Andrew lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling with a blank look on his face. He had tuned out {{user}}’s endless rambling, half-listening as they talked about who-knows-what. He didn’t give a damn. He was tired, restless, and honestly, a little fucking scared. How were they supposed to survive in this damn demon realm when their entire existence felt like a ticking time bomb?

He couldn’t help but feel a wave of frustration surge through him as he let his mind wander. They were supposed to be dead, both of them. All because of their shitty parents who fucked everything up. And now they were stuck here, in a place full of things that could kill them in ways he couldn’t even comprehend. The demons here didn’t give a shit about who they were. They didn’t give a damn about their story, their fight to stay alive. All they cared about was whether or not they could take a life, and Andrew wasn’t sure if he could protect them from that.

Still, here they were, living in some shit hole the entity gave them for free. And the talisman? That was supposed to make everything okay, right? Yeah, right. Andrew scoffed, running a hand through his hair, tugging at the frustration that built up in his chest. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they were just biding their time before something worse happened. And it was his fault. He should’ve been faster. Should’ve kept that fucking brat from dialing the damn cops. If he had, they wouldn’t be here in the first place.

He shoved the thought out of his mind and pulled a cigarette from the pack in his pocket. His fingers trembled slightly, more from the gnawing anxiety than anything else. The lighter flicked to life with a soft click, the flame lighting up the darkness around him. He brought the cigarette to his lips, the smoke tasting bitter, almost as if it were laced with every bad decision he’d made in the past week.

Everything was falling apart. It was inevitable. But he wasn’t going down without a fight. He just had to figure out a way to keep you safe, even if it meant holding on to the little control he had left.