Silas, Part 3

She Typhonia wasn't happy with my first attempts. I would just follow him at school, watch him at lunch, walk his routes in the halls. It felt wrong at first, the more I thought about listening to something Typhonia after she'd hurt me. My bite would start burning. Every time I nodded off to sleep, it felt like a fire started in my veins, then all over my body. On the third day, I started to think that maybe Typhonia meant something more intimate than stalking Russell at school. I would say to myself "No, I'm doing what she said, I'm following him. He's an asshole, but I don't know what'll come of doing anything more. I'm not gonna be responsible for his death."

But then I started listening to Russell talk. I got to hear all about the girls he'd screwed, all the horrible shit he thought about me and other people. Sometimes, I saw him make out with his thirteen-year-old girlfriend; sometimes I saw him go further, despite her protests. I stopped making excuses for Russell. I started thinking that the least he deserved was watching. I'd follow him after school. I learned the bus routes he'd take to get home; I saw where his house was; I observed him while he'd work on this shitty car in the afternoon, swapping out parts and cleaning them. I was very careful to always put a good distance between us; I mostly watched him through binoculars. Russell has muscle enough to back up his violent threats. 

Typhonia came again, when Joe and Martha left me alone with a box of KD for supper. I didn't bother making it; I knew she'd be waiting for me. I went upstairs in the dark to an empty bedroom. I was freaking out until a pair of arms wrapped around my neck when I collapsed onto the couch. I tensed up, afraid of those scales cutting into my throat. The muscles beneath them were relaxed, though. 

"You did great, Silas." She purred in my ear. I could feel her breath on my face. Instinctively, I grabbed her arms, trying to pull free. She snorted, startled and amused all at once. It took her about five seconds to twist my arms behind my back, straining against their joints when I squirmed and cried out. Typhonia clicked her tongue disapprovingly. I finally fell silent. "Let's not ruin the moment, Silas. You did a good job!" She eased me forward into the cushions. I could hear her sliding her serpentine bulk over the couch as she eased herself atop me, then felt it trap my legs underneath. 

"You get rewarded when you do a good job. I promised to take away the pain, didn't I?" I felt the bite's throbbing pain ebb away slowly, lessening every time I let out a breath. I felt an odd sense of euphoria; I also realized how tired I was. 

"I always keep my promises," I heard Typhonia say softly before my eyes closed. 

I woke up in bed, Typhonia resting atop her coiled tail beside me. "Glad you slept well." The ghost of a smile crossed her lips. She reached out to touch my face. I didn't flinch away this time. "I need you to do something else for me today, okay Silas?

"I need you to follow Russell again. But this time, do something more. Destroy something he loves."

I almost nodded. I almost agreed right then and there. It actually took me a moment to stop and think about what Typhonia was asking. Russell might be terrible, but I don't want to break any laws...I didn't want him to hurt me. I must have shaken my head unconsciously, because Typhonia frowned and leaned closer to me, paralyzing eyes locking me down as they scoured my soul. "You'll do it. Or you'll be punished." Her voice was commanding now, firm. All I could think of was Russell beating my skull in against the concrete. I shook my head again, trying to move away from Typhonia. Her face clouded over, now stormy and angry. 

I don't know where she got the knife from. I assume the kitchen. By the time she was done torturing punishing me, there were so many cuts on my inner thighs, deep angry gashes of red. She threw the knife away, gave me one more furious look. "I don't understand why you're willing to suffer so much for someone who'd do far, far worse to you if he ever got the chance." I managed to hear her hiss through the pain. 

The bite is hurting again. I can't sleep again. Everything's spiralling downwards again. She's right though; I know Russell would hurt me if he ever got the chance. I've seen him hurt people before, in fights. I'm sitting behind a hedge right now, watching that smug piece of shit wiping down his car right now. He's wearing a wifebeater, self-satisfied smirk on his face. I tried so hard to be empathetic, to remember that maybe he's the way he is because something bad happened to him. 

But I can't see it. I just see someone who makes bad things happen to other people. To me. I see a bully with a taste for ruling over people. Typhonia wants me to stop suffering, in a...well, in her own way. She wants me to put this fuck in his place. Maybe I'm in denial. Maybe I've wanted that to do that too, all along.