Soreness was the first thing felt by Anthony when he rolled over on the variably soft green cushions of the sofa, the familiar couch welcoming him to another day of turmoil, combined hopefully with excitement. The man was normal size again, and he gripped his right shoulder as he let out a pain-laced groan of morning breath, an uncomfortable yawn shortly accompanying his rise. Anthony rubbed his face as he sat up slowly, looking around the room and not finding Mira to his delayed surprise. He cast his eyes back to the green sofa and found a yellow sticky note stuck to his phone, which sat near the armrest inactive. The young man reached over and took the note from the screen, only one eye open as of yet, the light adhesive giving way without a problem as it peeled off and released the paper.

“Had to go into work early for 6 hours. Get off at 1. Check your phone,” he read to himself without speaking. There was a little drawn heart on the bottom of the note accompanied by Mira’s name written in cursive, the art style clearly female in origin, the black ink of the curved heart and the message’s contents neatly scribed.

Anthony picked up his phone quickly and unlocked the screen, seeing before he did so that he had a few social media notifications, the one, however, sending his heart fluttering into the air was the blue bubble informing him that Mira had accepted his friend request.

She had a very pretty profile picture that the day before he had admired for quite some time prior to sending the friend invite. Her long hair, that was the same shade as his own, was cascading over her cropped out chest, her head cocked slightly to the side with a cute smile and a wink of her left eye accentuating her laid-back personality she typically faked for appearance's sake. There was also, to Anthony’s excitement, a message bubble from her, and he opened it at once to read what secrets it contained within.

“You can help yourself to whatever you want while I’m gone. When you have some free time I wanna talk to you about last night, so I guess this is my way of inviting you over later. I’d rather you came before like 5 so we could have a lot of time to talk, if that’s alright. I’m really sorry about what happened last night, and I hope you’re ok, I just want you to know that.”

Anthony read the words twice over, making sure he’d gotten everything right as he sat on the couch quietly. Mira was sweet deep on the inside, and it hurt him to know she was apparently upset with herself, though as the man thought silently in turn, he knew just about anyone else would be furious with her given the extreme circumstances. He, despite almost dying again, was not though.

She was at work, and he didn’t want to bother her or get her in trouble, but as he looked up at what she had changed her name to in his phone’s messenger app, he couldn’t allow her to remain upset with her actions any longer without at least saying something to try and help her feel better. He plonked small characters of text into the empty bar of a new message as he smiled at the nickname labeling the conversation recipient. There was a puckered lip or kiss emoji before the name, “Mira,” and behind the last letter, there was a small, red heart.

+ + + +

Mira’s phone buzzed and she resisted the temptation to fish it out of her pocket and discover why. She was standing in a canned food aisle at work, replacing odd products that had been returned or moved throughout the previous day, she was trying to keep herself busy as always, impatiently counting down the hours until she could go home and finally be done with her dreadfully boring adult responsibilities.

Mira looked over her shoulder and spied the only customer in the row leaving down around the far corner, the elderly female pay her no attention to her as she rounded out of sight and left the girl in her white uniform and black apron, alone. The young woman quickly grabbed her phone and looked around one last time to be sure she wouldn’t get caught texting again and not working, flicking open the screen and seeing she had a notification and a message from Anthony. Just above her messenger app, the conversation participant labeled with two hearts flanking its letters, “Anty,” showed the pop of a blue bubble.

“Hey its ok, really, and I’m fine thank you. I know it was rough, but try not to think about it ok? I’m glad you’re alright too Mira, and I should be free all day today. :]“

Mira let out a sigh of relief, he was ok, and she thanked silently the black demon, or whoever it was looking out for him, that he was still alive and in one piece. She placed her phone back into her pocket, she wanted to message him back immediately, but she knew she would not be able to stop herself from talking to him all day, and thus get into trouble with her manager. She calmly scooped back up a pair of cans containing peaches and stood on her tiptoes, barely managing to set them up on their intended shelf as she eagerly awaited, with renewed excitement, her last break and the next opportunity to message Anthony again.

