Owlings and Demons by T. Richardson (polar express read aloud .txt) 📕

mom was not home I was actually babysitting.”
He nodded. “Cool.”
“What’s your name?” I asked still taken aback by his "Demon" announcement.
“Umm I don’t know, want to give me one?” was all he said.
I was surprised. “Really?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Um well,” I said. “You kind of look like an um…a Johnny. Do you like that name?” I asked.
“As long as I have one,” he said. I chuckled. “Well my name is um…" I paused, "...Erica. Sorry, you not knowing your name caught me off guard. Nice to meet you.” We shook hands. In so many ways he was scaring me. The fact that it was getting dark bothered me.
“Ever realized that in the night mosquitoes don’t bite you but all of your other friends always complain?” he asked.
I nodded.
“That has everything to do with them being scared of the demon in you.”
I frowned. “You seem so proud to call yourself a demon.” I chuckled.
He shook his head, “I’m not,” he said. “I have been so close to killing my loved ones, that every time I have this certain gravity pulling me towards their deaths, I have to drag myself to the floor letting another gravity take me in.” At this point I felt so strange, like he was being serious. “Hey, I’ll see you at school tomorrow,” he said.
“You go to my school?” I asked.
“Well I’m starting tomorrow,” he replied. He began walking in the other direction. “Hey, if your house was over there than why’d you walk this way?” I asked.
He ignored my question. “I had fun talking to you,” he replied. I held my thumb up as if the answer was good enough, and nodded.
Fully Developed

The other night I had reached home. Check!
All the children had been babysat. Check!
I met a weird guy and named him Johnny. Check?

I heard my front door open and my mother finally came home. “Go to school!” she yelled.
“Ok mom, remember I called you all night and you didn’t answer once,” I said while walking out the door.
“Don’t get smart with me!” she yelled again. I closed the front door behind me. I snickered. My mom was always like this, crazy. I walked to my bus stop and the person waiting for me there was Johnny. “Uh, hi,” I whispered making sure the neighbors wouldn’t hear us.
“Hello!” he yelled making sure that everyone would.
“What is wrong with you?! It’s 6:00 am.” Lights started turning on from house to house.
“I have one more question to ask you before we get onto the bus.” I nodded letting him know it was ok to ask. “What is my last name?” I thought for a second, and then the bus strolled by. I sat in a seat and he sat beside me.
“Maybe you can be my friend across the street; your last name is Roman,” I whispered. He nodded seeming pretty pleased. “I just wanted to let you know that no one really likes me here.” I warned him that if he ever wanted to be popular then he shouldn’t be hanging out with me.
“Maybe,” he started. “If they didn’t know you from earlier ages, you would be pretty popular.”
I shrugged. “Maybe.” I said. “Cause I didn’t know you and I thought you could’ve been the most popular person in school, one of those idiotic girls. That’s why I approached you with my car. By the way I’m very sorry for that.” I laughed.
“Who is that?” Adam said shamelessly.
“My friend, why?”
“Just wondering.” He replied. He stood up and sat next to us while squishing us in our seats.
“Hi, Adam,” said Johnny. “My name is Johnny Roman.” Adam nodded. “You got one pretty friend there Mr. Roman,” he smiled
“Don’t you ever call her pretty again,” Johnny said tensed. Adam was alarmed from the sudden harmful tone.
“Uh…. Johnny?” I said. “Are you ok?” I was sure Adam was only joking.
He nodded. “Adam was purposely trying to tick me off.” Adam shook his head and walked on over to his seat. The bus driver even stopped moving scared to death from this guy. I even backed up a little.
“Go,” Johnny said to the driver.
The bus began to move again. “What just happened?” I asked.
“That was me over reacting, that’s all.” He said. “I apologize for the embarrassment.”
I smiled. “You didn’t embarrass me, just scared me a little.” I explained.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” he said.
“What?” I asked.
“For a demon like me to go to school like this.” He explained.
“I’m here and I’m fine.” I said. “You can make it too.”

