Free Pretty Faces and Dark Places by Rose B. Mashal Page A

all was and the thought that I should just accept it and start believing the things around me sunk in. I was no longer doubting that I wasn’t having a bad dream; all of these things were real.
    I felt my throat tightening at the realization, and I knew that tears would be next. I felt pain in my chest as I grew even more aware of the fact that I was turning into a demon, very soon, but my tears wouldn’t fall. It was such an odd feeling, to feel so much hurt, sadness, and disappointment, feeling the need to cry my eyes out, but not even one tear would fall out of my eyes.
    I inhaled deeply then let my breath out in a long, soft sigh and shrugged the feeling away. Though I knew it was there in the back of my mind and filling my insides, I chose not to think about it so much.
    I tried looking at my back in the mirror to see the changes that had happened to my body, to see what they were talking about with wounds that were ‘healing nicely’ as they’d said, but I couldn’t see anything. Just a shade of redness on the part I could see and that was all.
    I picked up the funny-looking brush and brushed my hair with it, tied it in a loose ponytail, then took another deep breath and walked out of the closet.
    I gasped when the sight of Andrew waiting for me in the room startled me; I hadn’t expected him to be there. He frowned slightly then smiled the next second, offering me his hand and telling me that the food was ready. At his words, my stomach grumbled quietly to tell me how hungry I really was. I managed to smile a small smile and hesitantly took his hand.
    The feel of his touch did things to my heart; it was beating faster than ever, and not from fear. All of the feelings I’d felt for him that Halloween night hit me full force. All of the thoughts I’d had about him and all of the longing I’d felt for him for the past year rose inside me and reminded me of the many times I’d wished, hoped and yearned to touch him again.
    And it made my heart tingle.
     

     
    The food was – okay. I couldn’t say I liked it, but I still couldn’t say I hated it either. There was chicken, but it tasted different. And I hoped that it really was chicken and not something else. I didn’t want to ask so as not to be rude or offend him, but I was sure the look on my face told of how I wasn’t really fascinated by what I was eating.
    “You don’t like the food?” Andrew asked, confirming my earlier thought of him being able to read my expression – or maybe it was because I’d only taken a few bites before I told him that I was finished.
    “It’s different,” I decided to go with the truth.
    “It is made differently, but it’s the same things you ate in your human life,” he smiled in assurance.
    Human life. Those words again …
    I swallowed. “Am I really turning into a demon?” I just needed a final confirmation.
    “Yes, Angel, you are,” he replied with a smile, and it was the first time I realized why his mother had said that his nickname for me – Angel – was disgusting. And the confirmation I’d needed, that his answer gave me, made my chest ache.
    “Why?” I had to ask, because I needed to know. If being a demon was what was to come for me, I wanted to know the reasons. I’d heard all my life the demons were bad creatures, that they were the opposite of angels. I wanted to know why I was becoming a demon. I wanted to know what bad deeds I’d done in my life to ever get this as the final result of my afterlife – if I was dead anyway.
    “Because it’s your destiny, Maya,” Andrew replied. “You belong with me, in my world, so you have to be the same as me.”
    “You mean you’re doing this to me? That I wouldn’t be turning into a demon if it wasn’t for the converting?”
    “I’m doing this because I need you; you’re my soulmate. The converting is a must; otherwise I wouldn’t be able to keep you here. You would’ve died without it,” he replied, the last words sounding bitter on his