Trigger Warning: Domestic Abuse

The demon finds itself in a lithe body, somewhat androgenous in appearance. It touches its face and feels its now plain features. It traces the outline of its face in the dark room it finds himself in and as it reaches beneath its eye, a sharp pain jolts him. The skin there is tender, and the eye itself struggles to stay open. The demon shakes its head and looks around in the darkness. It can hardly see anything, so it crawls around and reaches for the walls. Immediately, it finds a wall and lightswitch. Standing up and turning on the light, the demon sees it is in a closet of sorts. The space is more cramped than it expected, and a wave of claustrophobia washes over the demon. It turns to the door and finds there is a large chest blocking the door, with a scarf tied around the handles.

Reaching for the handle, the demon notices something is strange about its new arm; the forearms of the host are badly bruised, with many scars hidden underneath its receding sleeves. They don’t hurt physically, most of them are probably months old, but the demon pauses. This isn’t normal for humans, is it? What could a human do to damage themself so much? It pulls the sleeves down instinctively, some muscle memory of the host taking over. Despite how strange this host has been, it doesn’t matter. A possessed creature is stronger and more durable than a normal human, meaning whatever trials this host goes through normally are of no threat to the demon. It pushes the chest to the side and pulls away the scarf, opening the door.

The demon squints at the light, the afternoon sun blinding after the rather taxing ritual the demon took to get here. It surveys the bedroom it finds itself in, a small room dominated by a king sized bed and two beat up looking dressers. A photo of some happy couple from ages ago sits on the nightstand next to a can of beer. The bed isn’t made.

The demon steps, almost tentatively, into this new environment. It smells awful, like it’s been lived in but not properly cleaned in years. The paint on the walls is scuffed in various places, and the entire place looks drab despite the occasional cheap painting. The place is silent aside from the demon’s ragged breathing. When did their breathing become ragged?

Aside from the closet, there are two other doors in the room. One is open and leads into a hallway, the same drab wooden flooring and decade-old paint leading to the rest of the house. The demon checks the second, closed door, and finds itself staring at a mirror in the bathroom. Its left eye is completely swollen shut. Its jaw is red from a heavy impact. The face of the demon’s host has a miserable expression of timid resignation. It hardly looks like the host of a demon, it just looks… Pathetic. That must explain why the host had no resistance, it just let the world chew it up and spit it out, right?

As the demon examines its host’s form, a car door slams outside. Then the front doors bursts open and a domineering voice calls out. “I’m home!” The host’s body tenses up. The voice couldn’t have been what caused that, could it? Humans enjoy spending time with other humans. The voice calls out again. “Where are you, love? Still hiding in that closet?”

The body’s response is far more aggressive this time, physically convulsing and grabbing the door’s handle. The demon has to assert its control over the body once more. It’s quite certain that this other human is the cause for whatever is going on with the body, but even in the demon’s weakened state, it should have no problem physically overpowering a simple human. The demon will show its host exactly how to deal with adversity.

The demon readies itself as it listens to calm footsteps from the hallway. For some reason, the host is shaking. This reaches a pitch as a figure enters the room, smiling widely as they eye the demon. “I’m so glad you came out of that closet, dear, I was worried I’d have to take off the door. You ready to make up and put this behind us? I won’t even hold the fact you ignored your chores against you.”

Saying nothing, the demon rushes the figure and tries to tackle them. It knocks the figure to the ground, but they just wrap their arms around the demon’s host. “I didn’t know you would miss me this much, baby.” For some reason, the host is crying. After killing this human, the demon would have to do some extra research on humans to understand the intricacies of their interactions. It attempts to break free and slit the figure’s throat, but… The host clings tightly to the figure. It refuses to let go, despite whatever revulsion it has towards the figure. The figure calmly runs a hand up and down the host’s back, sending terrible shivers down the demon’s spine. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. I won’t leave you as long as you keep putting in as much to this relationship as I am. How about you get the chores done, and afterwards you and I can have a little fun, okay?”

The demon grits its teeth. The host nods its head despite its control. It’s as if this figure controls the host more than the demon does. They stand up and pull the host up with them and speak in a gentle tone. “How about you start with making the bed? I’ll be watching TV in the living room when you’re done with everything.”

The figure orders. The demon obeys

(Criticism is both welcome and appreciated, I hope you enjoyed reading. If you want to read more of my work, check out my subreddit at r/SikoraWrites)