+ + + +

Anthony waited for Mira to type something back to him, but after seeing that she’d at least read his reply, he put his phone down and assured himself that she was probably busy. He looked around the room and got up, feeling suddenly an all too disgusting layer of crusted white chips of dried dairy and cereal pieces covering most of his body. He needed a shower, and he needed something to eat, the giant green O’s from last night had satisfied his hunger then, but now it was hours later. Glancing down over at his phone again, he could see that it was just after 8 o’ clock in the morning, and though he didn’t have school or any other plans until tomorrow, he felt he should try and preoccupy himself despite being free of upcoming commitments.

Anthony wiped his face and rubbed his eyes, the unsightly layer of crusted skin and milk flaking unpleasantly off his hands as he did so. Standing up and stretching, he began to walk about the living room, taking for the first time a good look at everything around him. The place was spartan, very simple and without any outlandish decorations, strangely uncharacteristic of what he assumed a girl’s place would look like inside.

The young man made his way around the couch and walked down the hall, finding near the bathroom a small door that could only be a closet. He pulled the simple metal handle and opened it cautiously, hoping it wasn’t something personal or an area of privacy. He found that it contained, to his correct assumption, towels, washcloths, and other supplies for the bathroom. Extracting a black towel, and bringing it up to his nose, he hesitantly took a whiff of its natural scent. It smelled faintly like Mira did, and it was soft to the touch, the fibers of good quality and the plushness tantalizing his face. He felt a little weird about what he’d just done, but he reflected inwardly that he didn’t intend for it to be perverted or inappropriate in any way, so he felt if Mira knew of his behavior, she would find it wasn’t creepy, though she’d undoubtedly make fun of him for it.

Anthony looked down the hall and to where the door to Mira’s bedroom was cracked slightly, he wasn’t about to go in, that he knew was morally beyond what was appropriate, but he was spiked with curiosity none the less. He wanted to know what was in there, he really just wanted to know what it looked like truthfully, but he resisted the temptation. Pushing away the thought of intruding in her most private chambers and violating whatever trust they had, he turned and headed into the bathroom, he was starting to smell, and more than anything else he wanted to feel the warm water on his aching shoulder.

+ + + +

Mira turned the keys again on her later model Honda Civic, the clicking of the ignition, devoid of any crank or thrum of engine life confirmed that she’d probably left her lights on over her shift, draining the small battery. She swore aloud, she had been so busy thinking about the night before with Anthony that she’d neglected to turn them off when she arrived for work this morning, and in doing so killed her car’s power reserve, rendering it useless, and herself stuck at work. She shook her head and with frustration tossed her apron aside into her passenger seat, looking at her phone and seeing the time passed 1:10. She had been denied her last break due to an unexpected rush, and though she knew it would be understandable to make a fuss about that, she did not want to jeopardize her job that she so desperately needed by complaining.

Mira sighed and stepped out of her car, gathering up her purse and removing her phone from it as she walked back towards her store through the parking lot, clicking the vehicle’s remote lock as she went. The lot wasn’t incredibly busy, the earlier rush had died down and most of the parking spots were empty or occupied by car’s owned by employee’s, such as her own. There were customers here and there, and an employee or two gathering up carts, but all in all, it was a slow day she bitterly felt had wasted some of her morning’s free time.

Mira unlocked her phone and sifted through windows until she reached Anthony’s chat bubble, she hadn’t replied to his message from the morning, not getting her break and then afterwards clocking out quickly heading out to her car to eagerly begin the 15-minute commute home. She didn’t want to ask anything of him, especially after last night and what she’d put her favorite friend through, but she didn’t have anyone else she could ask. “Well,” she thought to herself, “that’s not entirely true,” she could ask one of a couple of close friends, but she just wanted to see Anthony, and any excuse to do so, even asking him for a favor after almost eating him, was good enough for her.

She plonked at buttons on her phone’s screen, the heat of her fingertips registering the contact on the surface of the coated glass and typing her short message.

