Extra Credit

I don’t usually do this kind of thing, but I had fallen behind in my studies.

I’ve always been an honor roll student. I had some B’s here and there, but mostly fantastic grades. I wasn’t big into extra curicular activities, but I was a library assistant and I did a little volunteer work for the required hours I needed to graduate.

It all changed when I turned seventeen. My parents had gotten me a car for my birthday. Nothing fancy, but four wheels and an engine is always nice, but it came with a caveat. If I wanted to drive it, I would need to pay for insurance on it. This led me to pick up a job, which led to a lot of closing shifts at my local fast-food chain and not a lot of time for studying or doing homework.

So when Mr. Castleberry told me that I was going to fail 12th grade English if I didn’t bring my grades up, I asked him if there wasn’t something we could work out. I had meant extra credit, maybe a make-up assignment or retake a test, but it seemed that he had other ideas. He looked around as if what he was going to tell me was likely to get him in trouble, and then he scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to me. When I asked him what it was, he told me to open it when I got to my car and not to tell anybody.

He refused to say anything else about it after that, and as I sat in the front seat of my car reading the message, I was a little weirded out.

I mean, you saw these sorts of situations in adult films or in the back of hustler magazines, but you never really thought that it would happen in real life.

Meet me at my house at seven-thirty tonight, before sunset, be prepared to stay till dawn.

I started to go back in and tell him there was no way in hell, but I did need this particular class to graduate. Who knows, maybe he just liked to hang out with his students in the middle of the night. I didn’t believe that for a second, but I decided that it was worth looking into. If I wasn’t comfortable with it, I could always take the bad grade and figure something else out.

It worked out pretty good because I was off that night and Mr. Castleberry lived about fifteen minutes from my house.

I pulled up outside his house at about seven-fifteen and saw him peeking out the curtains as I came up to knock. He threw the door open, looking around as if to see if I’d been followed, and then practically pulled me inside by the front of my shirt as he closed and locked the door. He threw about four different locks, as well as a chain, and then told me to follow him to the bedroom. I raised an eyebrow, that was a little fast, but I did as he asked and figured we would talk over the particulars once we got there.

When I stepped into his bedroom, I noticed that Mr. Castleberry had an odd setup. His bed sat in the middle of a circle that I had a sneaking suspicion might be silver. The walls were painted in holy symbols and Mr. Castleberry was finishing a circle of salt around the bed as I took it all in. He pursed his lips, clearly not sure how to begin, and sat down on the bed as he tried to figure out how to explain it.

“We don’t have a lot of time, so I’ll try to be quick. I have a demon inside me, a demon that only comes out at sundown.”

“Bull!” I laughed, thinking he was joking, but his face was stone cold serious.

“Hand of God,” he said, “That's what the circle and the salt is for. I have people I know who come and sit with me, to make sure the demon doesn’t escape somehow, but sometimes I have to ask my students to stand in. I just need you to sit there and watch me until dawn. After that, you’ll have your A.”

I sighed, thinking this over. It appeared he didn’t want anything sexual, but he was certainly after something weird. Mr. Castleberry had always seemed like such a normal guy. Who would have thought he was secretly some kind of weirdo who thought he had a demon or something.

Whatever, though. An A was an A, and I needed to pass this class.

“Okay, so, what do I do if this thing gets out?”

Mr. Castleberry was getting comfy in bed, “There's a box beside the chair,” he said, pointing to a old wooden chair by the wall, “Use what's in there. The gun is a last resort. The bullets in it are very expensive, so I hope you’re a good shot. Don’t call the police, and don’t invite anyone over. You got that?”

I nodded, reaching down beside the chair and finding the box as he got comfortable.

“Good, the sun's going down, so it won't be long. Oh, the demon will try to tempt you, just make sure you don’t listen to anything it has to say. There's earplugs in the box, but I don’t recommend that you use anything electronic to block him out.”

“Why not?” I asked, taking a battered old Bible and a cross out of the box. The gun inside was a heavy old revolver and it looked like it would blow a hole through a barn if I used it. There were earplugs, and a spray bottle labeled HW that I assumed would hurt the demon too.

