the devil on my shoulder

7/28/2019 The Devil on My Shoulder

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Jennifer

The golden haired girl sat in her chair looking out into the world. Only her world was now

an old antique store with hardly any customers and very few finery to its name. Jennifer

sat still in her frame, remembering her past, with what might just be able to be pass as asmile upon her face.

Jennifer lived a long time ago in a great big house with her younger brother, her parents

and their servantry . She was a very fortunate child being born in such a rich family, but

she wasn't as fortunate as her little brother, Thomas. Thomas was the future master of the

household and so there he was nothing he could do wrong. He was just their little perfect

boy. Jennifer was happy though, she had a beautiful doll that she had gotten from her

mother before Thomas was born and she kept it hidden in a bag she always kept with her.

It was her little secret and it kept the smile upon her face.

One day while out at the dress store with her mother, a painter noticed that little smile ofhers and asked if he could paint her portrait. Jennifer was astonished at the attention she

was getting and gladly said yes. With her mother having no objections, Jennifer sat down

for a portrait and felt like royalty. It was the first time in years she had gotten someone's

full attention and she loved it. Though that night after sitting patiently for hours, her life

came crashing around her as her little brother walked up to her. "What's in that bag?" He

asked as he looked at her bag with intrigue. Jennifer looked at Thomas wondering why he

would care, "I'm not telling." She was not going to tell Mr.Perfect her secret, it was the

one thing she had to herself. Thomas first look surprised at her for denying his request

before then saying, "I want to know what's in the bag" in an angry tone. Jennifer shook her

head before walking off leaving a furious younger brother, "Tell me what's in the bag!" heyelled after her. Jennifer ignored him though. A move she would regret in the day to

come.

The next morning, Jennifer could tell something was off. The servantry seemed to be

whispering behind her back wherever she went. She ignored this though as the maids

would always gossip. It wasn't until she reached the main door to leave and go visit the

painter for another session did she realize what had happened. Her younger brother stood

there with a smug smile upon his face, "They all think you're a witch" He said as she went

to get her coat. She turned to look at him surprised, "Why would they think that?". His

smile grew bigger, "Because I said you were. That can be the only explanation for you not

showing me what is in your bag." Jennifer couldn't believe him, why would he create such

a horrible rumor about her?! Just because she wouldn't let him see her prized possession?!

She nevertheless put her coat on and left the house, she was going to be late for her

painting session if she stayed around.

Jennifer luckily made it to the painter's studio on time, but the door seemed to be closed.

Knocking a few times on the door didn't seem to help either. So she went to peer in the

side window, there she saw the painter at his easel. Smiling she tapped on the window

thinking he must have not heard her. The painter turned to looked shocked at the golden

haired girl at the window and quickly ran to the window and closed the curtains. Confused

and hurt Jennifer walked to the front of the building, why was the painter acting so odd?It was then she realized the rumor must have spread. This was all Thomas' fault! He had


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ruined her chance to have her portrait done, but even worse he had ruined the only

attention she had been given since he had been born! On the way home she started to

realize how bad this rumor could really be, he could have ruined her chance at a good life

and possibly cause her death.

Once at home she walked up the stairs pensive in thought on how likely it would be thatthey would still burn witches in this day and age. It was then at the top of the stairs she

stopped to think. It was then her brother walked up to her with that big old smug smile of

his. "You should have told me what was in that bag" he said as he knew exactly what he

had done, condemning her to a fiery death. Filled with anger and hatred that she had

never felt before for all he had done to her, not only taking away the love from her

parents but also possibly condemning her to unhonourable and painful death.

Jennifer felt herself push Thomas down the staircase. It was only seeing the horror in his

face as he started to fall did she notice what she had done, and she loved it. Her face

turned into a smile of glee at seeing her little brother pay for what he had done to her.

That smile was quickly removed though as Thomas' hand reached out in instinct, and

grabbed the folds of her dress. Then they both fell down the staircase to then lie in a

mangled pile.

It was called an accident. A true tragedy to the family name. Though the years went by,

and the painter who felt like he had committed some wrong, finished the portrait painting

to keep Jennifer somehow still alive. So she still lives on until this day.

Only a few years ago she lived in a beautiful house with a wonderful family. She was even

related to the mother of the group, Anne. Sure she was an ancestor and Anne was a great

great great great niece or something, but it was nice to live in a place where she hadrelatives. So she lived with the family of four that she was distantly related to and they

put her above the fire place so everyone could see her when they entered their home.

