Part 1: Chapter 3

xxx THREE xxx
Trust and Compliance Leads to Teamwork

Without any uncertainty, my body started running full speed into the roof of the building next door. My legs jumped and landed perfectly on the clay rooftop of a white building. Although the roof surface was wavy and crinkled, Lucifer was able to keep my body in a steady balance. It felt like watching those crazy parkour videos.

As someone who's never jumped around the rooftops of buildings like a lunatic, my anxiety was all-time high as Lucifer dragged my body around without a worry in the world.

"LUCIFEEERR!!!" I shrieked in fear. I couldn't stand to watch myself!

Once again, he jumped into another rooftop and landed perfectly with my own two feet. Without wasting time, he immediately continued running. "This is fun, eh mortal?" Lucifer says as he does a flip mid-air jump. "In Hell, buildings all have flat rooftops, so it's pretty easy to just jump around! This is a bit harder with all the crinkly-looking roofs, but it's no different from volcano climbing!"

"Volcan—!?!" Although bewildered by his response, my anxiety overtook the confusion I felt. "I don't care if you're a damn parkour expert or something!! STOP FUCKING CLIMBING OTHER PEOPLE'S ROOFS!!!" I begged him to stop, but it should be clear as day that his hobby is disregarding other people's words.

After arriving at the tenth or so building, we arrived at a large gap to the next building. An alleyway was sandwiched between the two buildings. The gap was wider than the previous ones we passed through. As the voice of reason, there's no way I'm letting Lucifer jump past that.

"THERE'S NO GODAMN WAY YOU'RE JUMPING THAT FAR!!! YOU WON'T MAKE IT!!!" I cried.

With a stupid grin, he boasted, "no need to worry, your Lucifer here is quite the skilled devil! Watch this mortal!"

Under Lucifer's command, my legs jumped high into the sky, exceeding my physical capabilities. From that height, I could faintly see the buildings that stretch into the horizon. The clear sky only helped the moon shine brighter. It felt majestic - as if I was soaring through the sky.

Both my feet and my hands landed on the triangle-shaped rooftop next door. Unlike the previous times, I actually almost didn't make it!

Without a pause to calm my nerves down, he comes running again to the next roof. "See mortal? As long as I'm in control, nothin' bad will happen to you!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!" he lets out the most content laugh I've ever heard.

Bastard...!! What a crazy lunatic!!!

xxx

We finally reach the alleyway of the garbage bin we were at earlier. To jump down safely, Lucifer canon balls into the garbage bin. Does he love trash that much?

"Noot noot! The highway cart has arrived at your destination! Please draw blood as payment!" Lucifer mimics what might be akin to a train conductor.

"Highway cart? Blood for payment?! What the hell are you spouting?!" I asked in confusion.

"What? You don't have any highway carts here? Like a cart with wheels some demon drives?" he described. Must be some sort of transportation in Hell.

Realizing I got distracted by Lucifer's shenanigans, I bounce back to reality. I'm looking for my uniform!

"Wait! Where's my uniform? Look around!" Lucifer helps my view by turning my head to the left and right. In the corner of my vision, I see a swarm of rats wiggling on top of something. Although it's dark and hard to see, the orange-tinted street lamp shone a piece of my checkered pants - the motif of my school's uniform. "THERE! THERE'S MY UNIFORM!!!" I yelled right away.

Lucifer climbs my body out of the bin and runs towards the rats, scaring them off. They scatter in every direction and seemingly disappear into thin air, revealing my dirty and crumpled-up uniform. My shirt, pants, belt, socks, shoes, and underwear were all there. I sigh in relief.

"Hey Lucifer, I'll take it from here. Give me control back, I don't know how to do it!" I demanded.

Lucifer hesitated before loosening up the grip of my hands and raises my feet, revealing many scrape wounds from the clasp of my hand and my soles.

"I might've been too rough using your body. I forgot it wasn't my own. Your hands and feet are kinda, not doing well. You sure you wanna take over? Can you even handle this? It's gonna hurt like a bitch!" I could feel a smirk creeping in.

My rage starts boiling once more. For a second, I forgot just how INFURIATING he is. "Recklessly using my body...! I'm going to break at this point! Can't you feel the pain when you're in control?!? Why didn't you do anything about it!!!"

"Well excuuuuseee me, mortal! I'm used to the pain, so a little scratch like this feels like nothin'! I'm not as weak as you mortals."