When Mr. Castleberry didn’t answer me, I asked again as I looked up. He was lying on the bed, arms crossed over his chest, as he mouthed the words to a prayer I didn’t know. He was speaking in Latin or Spanish or something, and as the sun got lower, he seemed to be fighting to finish it. His tongue was getting heavy, his words growly, and he was twitching like an epileptic.

As the sun slid below the horizon and true dark overtook the town, his eyes popped open and I heard a sound like someone popping all their vertebrae at once. He roared like a charging rhino and his body contorted on the bed like someone being flayed alive. I jumped as he writhed on the bed, knocking over the chair as I went for the door. I needed to call the hospital. This was beyond a joke, and he needed help.

“N N N N NOOOO!” Mr. Castleberry forced out, “D D D Don't llllllEAVE. Stay till…DAWN. ONLY WAY TTTTTT,” but that appeared to be all I would get from Mr. Castleberry.

He went limp then, falling back to the bed as a soft and satisfied growl left him.

As he lay there, I watched as his chest rose and fell. What was going on with him? Was he actually possessed? I shook that thought off. I had been raised Catholic but the older I got, the less sure I was that God existed. If there was no God, then there was no Devil so there were no demons either. That meant that the school board was just letting someone like Mr. Castleberry teach kids with whatever mental issues he had going on. Probably schizophrenia or multiple personalities or something. I didn’t know, but if I had to stay here all night to get an A, then I supposed I would. I was gonna be tired at work tomorrow, but I had Sunday off so I could always recuperate then.

“Ah, yes, the sabbath is a good day to rest. It was good enough for the All Mighty, at least, so I suppose it’s good enough for you.”

I felt my breath stick in my throat. The voice I had heard from the bed had been as different from Mr. Castleberry as sandpaper was to velvet. Whoever was talking sounded like the kind of people who do the kind of ASMR that gets you banned on YouTube. It was the kind of voice that lures kids into wells, the kind of voice that lures women away from happy marriages, and the kind of voice that leaves men questioning their sexuality.

I looked up to find Mr. Castleberry reclined on the bed, his head resting on his hand in what was likely supposed to be a seductive pose. His eyes were smoldering, something I hadn’t thought them capable of, and his smile was predatory. He was sizing me up like a predator preparing to spring, and I felt my skin erupt in goosebumps.

“Mr. Castleberry?”

It laughed, and I felt like I should join in but forced myself not to.

“The old man’s gone to bed, but you can talk to me if you want. My name is Satan.”

I scoffed, “No way in hell. I’m sure Satan has better things to do than bother my English teacher.”

He laughed, “Very astute. The Spanish girl he brought in last time screamed and ran out of the room when I told her that. I see you have thicker skin, though. You may call me Raesh, and what may I call you?”

I started to tell him, but I seemed to remember something about telling a demon your name and decided not to give him my real name.

“Sam,” I said, earning a wide, toothy grin from the imp.

“Astute and Cagey, I like that. So, how about you break that salt circle and let me out? I’m sure we could have some fun before this ole fuddy-duddy gets up.”

“Wouldn’t the silver circle hold you inside too?” I asked, dubiously.

Raesh peeked over the bed and chuckled, “That crafty old duck. Who knew you could afford that much silver on a teacher's budget. Well, no matter, if you step inside the circle, breaking it with your foot, then it isn’t a circle and I can come out. Come on, what do you say?”

I found myself considering it. I had actually prepared to stand up when I realized what I was doing. I didn’t know anything about this creature, a change my mind had made from mental disease to creature, and I was just going to trust him? No, no I didn’t think so. I planted my bottom and shook my head.

“I don’t think so,” I said and was surprised to find that I was almost apologetic.

Raesh shrugged, “Of course not, why would you release me for free? Why wouldn’t you want to get something out of it, after all? So, what is it you want? What is this old man offering you to keep watch over me?”

“Uh,” I floundered and finally just decided on the truth, “An A in his English class?”

It sounded lame, and when Raesh laughed, I knew he had thought so too.

