Chapter Text
The Happy Friends Rehabilitation Center was the beginning and end of Charlie’s world.
She’d had the idea of helping others since middle school and had tossed around the options in her mind until her junior year of high school when she first caught wind of the growing need for prisoner rehabilitation centers in the area. She could do that! Six years of university, a completed Master’s Degree in Social Work, and various required licensures, permits, and strings pulled landed Charlie with the blessing of the local governance and the deed for a former elementary school to establish her own residency program for recently released prisoners from the local prison.
It was small, but it was hers.
Having done so well in school and having secured a location, her father, a wealthy businessman late into his 60s, had agreed to invest a large sum of money to help get the place running and renovated to safety codes and to hire the staff to keep it that way. After that she was on her own
Charlie accepted the terms gracefully and got to work. Everything had gone perfectly at first, exactly according to plan for the first six months.
The first small group of ten residents proved no significant challenge to Charlie and the small team she’d assembled (mainly friends or friends of friends from high school or college who had relevant experience and were looking for work), but when the next, larger group arrived, that’s when problems began to arise. More residents created a need for more support, which created a need for more staff, which created a need for more money. More money than Charlie was anticipating to spend so soon, but was forced to in order to keep up.
She’d not been able to secure any further donations or investments, so the pool of funds was quickly beginning to dry up.
One day while sorting through records in one of the old offices up front, she overheard a conversation between two of the staff; not people she was close with, but who came for a job with decent pay.
"I've already started looking for another job," one says.
"Yeah? You think it's time to abandon ship?" asks the other.
"Oh yeah. It'd take divine intervention for this place to stay in business." They both laugh as Charlie cringes behind the locked door, the invisible wound to her pride making her eyes burn with shame and unshed tears as she struggled to finish the filing. The conversation replayed in her mind all afternoon as she lamented the impending visit of her parents to see how the center was doing. She’d be beyond embarrassed and devastated if she couldn’t get things together enough that her father would at least have a neutral reaction to the place. Dreading the dirge song of her parents disappointment, by the time evening rolled around ‘divine intervention’ was starting to sound like an option.
Charlie wasn’t well versed in the matters of angels, demons, or other celestial folk, in fact, she didn’t know a whole lot about religion or spirituality to begin with having been raised atheist, but that was nothing some good old research couldn’t solve!
A week and a few sleepless nights of reading all of what she’d dug up from various sources (there was a surprising amount hidden in her local library), Charlie felt capable to perform what she hoped were successful summoning rites to gain the favor she desperately needed.
It was a balmy Sunday evening when Charlie finally got the nerve to attempt the rites; beginning which the angelic summon which- resulted in fuck all. Nothing that was described in the text that should have happened occurred. No temperature change, no glowing, no wisps of incense smoke, and no angelic being appearing. Charlie cleaned up and sulked for a few hours, unsure if she should even bother proceeding with the.. other rites.
Summoning an angel was one thing, but… summoning a demon? It felt a little different. An angel might be swayed out of the good of their hearts, but demons? Demons wanted payment. Namely in blood or souls or something equally as unsavory.
Was it worth it to help the countless individuals who would come and go through the doors of her center?
Absolutely.
A bottle of whiskey, a radio, two deer hearts, several symbols drawn in salt, and sigils written in her own blood were needed to perform the particular ritual she’d found the most information on; an old book in the library had detailed it thoroughly, though there was a concerning lack of information about what happened after or the demon in question that had been summoned. She’d found conflicting information on whether or not a demon could hurt her, so- Going through with the rite was somewhere between a minor risk and a life-threatening one. But this was more than her; she had her residents to think about. For all she knew the author had stopped writing because the rites simply hadn’t worked! Yeah- If it didn’t, no one could say she hadn’t tried all her options!
She’d had to buy the salt, the deer hearts, and the whiskey, but she was hoping the old Barbie radio she’d had since she was a kid would suffice as the radio component. Blood was as easy as cutting her palm with the singular kitchen knife she had in her one-bedroom apartment. When she was sure the circle was written like it was supposed to be, she recited the Latin phrases as the journal had indicated seven times. She’d read the passage so many times in preparation she’d memorized them, so when she finished, she pressed her hands together, palm stinging as she silently hoping, praying, pleading for the unseen forces to make this work.
Nothing happened.
