The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke Read Free Book Online

said, smiling.
    She was only twelve years old.

5
    ‘TELL HER WHO I AM’
    Alex
    Dear Diary,
    Today I met a lady doctor at the hospital who asked a lot of questions about Ruen. I felt very confused when she asked about him. I’ve never told anyone much about him because that was our deal. But then he asked me to introduce him and it confused me because usually he hisses at me like a cat to keep quiet and pretend that he doesn’t exist, at which I say something like, ‘But, Ruen, you’re such a charming fellow, surely you want me to tell the whole world about you?’ and he narrows his horrible eyes at me and says, Sarcasm only gestures at one’s impotence . Then I blow a raspberry and he disappears in a huff.
    When Ruen first came to stay, he said he was simply here to be my friend because I looked lonely. Then one day we had an argument and I told him to go away, and he said he couldn’t. He said he’d been sent to study me because he and all his friends had never come across a human being who could see demons like I did. He said I was very special. The most anyone had ever seen of demons was a glimpse, he said, and these people usually thought they were seeing things. I remember he was very, very excited that I could see him and said it was very important that he study me, like a lab rat or something. I said I didn’t want to be studied, that sounded like there was something wrong with me, and all my life people have been saying that there is something wrong with me. I hate it, because I am totally fine and want to be left alone. But Ruen promised me something if I let him study me. I’m not going to say what. It’s our secret.
    The lady doctor had a big Harry-Potter kind of scar, but on her cheek, not her forehead. She was pretty and smiley and had small dark brown eyes and long black hair that looked like chocolate sauce being poured out of a bottle. One of her teeth had a chip in it and sometimes I could see her bra through her shirt. Dr Molokova, she said her name was, but to call her Anya. Peanuts make Anya fall asleep. I ate some when she left to see if they’d make me fall asleep but they didn’t.
    When Anya asked me about Ruen I think I must have blushed and got twitchy. Ruen told me to tell her who he was. I was very confused. The lady doctor asked me what was wrong. Ruen said it again: Tell her who I am . So I did. She was very interested to hear about Ruen and Ruen must have met her before because he told me some things about her, like she played the piano quite well and that her daddy had been Chinese, though she never really knew him, and her mum had a lot of problems. Just like mine.
    When she left Ruen had a funny look in his eyes, the kind of look Woof gets when he sees Ruen. Worried. Afraid, almost. I asked him what was wrong and he said nothing and then started asking lots of questions about Anya and about love . I was so sick of questions by this point, though I was a bit freaked out by the fact that I had to stay in hospital when it was Mum that had something wrong with her, not me, and that no one had come to collect me yet. So I answered his questions, even though they were very strange.
    He said: ‘What does love feel like?’
    I said: ‘You’d have to ask a girl.’ And then I thought of Mum and how much I love her and so I said: ‘Like you’d do anything for the person you love.’ And then I stared at him for a long time and worked it out by myself.
    ‘You love Anya,’ I said.
    ‘I most certainly do not,’ he said.
    ‘You do,’ I said, laughing. ‘You fancy her.’
    I was having great fun getting my own back after he teased me mercilessly about fancying Katie McInerny just because I let her share my locker.
    He got all angry, then disappeared so fast he made a slight pop, and I laughed myself to sleep.
    When I woke up, it was really dark outside. All the rooftops of the houses across the street looked like a zigzaggedy dinosaur spine against the sky. I could tell Ruen was in