“Hey my car won’t start and I can’t get a ride home, could you pick me up?”

She glanced up for a second as she made her way back through the pair of automatic, sliding glass doors, turning and heading for the employee break room to wait. As she made her way through the heavy metal door that separated the common area from the management owned sections, she smiled or gave small waves to fellow workers she was on good terms with as she passed.

Making her way inside the blue painted walls of the lounge, and before sending out the request for help, she added tactfully.

“Pretty please Anty? ;3” putting a small devious text face behind her last bit of characters.

She found herself alone in the break room, a long wall of lockers for personal belongings mostly shut and secure filling an entire side of the provided lounging space. She walked over and sat on a long blue couch that was across to the other side, sighing and rolling her neck to stretch out a sore kink she’d been cursed with since she’d woken up. She was tired, and before finding that her car battery was dead, she had mitigated the feeling with excitement at the prospect of being home soon, back to prepare for her male friend’s later visit or returning to talking with him in any context.

Mira’s phone buzzed in her hand, silently as she had forgotten to as of yet restore the ringer volume. She immediately looked down and spied a message from her pseudo-roommate, discovering he’d not yet left her apartment.

“Yea sure! I need to walk home and get my car, send me the address to your Kroggen and I’ll come down. :]”

The young woman smiled and typed a message back, she was already about 15-20 minutes from home, and although she knew Anthony didn’t live too far from her, that him having to walk to his own apartment first would put him a little time away. She leaned back and let the couch sink her body down as she finished her quick reply of thanks, attaching the Maps address of her specific store with her location clearly marked for him to reference.

“I’ll see you in like 40 minutes, be outside Lamia,” she saw him send back, the black case of Mira’s phone vibrating slightly.

She cast her eyes around with a tinge of annoyance, he liked to do that to her, call her by a name he knew she didn’t like, probably as a result of Mira making fun of his stature on a constant basis after 7 PM every night without fail. That was well worth it though, the woman loved to poke her massive finger at his mental fortitude whenever she got the chance, and inwardly she reflected, she knew he was starting to like it.

Hoping that one day Anthony would call her more things like, “missy,” as he had the night before, Mira sat her phone in her lap and rested her eyes, it had been a long shift despite the hours being short, but that was the truth of life she thought, the years were short, but the days were always long.

+ + + +

Mira’s phone buzzed as she lazily opened her eyes, the black background displaying a new message from Anthony, and as she glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen, she noticed it was 55 minutes after 1 PM. Without reading the message contents she shook herself awake and got up, walking over to a nearby sink and mirror in the break room and checking her appearance. She undid her ponytail a fluffed her hair a little, pushing it back and impatiently trying to make something of an appealing look for herself.

Not entirely satisfied with her physical adjustments, she composed herself anyways and took in a deep breath, realizing that she wasn’t nervous about the fact she was soon to face Anthony for the first time after last night’s events, but that she was about to see him at all. He made her giddy, and anxious, and though she would never admit in a million years he made her afraid, she did always want to make and leave the best impression possible.

Slinging her purse over her shoulder she finally pushed herself away from the mirror, heading out the door and passing a fellow coworker exchanging a pleasant, albeit disingenuous smile. She wondered as she walked back through her store what Anthony drove, she hadn’t remembered to ask, so she hoped he was paying attention for her, standing outside and waiting awkwardly wasn’t something that as the prospect of the thought made it into her mind, made her comfortable.

Mira had already completely forgotten to check the last message her pet classmate had sent, most of the questions she wanted answers to were in it in fact, but in the end, it worked to his benefit. The sheer look of surprise written in the young girl’s eyes as she came out of the store, finding Anthony standing next to his car immediately in the nearest parking spot across the street, was something that put a smile on his face like never before.

