The Devil's Vessel

SIA’S POV

The walk back home should have calmed me down but it didn't, it only made it worse.

Every step away from the alley felt like I was walking from a dream that I couldn’t fully wake up from, except I was awake.

Oh from seeing the size of that exhibitionist, I was definitely awake.

I checked my phone twice just to confirm that I got no calls from Zach and I can't find Maya either.

“…Maya?” I called under my breath.

But it's silent without the usual flutter of wings, nothing.

That's odd.

“Okay,” I mutter. “So now I’m officially talking to myself.”

That should’ve scared me more than it did but I am still stuck in what just happened.

The alley, his voice, the man–

I stopped walking as I realized something strange.

I couldn't remember him anymore, if I even tried to, it all seems like my mind is covered with fog.

That didn’t make sense at all, I just saw him.

But when I try to recall his face, it's blurry. Like fog has settled over it.

I blinked.

“No, that’s completely stupid,” I say out loud. “I literally saw him like five minutes ago.”

I try again to focus.

A tall man cosplaying as a demon with horns and an intense voice

His face–

That's it. That's the extent that my memory will allow me to remember.

His face kept shifting at the edges of my memory like smoke blowing from the wind.

“…Why can’t I remember your face properly?”

By the time I reached my apartment, my thoughts had turned into tiredness as I locked the doors behind me and dropped down onto the floor with my keys.

Something in me feels okay but at the same time it all feels… wrong.

I could feel like my skin was listening to things it shouldn’t be able to hear or understand so I pressed my hand to my chest.

I need to calm down. So I walk into the kitchen and grab a cold glass of water and chug it down.

My reflection in the window catches my eye, making me pause and stare.

It's nothing wrong, but I no longer feel myself any more.

“Get it together, Sia,” I say quietly after trying to pinpoint the difference in me

But when I turned away, I could've swore I felt something watching me longer than I did.

I turned back quickly to see it was nothing but my reflection.

My phone finally rings, and it's Zach.

I almost smile without even thinking about it.

“Hello Zach.” I said.

“Where have you been? You said you’d call earlier,” he says.

“Sorry,” I replied quickly. “Busy day for me.”

I didn’t know why I said that but I imagine telling my boyfriend that I saw a tall 7ft dude choke a girl with only her throat and use her as an onahole isn't a good conversation starter.

Zach laughs softly like he didn't mind.

“You sound weird,” he says.

“I’m fine.”

Then he says once more, “You’re thinking too much again.”

That made me exhale slightly.

“Yeah,” I admitted as I looked outside at my reflection.

It's all pretty normal so maybe it's just the proposal jitters getting to me.

But for a split second–

I see something behind me in the glass.

A shadow that didn’t belong to the room smiling at me.

I turned around sharply but there was nothing there.

Zach was still talking.

“…Sia? Are you listening?”

“Yeah,” I say quickly. “Yeah, I’m here.”

But I wasn’t really, especially with this thing disturbing me.

I tried to picture him, the man from the alley again only to come up short.

Like something is actively refusing to let me see him clearly.

My grip tightened around the phone.

“Zach,” I said suddenly.

“Yeah?”

“…Do you ever forget someone’s face even when you just saw them?”

Silence before she laughs out in that sweet voice of hers.

“No,” he said. “That’s not normal.”

Right.

That should maybe reassure me but it didn't.

After the call ended, the apartment fell into more silence as there was no Maya or Zach.

It's just me and the presence with me giving me a headache.

I check the window again but there's nothing there.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that the air inside the room had changed like something was passing through.

I sit on my bed to relax and think about the ring and the proposal about to happen.

My graduation and a chance of normal life with–

The alley.

I shake my head to try and get it out of me but then later with frustration.

“Why can’t I see or remember you properly?” I mutter.

The room stays silent until I look down and see that my hand is shaking.

Not out of fear, but out of something even I can't recognize.

I stare at my palm with confusion and faint fear.

“…What is wrong with me?”

With shock, I'm in for a surprise when a new and strange voice pops up in my mind.

“You’re remembering incorrectly.”

I freeze as my breathing stops halfway.

I look around just in case but I can't find Maya.

That talk is from inside my head.

I swallow and ask even though I know it's not feasible especially with male voice in my head.

“…Maya?” I call again but this time there's no response or answer.

The silence that follows my question feels heavier than the one that happened.

And then, for the first time since the alley–

I couldn’t tell if I was alone in the room or if my memories finally stopped showing or popping out hallucinations for me.

I try one last time to remember his face but instead of the fog, I'm met with a calm and insipid voice.

“You were never supposed to remember him, you're not even real.”

“Who are you?!”

I yell back in my empty room, screaming and demanding answers like a lunatic screaming to himself.

Who is this person talking in my head?