Charlie stared at the bloody pentagram on her floor, shoulders slumping in dismay and the failure to get the supposed ‘divine intervention’ she had hoped to incur.
“Ugh, I’m so stupid-” She groaned, pressing the heels of her palms against her eyelids as she processed the cleanup that would now need to happen. What the fuck was she going to do with two deer hearts?
She dropped her hands with a dejected puff, but paused as the lights suddenly flickered. Oh, that was odd timing, but it wasn’t like that never had happened before- But it happened again with an increased intensity and Charlie’s heart began to race as the summoning circle began to glow softly as the pastel pink Barbie radio crackled to life, rapidly flipping between stations and producing an awful garble of unintelligible sound. No fucking way- It was working!! She’d summoned a demon!!!
Oh god- Her stomach dropped as she watched the summoning circle work it’s magic. She’d summoned a demon.
Charlie took a few steps back as eerie green smoke began to emanate from the pentagram, eventually obscuring it as the lights continued to blink in and out, favoring being out entirely for seconds at a time with only the glow of the green smoke to show the tall mass of shadow that was rising from the smoke. She swore she could see eyes on the shadow, but before she could really tell what she was looking at, the lights stabilized, the radio went silent, the smoke vanished, and the shadows condensed and formed into a… man? A rather dapperly dressed one at that.
She wasn’t really sure what she’d been expecting, but a (still very tall) man dressed in a three piece suit and a monocle more or less wasn’t it. But the more she stared at him the more unsettling his appearance was. His eyes, both sclera and iris, were vivid shades of red and his smile seemed too big for his face and- Were those ears- and antlers??
It seemed the demon took a moment to examine the room before those unnerving eyes settled onto her and Charlie felt incredibly small in that moment.
"Ah, salutations, my dear!” The red clad demon greeted and Charlie blanched when she caught a glimpse of his very large, very sharp looking teeth. Holy shit. She didn’t have time to regret her life choices before the demon continued. “I must say, I wasn't expecting such a delicate one like yourself to summon me, but I assure you it will be a pleasure to do business with you!"
"My name is Alastor, and you are?" He offered a wide, toothy grin and Charlie withered even further under his intense stare.
"Um… I-I'm Charlie!" She manages to squeak out after composing herself (or trying to). "I-It's nice to meet you, M-Mr. Demon, sir!"
"Oh, please, my dear, I did just tell you my name," Alastor chided, leaning forwards by the hips, invading her space just a bit too much, and accurately tapping Charlie right on the nose with one of his claws despite her leaning back away from him. The touch was a little startling in that- yes, this was in fact happening and wasn’t some kind of fever dream. "None of this 'Mr.Demon' nonsense, yes?" He straightened as she nodded vigorously and finally tore his gaze from her to appraise the items laid out in the summoning circle.
Inky tendrils of shadow seemed to appear out of the floor, circling the items and consuming them before he addressed her again.
"Now," He returned his arms to their folded position behind his back. "What sort of debauchery are you in need of my help with, hm? I can arrange for just about anything your twisted little mind can think of; political collusion, murder, arson- I can stick around for a while and torment someone to the point the last threads of sanity snap in their fragile little minds-"
Charlie watched with a little more horror than she already was feeling; as he spoke his grin grew more and more deranged, lips peeling back further and exposing just how much teeth he had, and the antlers on his head doubled in size and scraped the plaster of the ceiling- But all at once he then cleared his throat and composed himself, antlers and unnervingly sharp grin returning to a more polite smile while waving a hand as if to clear his prior statement from the air. "I'm getting ahead of myself. I should let you explain why I'm here, shouldn't I?"
“R-Right!” Charlie laughed a little nervously. She’d summoned him for a reason, right- She was already unsettled, but now she was even more nervous. She’d given business proposals before during her university courses, but this was a lot scarier and she had a feeling if she flubbed she wouldn’t just get comments about ‘talking too fast’ or ‘being incoherent’. She had to make this good- No, amazing!
Charlie grabbed her little laptop, covered in various cute stickers and rainbows before opening the lid which was already on the presentation she’d made for one of her Master’s classes, updated with all the relevant information about her center. She grabbed her trusty clicker, queuing up the first slide, took a deep breath, tried to not process the gaze of the literal fucking demon in her living room, and launched into the pitch.
