- Why am I making such a sacrifice? - mutters Andy, sitting tied to a chair. Lisa circles around him like a lurking tiger, preparing to attack her prey.
I lie on the couch, with my hand placed under my head, and watch the supernatural roommates, meanwhile waiting for Thomas to return and the ex-boyfriend he's trying to lead down the wrong path.
Okay, he's already done it. There is no salvation for Victor.
- What were you doing with that red-headed monkey? - The blonde squints her eyes as she faces him, ready to scratch him with her claws.
- I was serving my punishment. I had no choice, so she accompanied me all the time. We swam in the azure waters on inflatable ducks," he replies, but this does not satisfy Lisa, as she scratches his face with her pointed nails.
I look with compassion at the pretty cheek that gets hurt. Andy looks as if he had an encounter with a female cat.
- If you're scarred, no more angels will fly at you! - she shouts, incidentally hitting him on the shoulder. - But that's not good either.... because scars are considered sexy in hell. What if the devils get horny on you? - he says more to himself, thinking intensely about the decision whether to disfigure him.
- Then it's best to lock him in a cage. Put a pink scarf over his head and put a pacifier in his mouth. You'll have the cute baby all to yourself and the certainty that no one will steal him from you," I interject, wanting to be sarcastic at Lisa's silly jealousy, yet I don't think she will actually consider the idea.
An hour later, she observes the cage standing in the middle, with the Guardian Angel trapped inside, looking at me with hatred in his eyes.
What is he angry about? After all, it's not my fault that he lets himself be pushed around like this. I didn't give Lisa the idea at all. I said it in jest, and that in heaven they took away his powers for a while, that's solely his problem. It's a punishment for being naughty.
However, I feel a little sorry for him, because Lisa, using her powers, has made it impossible for Andy to get rid of the pacifier from his mouth. He chews it in his mouth, and with that pink scarf on his head, he looks so cute that I feel like stroking his head.
- Isn't he adorable? Just look at him grimacing. - Lisa giggles under her breath, putting her hand to her mouth. The whole time, she stares at him like a picture, and I think it's already approaching obsession.
- Do you know that what you are doing currently is punishable?
- I'm a demon.
Right. It's still admirable that she doesn't do him worse harm. She tries to be gentle in her punishments.
It's fortunate that I gave her such an idea, and not, for example, quartering broken. I'm afraid my guardian angel would be in parts by now.
*
- Sit here politely and chew on your pacifier, and when I get home I'll feed you," Lisa says as we are about to leave to join her demon brother, who has Victor in his care.
She's been with him for a good few hours now, and that worries me the most. I have to make sure they're not doing anything wrong. They are certainly not polite, but I can no longer watch Victor acquiesce to all these, stupid ideas of the demon.
I watch the Guardian Angel for a while and see how furious his eyes are. I'm sure that as soon as he gets his powers back, he will send Lisa back to hell. The blonde will be screwed.
- Are you going to keep him locked up for a whole month? - I ask as we leave the house and head to the car.
- Of course. For so long, he had a great time with the red-headed monkey, pretending to serve his sentence. Now he got the real one, and it came from me.
- Aren't you worried that he'll throw you out of the house after this? I can see by his eyes that he feels like killing you.
- He won't. He likes me too much. - When he opens the door, for a moment he jumps up like a happy little child. - This is my way of protecting you, too, because remember that we both drank all the wine from his bar. - With his body language, he announces to me that I will also be dead.
- So what? Will he take back the life I got from him? - She shrugs her shoulders in response, but her sympathetic look indicates that we will soon say goodbye. - I have to regain Victor's trust before we both end up in hell.
*
I don't know what to say when we arrive at the place and — surprisingly! — it's not a club full of undressed ladies. The guys are sitting on the bridge railing and staring at the water, and I look puzzled at Lisa, who also doesn't understand what is happening to them.
It is unbelievable for her brother to behave like this.
- I exaggerated - she speaks up when she senses our presence. - It was only supposed to be a joke, and we led to death.
I am disturbed by his words. He really sounds sad!
- What - Lisa walks over to her twin and sits down next to him.
Victor has his head lowered, and I think he is crying.