Anthony was standing and leaning on the passenger side door of his ride, his legs crossed casually and his phone in his hand, he stared over at her as she neared him, wearing his own black, masculine tanktop and black shorts. He stood against a rumbling beast of a machine, the shined jet-black paint job matching perfectly the outfit of its attractive master. The engine was running, a healthy, constant tumbling of a precisely engineered set of eight, heavy pistons, the exhaust at the back emitting a deep, throaty grumble of restrained horsepower waiting to be let loose with each revolution of the motor.

Mira halted before Anthony, a smile on his face as she watched her eyes pan back and forth along the curved body of the elegantly polished muscle car, the wheels were as dark as the waxed and buffed exterior, and he could see that despite remaining silent thus far, there was a sign of overwhelming approval in her stare.

“I told you to be outside,” he mumbled down to her with a small grin and one eyebrow raised, enjoying the fact that at this time of day he actually had the opportunity to do so. Mira was about 5’6, maybe 5’7, and when Anthony wasn’t afflicted with the curse she’d gifted him with, he enjoyed looking at her from this angle.

She tore her eyes away from the thrumming, newer edition Dodge Charger, the vehicle’s right lower door panel displaying proudly a red metal badge denoting it was the model with the largest variant of engine possible bolted under the hood.

“Yeah? Well if you think I’m ever going to take orders from you, think again.”

“That’s a weird way of saying you’re happy to see me,”

Mira frowns and narrows her eyes, hoping she isn’t blushing.

Without saying anything more Anthony rises to his feet and takes a step forwards wearing his smile, chest to chest now with the woman in her white work uniform shirt, she doesn’t recoil back and away, but the surprise in her eyes is badly hidden. The man with the same shade of hair as Mira looks down at her and into her eyes, as if he’s looking for something that’s usually there, or suddenly lost without explanation. With a quiet whisper, the engine of his car still growling behind him, he says down to her,

“Your eyes are prettier when they’re nervous, you know…”

This does cause her to blush, and simultaneously forget how to speak incidentally. She stammers for a second and hesitates, Anthony is tall, taller than she remembers despite only seeing him just yesterday, and his shirt reveals that he’s well-toned in his upper body. The eyes of the human male tantalize Mira’s heart as they convey reassurance and warmth, a light of sweet-natured and genuine electricity passes between the two as they stand closer together than they ever have before.

Reaching back behind him, Anthony grasps the handle of his treasured automobile and opens it for Mira, keeping his eyes placed on her own as he does so, not looking away. The girl glances at the gesture as her handsome friend takes a step aside, revealing the red-stitched clean interior. He’s obviously a lot more confident at his normal size she reflects, and the half-demon girl makes a mental note to make him pay, or, depending on the circumstances combined with his perspective of her methods, reward him later for his attempts at charming her.

“Your chariot, madam,” he says politely and with a drop of humor.

Mira blinks and scolds herself for allowing Anthony’s appeal to soothe her emotions; she snaps herself out of his well-played allure and narrows her eyes again while ruffling her lips, saying to her self-conscious as she steps inside the car, “Dammit, why’d he have to be cute, and on top of everything else know how to use it?”

Anthony shuts the passenger door and walks around to his side, climbing in as well and buckling up with the bright crimson seat-belt. He notices Mira has found the automatic seat controls and is rolling and reclining herself backwards. Figuring she wants to lay and rest after her morning at work, he doesn’t think too much of it.

Anthony glances down at his phone as he reviews a message from Kyle before setting off, his friend is asking him, with a somewhat coincidental prediction, how things are going with Mira. He’d left his best friend along with his pick-up team last night when the pretty girl had stolen him away, and Kyle had accurately concluded that they’d gone back to her place. Anthony thought about what to type, but entirely lost his train of thought as he glanced up and over to his female passenger, doing a double take and nearly blurting out an inappropriate curse in sudden disbelief.

“What…Exactly...Do you think you’re doing?”

Mira glances over to him, completely aware that he’d react in this fashion, purposefully trying to get him to do so in fact. The attractive young man had tried to dazzle her minute or two ago, and this was her clear play for revenge. She had her work shoes off and had even removed her socks, the black polished nails of both her feet gleaming like the outside of the car, her ankles propped up on his dashboard and her legs extended fully. She wore black slacks that went with her white top and the black apron she’d left in her Civic, and as she had set up her lazy, relaxed posture, she consciously let them sag back, exposing some of her calves and shins.