“A meaningless mark of completion? I could make you rich beyond your wildest dreams, get you any one person, any twelve people, you desire, or set you up in such a way that not graduating from school would be the least of your worries. I could do so much for you, and I don’t even need to take your soul. I just need you to free me. It’s been so long since I was free to roam the night, and I’m so very hungry.”

He had been weaving a spell around me, drawing me into his promises, but that last brought me back to my senses. What would this thing do if it got loose? Who would it hurt if it was just allowed to roam the night? I shook my head, trying to get the invasive words out of my skull, and when I turned back, Mr. Castleberry looked disappointed.

“A pity. I really could have done more for you than I can for this old stick.”

I ignored him after that, though he did not return the favor. I had brought some books to work on homework, but he was talking too much for me to concentrate. I spent a few hours trying to complete my Geometry Homework while he offered to help, offered to get me all the answers, offered to do things I’d rather not think about, and a hundred other such offers. He also threatened, promising a thousand different punishments for not letting him out only to walk them back a moment later and apologize.

I checked my watch as I finally closed the book and discovered it was only ten thirty. I had been at this for three hours, and it didn’t seem to be going by quickly.

“Only eight more hours until sunrise,” he said, guessing the source of my sighs, “Plenty of time for you to change your mind.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the earplugs, pushing them in and taking my American History homework out.

Two hours of mostly silence later, I put it away and looked up to find Raesh looking at me a little too intently.

I yawned, getting sleepy as I pulled out my phone and scrolled through TikTok. I couldn’t hear it, and as I reached for my headphones, I remembered what Mr. Castleberry had said. He had warned about using electronic headphones, but I figured one probably would be fine. Besides, they had noise reduction on them. That had to count for something.

Raesh tried to call out to me when I swapped the earplug for the headphones, but I ignored him as I popped it in.

I was listening to a two-minute story about something or another, but as I scrolled to the next one, I was surprised to find that it was a live stream from a familiar room. I could see myself sitting there, face glued to the phone, but as I watched, Raesh looked right at the camera and smiled. I was infuriated. Mr. Castleberry was just livestreaming himself as he scared some dumb kid of the week. In fact, the title of the stream was “High School Kid Tormented by “Demon”. He had tricked me! Why would he do that?

“Why indeed?” Raesh asked, staring at me through the camera as if he could see me through the phone, “What do you owe him? He made a fool of you online. What if your friends saw this? What would they think? You’d be a social outcast. Why not give them something to watch? I bet you’d love nothing more than to wrap your hands around this fool's throat and choke the life out of him. Do it. No one would know. Just walk over here and,”

I was getting up, but as I took a step towards the bed, alarm bells rang in my head. Raesh was messing with me. Looking back down at the phone, I could see it was a generic TikTok shop stream, and when I looked back up, Raesh was so close that his nose was pressed against the barrier.

“Come on, just one more step. One more step and you can do whatever you want to him. Kill him, kiss him, do his laundry, I don’t care! Just LET ME OUT!” he bellowed and I stumbled back into my chair as he laughed.

After that, I just watched the TikToks with the subtitles on.

I didn’t trust my ears anymore.

I made it till two but after that, my yawns started to sneak up on me. I wished I had brought an energy drink or something. I wasn’t used to staying up this late, not regularly, and my eyes were getting heavy. I swapped over to an adventure game on my phone, but it kept slipping longer and longer the later it got. I could see Raesh watching me, catlike as if just waiting for me to nod off. He was tricky, and I wondered if Mr. Castleberry had coffee in the kitchen. I just had to make it a little bit longer, just a few more hours and I was home free.

I made it till three ten before I lost the fight.

One moment I was running my eight-bit knight through my hundredth dungeon, and the next I heard someone giggle from the bed. I looked up to find not the leering Raesh, but Stephanie Morgan from my math class. She was joined by Tina Feller, Debbie Rose, and half of the cheerleading squad whose names I was a little foggy on. They were in their underwear and seemed to be beckoning me to come join them. There were comments about long division and making a human pyramid, and as I got slowly to my feet, something seemed off. Where was Raesh? He had been there a minute ago. He might not have been present, but something in their voices as they called me to bed reminded me of him. It was underneath their voice, something wicked and hidden, and I shook my head and snapped my eyes open not a moment too soon.

