Nine.

Elle POV. 

I need to work, although I’d love to stay in the house, in my PJ, drinking coffee, messy hair and typing (Side note, that’s how I always work). Instead, I had to beg Devil to let me go to my work, my other work, the diner, where I meet bad-smelling people, that work, but I had no idea how to get there really, we were on a side of the town that I didn’t know. 

“Devil, I need to get to work” I beg with her to no use, she’s not listening, I guess she’s ignoring me on purpose, I’ve already told her twice I need to get going. 

“Forget about it” was her only reply, forget about what! I just look at her all confused, she needs to do better than this, I’m not getting her. 

“You’re not going back to that work Elle, forget that” she says, wait! I haven’t been here a full day and she’s already forbidding me of going to my own job, I made a mistake. 

“I can’t do that Devil, I need to work,” I say back to her, first I won’t be able to work, then I’ll become completely dependent on her. 

“Yes, sure. But not where you going” she says, what does this mean again! 

“What?” I ask confused about what she’s saying. 

“You want a job, you can have one, just not that one. That place is filthy and dirty, I’ll get you a better one” she says. 

“Devil…no…just no!” I say angry now, she can’t be doing this, not right now, not like this. 

“No, what Elle? You can’t be serious about going back to that job, it’s a terrible one” she tries to tell me but all I can hear is that she’s trying to control me, control my work, I’m not that stupid! 

“But it’s my job Devil! It’s mine! You can’t take it from me, you can’t control me” I say, actually I yell at her. 

“Don’t you dare yell at me Elle” she says very coldly, making me freeze with fear, she’s angry, she’s going to hurt me. 

“Sorry,” I mumble scared. 

“For God’s sake Elle, no need to be scared, but don’t yell in my face, I’ll take anything from you but yelling” she warns, okay that make sense, I hate yelling too, but I have to yell sometimes to get my point through. 

“You can’t take my job away, I need to work,” I tell her calmly this time. 

“I’m not taking your job Elle, I’m just providing you a better one” she says, but that just means the same, her having control over my life. 

“You want to have control over my life, I can’t lose myself to you” I explain in the best way I could. 

“I don’t want control over your life, I want you to be safe. A job that won’t put you in the way of any kind of creeps, I know some people, I’ll get you a job closer to this place, a walking distance, the payment would be better and you could work on the story you’re short on” she says, she got a point, but not to the part where I move my work. 

“You can’t do that, I’ll find a job on my own,” I say still wanting to be independent. 

“No, I’ll find you one easily, I know someone.” She says cutting my plan of having an independent life. 

“You can’t do that! You just can’t take charge of my life” I say again, she doesn’t get it. 

“How about this, I’ll make you a deal,” she says. 

“I’m listening” I reply waiting to hear what she’ll come up with. 

“I’ll find you a job, one that’s close by so I won’t be worried about you the whole time. If you don’t like the job, then fine you can try and find one on your own, but until then, you are not going back to that bad-smelling diner” she says. 

Finally giving in, well deep down I wanted to leave that job, except I didn’t really want to be in debt. to Devil. I nod my head yes agreeing to her offer, at least tonight I won’t have to go to the diner and I could just work over my stories for the rest of the night. Devil got busy in her office leaving me alone, she only came back out when it was time for dinner, we had taken out again, but then I was so tired I needed to sleep. 

“Uhh…Devil” I call out to her, it took her a few minutes before she came out of her office, she raised a brow at me asking what’s up. 

“I…I going to sleep now” I tell her blushing, I don’t remember ever living with people who cared when and if I went to bed. 

“Okay love, good night. Do I get a kiss?” she asks me, I nod and get closer to her, her hands going around my waist before she lands a kiss on my lips. 

“Good night Devil” I answer before going toward my room, I changed my clothes and got in bed, the mattress was very comfortable unlike my old bed or the one back in the abuser's home. This one felt like I was sleeping on clouds, the pillow, there were tones of them, the whole room was something, I loved it, I should have fallen asleep right away, but I couldn’t. 

The comfy mattress was too soft under me, one of the pillows was too low, the other one was too high, and I couldn’t find a comfortable side to sleep on, no matter how much I flipped over and over again, I couldn’t sleep. I groaned with how angry I was feeling, I couldn’t sleep with the lights off or light on, the bed was against me, the whole room was against me, I felt like crying now. 

I pushed the covers off me but got too cold, and pulled them up on me but got too hot, with too much frustration, I left the bed and moved to the floor, at least the floor was firm enough under me, I placed the pillow on the floor and lied down with the covers over me. 

That’s how I finally fell asleep, sleeping on the cold floor, it felt like back at home, except this time the cover was enough to keep me warm, it wasn’t even itchy. I slept dreaming about angels and nightmares, a story idea maybe? I wasn’t really asleep, it was the state between sleep and being awake but I finally slept. I remember having a nightmare or maybe it wasn’t it sometimes happens, I have very vivid dreams, vivid enough to make me speak or yell in my sleep. 

It happened that night, or maybe it was early morning, I don’t really know what time it is, I just remember saying something or maybe yelling something, until I heard a voice speak with me, a voice talking to me getting me out of my dream state. 

“Elle, wake up, Elle,” the voice says again and again, I opened my eyes to see Devil laying on the floor next to me, she looked worried. I just nod my head yes, humming that I’m okay now, she still hugs me close, making me feel safer now with her close to me. 

“My bed isn’t comfortable enough for you princess?” she asks in a teasing but hurt voice. 

“IT’s too comfortable” I mumble back.

“That’s a first, the bed is too comfortable?” she says shaking her head not really believing me, but it’s the truth. 

“Mhm,” I reply honestly. 

“How about we go to my bed then? Although I’d love to spend the night over here with you, I think my bed would be even more comfortable” she says.

“Okay” I mumble, she lifted me off the floor easily, how could she even carry me this easily, I’m not that thin, I yelp when she does so, she doesn’t carry me far, she just throws me on my bed. She offered me her hand instead and dragged me out with her toward her room, I noticed she was dressed in her PJs, just normal pants and a tank top. 

Her bed was much more comfortable than mine, she placed me in bed and slipped next to me, this felt like the time when she slept in my bed, except hers is big enough to give me room to turn to the other side without the risk of falling.