The first seven slides were in-depth graphs of the statistics outlining the averages of prisoners likelihood of being arrested again after being released from prison and how secondary residental programs reduced the rates of re-incarceration drastically and then went into those same statistics, but for the local area and- The demon’s smile was constant, but something glazed over in his eyes after the fourth slide and when moving to the fifth her mouth snapped shut immediately when he put a hand up to stop her from continuing.
"My dear, Charlotte," Alastor crooned, his odd, distorted voice lowering into an almost seductive purr. "I don't think you understand what you're getting yourself into." The low, rumbling tone only came off as dangerous with the way his eyes had gone from glazed to glimmering with what she could only presume was maliciousness.
"I frankly don't give a damn," In a blink he'd dematerialized and appeared again very close and looming over her with a predatory sneer. "About your numbers or your sob story." He bit out, condescension dripping from his voice as she squeaked in surprise at his sudden proximity and- again- feeling very small.
"Tell me what you need from me and what you're offering in exchange and don't waste my time." The microphone cane in his grasp began to crackle with static as the demon’s mood shifted and Charlie fought to keep her composure from deteriorating any further.
Why did he have to be so rude and intimidating? He could have let her finish the presentation she’d worked so hard on… And despite his assumptions, she knew what was on the line, but to make her dream of helping others a reality? She’d meet Alastor where he was waiting for her if he agreed.
Charlie swallows thickly. Here went nothing!
"U-Um! Okay! S-So I have this rehabilitation facility, the Happy Friends Rehab Center and it isn't doing so hot. I-I was wondering if I could get some assistance in running it, maybe? We're running out of money and ah, our funds are so low we're probably not gonna be able to keep the lights on for m-much longer. I'm willing to do anything to keep it running b-because I believe that people can change for the better and I feel like I was meant to serve my community in this way. I'll do anything. Y-You can have my soul! I'm willing to trade my soul for this. Th-That's the price, right? A soul? I know that's a total cliche but I'm willing to trade it if that's the price."
Her eyes are wide and desperate, pleading, even.
Alastor stared at her for what felt like several minutes without moving or responding- Did one of his eyes just subtly twitch? Before she could decide if that had indeed been an eye twitch he let out a single laugh. Then followed by a couple more before he stepped back and turned to the side to laugh hard. She gaped at him, what was so funny? Was he laughing at her?
As he got his laughing fit under control, he ran a finger beneath one of his eyes as if to wipe a tear away. "That has to be the most inane and insulting request anyone has ever asked of me," Alastor taunted and barked out a few more laughs. "You summon a demon to sell your eternal soul for help running a business that aids the wretches and addicts of a single town. And how long exactly do you expect this arrangement to last?"
Her cheeks puff out in anger. He was laughing at her! She’d put so much love and care into her presentation, even more her center, for him to be so insulting towards it! Acting like it was something trivial and unworthy of his time- It didn’t get more serious than saving lives!
"It's not inane! I want to save lives with this business!" She exclaimed, her face turning red with fury. "How can you say that’s insulting!? I get that you're a demon and all and this probably isn't your thing, but I put a lot of thought and passion into this. I'm even willing to sell you my soul! I want to make a difference in these people's lives! Help them change for the better! And the angel summoning didn't work, so you're the next best thing!"
Charlie’s chest was heaving with upset. She may have been expecting to get turned down, but to get laughed at? How dare he! She put a hand on her chest for a moment and forced herself to take a few deep, calming breaths. She should have been expecting worse, this was a demon after all. She gives the demon - Alastor a determined look.
"Standard demon contracts are ten years, right? That's how long I need. Ten years."
Alastor barked out another laugh, but managed to stifle himself from any further outbursts.
"Oh, my sweet Charlotte," He cooed. "Ten years is perhaps what you'd get from a simple, green demon, but you stand before an Overlord. Ten years of my time is worth several dozen souls." Alastor said with a dark chuckle escaping him. "Though- For you, darling? I think I'll make a special exception," Alastor said with his perpetual grin widening. "I'll help you with this silly center of yours for a single year in exchange for your soul at the end of the year."
Charlie had no idea what an 'overlord' was but it sounded super important. Did she really summon such a powerful demon using two deer hearts, a $20 fifth of whiskey, and a Barbie radio? It didn't really make much sense to her. If he was really so powerful, shouldn't the materials to summon him cost more than that?