“What?” she said as if not understanding why Anthony looked like he was about to vigorously scold her.

“It’s been a long day.”

“This,” he began to reply, gesturing with his hand’s extended index finger back and forth between the pair of them, “whatever this is, is not going to last if you don’t get your nasty feet off my dashboard in like, two fucking seconds.”

Mira smirks over to him, lowering her voice bringing back her usual, threatening stare,

“You know you like them, and don’t you dare sit there and try to lie to me, pest. I saw the way you looked at them the other day,” Anthony blinked in surprise and hesitated, it was written on his face that Mira, metaphorically, had him in the palm of her hand, “but don’t worry, your cute little secret is safe with me.”

Anthony frowns and starts to feel his cheeks warm red, Mira just looks over at him with a smile, taking in a sweet sample of his life’s deepest, most confidential information. He honestly wasn’t certain what he had felt that night, but as he’d spent time with his new inhuman friend, the man had noticed certain compulsions and interests surface that he’d never been prone to before, and he blushed a shade of red because he knew she was right about that specific one she had just mentioned.

Mira leans back and gets her shoulders comfortable in the good quality padding of the seat, closing her eyes and maintaining her grin, she whispers out to him as she sighs, looking as stunning as ever despite her more formal attire,

“But, I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” she opens her lids for a second and tosses him a wink after saying in a tone appropriate for sharing a secret of her own, “I’m sort of into that if you hadn’t caught on…Lucky you, huh?”

Anthony averts his eyes away guiltily and shakes his head, trying and failing to banish the lewd thoughts about Mira he’s feeling right now, though admittedly not for the first time. He throws the transmission into drive and stays silent for a moment, though inevitably taking another look at his lovely companion as the gears lock into place with an audible clunk,

“If I crash,” he says nodding to the dashboard and particularly to the passenger side airbag, “That thing will take your legs off.”

Mira simply shrugs before responding with an honest smile,

“I trust you.”

Anthony takes in what she says as the couple affixes their gazes on one another’s, in this instant the man can feel his heart melting at everything Mira is and has just said quietly to him. She looks away and goes back to having her eyes closed as she leans her head into the seat’s cushion, the human male just looks at her for a second, admiring her, just as she knows he would.

Pursing his lips nervously, Anthony replaces his attention to the windshield, scanning around before pushing his foot down on the gas pedal, the thirsty engine humming aloud with a strong response as the car begins to surge forward, the space before the Charger unoccupied, taking the pair back to Mira’s apartment.

+ + + +

“You had a shower, in my bathroom?”

“I was covered in dried milk, and you said I could help myself,” Anthony replied from the couch with one arm raised and a shrug, turning to look behind him as Mira came down the hall having changed. She was wearing a white tank now, combined with soft black pants that seemed more designed for exercise than lounging.

“What did you expect me to do?”

Mira puts both her hands on the back of the couch and leans over towards him, frowning and narrowing her eyes, she whispers to him with the point of a low, accusatory poke of dialogue,

“You didn’t go into my room, did you?”

Anthony shoots up from the couch and stammers, he doesn’t intend to sound guilty, but he may have unfortunately given that impression with his reply,

“Wh-what? No! Of course I didn’t!”

Mira stares quietly as the young man stands a small distance away, she tilts her head slightly, regarding him for a moment, looking for any hint of dishonesty in his reply. The young man, who is obviously telling the truth, still looks visibly nervous…and she loves it when he’s nervous.

Mira starts tapping one of her hand’s index fingers, the soft material of the couch squishing with each press of the black tipped digit’s pressure. She really wants to exploit his discomfort, but she has an objective in mind for tonight, before 7 PM comes around, and it’s important to both of them she follow through with it.

“Well, don’t. Ever. Are we clear on that?”

