25 Chapter 25 - Reality TV

At the end of the concert, I headed straight home. I needed some time alone. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the concert, it actually made me forget about a lot of things, including the fact that I am Death's living vessel, no matter how fucked up that may sound.

I was just bothered by how Caroline made me feel, I was falling when it should be the opposite, the odds were against me.

When I arrived home, I found Asmodeus cooking and Mephisto cleaning the house.

"How was the concert?" Asmodeus asked while stirring something in the pot.

"I'm willing to bet it's fucking better than dusting the rooms and washing clothes." Mephisto complained while wrestling with the bedsheets.

I began to recount my experience. Asmodeus seemed to be listening while Mephisto was sweeping the floor. When I was done, Asmodeus made the table and set up the plates and utensils. He did it with utmost care, arranging the whole table like a work of art.

"Nevermind him, he's got fucking OCD." Mephisto said to me while scrounging a chocolate bar from the fridge.

*Great, a demon with an OCD. Like it could get any better than this.*

Asmodeus smiled. "The two of you need to fix a lot of things in here." He gestured at the house. "And you missed a spot." He scolded Mephisto pointing to a piece of tissue lying on the floor.

"Well, excuse me your highness." Mephisto was grumbling as he picked the offending object and threw it at the wastebin.

"Shall we?" Asmodeus gestured to us when dinner was ready.

Then we began to eat.

The chili for it was chili that he was cooking earlier was delicious. "Wow, this is my first, it's really good." I told Asmodeus who only smiled at me.

"You never compliment me about my cooking." Mephisto said in between bites, grumpy as a cat.

"Everyone can cook bacon and eggs." I countered.

"But nobody cooks them like I do."

**

We were in the living room. Mephisto and me drinking and Asmodeus flipping through channels after finally deciding on some reality show that showcased couples facing problems.

"Why are we watching this?" I asked Asmodeus who seems to be completely taken in by the show. The girl named Amanda was complaining that her boyfriend Derek wasn't paying her attention like he used to and thought that he might be cheating.

"We're watching an excellent example of human stupidity." Mephisto commented.

Asmodeus gave out a sigh and grabbed a can from the six-pack we'd open earlier. "There's a lesson here though. Something you can use." He said to me.

"What?" I was dumbfounded.

"Pay attention when a woman talks."

Of course, it was pretty obvious seeing as the girl on the tv couldn't stop but speculate that her boyfriend must've replaced her with someone new.

I couldn't bear watching it. "This is too cringey. Why are they even subjecting themselves to shit like this?"

Both demons laughed.

"Because they need the money and their few minutes of fame." said Asmodeus. "They're willing to throw their dignity away for a few moments of being a celebrity."

"Everyone wants to be somebody and in their mind the only way to do so is by selling what's left of their self-respect." Mephisto added.

The show's ending was too cliche. The couple made up after overcoming their "problems" and they lived happily ever after. "There are no limits to human stupidity." Mephisto sounded bored.

"So what have you planned for tomorrow?" Asmodeus asked me.

At first I didn't understand what he meant, then an image of Caroline, uninvited, flashed through my head and I remembered the fan meet. I told him about Lucifer's advice.

"That's not bad at all but you can do better." said Asmodeus when I was done telling him about my gifts for Caroline.

"How so? I asked him.

"For starters, you could dress more properly." He pointed at my outfit which was nothing much. A bandshirt and a tattered pair of jeans. "All the money and you choose to dress like a homeless person."

"Does that really matter?" I asked honestly.

"Of course it does. Personality isn't enough to win her over. You need to be visually attractive for her." said Asmodeus.

"But I don't have that much clothes to wear." I told him.

"Well, I'll have a look at what you have and then we'll decide."

"Since when did you become a fan of fashion?" Mephisto asked.

"Since men and women decided to wear clothes."

**

I dreaded falling asleep. Lying in bed, while the world was silent around me, I couldn't help but think of the void that was the home of Death. I tried to hold off but my body was too exhausted and I fell asleep.

I was at the rooftop staring down at the bright lights of Cerulean City. The skyscrapers and the towering buildings shone like beacons, as if calling to the heavens. I was looking down at the traffic below, thinking how easy it would be to end all of it. The world and the people in it were of no significance to me and a sense of dread came over me. I looked behind me and I could see a figure standing in the darkness. His hair was pale, the color of mist, and went up to his shoulder. It covered his face but the cold wind was blowing and when it did it showed his eyes, my eyes.

"Why are you here?" I asked Death for it was Death standing right in front of me or rather what he looked like when he took over my body.

And I heard my own voice reply, a faint whisper in the corners of my mind. "I cannot help but be here."

That confused me. "What do you mean you can't help it?"

"I was born into this world because of you." It replied and now I was lost.

"I don't understand."

"Neither do I. All I know is that yesterday I did not exist but now I do." He said it as if I knew what he meant.

"Yesterday you wanted to devour the world and end all life." I told him.

"Yes, but now I am not sure." He was looking at his hands. "I do not know what I am. "

"You're me." Somehow it came to me as if it was fact. "You're now a part of me and me a part of you."

His eyes were a mirror that reflected an empty horizon, a violent noise that rests in a background of dark matter. And all of a sudden I could feel the city lights, the skyscrapers and the buildings around me start to crumble and when I looked down, everything was burning, and the wind filled with ashes engulfed me. "If that is true then this is all that you will see."

The sound of my own voice woke me up and I realized I was screaming. None of the two demons that were in the house bothered waking me up though I was pretty sure they knew I was having a nightmare.