"Do we have a deal?" Alastor questioned, offering his hand as a soft, but vivid green glow began to emanate from his extended palm. Charlie crossed her arms petulantly.
"Absolutely not!” Charlie shook her head and Alastor retracted his offered hand and squared his shoulders, eyes narrowing slightly, but his broad grin didn’t falter. It was hard to determine if she was pissing him off or not without the indicator of a frown or a scowl, so she continued. “That's not nearly long enough to make any kind of difference. If I'm going to give you my soul, I'm not going to settle for just one year! I'd be crazy to even consider giving it away for less than five years! I don't care if you're some kind of ‘overlord’! Whatever that is!"
"Now, my d̵e̷a̷r̸-̸," Alastor's grin turned into a slight snarl as the static from his microphone began to distort his voice. "W̴h̸a̷t̶ ̷d̷i̷d̷ ̵I̶ ̵j̴u̷s̶t̴ ̴s̴a̴y̴ ̸abouț ̷̭͐not wasti̷̝̐n̸͗g my t̵̀ime?" Alastor stopped for a moment, putting his teeth away and Charlie was grateful he did. This had been a terrible idea-
"I'm a very busy demon, Charlotte.” Alastor finally continued, drawing his arms from behind his back to rest on the top of his cane. “I simply cannot be away from Hell for five years and if I'm quite honest, I can simply just drag you there with me if we can't come to an agreement."
It seems she struck a nerve and Charlie immediately regrets her life choices. Why oh why did she think this was a good idea!? Her knees tremble and any attempt at firmness is thrown out the window.
"Two years and I don't fucking kill you for wasting my time. Deal?" His smile split into that dangerous grin again, yellow teeth gleaming in the light of her apartment.
Alastor is terrifying and Charlie can’t be sure just how serious he is about killing her, but- Considering the author of that journal suddenly stopping his meticulous documentation of the summoning rites… It was safe to say she was completely and utterly intimidated and fearful for her life.
Death or two years of service? The answer was obvious. He didn't seem like he wanted to negotiate any longer.
Charlie takes a deep, calming breath, gathering her remaining courage and takes a few steps forward, holding out her hand.
"Deal." Her voice is small, but audible.
The hard lines of Alastor’s eyebrows immediately softened and the ambient crackle of static from his microphone that she hadn’t realized had slowly been building through their interaction, went quiet.
"Excellent! Good choice, my dear. You won't be disappointed." Alastor soothed, as if he hadn’t just threatened to kill her, as he took her hand before she could change her mind; his palm once again glowing with green magic.
As their hands connected a burst of energy and ghostly green swirls filled the room and the waves of energy blew back his coattails and her long hair briefly. Occult symbols scrawled from unseen hands marked the walls and hovered in the air around them for an instant. His sclera darkened from maroon to black and his red irises briefly flashed into radio dials as glowing green stitch marks criss-crossed over themselves between his lips and over his wolf-like grin.
And then it all faded.
Alastor released her hand and Charlie pulled her hand to her chest, her palm briefly glowed with a green mark that looked eerily similar to the bloody sigil she’d marking onto the floor. The mark quickly vanished into her skin as Alastor rested his hands on his cane once more.
"Now, I suppose it would be improper of me to impose myself upon your…” He glanced around, clearly judgemental about her small, cheap apartment. “Abode, but I do need an anchor to this place so I can easily find my way here between dimensions. Is there a door you don't use frequently somewhere?"
Charlie needed a moment to think before she could answer his question after- whatever that was. Was that their deal? She didn’t have to sign some kind of contract? Her palm didn’t hurt, but it felt odd and she had so many questions. Would he take her soul after the two years? Or does he get it after she dies? Does the deal have side effects? She really should have done more research on the whole ‘deal with the devil’ thing, but she really hadn’t thought that this was going to work.
Hell, she didn’t even think afterlives were real, but this just kind of confirmed it… Had she done the angelic rites correctly and they’d ignored her?
"I-I...I think I can empty out the linen closet in the hallway for you. I'll just move my sheets to where I keep the towels in the bathroom-"
"Oh, no need to empty the closet. The portal will only be active when I'm using it." Alastor clarified, folding his arms behind his back again while idly spinning his microphone and continuing to observe her space. Charlie swallowed thickly, flexing her hand idly.
