• He’s gone for the weekend and I don’t know what to do with myself Salem thought to herself as she sat on the couch with a book in hand and her cell phone close by restlessly waiting for a text from her other half, David. She had plenty of friends and a car, but the one person she wanted to be with was in the woods, most likely suspended in a river of sapphire calmness, cane pole close by with his ball cap pulled over his eyes, latent in his own world. The mere thought of this scene playing out in Salem’s head made her sigh in grief. She would have loved nothing more than to watch him, she always loved watching him, the way he moved, so graceful and composed, unlike her usual clumsy awkwardness. He always seemed so sure and confident in himself that it made Salem’s head spin. She closed her eyes and sat back picturing David in her head.

    His mysterious green eyes popped into her head first then his dark, russet hair falling into them. His skin bronzed by his undying impulse to stay outside no matter what the elements brought day to day. She imagined his lean arms wrapped around her, her head resting on his chest, his rough hands gently caressing her cheek as he leaned down to grace her with a soft kiss hinting with delight as his kisses always did. To Salem, kissing David was like being weightless and surrounded by every imaginable color swirling around. She opened her eye to find a single tear falling down her face, depression overwhelming her.


    I need to get out of this she thought to herself. Sitting around, being depressed is not going to bring him back any time soon. Well… it might if he knew but I’m not going to do that to him. She looked at her cell phone one last time, checking to see if she had, by slip of the chance, had missed something from him. No new messages. She sighed then flipped through her contacts till she came across her best friend’s number. She and Amethyst had been through everything together, from getting through Salem’s parents divorce, to supporting each other when they found David and Jesse. Jesse was Amethyst’s boyfriend of five years on and off. They fought and would break up then make up, so far though they seem to be doing good, not having broken up for the past seven months. Salem hit the send button and held the phone up to her ear, awaiting her friend’s response. She sat listening to the electronic sound of the fake ring for what seemed like hours before being sent to Amethyst’s voicemail.

    “Hey,” she said after the beep, “just wanted to talk, but I guess you’re busy. Call me when you get this, I’m soooo bored and kind of sad…” She shut her phone and flung herself on the couch in disappointment and put her arm across her eyes. The peace of the room was abruptly ended when Salem felt the presence of her least favorite, being, if that’s what you can call him.

    The creature stood at close to eight feet tall and was solid black with no facial features that she had seen. Of course, she hadn’t actually seen him up close either. She had only seen his outline on the edge of the forest near David’s house. The creature was neither human nor alive for that matter. It was a demon raised by a teenage Satanist who didn’t know how to send them back. In attempts to right the mess she created, an entrance from this world to theirs. Any other time that he had been close, she only sensed him, his demonic aura hanging heavy in the air.

    “Go away,” she groaned, not bothering to mover her arm from her face. The weight of his presence was still suspended when Salem decided that she was going to leave if he wasn’t. She got up and moved to the kitchen. Reaching into the cupboard to grab a glass, the lights went out, abandoning her to grope around in the baleful darkness. She ran her hands along the wall, searching blindly for the light switch.

    “Ouch,” she yelped as she came across something sharp. Navigating around the pointed object, she turned on the light to find the palm of her right hand sliced open. Silently, Salem cursed under her breath as she ran warm water over the gash. Once the bleeding had slowed she carefully dried it with a paper towel then wrapped it in gauze that was kept in the kitchen for those kinds of problems. Abandoning the idea that anything good would come out of the kitchen, Salem headed to her room to find something interesting to do.

    Closing the door behind her, Salem caught her reflection in mirror hanging on her door. She carefully examined her green eyes and normally she didn’t like them but at the moment she thought the color was just right with the shape. Her long auburn hair contoured around her face, creating the perfect heart shape that most girls only wished they had. She stepped back examining her figure, an hour glass shape, and her fair skin. She turned to the side and lifted up her shirt and studied her stomach, lightly touching it with her finger tips. She had missed this month and wasn’t sure what was going on. She didn’t feel pregnant, but then again, how would she know what it feels like?
    Pushing the thought out of her head, she crossed the room to her bed and stretched out across the black comforter. She relaxed here for a while before falling into a serene slumber, dreaming of David.




    Three towns over, in a soaring mountain David stood at the summit of Heritage Peak, gazing out of the sight below him. The smell of pine infused his senses. Near by a stream trickled down, the sound peaceful compared to the city where he lived. He closed his eyes and instantly an image of Salem emerged in his head. She was lying on her bed in undisturbed sleep, a smile on her beautiful face. No matter how many times David told her she was the most stunning girl that he had ever met, she still insisted that she wasn’t. He had a connection to her that couldn’t be described, one that he had ever since he met her. The memory came to him as easily as it was yesterday.

    A little bit over a year ago, David decided he was going to go with his youth group to a baseball game for the local minor league team, the Cardinals. He sat up in the nose bleed section with his friend Lauren, waiting for the game to begin. That’s when he saw her. She wore a neon green top and a tight pair of skinny leg jeans with her fake blue converse. She walked with such confidence, her head held high. She looked around and looked right at him and yet looked right through him, or so he thought. No more than five minutes later he saw one of his other friends down there talking to her. He gave her a hug and whispered something to her, after which she smacked him. Hard. They all parted and about half way through the game, he noticed that she kept looking up at him, his other friend sitting next to her running his mouth as usual. She turned to him, said something, and the next thing David knew, his friend was up there asking for David’s phone number and a picture of him. David agreed and his friend was gone, back down to the girl. Shortly after, Lauren got a call from his friend down there with the girl, telling him to come down there. Shaking, he got up, walked down to her, and sat down. She smiled a knock out smile and introduced herself as Salem. They talked and had to leave all too soon. She said her goodbye’s and left before the game ended but made him promise to text her when his phone was charged. Only after she left had he realized he didn’t have her number. He got it off of his friend and couldn’t wait to get home and talk to her more.

    David smiled to himself at the memory and at the image in his head of her. He stood from the oversized rock he was seated on and started back down the mountain to his campsite, where his mother, step father and brother waited for him.