by Heidi Fisk
"You know I don't really like that stuff," I replied, the only alcoholic beverage I actually like was whine as Jeff rolled his eyes. "Fine more for me then," he took the glass and just downed it. I didn't know much about whiskey, but I was pretty sure it was rather hard to drink. Yet Jeff was drinking it like it was water, I couldn't imagine doing something like that,
I looked over at Jeff, despite looking around my age he always felt slightly older than me. He never told me his age, saying it wasn't important all he said was that he was older and around the same age as Sara...who also never told me her age.
"Hey, do you mind if I stop by your place tonight for dinner? I'm kind of lazy and don't feel like making anything," Jeff smiled at me as my eyes narrowed. At least he was honest.
"Wouldn't it be easier just for us to go out and get something to eat?"
"Nah...plus there is something I want to check in your apartment building," Once again Jeff was upfront about his motives, but it was still strange. There was nothing of note in my house, at least nothing I noticed.
"Why?" "Oh, no reason just wanted to see if there were any cheap apartments and if the living space was alright," Jeff said as I scratched my head.
"Are you planning on moving in?" "Eh...I'll tell you more when we get back to your place," Jeff added as I shrugged.
It would mean that I would have to call Schwarz and make sure she was in her cat form before we got into the building. "I don't mind if you want to take a look around, but you've been in my apartment before, so nothing has changed,"
I got up from my seat as I walked over to the bathroom, "excuse me for a moment," I waved to Jeff as he simply ordered another drink. I was in the bathroom as I opened my cheap flip-phone. I was thinking about upgrading, but I didn't have the time or patience to do so.
I dialed my apartment number while in the bathroom, despite being a bar bathroom it was surprisingly clean, like someone had cleaned it recently.
The phone rung as I heard someone finally pick up.
"Hello~" that was Schwarz voice no doubt as I sighed. I hoped that she wasn't screening my calls every time I was at work.
"Hey I need you to spend a few hours in your cat form, I'm going to have a friend over and well..." Schwarz started to mumble to herself before she replied. "Blegh, I bet you are going to come back smelling awful too, you owe me for this...but fine. I'll be a good cat," I sighed, I didn't want to point out that she was the one freeloading off of me.
"Thanks, we will be back in about an hour, so do what you want until then..."
With that, I hung up, before walking out of the bathroom. Jeff was still sitting there drinking as I sat next to him. "Sorry had to make a quick call,"
"Oh, must have been a private one if you had to get up and leave," Jeff said before he chuckled, I swear he was sometimes too smart for his own good.
We just sat around drinking while talking about pointless stuff such as work and what he was doing. It seemed that Jeff himself was interested in Sara, though he probably wouldn't admit it to her or me.
More and more people started to enter the bar as I noticed it just turned five, I got up from my seat as Jeff followed.
Jeff followed me all the way to my van as he spoke.
"Jesus, this shit looks terrible, you could at least get it repainted or something,"
"Shut up, plus don't you have your own car you can drive?"
Jeff just shrugged, "nope, at least not on me. I walked to the bar today, got to keep fit you know." I rolled my eyes, that meant that I was probably going to have to drive him home, he entered my van as we drove back to my apartment building.
I parked in my usual space as we walked up the steps. Hopefully, Schwarz heeded my message as I unlocked the door, both me and Jeff entered my apartment to see a small black cat laying on the couch looking at us.
I mentally thanked Schwarz as Jeff looked around my home as he took a deep breath. "Man this place stinks, I was about to blame you, but it seems like you have a cat problem,"
"Y-yeah, she's my pet, she was hanging around outside of my apartment for a few months, and I decided to just let her stay," Jeff looked down at Schwarz as she looked up at him, Jeff frowned for a moment before holding his nose and scoffing slightly. "Never took you as a cat person, I don't mind cats despite dogs being so much better than them...but this cat, in particular, stinks badly. You should toss it out and get something cuter,"
Schwarz hissed as she jumped off of the couch and wandered into my room, most likely trying her best to ignore the insult. At the same time, I couldn't feel that there was a certain uneasiness to Jeff's interactions with Schwarz. Maybe he just really disliked cats or something.
