“Just try to relax, Ms. Fowley,” one of the doctors told me. I screamed and tried biting the doctors and nurses holding me down. “We’re here to help you.”

 

A rage went through me. Dark, dangerous, and unknown. Yet, somehow familiarly calming. I seized that urge and let it take control of me.

 

That run-down building lay ablaze in the middle of the night. That dirty hospital with four stories, an outside garden and a pathway leading up to its front doors. Rain poured down, creating a tapping chime on the ground and a sizzling sound amongst the fire.

 

I opened the hospital's front door, walked out, and eventually found a step on the main pathway to sit down. I rested my arms atop my knees and relaxed as the rain poured onto my tattered hair.

​

“Thana! Thana, oh my God! Are you okay?” A man asked, rushing up to me. Did I know this person? I felt like I did. Beauty like his is something to remember.

 

He sat in front of me, holding my arms and staring at me. “Thana? Are you okay? How badly did they hurt you?” He asked. I noticed I had been blanketed in some thick, red liquid. And given the few non-lethal cuts on my arms and legs, this blood didn’t belong to me, but I don’t remember hurting anyone.

 

“Did you do this?” I pointed to the fire behind me. Could he even hear me over the sound of the rain, shattering glass, and old wood splintering?

 

“I did,” he said honestly, having heard me. “I had to. They were hurting you. Lying to you. What did they tell you?” I pushed my brain to remember, but I barely knew my name. When he called me “Thana” it sounded foreign. Like it didn’t belong to me.

 

“I don’t remember,” I said. When he glanced down at his hands in mine, a quick rush of energy flushed through me as I suddenly remembered everything. Who I was, who I was talking to, and what the doctors said to me. 

 

“Atticus!” I screamed joyfully, pulling the man in for a hug. “They told me I was crazy! They told me I was demented!” He held me close, assuring me everything was fine.

 

“It’s over now. They’re all gone.” His voice carried through the darkness of our surroundings.

 

“I can’t believe you did that for me. Thank you.” I rested my chin resting atop his shoulder. 

 

Atticus folded his leather wings around me, and his horns poked out from the top of his head.

 

“Thana, I’d burn down the world for you to keep you safe.” He told me, pulling my body as close to his as he could.

 

People always told me that demons are pure evil. They were right, of course, but not all demons are like that. Besides, having a friend that’s a devoted demon makes life much more fun.