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Devil Beside Me.
A Loa and Boo Redux.
Story started: Tuesday, October 28th 2008 9:44PM.
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Side Note: This story has gone through a few title changes, so I think I owe everyone an explanation of it here. To the readers who have read the original Loa and Boo, you will know that this version is a rewrite of it. At first, it was just called Loa and Boo Redux, since it was bascially full of the same characters except with a new story line. Then I started disliking the name Boo, because honestly, I really don't know what I was thinking when I picked that name - so I changed the title (again), to fit in with the male lead's name. I remember not even giving the new title a second thought, as I was feeling lazy during that day. But as I finished up with chapter three, I came to realise how bad the title really was, so out sprung Devil Beside Me, which I promise will be the last title change EVER for this story. Some of you may know of the Taiwanese drama called "The Devil Beside Me" in which I derived my own title from, so I do not really own the title of this story, BUT, I do own this story! So don't get them mixed up! (:
Chapter One: Almighty Friggen Sun.
Life, it's such a miserable thing if you think about it. It's the reason why I'm sweating like a maniac at this very moment – the day I've finally gotten the house to myself for the first time in ten million years. Because I know its setting out to torture me as much as it can before it turns me into a wrinkled anchovy, Life decides that it's real funny to make sure that Sun does an extra good job today.
Yes, like I said, Life is so great.
I dangle a foot out of the hammock I'm lazing in, and then tried to shuffle myself into a better position without excessive movement on my part. Trust me; it's harder than it looks. I had already used up at least a whole bottle of sunscreen, but I could still feel my skin tingling from the heat.
Some people loved the sun, but I'd rather someone build a big dish to block the damn thing. Sun-bakers can go use fake tan. Half the effort, and lowers the risk of skin cancer – what's not to like?
I shuffled around on the hammock again. No-one smart enough to avoid this dreadful heat had dared venture out of their air-conditioned home. Whereas unlike me – or my home for instance – it was safer to boil outside than be cooked like chicken in an oven within the house. I've told mum about a bazillion times that air conditioning is a requirement for the survival of the human specie, but she only laughed it off and told me that fans did exactly the same thing at a much cheaper price. That was also the day she announced and introduced the three fans she had just bought from the cheap supermarket which had opened recently in the shopping centre. It was cheap alright – one broke ten minutes afterwards – and it wasn't just because mum was a total electronic klutz. Leave her near new technology, and it's guaranteed that the new tech wouldn't last till morning.
Moving away from the fan talk, that is how I found myself melting into the stringy material known as a hammock, hung between two lanky looking trees out on my front lawn because there was only one tree in the backyard, and everyone knows you can't hang a hammock on one tree, unless you wanted to sleep on it standing up. And if that's what you're into, then by all means, don't let me stop you. Hang your hammock on one tree. Come tell me the results if you survive.
I dangle my other foot out of the hammock as well. Something tickled it and I removed my sunglasses to catch Scratchy, our half bald cat, sniffing my foot like it was a can of Mrs. Smith's famous sardine flavoured cat food. Its Scratchy's favourite – I know, the cat's weird. It ate my extra pair of converse shoelaces last week because it got angry when I accidentally stepped on its tail. Now he's back to sniffing my foot again. The thing has mood swing problems. Mum and Lizzie think it's cute – I think they're insane.
Scratchy is licking at my foot now, which I find really ticklish. His tongue is rough and rather dry, and my urge to kick him rose immediately as he bit down on my small toe.
I was about to jump up and chase him around the yard a few times – even though it's friggen hot – when the most absurd thing covered in all black ran down the road just as I was about to jump off the hammock. Of course, Life thinks me getting tangled up in the hammock and falling face first onto the grass is the funniest thing ever, so the pain seemed ten times worse than it sounds.
And that was about the time when this shiny looking black car decided to make screechy sounds as it raced down the street…
…and right into the black clad thing.
My legs were dangling over the hammock, and I only had my chin supporting my head as I looked up from my position on the grass to see the black thing flying into the air and landing right on my front lawn. Scratchy had zoomed back into the house through his cat door by now, so that left only myself, the black thing and the Almighty Friggen Sun as a witness for what could possibly have been a hit-and-run.
My whole body is aching as I untangled myself from the hammock and watched the black thing twitch a few times from under the shady parts of the tree – the safe zone.
I knew I should really see if the black thing was okay – if it was really human, that is – but then I had this insane (but fantastically delusional) idea that maybe, just maybe – that the thing could really just be a bag of rubbish. Which twitched occasionally, but seriously, I was close to melting here. Like brains seriously functioned well in all this heat – mine's probably put itself into hibernation mode by now.
I was debating whether I should run into the boiling house oven to call for an ambulance (not tempting) or to check on the (hopefully) bag of rubbish first, when a moan was emitted from the bag of rubbish.
And yes, I know bags of rubbish don't moan – you don't need to point out the obvious.
I bit on my thumbnail as I edged myself out of the safety of the shade and towards the black thing.
"H-hello? Are you…okay?"
Another moan.
I pulled my hair back to prevent it from further sticking to my sweaty neck. Life was being extra nasty today.
"Hello?" I stuck out a foot and poked the black thing – retracting it immediately as it was too hot. Black attracted heat like Gareth the yoga freak attracted my mum. It's a disgusting comparison to think about right now, but it's true.
I was too busy wondering when Gareth's last bath was to notice that a hand had shot out of nowhere to suddenly take a hold of the foot I had just poked the black thing with.
I only managed a yelp as the hand tugged on my foot, sending me off balance and falling backwards like a stiff plank of wood.
That was when I blacked out.
Under the Sun.
Life must be getting stomach cramps from all that laughing his doing.
A/N: Yes, this is the newer, bettererrrrrr version of LAB! The first chapter is much, much shorter than the ancient, crap version, but I think it's more interesting than the longer, full-of-useless-crap version. Hmm, I hope so anyways. I decided to put this into a Redux version of LAB instead of just updating and replacing it in the other version, so any readers can compare the two and please, PLEASE, it would be lovely if you'd be able to tell me which version you think is better/more interesting/etc. Thanks for reading!