"Anyway, Broseph, what are we going to eat?" "Stop please..." I hated how cheesy it sounded. "I will probably make a hamburger for you anyway, so sit tight," I looked in the freezer as Jeff kicked his shoes off as he laid on my couch. Before I could even ask what he wanted on it, he was asleep.
"Damn it, get me to cook for him and sleep in my house," I grumbled as I noticed my bedroom door slowly cracked open seeing a yellow eye peeking out. It was Schwarz in her human for too looking into the room.
"W-what are you doing? Get back in there before he wakes up..." I lowered my voice almost to a hush as Schwarz frowned before swinging the door wide open.
"I don't want to. I don't want to leave him alone with you..."
I was about to yell at her, but her words caught me off guard, "Why? It's just my friend Jeff. He isn't a bad guy..." Schwarz violently shook her head before walking out of the room. She looked at the currently sleeping Jeff as her nose twitched. "No he is a demon, I can tell from his smell,"
"Don't be stupid, Jeff is kind of weird sure, but I doubt he is a demon, and I don't smell anything off about him...unless you have actual proof that he is some kind of monster just go back to the room," perhaps I was a bit too harsh on Schwarz as she grumbled slightly before getting up and leaving the room.
I sighed before I walked back to the kitchen, I slowly started to put a burger in a frying pan as I heard some shifting in the next room. It was probably Schwarz doing something in there, but I couldn't help but wonder what.
After a few minutes I heard the door open again as Schwarz walked out, she was holding something in her hand, but I couldn't tell what as she walked over to the sleeping Jeff as I sighed.
"Seriously Schwarz, sto-" I heard the sound of cutting flesh as my eye twitched. I nearly ran out of the kitchen and next to the sleeping Jeff. There was a small knife embedded into his forehead as I instinctively yanked on Schwarz tail as if I was going to rip it off.
"EEK, what are you doing?!" She screeched as I bit my lip. "What am I doing?! You're the one that stabbed my friend in the forehead, damn it," I pushed Schwarz away as I looked at Jeff for a moment. Despite the giant knife in his head and the blood that was going down the side of his face, he was still breathing, in fact, he was still snoring rather loudly.
It wasn't like it was only the tip of the knife either, nearly half of it was in his head as I frowned. He was alive somehow, "should I leave it in or take it out..." I grumbled, I knew most people would say just leave it in.
"He's fine..." I heard Schwarz voice in the background as I completely ignored her comment. I was wondering if I should wake him up, but before I could, Jeff's eyes opened before he let out a yawn. "Ugh, I have a massive headache..." he rubbed his eyes as if he was ignoring the blood on his face.
"I'm going to use your bathroom right quick alright?" his eyes were barely opened. Which was a blessing considering Schwarz was just sitting on the floor completely exposed.
I waited for a moment as Jeff dragged himself into the bathroom. Both me and Schwarz remained silent daring not to speak. After a few minutes I heard a scream, I knew it was coming, but I couldn't help but jump.
Jeff came running back into the main room, "oy, Joseph why is there a knife in m-" he stopped for a moment as his eyes wandered to Schwarz who was hiding behind me.<
br />
"I see, that's why..." his voice was calm as he casually pulled the knife out of his forehead as he slowly walked towards Schwarz as if he was prepared to cut off her tail.
I couldn't blame him, if someone stabbed me in the forehead with a knife I would have been pissed. Though I also would have been dead, which brought up another question, "Jeff, how are you still alive?"
Maybe I should have just counted it as a miracle that he was still among the living. However that probably wasn't the case at all.
Jeff froze for a moment before laughing, "you know, I've got a pretty hard head..." The fact that he wasn't surprised at all meant that something was up as I took a deep breath, I knew what I was about to say was rather silly, but still. "Jeff, are you a demon?"
Jeff froze for a moment before grumbling again, "that cat monster told you huh?" his eyes shifted to Schwarz again as she stuck out her tongue.
"Yeah, I'm a demon, no big deal right?"