Anne didn't exactly know who the painting was about but she knew it had been in the

family for as long as she had known. So she had proudly hung it up in the living room

showing not only the wealth of the family but also its long history. Anne felt proud of not

only her long family's history of wealth and properness, but she was so proud of her own

husband and children. She had two wonderful children, two boys named Jason and Mark

who went to a private boy's school. Then there of course was her husband James who she

had met through family friends. He was a banker and brought in enough money to keep

her comfortable life style. She of course didn't work; it was not needed for a woman like

herself. She was better off going to book clubs and gossiping then actually doing anything

that meant heavy lifting or even problem solving. She considered her white picket fence

life to be perfect.

The problem with a white picket fence life is that everything might look perfect on the

outside but that is not always true on the inside. James had once fallen in love with a

lively girl who liked to make out in the coat room and party all night. That girl he once

knew had grown up into a woman that wore a pearl necklace and read the bible and now

he found himself looking for love in a different place. This different place being a small

hardly known about brothel just down near the train station.


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It wasn't until Anne one day checked the credit card bills to figure out how much Jason's

piano lessons cost that she realized her husband was visiting such a place. Why on earth

would her husband be visiting such a hell pit?! It was vile and against everything they were

about! Anne paced the living room that night, her left hand holding the credit card bill so

hard that it was being crushed. Anne's world slowly fell apart as she noticed how her

husband's actions not only ruined their relationship but also their family and their

reputation. She had changed into the perfect lady all for him and their family and now he

was off chasing floozies?! How could he do this to her?! How could he do this to their

family?!

It was then that Jennifer truly woke up, it was Anne's anger that fed her hungry desires. It

was then that Anne was no longer Anne, but was suddenly Jennifer and all her hunger

came flowing through her body. It was Jennifer who led Anne's body to the kitchen but it

was still Anne's hand that picked up the knife. It was still Anne's hand that brought the old

kitchen's knife into James' chest over and over and over again. It was just Jennifer who

smiled in glee at the terror on his face, not unalike Thomas' face, when he had woken upto see his wife above him with a knife. It was just Jennifer who had gotten away with

murder once again and once the deed was done, she went back to the old painting above

the fire place. Anne screamed once she had seen what she done, looking from the bloody

knife in her hand to the man she loved, dead, tangled in the red bed sheets. While

Jennifer sat upon her chair with the little smile upon her face pretending to be a small

innocent girl once again.

The happy family was all over. Anne was removed by the police once a neighbor called in

the horrible screams that they heard. The children had been taken away to what could be

assumed would be foster homes or some kind family members. The house and the

belongings were sold. Meaning Jennifer no longer lived in the big house with laughter

anymore but instead sat in an old and boring antique store.

She still smiled at the memories though, she smiled and sat placidly in her frame. While

she waited for the next victim to decide that their new house needed a old and expensive

painting like the one she called her home.


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The Parasite Within

Pulled from nowhere into darkness, Eliza feels herself being positioned into some kind ofseat. At least thats what she thought it was, maybe it was in fact a bed. She could hardly

see anything as shadows had invaded the room, leaving her searching for some kind of

familiarity. She did not find any though, instead she seemed a to have found three female

like figures moving around her in the little light the area had. Eliza could swear their skin

was red but that might have just been the flickering light of the candles. Chanting in a

whispering tone, they grabbed and pulled at her before then moving to wet her face with

some sticky substance. What Eliza couldnt see was this substance was in fact blood, and

the three women who were moving her like she was just a doll in their hands, closed her

eyes and easily wrote their sacred numbers upon her eyelids. Trying to escape the horror

that had befallen her, Eliza suddenly found herself free from the women like figures. Shewas about to run before she saw the intimidating figure in front of her. He was such a

large and terrifying figure that all she could do was stare. Until she realized he had begun

moving her like she was a lifeless doll and so in her fear she screamed with all her might.

She screamed to escape the fate she could see was about to fall befall her. She

screamed.

14th of May

Screaming a horrified Eliza shot out of her bed covers like they themselves were the ones

who were hurting her. Covered in cold sweat, she looked around her room to reassure

herself that what she had just seen wasnt real. Taking a deep breath, she looked back to

her bed. It was all a dream; it had to all have been a dream. She would have laughed if

she still wasnt so terrified. Instead she went to take a shower. She had a few hours

before work started, the nightmare had woken her up at an ungodly hour and there was no

way she was going back to sleep now. So she ended up going along with her usual morning

routine trying to ignore the horrifying images that kept on popping up in her head. It

seemed like she was unable to be unaffected by what happened and found herself

changing her typical routine. She found herself covering herself with more clothing thenshe normally would and even on the way to work she avoided everyone like just one

simple bump by a stranger would kill her. After all, its not easy to feel comfortable after

you just had a nightmare where the Devil visited your bed.

