You attempt to pronounce some of the furniture names at IKEA. In doing so, you’ve summoned a demon.
A strange smell wafted from behind me. Wrinkling my nose, I turned around looking for an outbreak of fire. But there was no fire.
Instead, I found a small boy. He had khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt. He looked around eight years old? I wasn’t good with guessing age but he couldn’t be too old. With a frown on his face, he looked around the bedroom display area.
“Hey, there,” I called out. “Are you lost? Do you need help looking for your parents?”
The boy finally looked at me. Dark red eyes narrowed.
“You summoned me?”
Wow. Deep voice. He must be hitting puberty early. Was that normal? Then again, the size of kids these days – well, they were growing rapidly. People still mistook me as someone in middle school.
I looked around, hoping to flag an associate down but I didn’t see anyone. Great.
“Um, so, I can take you to the check-out area. They got these things that announce information throughout the store. They can help you find your parents.” I added a smile for a good measure.
“So, you’re deaf and dumb.”
My eye twitched. This – this – okay, let’s take a deep breath. I forced a smile.
“Do you need help?” I asked.
He crossed his arms. “I’d say you need help. That is why you’ve summoned me, yes?”
“Summoned?”
The boy sighed. His foot began to tap. “Yes, summoned.”
“Uh huh.”
I opened my mouth and closed it. Right, I wasn’t getting through to him.
“Let’s take a step back. What’s your name?”
The stare was back. “You’ve summoned me and yet you do not know.” His eyes glowed. “Tell me what you need so I can return to my own world.”
I took a step back. My foot stuck the bottom of the bed. I teetered for a moment before regaining my balance. He was something else entirely. It had to be a trick of the light.
“Listen, let’s go find your parents. They’re really worried right now.”
“I’m a thousand year old demon,” the boy intoned. “I have no parents.”
This wasn’t working. I chewed on my lip.
“Okay,” I said, slowly. “So, let’s make a deal.”
His eyes lit up. “Finally.”
“Help me, help you find your parents.”
The boy sighed. He shook his head muttering in a weird language.
“I am a demon. You summoned me. Tell me what you want.”
I frowned. “No, I didn’t.”
“Yes you did.”
“I already told you!”
“Fine. I’m leaving.”
He clapped his hands once, but nothing happened. He sighed. We stared at each other for a moment.
“Fine,” he finally said, “let’s go.”
We were finally getting somewhere. I cleared my throat. “Well, the check-out is downstairs.”
“Just, just lead the way.”
I started walking towards the stairs. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure he was still there. He kept muttering to himself in that strange language. I couldn’t place it at all. Maybe Google translate could help.
At the thought, I shook my head. I could only imagine how that would go. No, the best thing was to find this “demon’s” parents.
Dabbling in the Art of Writing 