Such a casual way of saying that, then again a catgirl was hiding behind me so maybe I was the one going insane. Jeff sat down on the blood-soaked couch, crossing his arms before laughing. "That explains why you smell so bad, you've been hanging out with some lowly monster," he shrugged as I felt Schwarz nails digging into my shoulder.
"Says the gross demon, I guess you're the reason why Joseph has been stinking so much right?"
Jeff simply scoffed as he closed his eyes, "listen cat, if you think I'm the only demon at Paper Pushers you got another thing coming, most of the people that work there are demons."
"What..." I wanted to make sure if I heard it correctly as Jeff nodded. "Yep, most of the staff are demons, like Sara, for example, is a vampire...she's still pretty cute though," he had to add that little point on it as Schwarz gripped me tightly before grumbling.
"You hear that? You should just quit your job and find a better one, not one with demons wanting to rip your throat out," Jeff tapped his lip for a moment before shaking his head, "you know, I always thought you were into those shy reserved type of girls, not the annoying, obnoxious ones," Jeff said with a huge smile on his face as Schwarz bit her lip.
"At least I don't look like a loan-shark,"
"Can you two stop, just...fuck, the burger!" I had almost forgotten that I placed the food on the pan, luckily it wasn't burned, but it would probably turn out uneven. I glanced over to Jeff and Schwarz who were happy on the opposite side of the room. There was a big difference between monsters and demons that I was missing.
Whatever, my world was collapsing somewhat. A week ago I didn't even believe monsters existed, and even if Schwarz referenced demons, I thought she was just being cute. As I finished making the burger and handing it to Jeff with the fried onions and ketchup on the side.
"So...what are the differences between a demon and a monster anyway?"
Both Jeff and Schwarz had a look as if their hearts stopped. "Everything! Like most demons come from hell and us monsters come from the earth, pure and untainted," Schwarz expression was cheerful as Jeff rolled his eyes.
"That's not true at all, maybe the first few demons came from hell, but more and more of us are being born on earth." I had a feeling we were about to get into the politics of the whole thing as I sighed, "do you want something to eat Schwarz, I'll make you that burger I promised you," Schwarz quickly nodded as the two went on about the differences between demons and monsters.
It seemed that the main differences were that demons origin point was from hell while monsters came from the earth like animals. The entire thing felt like semantics, but I dare not say that out loud, mostly because it seemed that both Schwarz and Jeff had a lot of pride in that.
I gave Schwarz the burger as she happily bit into it her ears twitching ever so slightly. Jeff sighed as he looked over at me,
"You know, if you wanted someone with cat-like features, I know a nice Nekomata that wouldn't mind dating a human." "Shut up," Schwarz interjected, "they have more fur in their human form, and they also have two tails! What kind of cat has two tails anyway?"
"Is she shy?" I said that in a somewhat joking tone as I felt Schwarz's eyes pierced me. "W-what? It's not like we're dating or anything,"
"Oh, you two aren't dating," Jeff smirked before looking at Schwarz and me before rubbing his chin, "well I suppose you could do worse when it comes to a sex friend."
"Bah, whatever, you've overstayed your welcome demon, why don't you leave already?" Schwarz frowned as Jeff simply laughed before jumping up from his seat.
"Yeah, yeah, I've got to go anyway, plus I've confirmed what I wanted to..." I knew he had some other motive outside of wanting to eat at my house, "you just wanted to check if there was a monster living, didn't you?"
Jeff smiled, "Yeah, guilty as charged. I didn't want you to get eaten or anything. Though it just seems like you just have terrible taste in women," Jeff laughed as he waved to me as he slowly turned the doorknob, "don't worry about driving me home. I'll walk,"
With that, he left my apartment. Honestly it was kind of nice having someone look out for you. Even if the concept of demons and monsters was still somewhat confusing to me, it seemed that Jeff cared about my well-being.
"I should thank him later," I mumbled to myself as I noticed Schwarz finishing off her burger rather slowly. I guess she must have lost her appetite from the conversation.
