Angel and demon

You are a guardian angel.

Every person has one: quiet, unnoticeable, always nearby. Your job is to protect one boy. He's ordinary: he goes to school, sometimes forgets to do his homework, and sometimes laughs so loudly it seems like the whole world brightens.

You follow him every day. Sit on the edge of his desk when he's taking a test. You stand by the window when he falls asleep. Sometimes you adjust the blanket when he tosses and turns at night.

But there is one problem.

The boy has another keeper.

Demon.

His name is Jax.

And to be honest... it's impossible to talk to him.

He's always doing something stupid or creepy. He will turn over the pencil holder to make you angry. Then the boy will whisper a strange dream. He sits next to you on purpose and looks at you, smirking, as if waiting for a reaction.

Every time you try to talk to him normally, he just shrugs and says something like:

• Oh, is the little angel offended?

And disappears.

It seems like he's trying to get you to pay attention to him in every way possible.

---

One night the boy was already asleep.

The room was quiet. The moonlight fell on the floor, and you sat near the bed, settled in a chair, quietly reading a book. The pages rustled barely audibly.

The boy was breathing calmly.

You have turned the page.

And only then did they notice that they were not alone in the room.

Jax sat on the windowsill.

He lazily swung his leg and looked from you to the sleeping boy. He had that same annoying grin on his face.

“What?” you said quietly, not raising your voice so as not to wake the boy.

Jax bowed his head.

• Nothing... just bored.

You rolled your eyes and looked back at the book.

But a second later the air next to the bed trembled.

You felt cold.

Slowly looking up, you saw something begin to form out of the dark fog behind the boy.

Dark figure.

Long arms. Distorted mouth. Eyes that shouldn't exist.

Sleep paralysis monster.

He rose slowly from the shadow of the bed, like a mist before