"Demons are like superheroes," he said between jabs, "Humans are like maggots."
I was still sitting on the floor. I'd lost our game of chess. Ruen had let me take all his pawns and bishops and then checkmated me with just his king and queen.
"Why are humans like maggots?" I asked.
He stopped boxing and turned to me. I could see the mirror through him so I kept my gaze on that rather than look him in the face, because his black eyes made my stomach feel funny.
"It's not your fault your mum gave birth to you," he said, and started doing star jumps. Because he's like a ghost his jumps looked like scribbles in the air.
"But why are humans maggots?" I asked. Unlike humans, maggots look like crawling fingernails and they live at the bottom of our wheelie bin.
"Because they're stupid," he said, still jumping.
"How are humans stupid, then?" I said, standing up.
He stopped jumping and looked at me. HIs face was angry.
"Look," he said, and held out his hand towards me. "Now put yours on top of mine."
I did. You couldn't see the floor through mine.
"You have a body," he said. "But you'll probably waste it, everything you can do with it. Just like free will. It's like giving a Lamborghini to an infant."
"So you're jealous, then?" I asked, because a Lamborghini is a really cool car that everyone wants.
"A baby driving a sportscar would be a bad idea, wouldn't it? Somebody needs to step in, stop the kid from doing more damage than it needs to."
"So demons look after babies, then?" I said.
He looked disgusted. "Don't be ridiculous."
"What do they do, then?"
And then he gave me his Alex Is Stupid look. It's when he smiles with only half his mouth and his eyes are small and hard and he shakes his head as if I'm a disappointment. It's the look that makes my stomach knot and my heart beat faster because deep down I know I am stupid.
"We try and help you see past the lie."
I blinked. "What lie?"
"You all think you're so important, so special. It's a fallacy, Alex. You're nothing."
-- rereading "The Boy Who Could See Demons", Carolyn Jess-Cooke
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