14th of June


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Eliza, you can doubt it all you want but Im telling you girl. You need to take that

pregnancy test I gave you. You missed your period andvomited this morning, I mean its

the only explanation.

Well Im telling you I havent been with a man for months.

I know youre embarrassed to tell me the truth, Sarah said on the other side of the

phone, But you really just got to take the test.

Eliza found herself looking at the unopened pregnancy test box and turning it around in

her hands. The mobile against her ear she started to think out loud, There was this one

night

I KNEW IT! Sarah exclaimed feeling like she was finally getting the truth out of her best

friend even, if she had to pull it out of her like it was some kind of rotten tooth.

No! No! Its not like that! Eliza said before frowning at the thought of that night, It was

a dream. Well more like a nightmare.

Sure Sure Sarah said chuckling, Just take the darn test and tell me if this dream guy

of yours is a father or not.

Eliza sighed, there was really no use with arguing with Sarah. She was not going to believe

her anyway so she might as well take the test and prove her wrong. Ok Ill take the test

but there is no way in hell that Im preg-

Sarah didnt listen as she had gotten what she wanted. So instead she talked over, Take

it now and then call me right away. See you in a bit E. The phone hung up and left Elizajust staring at the box within her hands.

15th of June

Walking towards the pristine white doors of the clinic, Eliza found herself dragging her

feet as she stared up at the impending doors. Turning around she looked back at the bare

car park, Sarah was supposed to have arrived already. Not knowing what could have kept

her friend up she found herself wondering if she really could do this by herself. It was then

the glaring white door opened and a nurse's smiling face looked at her.

"There you are!" The nurse said with a big smile upon her face. Grabbing Eliza's arm, she

pulled her in to the abortion clinic, so that Eliza could clearly see the nurse with her

brown hair in a tight bun on top of her head and her name tag announcing that her name

was Amanda. "We've all been waiting for you," Amanda said with a smile that just seem to

be permanently stuck on her face. Eliza looked at her confused. Had Sarah called ahead

or something?

"Now don't let your friend getting into a little accident get you down." Amanda continued

not really caring about the frown forming on Eliza's brow. "Just come with me and you'll be


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perfectly all right" Pulling along the increasingly worried woman, Amanda took Eliza

down the unusually empty corridors that stank like antiseptic until it seemed like they had

reached their destination.

Amanda pulled Eliza into the medical room where the was an examining table and a

machine that she didn't recognize. Not knowing what was really going on Eliza foundherself obeying Amanda's instructions to lie down on the table and to rise her shirt, after

all the nurse had to know more about this then she did. Laying there, she found herself

staring at the nurse with increasing worry. She didn't think she could do this by herself and

why had Sarah told the clinic that she was in an accident but not her? That was when she

was brought back to the world by a cold gel being put on her belly.

"Now let's see that child of yours," Amanda's voice said as she went to put the probe on top

of where her uterus would be.

"No! No! I don't want to-"

An image of a small alien-like being appeared on the screen of the machine leaving Eliza

staring speechless. It's a month old! How is it so big!

"Ahh there we go. It's right on schedule" Amanda looked at the screen with a nearly even

soft expression, "There's its little hands, and oh there is its adorable tail"

"Tail!?" Eliza found herself gasping, her eyes frantically searching the image for this so

called tail. This couldn't be real.

"Well of course" The nurse said as she quickly turned off the machines and whipped the

cool gel off Eliza's belly. Pulling Eliza up and off the examining table, any of the softnessthat might have been there was completely gone. Amanda started to drag her through the

hospital once again leaving Eliza trying to find words for the hundreds of questions going

on in her mind. Coming down the last corridor Eliza found the words, "Where is Sarah?"

dropping from her mouth.

Stopping at the entrance the smiling nurse turned around sighing at the scared young

adult, "Sarah isn't coming." She spoke slowly as if Eliza was a three year old who might

manage to mistake anything too complicated, "She was in an accident. A car accident.

She's not coming back."

Eliza stared at the nurse with huge green eyes. What was this lady saying?!

"And just so you don't get any ideas about going to another abortion clinic" The nurse

pulled out a lighter from a pocket. Igniting the lighter, Amanda's eyes seemed to flicker in

the light, and just for a second they looked more like the eyes of a snake then a human.