I was standing at the edge of the circle again. I had lost twenty minutes, and Raesh was cursing like a sailor as he had a tantrum in the middle of the large bed. He was thrashing hard enough to jounce the frame, but not hard enough to disturb the salt. He looked up at me with real scorn on his face, clearly contemplating all the terrible things he wanted to do to me.

“You were so close! The boobie trap always gets them!”

I was wide awake now, but I knew it wouldn’t last long unless I found something to focus on.

Three hours, I had three hours.

Despite that knowledge, I smiled at the old imp.

“Can’t trick me, Raesh. No deceitful person will dwell in my house, And no liar will stand in my presence.”

To my surprise, Raesh sat back like I had slapped him.

I blinked, that was different.

“What? Not a big fan of scripture?”

Raesh looked at me sardonically, “Obviously. I would prefer if you’d keep it to yourself in the future.”

Message received, I thought.

Maybe there was more to God than I had thought.

So that was how we spent the last three hours. I kept the old worn Bible on my lap, and whenever Raesh would start trying to worm his way back in, I would begin to read from it. It put him off talking, right up until the sky began to lighten. Then he turned to me, my eyes barely staying open, and delivered one final bit of crypticness.

“I don’t have much longer. When you think back on this time, I want you to remember ttttthat you cccccoulddddd have had mmmmm more than this old st st stick ever ddddIDDD.” he growled out.

As the first rays of light came up over the window sill, he twisted violently, so violently that I thought he had broken his neck. He twitched a few more times, screaming hoarsely until he finally settled back onto the bed. I sighed as he twitched again, realizing it was over as I packed the cross and the Bible back into the box with the gun and the earplugs. The spray bottle went in last, and as I secured the lid, Mr. Castleberry sat up and stretched grandly.

He blinked and looked at me, smiling as he realized I was still there.

“I had a feeling you wouldn’t be so easy to scare off. As promised, you’ll pass with an A now. Here,” he said, and to my surprise, he fished two one-hundred-dollar bills out of his nightstand.

“What's this for?” I asked.

“I give anyone who works the sundown shift two hundred bucks when they're done. There's more where that came from if you’d like to come back. The number of people who come back, however, is surprisingly low.”

I asked him how he could afford this and he smiled, laughing warmly, “I don’t teach for the money. I teach because it’s what I love to do. My father set me up before I was born, something I don’t think Raesh knows. Money doesn’t mean the same thing to demons that it does to us, and I think he just sees it as a thing I have. I don’t covet it, so he doesn’t see it as a vice.”

Two hundred bucks, I thought, for twelve hours of basically nothing. I could sit with Mr. Castleberry for three nights and make what I made at the fast food place in a week. I would have to think about this very hard, but I was definitely tempted to come back. I knew what I was in for now, so it would be easier a second time. I knew Raesh would have new tricks, but maybe I’d be ready now that I was prepared.

Before I left that day, I asked him what the demon had given him to have such control after dark.

Mr. Castleberry thought about it for a moment and finally decided to share the secret with me.

“My mother was sick, very sick, and I was looking for a miracle to make her better. Raesh’Ieal came to me and offered me a deal. He would possess my body after dark, control me from sunup to sun down, and in exchange, my mother would be spared from the disease that was killing her. I agreed, on the condition he couldn’t do anything that would take away my ability to be free during the day. He agreed, but it was all for nothing.”

“What do you mean?” I asked,“Your mother lived, right?”

“For a while. He didn’t lie, he cured her of the cancer that was eating away at her. The cancer, however, had damaged her kidneys. She lived another eight months before she died of renal failure. Let that be a lesson to you, should you decide to come back. Demons always promise the moon, but they don’t tell you that the cheese is rotten.”

I left that room two hundred dollars richer and maybe a little wiser.

Wiser or not, it wasn’t the last time I sat with Mr. Castleberry and Raesh’Ieal.