Anthony is taken aback, he isn’t sure where she’s suddenly getting her impression of him from, he didn’t think he’d given off a mistrustful vibe this entire time, so he really wants to understand if she’s worried about him beneath the surface.

“Yeah, of course. Does it seem like I would? Why do you think I’d do that, Mira?”

“I didn’t say that, did I? …But I bet you thought about it, didn’t you?”

Anthony’s mouth goes bone dry as it dips down but no words come out, this was what he was afraid of, a question coming up that he did not want to answer, knowing Mira would instantly catch him with something he was supremely embarrassed or scared to admit as true. She notices him flounder at the last thing she asked him in particular, confirming her suspicions, and she smiles and lowers her body so that she’s leaning on the sofa’s back on her elbows, eyeing him sharply as ever.

“You did…didn’t you…?”

“I didn’t say anything-“

“What did I tell you about trying to lie to me, ant-boy?”

Anthony frowns and shoots her a disdainful look, he’s unexpectedly offended that she’d accuse him of being dishonest with her, and his subtle change in posture adds to the weight of his retort.

“I didn’t lie, Mira,” he says, placing emphasis on each word individually as it comes out.

She smiles at him wider and stands up to her full height, turning her body but keeping her eyes on him before fully facing away. She just could not resist, she had to poke at him just a tiny bit, and his little spark of defiant offense that came out as a result of it made her tingle inside.

“Settle down, I’m just playing with you,” she says as she turns, batting a hand at him and heading towards the kitchen now, “It’s ok if you thought about it, as long as your thoughts stay thoughts, Anty.” Mira’s voice gets a little louder as she walks farther away, retrieving what she needs to pour herself and Anthony each a cup of juice, “Which leads me to what I want to talk to you about.”

Anthony walks after her and into the kitchen, calming his sudden flare of belligerence, leaning on one hand against the closest dining chair next to her table before he himself takes control of the conversation.

“Before you start, I just want you to know something, like you told me this morning,” his voice is anxious, but he focuses his thoughts as Mira turns around, a cup of orange juice in each hand as she looks over at him. He takes a deep breath and composes himself, feeling nervous, but wanting to be a part of healing the situation.

“I was worried about you, Mira. When I woke up and you were gone, and I mean, I wasn’t worried because I’m clingy,” he quickly tries to clarify, hoping not to sound weird, or desperate, “I was worried because we couldn’t have this talk sooner, and I couldn’t tell you face to face that it’s alright… that it’s… It’s ok. Really. I didn’t want you to go all day beating yourself up over it.” He raises his head up and looks at her, nodding reassuringly, hoping that she hears his voice but also sees clearly his intent to forgive her actions.

Mira allows herself to send a small smile and a nod in appreciation his way, shortly after she walks over to the table and places the cups in the center of the clean matte wood, taking a seat afterwards, Anthony following suit as she does so across from him. The woman is quiet for a few seconds, thinking of how to even begin, she’d gone over how she had wanted this conversation to play out all morning in her head, planning what to say and how a hundred times, but now that she was facing it, facing him, things were much harder than she had imagined.

“Anthony,” she breathed out under a sigh at last, a mix of sorrow and regret in her tone as she began, “I have a confession to make, and it’s really important to me that you listen carefully.”

The young man braces himself, knowing Mira, this could be one a thousand different dark secrets she’s about to divulge, something awful beyond possibly stomaching, but he nods silently and tries with all his effort to control his coming reaction no matter what her next sentence is.

“I… I really like you. And I want more from this, really I do.”

Anthony’s heart soars as he blushes bright red, and the girl across the table can’t help but take notice and smile at his innocent nature, a white grin and a small crimson flush of her own displaying, but he fights to control emotions, she seems like she’s worried about what she just told him so he curbs his elation quickly, preparing for the worst.

“But I don’t want to hurt you, at least, you know, never again. And…” She trails off and curls her lip, shifting her body to one side uncomfortably.