Is he bragging or something?! It's pissing me off!

"Well then grab my clothes for me! We're going home now," I said solemnly, tired of getting mad. "Walk to the road in front of us. Just head straight until I say otherwise."

Lucifer huffs, "getting comfortable, mortal? You're ordering me around like a dog! Should I call you master or something? Bwahahaha!"

Ignoring him, I remark, "it's about time you call me by my actual name than just 'mortal'. Calling me fucking mortal all the time sounds like you're looking down at me! My name's Yoel for fucks sake!"

"Yoel? Yoooeeel...? But I'm already used to callin' you mortal, though," he teases.

"If you're calling me mortal, then I'm calling you devil," I attempted to retaliate. "Oh, turn to the left."

Lucifer does as I say and turns to the road on the left. "You know what, I ain't bothered by that! Call me devil more, mortal! Bwahahahahaa!!"

"Ugh, then I'll fucking—wait, turn right!" As he did before, he obediently does as I say. The Devil is listening to me? A mere human? I couldn't help but laugh at this absurd situation.

"Huh? Of course, I'm taking orders from you, I wanna sleep in a nice bed too! Am I that funny to you?" Lucifer tried to reason. I still giggled at his behavior anyways. "Why you laughin' mortal?!"

Before I answered Lucifer, I ordered him again, "walk through that alleyway. It's a shortcut to a park close to my home." Again, without a fail, he does as he is told and skids his way through the tight alleyway. I snort like a pig at his compliance.

"You call me a crazy lunatic, then start laughing like a pig outta' nowhere! Freaky kid!" he irked.

I forced myself from laughing and continued showing the way, "anyways, just walk straight, we should probably see the park where you struck me." Lucifer moves my body to the dimly lighted park. There's no one around. Actually, there hasn't been anyone around since the garbage bin. At least I don't have to suffer from the embarrassment of being seen anymore.

"There's a faucet over there in the far right corner. Use it to clean my wounds and then drench my clothes." I instructed. He complies and starts cleaning the wound on my hands.

After running around rooftops and walking to the park, I can finally slow down and take a breather. It's been a long day. I look down at my vision seeing Lucifer continue to wipe the blood off my feet.

"Haa... You know Lucifer, I've always been bullied and treated like shit since I could remember. I'm always at the bottom of the food chain, trying to survive alone. But now that I have the Devil here doing my work for me, I feel like I'm on top of the world."

"Wow, I feel so appreciated," he says in a robotic tone. He starts rubbing my uniform in the water to get rid of some of the trash. Thankfully, it seems like those rats didn't get to eat my uniform yet.

Lucifer stands up from his bent position and asks, "alright, what's the next task, mortal? Where's your humble abode?"

"Now you change from the trench coat and wear it," I commanded.

He was hesitant but asked, "Wear it...? You mean these wet clothes of yours?!"

"If it wasn't obvious enough, yes I'm telling you to wear my wet clothes," I clarify.

He takes a glance at my uniform and groans, "you're making me wear thiiiisss?! It's all soaked!! It'll be so uncomfortable, so cold and heavy!!!"

"I'm not going home wearing a trench coat from the trash! What would my mom even think seeing me naked underneath this coat with my uniform all trashed! At least if I was soaked wet, it would be easier to explain!" I reasoned.

"I don't wanna! You take over!" he sulks like a bratty child. Instantly, I was able to feel the cold breeze passing through my wet hands and feet.

"AH!! It's so damn cold!!! And my fucking wounds, it stings!!!" I yelp in pain.

"See how uncomfortable it is? I was sheltering you from the harsh and cruel world, yet you wouldn't even be grateful!" he keeps brooding.

"Don't act as if you're my old man!" I said as I hold back the pain. I grab all my clothes off the ground and wore them one by one. I took off the trench coat and threw it into the trash can behind the faucet. It's going to be freezing, but I soaked my head in the water to clean myself a bit.

"GYAAAAHH!!!" I yap aloud from the cold.

Without wearing my shoes, I walked through the hard and rough concrete sidewalk to get home. It hurts like a bitch, but I held my cries back. If I wore my shoes, then the blood will stain and ruin them. My uniform is in shambles enough, I can't ruin my shoes too.

I wonder if moms still awake.

xxx TO BE CONTINUED xxx