is how our existence works.”

“Are you okay with that?”

“No, I am not, but It doesn’t matter. That’s how it is. I have gotten used to the idea of my existence. Why argue with something that can’t be changed?”

“Simple, you CAN change it. Screw patterns. Screw being what’s thought of as normal. Make your own path. Destiny isn’t forced, It’s chosen. Choose not to follow it. Make you life your own. Enjoy that.” I said as I wrote something down for our homework. Joelene tilted her head. 

“I’ve never thought of it that way before. My kind never thinks like that. We are told not to. Our government seems to fear thought like that. How long until you finish your homework?” 

“I’m fairly close. English tends to be easy, even though the subject is complete and utter bull. Are you happy being here? On Earth I mean.”

“It is… fascinating. There is so much to learn. It’s vastly different here on earth than what I’m used to. In hell, we punish those who have sinned. We punish those who do not deserve kindness, because they themselves are not kind. It would surprise you have difficult it is to actually get into hell. Those who do make it there are truly the worst of the worst. Earth seems to be… much more nice. Here, those who sin have chances to make up what they have done. Those who sin have a chance for redemption. In Hell, redemption is not a thing that actually exists. On Earth, there are people who are nice. There are people who are kind. People like that don’t exist in hell. I prefer Earth to be honest. It’s so much more simple than Hell. It is a better place than hell.”

  “That’s good. I’m glad you like it here. Earth isn’t the best place, but it isn’t too bad. Once you stay here long enough, You might realize some of the problems. So… Since you’re my guardian demon… When I die, will you stay here on Earth, or will you go back to Hell?”

“I will most likely go back to Hell. We demons aren’t allowed to be on Earth.”

“Why is that?”

“Because there are rules that forbid it. Lucifer is very strict. He does not allow us to go to Earth often. He only does when it would make logical sense or when it needs to happen. In my case, I actually had to come to Earth. If you are made a guardian, You must go to Earth. Those are the rules for both Demons and Angels. This is my second time coming to Earth in my entire lifetime. The second was during what your people call World War Two. I was sent here to explain how to make the atom bomb.”  

“Why were you told to do that?” I ask as my head jerks up. I wasn’t expecting that.

“Because too many people were coming to Hell. We were beginning to have a population problem. It was a very bad time for us, and Lucifer knew the war needed to end as soon as possible. We couldn;t keep having people come to Hell. I was instructed to come here, and I did the job I was supposed to do. Do I regret following my order? I do not know. I am a demon. My job is to sin, but I know that what I did wasn’t right, but I had to choose. What could I do?”

“I suppose that’s… logical. How do you like American school?” 

“I can understand why some people don’t like it. I can already tell that it is flawed. Some of the people there, Like the one that I injured today, will go to hell. I can feel it. I have learned what it takes to reach Hell, and some of the people in your school will be going. Some adults will too, like your principle. He is currently cheating on his wife with one of the teachers. He is a bad man. Hell has a special place for people like him. I will make sure that his punishment is painful. He deserves as much. Do I scare you? Does my form bother you Lucas?” 

“To be honest, you terrify me. Your normal form is so creepy. But I like it at the same time. Something about it is very calming, even though It is terrifying. I enjoy it.”

“You are very… paradoxical. I find that extremely challenging to understand. I do not always understand you. You are more complicated than most. Why is that?” 

“I have no clue. I happen to be a very complex person. It’s the way I think. It’s so much easier for me to think that way because, in some ways, It allows me to think so much faster. I happen to get work done so much faster than most people because of the way that I think. I mostly think in paradoxes because when you dissect them, Life begins to make so much more sense. I realize now that sometimes, Complex is so much easier than simple. Once you learn to think like that, It becomes so much more addicting.”

“Interesting. I enjoy being around you. You are very fun to be around. I wish I could see the world in the way that you see it. It’s so much more complex than most people. The people in Hell aren’t capable of conversations like this. I haven’t had conversations like this in a very long time. It’s so much better. I suppose complex is much easier than simple. I have never thought of life that way.” 

“I’m glad you think that. I hope You get to stick around for a while. I don’t normally get to have conversations like this either. I haven’t met someone whose brain is on a level equal to mine in complexity. Not one person has a brain that functions like mine. I both Hate and love it.”

“Why is that?”

“Because it means there is something about me that is unique. There is something about me that it far different than everyone else. The problem with being unique is that your often looked down upon for it. It’s a problem that no one can fix. We refuse to change. That will be our downfall. I’m sorry for getting so deep.”

“It’s okay. I prefer conversations like these.” And like that, our long night began. Conversation after conversation. Life isn;t always simple, sometimes it’s complex. I believe that’s a good thing. Perhaps I am different.