Despair petrifies the soul

There was a pearly glow in the sky. The first rays of sunlight lit up the room. The dawn chorus of melodic birdsong drifted in. The rising sun cast a rosy hue across the morning sky.

Suddenly, the alarm clock produced a beeping sound that disturbed the harmony of the morning. She squinted her face as the rays of morning light landed on her face.

Sluggishly, she attempted to turn off the alarm but failed as her hands slipped, resulting in her falling off the bed. A thud sound was created as she hit the ground.

Fortunately for her, it jolted her awake. She shot straight up from the ground. As she looked at her alarm clock, her eyes widened in shock.

"I am super late!" She panicked.

She hurriedly ran to the washroom. Performing her morning activities as fast as she could. Brushing her teeth, combing her straight brown hair, and applying lotion. She skipped her morning bath due to her lateness.

'Come on Sarah, faster!' She motivated herself.

Once done, Sarah ran downstairs to give her family a greeting as well as to get some breakfast quickly.

"Good morning everyone!" She greeted as her lips curved into a wide smile. However, there was no response due to the house being empty apart from her.

Seeing this, she could only respond with a sad expression, dropping her smile instantly. She moved on to the kitchen to provide herself with breakfast.

'Some bread and jam will do.' She thought. She quickly prepared it and munched on it as she prepared hot chocolate.

Due to the lack of time, she had to improvise by making throwing the ingredients into her mouth and smuggling it. With that done, she quickly jogged upstairs in search of her bag.

'There it is!" Sarah picked it up and once again looked at the time. As a final-year student in high school, she needed not to miss a day of school. Her scores and attendance would be what would carry her on to college.

'Oh my God, I am getting so late.' She was getting worried.

Sarah made use of the windows as an exit. She jumped out and landed on the trash can just outside. She performed a neat front flip and landed on the ground.

'Five minutes left!' Pushing her legs off the ground, she dashed off to school.

Her neighborhood was serene and silent. It was spaced out moderately which prevented overcrowding.

The high schooler decided to take a shortcut by taking an alleyway. Dashing through it, she jumped over heaps of garbage and performed flips over trash cans, she showed great athletic capabilities.

Once the end of the alleyway was in sight, she sped up. To her dismay, an individual walking by had gotten in her way causing her to bump into him.

"Ouch!" Sarah moaned in pain while the former was still standing unfazed.

The teen looked up at the person she had bumped into and instantly felt chills run down her spine. He looked like a young teen her age, however, he possessed white hair which blocked his eyes and a slim yet muscular structure.

Heaving a sigh, he stretched out his hand in an attempt to get her off the floor. Sarah on the other hand was in a daze, keeping her eyes solely on him.

As a result, he grabbed her hand and forcefully pulled her to her feet.

"Watch where you are going next time." He said as the winds blew against his hair.

At that moment, Sarah saw his eyes. They were not too big but they shone in a red color. She stared as he left in the distance.

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In class, most students had gathered together in one part of the class talking amongst themselves.

"Did you guys hear about the silverware demon that appeared recently in Ohio?"

"There is always something going on in Ohio." A girl replied as she clipped her nails.

"Oh? What about the katana demon that recently emerged in Japan?" A boy in class inquired.

"Funny, I thought Japan would be the ones to have a yamete kudasai demon." Another boy in class stated, which incited laughter from others.

Seeing the class in a comedic mood, the class clown decided to shoot his shot with a joke.

"I heard Mexico had a taco demon." The boy attempted a joke. Unfortunately for him, his words fell on deaf ears.

He nearly made another try at the joke until he noticed the Mexican girl in class staring at him in disgust. Being the victim of her glares, he decided to keep quiet.

" Everyone sit down!" The teacher came in through the door carrying a binder.

Pulling up her glasses she began to take attendance. She called every student's name one by one with the majority of them not being absent.

"Sarah Origami!" She called yet there was no response.

Before marking her as absent she wanted to be certain, hence, she called out her name once more.

"Sarah Origami?"

"HERE!" Sarah flung the door open while announcing her presence. Her brown hair was in a mishmash due to the speed she had to run at.

The teenage girl panted as she took her seat at the back of the class. With the attendance being done, the lesson started.

The holy defense was the lesson being taught. It was a subject that talked about what to do in case of meeting a demon and how to use your blessings to neutralize them. This subject's importance rose to a level above mathematics. And that was because a person's life was more important than finding the radius of a circle.

The teacher talked about the levels of demons. Low-level demons which were common yet mildly dangerous. Mid-level demons were more uncommon but in multitudes like criminals, they are highly dangerous and most likely require a demon hunter to kill them. Then high-level demons, when one is seen the city must be immediately evacuated. They require multiple demon hunters to kill them. Finally special ranked, are rare but when sighted, not even a nuke can stop them.

"Ma'am, what are the princes of hell? I saw it on news." A boy asked

"Good question, unlike demons they were the rulers of hell. The only known devils in the world. Thank god they went deceased far back."

The teacher continued until her period was over, leaving another teacher to teach the class. After a long and tiring day, the school finally ended.

"Finally, a Friday!" she was excited to finally get more sleep.

"Sarah!" A voice called her in the distance.

She swept her gaze around the area to locate the voice which called her. Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed her fairly big chest.

"Ah. What are you going, Mia?" Sarah called out to her only best friend.

"I was looking for you the whole day," Mia said, loosening her grip on Sarah's chest.

"I was late today."

"Ugh, whatever! I and my friends see going to see an invite at the old dirt bike park and you are coming." Mia told.

"You know it's dangerous to go at night, right?" Sarah asked with an eyebrow raised.

" You worry too much, do not forget unlike you I have a blessing and so do my friends. Plus there will be many people there as well." She started, grabbing Sarah's hand and placing money into them.

"Use that to buy us snacks and be there by 9:30! Do not be late." She said running off.

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Sarah was late! As soon as she got home, she collapsed onto her bed and woke up at 9:20.

Leaving the convenience store, Sarah ran clasping onto a few bags of chips as well as some cans of soda.

In a hurry, she once again bumped into a stranger.

"Ouch!" She looked up to see the same male from the morning.

"Is this going to be a frequent thing?" He sighed as he helped pick up the snacks.

"Thank you, sir!" She thanked him as she ran, leaving behind her id card.

The boy looked at the card and exhaled giving out another sigh.

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Arriving at the old park, Sarah wondered if she was in the right area. Mia, her best friend said they were people here and yet she saw no one.

"Hey! You are Sarah from class b, right?" A few girls called out.

"Yeah? Where is Mia?" She asked.

It looked to be a group of three girls and two boys. Yet, she could not spot her friend.

"There?" A male pointed to a large hole that had been dug up.

"What? Why are you not doing anything?" She dropped the snacks and ran over to see her injured friend in the hole.

When she turned around to question why they did nothing, she as well was kicked into the hole by a female.

"Get in there bitch!"

"Aaah," Sarah grunted in pain as she rolled down the hole.

The teen was in rage as she looked up at them and shouted. However, now that she was close she checked her friend's condition and she was just unconscious.

"Why are you doing this?" Sarah yelled.

Thump! Behind her, she could hear something coming closer. She turned expecting to see one of the Mias' so-called friends come down. On the contrary, to her utter dismay, as she looked behind her, her pupils diluted into her eyes.

Despair petrifies the soul!

"A demon!"