“I'm just
following orders.”
Super Mario*
#quote
Two romans walk into a bar, they then say "V beers please." Anyway onto the flash fiction!
Destructive
Babysitting
“Have we destroyed reality yet?” my little sister asked while she wagged her
demon tail.
“No.” I
responded as I worked the spell components with my clawed hands.
“Did we do it
now?” she asked smiling with her razor-like teeth.
“No.” I
repeated. I itched some of my scales before getting back to work on
my spell.
“Is it
destroyed now?” she continued.
“No...” I
grumbled.
“How about
now?” she asked leaning towards me.
“No.” I
told her with a quick look before going back to working on my spell.
She then leaned
even closer to me. “Did we do it now? Is reality destroyed?”
I then glared
at her. “Does it look like reality's been destroyed?”
She looked at
the woods we had hid ourselves in. It was a quiet night with a full
moon and I had created a small fire to give us light while I set up
the components for my spell and did the ritual. “I guess it doesn't
look like reality has been destroyed.” she said with a frown.
I hated how Mom
forced me to bring me along for this trip. But she couldn't get a
babysitter so I had to watch her. And the only way I could do that
was to bring her along on my reality destroying duties. I'm part of
the race of the Greater Demons and one of our race's duties is to
destroy realities that haven't followed their fates properly. In this
reality a man named James Smith was supposed to pick up a quarter off
the street. He did not as fate mandated so the reality had to be
annihilated.
“So what will
it look like when reality is destroyed?” she asked me.
I looked at her
annoyed. “It won't look like anything. It's reality being
destroyed. When the spell's complete there will be a flash of light
and we'll be back home. That's it.”
“Sounds kinda
boring. I thought it would be pretty or crazy looking,” she told
me.
I sighed. “Well
not everything is like what you expect.” I continued working on the
spell.
She sat silent
for a few minutes.
“Can I help?”
she asked wagging her tail. “I promise I'll be careful.”
At first I was
going to say no, but I figured it would be mean to leave her out. I
thought for a moment about something simple she could do. “Alright.
But you can only do the simple things because you're not trained at
this. Line up those candles and light them. Use that ruler and make
sure they are perfectly straight.”
“Okay!” she
said with a smile.
I continued
with the spell and she set up the candles and she checked them again
and again. I set up all the components and they were perfectly
straight. The spell was ready.
“Wow,” I
said, “You did it just right.” The reason my younger sister did
it right wasn't out of any genius or anything but it was out of the
fact that she checked the candles for straightness again and again.
It was diligence and not skill. She may develop skills in reality
destruction in the future, but I was proud that when I let her help
she worked hard at it.
I smiled. “The
spell is ready. In a moment this reality will be destroyed and fate
will be safe once again.”
“Yay!” she
yelled. “Though it's sad all those humans have to die.”
I glared at
her. “It is not sad for an improper reality to be destroyed.
Understand?”
“I
understand.” she replied.
With a snap of
my fingers I activated the spell. There was a flash of light. I first
expected to be back at home with my sister. Able to watch her while
playing some games instead of working. At least enjoyed some of the
same video games I did. But we did not wind back up at home and the
reality around me stayed intact. I looked around me and noticed that
my sister, while setting up the candles, had knocked over one of the
spell components I had set up prior. She had ruined the spell. I
didn't have the heart to tell her that she had ruined the spell
because of how hard she had worked on the candles.
“Looks like I
messed up on the spell.” I told her.
She frowned.
“But you never mess up! Did I do something wrong when I set up the
candles?”
I smiled at
her. “No, no, no, you set up the candles perfectly.” At least I
didn't lie there.
“Well we can
try again.” she said.
I frowned.
“Sorry, but you only got one shot per reality. So we're just gonna
head home. I think we're gonna get it on the next reality okay?”
“Alright!”
She smiled.
I suppose I
ought to tell you that the reality saved by sister's mistake was
yours, so you should thank her for that.