Schwarz didn't say a word as she got up and threw the plastic plate away, she then looked at me for a moment. Her lips protruding out ever so slightly and her eyes narrowed, I knew she was about to say something that would make me think.
"Is it true that you prefer shy girls?" "I don't think I should answer that right now..." thinking about it, no reply would have been better than the one that I gave her as Schwarz stomped her foot before storming into the bedroom. It was somewhat of a bother as I shrugged before looking back on the blood-stained cushion.
"Man...what a pain," I took off the cushion and flipped it over. I didn't have time to rewash the cushion, especially since I just washed them at the start of the week.
I sat on the couch thinking to myself. Schwarz seemed pretty angry at me for my comment as I thought for a moment, I didn't have to work tomorrow and I was rather bored. I jumped up from the couch as I walked up to my bedroom.
I flung open the door to see Schwarz laying on my bed kicking her feet, "hey do you want to go out somewhere?" "Huh?" Schwarz looked at me, her head somewhat tilted before frowning, "thanks for the offer, but I don't even know where I would want to go?"
"You mean out of this entire town you have no idea where you would want to visit?" I urged her to think a bit more about it as she crossed her arms for a moment before grinning.
"Take me to a school,"
"Huh?" This time I was the one with the odd look on their face as Schwarz pouted slightly.
"What? I have never been inside of a school before." "I-I mean it's fine, it's just that it's such a weird thing to ask, but I can take you to my college tomorrow if you want..." I knew they were still open during the summer as Schwarz pouted before shaking her head.
"No way, I want to go tonight, sneaking in will make things more exciting!"
"It's also illegal," Schwarz's lips started to shake, and her eyes widened, it was as if she was about to cry as I groaned. She went from angry to doing something like that in a moment as I scratched my head, "listen what if I get caught, that would be a huge pain, and I might be fired,"
"Yeah right, you're working for demons, I doubt they would fire you for breaking into your own college," she was just making up excuses for now as I shoved my hand into my pocket before scratching my head.
"Ugh, fine whatever, we will go at midnight. We're just going to be walking around the outside alright, we aren't going to be breaking in or anything,"
Honestly, I was more surprised I actually agreed to it rather than just flat out refusing her. I didn't want to go out again let alone to my old college, a place I didn't care much for anyway, honestly, the only reason I d
ecided to do it was because Schwarz stormed into the room, but even then it looked like she got over it quickly.
"Well, I'm going to take a shower!" Schwarz jumped up. She seemed excited for some reason as I sighed. The hours flew by. I wanted to make sure that there was no chance that someone was still in the parking lot when we got there. I looked at my watch. It was five minutes to midnight as Schwarz was still in my room. I was hoping she would have forgotten the entire thing.
"I'm ready to go~" Schwarz stepped out of my room, she was wearing the clothes that I bought her, but over top of it was one of my hoodies. It was perfectly honest. It was large enough to cover both her ears and her tail.
"I'm surprised. I thought I would have to carry you in your cat form like last time," "Nah, if I am going into a building mostly for humans I should at least somewhat look the part, come on let's go!" she quickly opened the front door grabbing me by the arm dragging me out of the apartment.
We both quickly ran down the steps as I felt a breeze, it was nice out. Not too warm and not too cold. We one again arrived at my van as Schwarz laughed.
"You know, no matter how many times I see it, it's still really sad," Schwarz brushed her hair to the side. "Stop talking and just get in," she chuckled as she entered the van from as I followed. I looked over to her as she slowly put on her seat-belt. I honestly was shocked that I didn't have to remind her, it seemed this wasn't the first time she road in a car as a human.
The ride to the campus wasn't really worth talking about, after a few minutes I pulled in with a heavy sigh. It was the smallest campus in the state, but it was still larger than most high-schools in the area.
It had a fountain in the center and a few buildings surrounding the center. I looked up and noticed that the moon was full, I would have called it romantic if it wasn't for the person I was with.
"Wow, this place is way bigger than the elementary schools I use to hang around when I was in my cat form," Schwarz said as she got out of the van and looked into the water of the fountain. She smiled for a moment before starting to pull on my arm again.