“You can move between dimensions?” Charlie questioned as Alastor strode to the door she pointed to at the end of the short hallway. Just to the right of her bedroom door… Were they roommates now?!
"It's a pocket dimension, dear. I hardly expect you to allow me to live and sleep in the same space as you, so I'll spend most of the off hours in my dimension." Alastor replied with a matter-of-fact tilt of his head. "Besides, I have certain appetites that most humans find unappealing at best and I'd like to not be disturbed while eating."
"Oh..." Charlie was a little taken aback as she watched him ‘carve’ into the frame of the door his glowing symbols, all of which pulsed several times before vanishing in unison.
All of this was a little over her head, the revelation that demons were real and one now had a claim over her soul was just now sinking in. Charlie shuffled to her couch, plopping down onto the cushions with a small 'oof', a dazed expression on her face. What the heck had she just gotten herself into?
Charlie rubbed her eyes as more and more questions and concerns began to bounce around her skull. It was overwhelming to try and decide which ones to ask first before she simply exploded.
"What sorts of appetites?" The question falls out of her before she has the chance to stop herself. Alastor finished whatever he was doing to her linen closet door and turned on his heel to face her again. Charlie had to repress a shudder at the way his eyes glowed in the dimness of the hallway.
"Ah, well, my dear, I happen to be a cannibal," Alastor replied, all too cheekily grinning.
"Y-You're a cannibal!?" Charlie was quickly regretting this deal, but there was no backing out of this now! She had to make the most of what she was given, and she was given a cannibalistic demon that she was totally not terrified of whatsoever! Nope! She just had to pretend she wasn't scared shitless of him. Fake it til you make it! That applied to this situation, right? It didn't help that Charlie was a terrible actress and an open book.
"Yes, dear. These teeth aren't just for show, you know!” Alastor waved a hand as if to dismiss her shocked reply. “It's a habit I picked up when I was still human and now have to deal with it for all eternity!"
"Oh w-wow. that's um. Ahaha. That's interesting! You were human once?" Charlies asked, nervously laughing while attempting to steer the conversation away from the cannibalism thing for her own sanity. Alastor chuckled mirthfully, seeming amused at her discomfort.
"Yes, many demons were once human.” Alastor held up a hand with two of his red clawed fingers held up. “There's two types; Sinners, like myself and most others, and the Hellborn, who make up the rest of Hell’s populace." Alastor explained, somehow remaining still enough despite raising his hand that it seemed unnatural.
This new information raised even more questions for Charlie and she had to fight to not blurt all of them out at random. Gosh, they were probably going to be here all night at this rate which was a problem- Alastor, while incredibly intimidating, was already endlessly fascinating and she was eager to learn more about him over the next two years.
… If he didn't eat her first.
"Wow..so that means when I die, I'll become a demon?" she asks, "How does this soul acquisition work, exactly?"
"Yes, how very astute of you," Alastor praised in an almost condescending way as he dropped his raised hand to rest on the head of his cane. "As for the soul acquisition; when you die, you'll become a Sinner Demon who will be in my service for eternity or until your untimely demise by a weapon crafted with Blessed steel."
Alastor's head tilted his head and tapped his claws against the back of his microphone for a moment. "That being said, you'll also be under my protection as well since it's in my best interest to have the souls I own not dying to an Exorcists blade- Though I'm getting ahead of myself again, we have a lot of work to do before we need to start worrying about any of that."
"Right! Right. I'm getting ahead of myself too!" Charlie says, chuckling nervously. She still had her entire life ahead of her! She was only 25, after all. The only difference is that she knows where she'll go when she dies. And...hey, she'll have a job! That indicated there was some kind of structured society and not just a pit of hellfire, right?
"Soooo… Let's talk about what you're going to be doing here! I'd like it if you would be my partner in running my facility! You can use your um..special skills to assist me in any way you can! I've already highlighted the areas that need the most assistance!"
She gave Alastor another quick once over. Tall, menacing, obviously supernatural - he'd stick out like a sore thumb and would probably terrify anyone who wasn't aware of his presence. "And um.. I hate to ask this, but is there any way you can look less… demony? At least in public, of course!"
He continued to watch her unblinking as she went on and on before he finally blinked slowly.