“And I just don’t trust myself with you, not yet anyways. Especially after last night, I mean…. You saw it,” she says shaking her head trying to dispel the horrid impulse. “You saw what it does to me…”

Though Anthony was suddenly disappointed, he had to admit he was also relieved, he had been feeling this way about Mira for a while now, but he was honest with himself about her lack of self-control. Knowing she felt the same way he did about liking her, but had the same reservations, helped him to relax as he continued the conversation.

Anthony had seen whatever it was that infected Mira, but he had witnessed only a glimpse, though frighteningly close, of what she could do, what she was capable of if not restrained by morals or her conscience. However, to both of their surprise, she had beaten it with his help, and that fact at least proved it was possible, and if it was possible, it could be done again.

The young man took his cup into his hands and held it as he started to respond, using what he knew about the night that had passed to their advantage.

“You’re right, I sorta don’t trust you completely either, well I mean, that other half of you. It is still you at the end of the day, but me and your more… Playful side…. We sort of aren’t on good terms if you know what I mean.”

He smiles over to her as she laughs a little, her mood still delicate and vulnerable, but recovering again as he went along with his warm, considerate tone.

“But you know, I like you too, Mira, a lot actually.” He says with a smile and a nervous hint of anxiety.

“Yeah that wasn’t obvious or anything,” she cuts in with a mumble and takes a sip of her drink smiling. While she’s making a joke of his own admission, she feels the fire in her heart shift and grow in the second she hears it, the heat and rush of affection fueled by this latest spectacular development confirming at last what she had always hoped was true.

Anthony glares at her jokingly and shakes his head trying and failing not to smile.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Look, you managed to beat it last night right, and I’m really sorry you had to go through that, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life, believe me, but it seemed to help, don’t you think?”

Mira nodded slowly and glanced down at her orange juice, thinking to herself that it was awful, but she really had found the last few hours to be relatively quiet in regards to her impulses when compared to her usual urge for grim satisfaction. She felt it every day, at least once, or for a while, but since last night, she was more aware of her control, less hampered by a need for satisfaction in her murderously addictive hobby. And she was supremely hopeful, and grateful, because of that.

“So I tell you what, I’ll make you a deal, I will help you overcome your…Well…. Whatever you’d like to call it,”

“Need to kill you?” Mira says looking up with a demeanor that is worryingly sincere.

Anthony pauses and starts nodding slowly, “Yeah, you can call it that…”

She nods in return as she takes a sip from her cup, keeping her eyes on him attentively.

“And in return I get to be your roommate for literally half a year, I honestly don’t trust anyone else to take care of me, and despite you being virtually the worst choice I can make for the job, I’m most comfortable with you, and you seem to at least be willing to take it on. You’re also the only other person who can understand how serious and…Outlandish… Our situation together is.”

Mira beamed with excitement eagerly within, an entire year with Anthony? Even if it was only for half of every day, and only at night? It was like the perfect situation she had been hoping for since she had discovered who he really was as a person. They would be spending lots, and lots of time together regardless, but maybe, eventually, they would start spending the day hours more frequently with each other too. She was excited, and impatient to make that happen, though they literally were still in the conversation that established they’d remain basically agree to remain friends until she could resist the urge to eat him or something. An agreement she had proposed in the first place.

“So yeah…And if we also happen to keep your, “needs,” under control, maybe you’ll let me take you out some time?”

Mira smiles and looks slightly giddy at the offer, inwardly she can hardly contain her elation at this moment, at such a prospect that appeals to her heart, but she has to, she has to for him. Ultimately, she simply bobs her head and replies, knowing that if she tried to date him or become more intimate without gaining more control of herself, she’d doom them both.

“Sure, I think I could bear that…”

Anthony smiles and looks down at his cup, resisting the temptation to look over into Mira’s gorgeous, relaxed stare. He inhales nervously and closes his eyes bowing his head, excited, terrified, and anxious about the future all at the same time. Relieved that he still had a shot with this uniquely amazing girl he’d been caught admiring in psychology class, but worried for her sake, she might end up killing him, again.

