5- Sleeping with You

That night Sylvia did not feel like sleeping alone. She wasn't exactly sure why she was feeling that way, but she guessed it had something to do with Mephistopheles and their conversation earlier. She was brushing her teeth and thinking about how she could ask him to sleep with her. Rinsing her mouth, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. To think she was so lonely she would be willing to share a bed with a complete stranger, and a demon at that. She spat the water into the sink. How pathetic. 

Once she stepped out of the bathroom, she walked towards Mephistopheles, who was typically sitting on the sofa with a book to his face. Noticing her presence, his bright red eyes looked up at her, but he said nothing, as though waiting for her to speak her thoughts. She leaned against the wall, and after awkwardly fixing her hair, proceeded to cross her arms. She hated herself for wanting this, but she really did not want to sleep alone tonight. For tonight, Sylvia just wanted someone by her side while her mind drifted into its usual labyrinth of darkness. 

"Hey, uhm, I need you, tonight." Her voice was barely audible, but the demon heard it perfectly. He elegantly placed a bookmark between the pages and closed the book. Then, just as gracefully, he slowly stood up. Seeing this prompt, albeit silent, reaction made her somewhat flustered, and she continued:

"I want you to sleep with me tonight, like, sleep sleep." She heard her voice crack and wished she was dead. Mephistopheles, meanwhile, had an expressionless face that seemed to neither mock nor understand. He simply nodded and walked towards her, waiting for Sylvia to lead the way. The latter was somewhat grateful at this unresponsiveness and docility, and as she climbed up the stairs with him behind her, she thought that maybe making a deal with a demon was not so bad. 

Now in her room, she shot a glance at him then shamefully crawled into bed. Mephistopheles followed suit and laid next to her. Sylvia was facing the door, and so she had her back in his direction. Her heart was beating loudly at the stiffness of the situation. To alleviate this tension, she sought to strike a short conversation: 

"So, uhm, do demons sleep?" For some reason, she was feeling fidgety and distressed. She couldn't keep herself completely still, and so her leg would shake a little, and then her arm would move slightly. Every now and then, her head would twitch on its own, and then her teeth might click too. 

"Not really." His voice behind her was low but steady. "We can close our eyes and think of stuff, but we can't sleep like humans do." 

"Do you wish you could sleep?" 

"Sometimes."

"Nah, you're lucky you can't sleep." 

"Why? Don't you like sleeping?" She felt him scoot closer to her, and wondered why she had said that. "I hate sleeping, especially on work days. Every night it's either a panic attack, nightmares, insomnia, or all three respectively." 

"Is that why you want me to sleep with you tonight?" There was something about the way he said it that appealed to her. Taking a breath, she spoke a soft hesitant 'yes' then brought her fists tensely to her chest. 

"Sleeping with demons is probably not the best idea to avoid nightmares, haha." Mephistopheles joked, then seeing that his jest was ignored, continued in a more serious tone: "Though I can make it so you don't dream at all."

"Really?" Sylvia sat up, almost excited at this suggestion.

"Yeah. I told you, I can use my powers as long as they serve your wish."

"Wow..." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Maybe you're not so useless after all." Her taunt only managed to draw a smirk on his face. Lifting his pinkie, he proudly claimed: "With just this, I can wipe the entire human race out of existence."

"But you can't kill me." She smirked back, unconsciously relaxing back into bed. 

"Well, you got me there." The demon puffed his cheeks thoughtfully, then continued: "but then again, you can't kill you either, so that makes us at least equally useless." This made Sylvia chuckle quite audibly. Hearing herself, she unconsciously put her hand to her mouth and stopped laughing. 

"Why did you do that?" 

"Do what?" 

"You hid your lips. I wanted to see your smile a little longer." 

This again. She thought to herself. She had somehow managed to forget about his genuine comment earlier, but now he had hit her with a second one. It was not the first time she was being flirted with, but there was something about being told how pretty one's smile was when that said person was in her casual clothes with no makeup done and with a naturally depressed looking face, especially when the source of the compliment was a mesmerizingly gorgeous man such as Mephistopheles. The effect was amplified further by how honest he sounded both times he said it. 

Sylvia felt herself blushing, and hid her face further with her wrist. "A-anyway, how can you make me not dream or something?" She heard him scoff before she felt a cold delicate hand on her forehead. She immediately pulled away in response. 

"Wh-what are you doing?" 

Mephistopheles tilted his head in confusion. "I am taking your dreams away." His response made her sigh at her own stupidity. Of course that was what he was doing, she told her hopeless self. What the hell were you expecting? Awkwardly, she leaned back into his touch, and felt his long fingers as they gently spread across her forehead. Her eyes fixated on his face, not sure where else to look. Closing his own eyes, the demon muttered ancient words rapidly, and Sylvia instantly felt something enter her head. Panicking at the unpleasant sensation, she pulled away a second time.

"What? What just happened? Did you put something inside me? Is it gonna rot my brain or something?" Mephistopheles seemed surprised by her fervent reaction, and took a second to find an adequate explanation. "How do I put this? I placed an obstacle in your head, so it would stop any dreams from coming. And no, it won't rot your brain, why would I ever do that?" 

With her hand on her forehead, Sylvia slowly calmed herself down. Again, her body reacted defensively, pulling her away from a possible danger, though she herself would have loved to dive straight into it. Embarrassed by her clear inconsistency, she nodded a thank you at the demon boy, twice grateful that he did not comment on her reaction. With a gulp, she muttered a goodnight and buried herself under the blanket. Now with her eyes closed, it was total darkness and quietness, until it wasn't.

As soon as her eyes got accustomed to the darkness of the room, she was now noticing the redness behind her eyelids. Grumpily, she turned to Mephistopheles, who was laying on his back staring emptily at the ceiling. He turned to her, and the brightness made her flinch.

"Can you, like, turn off your eyes or something?"