"Hm- I suppose you are right with that," Alastor chirped. He twirled his cane a few times before rapping the foot of the cane against the ground. A burst of green fire began at his feet and crawled its way upwards, changing his appearance to that of a very handsome middle-olive skinned man with curly dark brown hair dressed in fine dress clothes, still keeping with the red and black theme, though his undershirt was now white.
"Will this do?" He questioned, his voice was unfiltered now and almost all of his demon traits were now gone except for his extraordinary height.
Charlie’s mouth fell open when the flames vanished. Of course he had to be hot.
Charlie swallows. This might be a problem. She wasn’t the greatest at talking to pretty people? Her brain always tended to go on autopilot and that meant frequently saying embarrassing things that she would almost regret, usually long after the encounter while laying down in bed that night.
“Oh! Um. Th-that’s great, Alastor. Amazing even. Wooooow, you’re still really tall, huh?” She laughs awkwardly, leaning forward to rest her face in her hands. She could feel her cheeks burning and he could probably, most definitely see how red she was. He only hummed in response.
"Better?" He questioned a moment later, Trans-Atlantic accent still heavy in his now crystal clear and non-distorted voice. Charlie glanced back to him, noting he was suddenly shorter, but still tall and nodded wordlessly.
"Good! Now, about this facility," Charlie nearly jumped out of her skin as Alastor suddenly appeared beside her, sitting with one leg crossed over the other and his hands perched on his higher knee. "Do tell me more about what you expect me to be doing; being your business partner is rather vague, don't you agree?"
All that left her, to her embarrassment, was a little startled squeak as she put a little bit more distance between them. She could feel her cheeks burning brightly and she tried desperately to push aside her initial flusteredness. He was even more lovely to look at up close; a far cry from how terrified she’d been on him just minutes ago. He was deceptively normal looking now.
"R-Right. I-I was thinking maybe you could help me hire staff, help me with advertising, general facility maintenance, financial decisions, etcetera, etcetera." She pauses. "It was all in the powerpoint presentation I had planned before you stopped me.” Charlie's face stretches into an awkward smile as she attempts to maintain her composure, mentally willing herself to calm the fuck down.
His proximity was making her flushed face even hotter and to top things off, Alastor smirked and Charlie felt like dying right then. This simply was just unfair! Demons were supposed to be hideous monsters, why was he so damn good-looking?!
"It sounds to me as if you need a facilities manager, but I'd like to see how this little business of yours operates before setting anything in stone." He replied and Charlie nodded eagerly.
“T-To be honest, I wasn't really sure the whole demon summoning thing would work, especially after the angelic summoning didn’t work, but I'm glad it did! Welcome aboard, Alastor!" He barked out a single raucous laugh.
"Of course the angel summons didn't work; why would any of them want to take a step down to this plane of existence? The only things they care about are typically within those pretentious golden gates of theirs." Alastor said and rolled his eyes petulantly. Charlie blinked, stunned. Surely that couldn’t be right? Everything she knew about Heaven and angels pointed to them being extremely benevolent and kind.
Before she could ask, her cuckoo clock struck the hour and he looked up to see the time. "Oh dear, it is rather late isn't it? You should get some rest for the day tomorrow. We still have much to discuss."
Charlie knew she sure as hell wasn't getting any sleep tonight.
Too much had happened and her brain was already going into overdrive with questions, observations and ideas for how to utilize her new ‘staff member’. But it was probably a good idea to take a breather and give herself time to gather herself and process everything, away from the present demonic company.
"Y-Yeah! You're right! Big day ahead of us! I can't wait to show you around the facility! It's not much right now, but I think it has the potential to be great if given the chance!" She said as she stood up, trying not to seem entirely too antsy at the fact that Alastor was still watching her like a hawk. Like a predator. She was going to have to get better at acting normal around him. He wasn’t just a pretty man, he was a demonic entity from Hell itself and was incredibly dangerous. He also was only here for her soul.
Easier said than done.
"I'll see you tomorrow. I'm waking up at 6:30 so...I'll see you then!"
And with that, she retreats into her bedroom, not even bothering to follow her typical nightly routine in the bathroom. She just needed to get out of there before she exploded.
Shutting the door behind her she collapses; taking a step forward and face-planted into her mattress, groaning with dread into her pillow. She lay there, haunted by the memories of the past half hour where, not only had she summoned a demon, but she’d effectively changed the trajectory of her entire life and after-life. The weight of her choices were finally beginning to sink in.
She was in deep shit.