“By the way, one more thing,” Mira says finishing her drink, “Fair warning, sorry about anything that might happen to you… I mean, I do like to mess with you, but if you like… Lose a limb or I accidentally step on you or something, just know I probably didn’t mean to, alright?”

Anthony looks up sharply with concern written plainly on his face. “Wait, wait, hold on,” he says out to her wanting to believe he’s misunderstood what she said, holding up both of his index fingers erect to halt her from continuing.

“Has…” Anthony furrows his eyebrows, narrowing his eyes, “has that happened before...? And wait a second! Probably?” He asks more than slightly shocked.

Mira’s eyes widen fractionally and she hesitates to respond, glancing to her cup with a surprised look, as if caught in a lie. She tries to think of an excuse to alleviate his worries, but she knows herself better than that. She stammers, understanding he may actually have some cause for concerns no matter what her intentions may be.

“W-well, I mean, I…Um…”

Anthony sighs heavily and groans, burying his face in his open palms and shaking his head as if given the cruelly unusual death sentence himself, her inability to respond confirming his apprehensive thoughts.

Mira blurts out after seeing his capitulating confidence, trying to salvage his opinion of her.

“Ok look, it was one time, I swear! And the difference between you and that one is I really like you!”

Anthony peeks his eyes over to her through his partially parted fingers, as if he’s a turtle almost coaxed into coming out of hiding from her ridiculous disregard for human life she has just revealed.

Mira chews on her lower lip nervously and glances down to the floor, off and away, muttering another confession,

“Then again, there was that guy I accidentally sat on after putting him on the couch, before I started using the kitchen for stuff…That actually felt really, really goo-“

“Mira!” Anthony interrupts, jarring her from what seemed like a strangely tempting fantasy, an odd smile, as if she was impressed with the manner of her previous victim’s life ending, appearing then disappearing abruptly from her face with his suddenly raised voice.

“What? Yeah? I’m listening!”

The human male drops his hands to the table and places his head on them, overwhelmed by the careless, now turned dangerous, nature of his pretty new roommate, the whole reality of his ordeal coming to what feels like a hopeless, inevitable conclusion prematurely. Sighing to himself out of a not-so incorrect feeling he was in way over his head, he rubbed the temples on either side of his forehead and muttered under his breath, intending the vocalized thought to be entirely to himself,

“Fuck me, man. Seriously?”

He was so completely overcome with a disbelief for Mira’s casual destructive behavior, especially since he would now be exposed to both her clumsy, and non-clumsy tendencies, that her purposefully teasing response didn’t immediately register to him.

“Well, I mean, if you play your cards right…”

The surprised young man stopped, realizing what she’d just said, then shot her a look of absolute disbelief for her disregard for what they had just talked about. She responded back with a guilty widening of her eyes upon seeing the frustration on his face, and standing abruptly, she walked around him then away off into the living room, saying as she passed him.

“Roommates! Right, sorry! Sorry! Damn… This is gonna be hard,” and even as she said it, she wasn’t completely sure herself, if she was referring to keeping him alive, or resisting making a move on him like the pair of them, were apparently, mutually agreeing not to. In absolute reality, she understood deep down she was thinking of both situations.

Anthony groaned a second time to voice his disconcerting emotions, standing up after a moment and following Mira into the living room, meaning to go back to his phone he’d left on the couch. Wanting to oblige his beautiful friend’s suggestive, inappropriate response, but resisting on the grounds that they were not together, nor were they anything officially romantic. He swallowed hard reflecting on how the conversation had gone, Anthony was certainly more excited than he was afraid or worried about his future with Mira, and he was still gushing over the fact that they both held reciprocated attraction to one another, on top of everything else, he was given the chance to help her. He knew there would be more hard times to come; pain, fear, maybe even worse, and this was the only beginning of his relationship with his demonic beauty, but he pondered how this first conversation, something that he would have considered a difficult topic, had gone for them.

“Well,” was the answer, he concluded, it had all actually gone surprisingly well. For the most part.