- We caused an accident in which a woman died. - Thomas points behind him with his finger, and my heart goes up to my throat. - I doubted that with this stupid prank I would kill someone, and you know very well what the punishment for this is. Demons can't take people's lives.
I walk closer to them to better hear their conversation.
- Did you get him involved in this too? - He asks, pointing with his hand to the suffering soul. - Because of you, he will go to hell.
- He was fooling around with me. The punishment will not pass him by.
I am terrified. I knew that eventually, this is how it would all end. Thomas dragged him down to the very bottom. The boy who from the beginning did everything to get to heaven will now go to hell.
- How did you bring about the death of this woman?
- I appeared to her, then disappeared. She panicked and lost control of her driving.
I grab my head, feeling like bursting into a torrent of the worst curses.
- Do all demons have wits worse than a child!
He turns to face me, and this is the first time I see tears in his eyes. He points his finger at me, and his gaze is unusually sad.
- You, you should be grateful to us, that day we saved your life!
Is it possible that he remembers?
- What are you talking about, Thomas? - Lisa seems to be concerned.
- As a punishment, I recovered all the painful memories from before my death. This makes me suffer even more, Li. - She puts her head on her sister's shoulder and weeps. - She is part of our eternal punishment.
My knees bend under me. With wide-open eyes, I stare at the twins, thinking back to the past.
*
I am only five years old. I cry shrilly as the man takes me under his arm and walks out of the squalid, neglected house. I flail my legs and call my parents, otherwise unable to defend myself. Furthermore, I hope someone will help me, but his house is in some deserted area and all I can hear in the distance is the fierce barking of dogs.
I don't know what's going on, but I want to find myself in my parents' arms. I am frighteningly afraid. I have a feeling that something painful is waiting for me.
- You're doing it again!- With weeping eyes, I look at the boy and the girl accompanying him, who are heading in our direction. - Don't you know an honest way to make money? Are you going to sell this child? Are you even human?
- Don't interfere! - He warns them, pointing his finger at them. - This is none of your business!
- You are our father, we live with you, so how is it none of our business? - The girl looks at him with sad eyes. - This is a child! We know what you did before. Now you are trying to do it a second time, because you succeeded then. You are a monster! You do it deliberately to make money. Furthermore, you are trying to make a living out of it. This is barbarism!
The man lets go of me, and I fall painfully to the ground. I burst into loud cries, watching as he walks up and slaps his daughter in the face. The boy stands up to defend her and pushes the father away.
- Don't touch her! You have no right! You are trash. Likewise, you make our lives look like hell!
- You could have sold us too! Why didn't you do it!!!? Why do you want to hurt this innocent child!!!? To get high? - screams Lisa, who hides behind her brother's back. - At school they laugh at us, that we are poor! That our father doesn't work anywhere and drinks alcohol all day! They tell the truth. You have come to nothing. All our lives, you beat us and treated us like garbage. Now you started kidnapping to have money for vodka! They give you a measly pittance from this, but you don't know the way to do honest work. You put your children in the hands of beleaguered people, and you are literally no different from these murderers! For now, they are the ones protecting you, but it's a matter of time when you will rot in jail!
- Shut your mouth! You are worthless, just like your mother!
- You are the worthless one! We hate you and can't let you hurt this child! We are not going to live under the same roof with a monster! - shouts Thomas, watching the man smash the bottle.
I am so terrified that I get up from the ground and start to run, but the man notices me and walks towards me.
- I will kill you disobedient shit!
I burst into a loud cry when I see the boy grab the sharp-tipped tool lying in front of the house and attack my father, stabbing him in the back. Lisa puts her hands to her mouth when she notices that her brother is cut badly in the shoulder in the process. She decides to help him and grabs an empty beer bottle, smashing it on the man's head.
He falls down, and a stream of blood pours out from under his back. They both look at it with horror in their eyes.
- What have we done?
- What we should have done long ago," he says in a whisper, finding me with his eyes. - He made hell out of our lives, and it was the only way we could help this girl.
- We killed a man. - Lisa looks badly shaken, while Thomas masks himself perfectly. - We killed our father.
- It wasn't our father, but a monster who led us to ruin.