As soon as we reached the school, we were let off the bus and the driver handed Johnny a note. He looked at it and got a little upset. I grabbed it from his hands and It read…

I understand you are new here but I am just giving you a warning. I will be talking to the dean about your strange outburst this morning and the fact that you commanded me to move the bus and we will see if he decides to enter you in special classes, Jonathan Roman.

“My name isn’t even Jonathan,” he complained.
“Yes it is,” I said plainly. “Johnny is only shorter name for Jonathan, if you want to think it like that.” He nodded understanding. “Ok,” I said. “To plan this out easier, you will be going to every class I go to, so first class we go to is chemistry.” As we were walking through the halls Johnny began departing from me. I grabbed his jacket. “You must stay near me.” I told him. He seemed pretty confident.
Adam approached us. “Hey Roman,” He said. “It’s about time when Erica and my sister would take my friends bags, but since my sister isn’t here I guess you could be a substitute.” I kicked Adam in the shin as usual but Johnny took it to the next level and aimed for his head.
I gasped. “Come let’s go Erica.” He took my hand trying to run out of the hallway as soon as possible as I constantly looked back. Then a large hand patted his shoulder.
The dean.
“May I ask who you are?” asked the dean.
“Jonathan.” Johnny gulped.
“Oh,” the dean said. “I’ve heard of you.” Johnny held onto my hand tighter, he must’ve been really feeling the urge to do something that could ruin him, or maybe he didn’t want me to run away. He knew I was scared of him. “You are Jonathan Roman, the kid with the outbursts. My office, now. You too Adam.” He finally let go of my hand, it was pulsating.
“May I come with him too?” I asked. “I didn’t want to tell anyone but I’m a little afraid to leave him out of my sight.”
The dean looked around. “What, are you his mother?” he chuckled. He then looked at my serious face. “Go in, we are going to have a discussion too.” I hid in a corner where no one could see me. “So,” smirked the dean. “It’s this guy’s first day and he already has found an enemy. Why is that Mr. Roman?”
It took Johnny a moment to talk. “I don’t---well he um---he told me to hold him and his friends' bags. I also did not appreciate the smile he gave to one of my friends.” He sounded so formal and frail.
The dean nodded, “Does that give you any right to almost cause a concussion?” he said.
Johnny began to sweat, and put his hand to his forehead. “Um… I am sorry; I don’t know the rules here. I feel weird and uncomfortable. May I leave now?” Johnny said.
“Jonathan, no!” said the dean. “What is your problem? I’m trying to clear this up.”
Jonathan’s fists got red. “I’m a little lost. I’ve never been to school or had problems with people like him before. To tell you the truth I usually get my way.” He squinted his eyes as his sweat dripped. “Has class already started?” he asked. The dean nodded.
His eyes became red. The dean became frightened. He went inside the room I was in and said, “I now see why you wanted to be here. Please come out and sit beside him."
I nodded. He opened the door for me and Johnny’s eyes immediately went from red to brown in a second. Johnny closed his eyes and breathed heavily, and once again held my hand tight. “I have anger issues,” He said. “And I will be ok for any punishment you give me.”
The dean nodded. “Ok.” He said. “You get detention and you will

have my classes every week.” I simply looked into the deans eyes. “You two can get to class for now while I talk to Adam and take a hall pass."
We walked out of the office door. Jonathan immediately hugged me. “You saved me.” He muttered. “I could’ve done something I really didn’t want to do, but thank God you were there.”
I smiled. “Yeah I was there. I could never leave you alone,” I said, and noticed that it was true then. “But if you need to hold someone’s hand, don’t do it so tightly. Let’s go.”
We began to walk. “Um… how come you don’t get as angry as me?” he asked.
“I can,” I said “but I just am able to control the urge of killing someone by stabbing a piece of paper, but don’t try that, it wont work for you.”
He laughed as well. We walked close to the chemistry class room. “You can let go of