Then without a second thought, Amanda threw the lighter behind her.

The abortion clinic had to been covered in some kind of gasoline or something, because

before Eliza knew it she was backing away from a building on fire and the horrifying

screams of Amanda dying a terrible firey death.

Staring at the flames, her hand had found it's away around her phone. As if by instinct shehad the phone to her ear to only hear "Hello this is Sarah's phone, I'm not hear at the


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moment. Leave a message after the beep and I'll get back to you." There was a shrill beep

and Sarah just stood there stuck in her place as the horror of what had just happened

washed over her.

31st of July

Standing outside the doors of the church, Eliza watched as the crowd of people started to

disperse as they all made their way from their weekly visitation to god to their cars and

back to their normal lives. It was then she finally gathered the courage to walk up to the

priest who was saying his last goodbyes. Eliza never had really been a church going person

or particularly religious in anyway but if she ever felt she needed religion in her life it was

right now.

"What can I help you with dear?" His kind voice matched his kind blue eyes that seemed to

shine when they looked at her.

"Can-can you do exorcisms?" Eliza said the words stumbling awkwardly out of her mouth.

Those kind blue eyes suddenly widened in shock, "What could you ever need an exorcism

for?!"

"My baby. It's," she found herself searching for a word that wasn't 'a demon' or 'the

antichrist', "it's not normal"

The kind smile came back to the priests face. After all it was common for such youngmothers to be worried about their child. He had seen lots of paranoid mothers before and

he was sure he was going to see lots more. "I'm sure there is nothing wrong with your

child, but if it would make you feel more comfortable I could bless it."

Nodding at the priest's offer, she found herself soon following him back into the small

church. Eliza would take anything she could get. She just wanted this living nightmare to

end.

Walking down the aisle, she found herself in front of the alter with the comfortably full

figured and warm man that was before her. With a bit of rummaging around the altar, the

priest finally looked ready and he dipped a small brush into the vessel that held the holy

water.

"May the Lord bless you and keep, you" His hand moved to sprinkle the water on to Eliza's

small baby bump. He suddenly stopped though, the water splattering on the floor instead

of sprinkling upon her. Standing there, his eyes grew wide and it seemed like his body

started to twitch. Gurgling for help, he started to foam at the mouth before falling on to

the floor in a twitching heap.

Stepping back in horror at the priest's frantic twitching and the painful sounds leaving his

throat, she panicked and screamed for help. No one heard her though, leaving her to


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watch as the community's beloved priest died right in front of her all the while knowing

that it was her fault.

1st of September

Slumped on the kitchen floor, tears rolled down her face as Eliza breathed heavily,

thoughts reeling through her head. She hadn't left her apartment in days. She couldn't

leave the apartment! She couldn't talk to anyone! She couldn't do anything. If she did

something or talked to someone, they would die. Every time she had tried to get rid off

this demon child someone had died. It was all her fault. It was all this demon's child fault!

What had she done to deserve this!?!

Looking back at the large kitchen knife she had taken from the kitchen top before, her

pale shaking hand moved towards it. Picking it up lightly she just stared at its sheen. She

had to do it. This time she had to do it. There was nothing else she could do. She couldn't

let this abomination be born. She couldn't be the mother to the antichrist.

She readied herself by putting the knife over the now large baby bump and then closed

her eyes. Taking a big breath she finally swung the blade down. Plunging the harsh steel in

she screamed in agony as the knife cut through her flesh. Falling to her side in the pain

she let the knife slide away from her as she wailed in distress.

Lying on the floor she knew she was going to die from this blood loss, but as soon as she

knew this, she noticed there wasn't that much blood. Looking back at her belly she sawthe wound quickly healing itself.

Eliza was about to swear at her last resort not working but, that's when the real pain

kicked in. That's when she noticed the floor was covered in water and she knew that the

baby was coming and it was not going to wait till she attempted to kill it again.

2nd of September

Being pushed quickly through the hospital on a stretched Eliza hands where white as they

gripped on to the bed's railing.

"This baby is coming now people" The nurse yelled out as they brought her into a room

where a doctor was al\lready waiting.

"No. No" Eliza said as she gasped for air as the anguish took up most of her will, "The baby

can't come. It can't come!" She said as she grasped for the nurse's arm. The nurse simply

smiled at her and said "Everything will be alright" before rushing off to help the team

attending upon Eliza.


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Everything wasn't all right though. They said there were complications or some thing but in

the end it meant Eliza was one of those sad cases where the mother died in child birth.

The baby survived though. He was a miracle born to the world healthy and happy. Sure he

had a bit of vestigial tail, but that was common enough, it could be easily removed.

"So what's happening to the baby boy?" A nurse whispered to her co-worker.

"I believe he's being put up for adoption"

"That sweet boy will be snapped up real quick" The nurse said as she looked as the child

was being taken away in the hospital crib. It was then it seemed like the baby chose to

look at her as well, and she could even swear it smiled.


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The Storm

The wind rushed through the trees causing a creepy howling sound to emerge and enter

the ears of the girls who stood around in the common room of the boarding house. The

few of them that lived there were all gathered together for safety as the storm passed

through but of course the girls had different ideas. "Did you know this house is supposed to

be haunted?" Said one girl giggling as she looked at her frightened friends. "Haun--

haunted?" A little voice peeped out as a mousey brown girl looked at the others with big

terrified eyes. "Well everyone knows that" Scoffed the blonde girl as she tried to act like

she wasn't scared at all, "It was the old headmistress who lived here."

"There is no such story" The governess said briskly disturbing the gossip and horror stories,

"Now please sit down and let the storm pass-"

There was a sudden crack of lightning and the girls instantly screamed a high pitched

scream in unison. Quickly afterwards there were a few giggles, but it could be easily seen

that all were not having fun. The youngest girl, about the age of fifteen, looked around

the group with her big brown eyes. Elizabeth knew everyone else saw this as fun but she

couldn't help but being scared, the storm was so big and she had never been in one like it

before.

The wind blew louder and it seemed as if something had started to play with the

electricity as the lights started to flicker inconsistently. "Governess...." Her voice said

squeaking as her throat tightened while she tried to look for the woman that looked after

them all.

The governess only looked to the youngest for a moment saying, "Hush child, the storm

should pass soon." and then she was back to trying to keep the calm and stop girls going

on so called adventures. Elizabeth nodded and got up to walk around, trying to calm

herself down but that's when the biggest lightning bolt hit the old building and all went

dark. The girls screamed again but then started to laugh and giggle, as they held on to

each other for comfort. There was no sound from Elizabeth though. As soon as the lights

came back on the giggles and chatter started to turn into worried voices. "Elizabeth?

Elizabeth are you ok?" the other girls looked worriedly at their housemate but Elizabeth

didn't move. The governess rushed through the chattering girls to see what had happenedto only to be faced with the small figure of a mousey haired girl with her hands covering

her face. "It's alight dear," The governess said as she calmly came over to the scared girl's

side and slowly started to remove her hands from her face, "Everything will be --" . Falling

back in shock and horror the governess revealed Elizabeth who stood there with her hands

loosely at her side but something was very wrong. The screams of horror echoed through

the boarding house as all could suddenly see that she had completely blank face. Her

face...it was gone. Completely gone.


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Tea Time

The purple flamingo was not only flecked with little grey bits but it also had a top hat, a

bow and was drinking tea from a bone china tea cup. This was unusual to say the least. It

was like Sarah had just entered a different land. Walking back out the door way that she

had just entered through, she shut the door. She could see it was a perfectly normal door,

so she took a deep breath and opened the door once more. That didnt change the fact

that there was a flamingo just standing there casually on one foot, with its tea in a wing.

It just seemed to stare at her as if wondering what she was doing, then thats when it

asked in a very British accent. Are you alight my dear?

Yes, it talked. It bloody talked. Sarah was stunned, she felt like running and pretending

she saw nothing. Nevertheless her mouth had other ideas, Yes, Im perfectly fine.

O Well. In that case would you like a spot of tea? The flamingo asked as it gestured tothe Victorian looking tea pot. Sarahs body seemed to have a mind of its own as it went

towards the tea pot. It was only then did she realize that the mound in the lake was not in

fact just a log but the stomach of an alligator. This realisation of course happened quite

suddenly as the alligator sat up and looked at the young girl. O I know I have another cup

around here somewhere The alligator said as it fretfully looked around the lake for

another delicate cup which Sarah was sure it would not be able to find. Shaking her head

she yelled at herself, why are you thinking about the tea cup?! Thats a damn alligator!

RUN!!! Then her eyes spotted a gleam of white in the mucky water and she found herself

bending over and picking up a porcelain cup with a floral print on it. There it is The

alligator said with a big toothy grin. Putting her hand forward to receive some tea, Sarahfound herself thinking; well I guess it is tea time.

the devil on my shoulder

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