I’m your problem now

Michael was standing at the bus station waiting for the bus to go to work. He forgot to plug in his phone list night, so it could charge, and with no battery, he had nothing to do. He couldn't check the news, surf the web, listen to music or play a game on his phone like the rest of the people around him so he just looked around, bored.

It was rush hour and there were a lot of cars and people on the street, but something caught his eye. Michael saw a kid around ten years old, wearing jeans, a hoodie, hat and headphones. There was nothing strange about the kid except for the fact that he wasn't in school. The kid, not paying attention, started crossing the road on a red light while cars were driving at full speed. Michael immediately leaped towards the kid, grabbed him by the hoodie and pulled him back to the sidewalk.

"Are you insane?! Didn't you see the red light? What were you doing? You could have been dead by now." Michael yelled at the kid.

The kid took off his headphones and said. "What?" His face was blank like nothing happened.

"Did you hear what I just said?" Michael asked.

"No., I was listening to music." The kid said with a calm voice.

"Didn't you see the red light when you were crossing the road? What were you doing? You could have died. I just saved your life." Michael repeated.

"Is the red light bad?" The kid asked.

Michael looked at him confused and said. "Yeah, it is. You don't cross the road when the light is red, you wait for it to turn green."

"So red is bad and green is good." The kid said calmly.

"Didn't your parents teach you that?" Michael asked.

"No. Did you say you saved my life now?" The kid asked.

"Yeah, and a thank you would be welcome." Michael said.

"Thank you. Because you saved me, I'm your problem now. I'm Domo." The kid said.

"Ahm...I'm Michael, but that's not how that works Domo. I saved you but now you go your own way and I go my own way. So go wherever you were going." Michael said.

"No. You save me, and I'm your problem then. If you don't like it, kill me. I would have been dead anyway. And I was just walking around." Domo said.

"I can't kill a child!" Michael said.

"Seems that I'm your problem then." Domo said with a smile.

"Alright, but just until I find your parents." Michael said. The bus arrived at the bus stop, they got on and headed to Michael's workplace.

Security at the building Michael worked was thorough, so Michael was surprised when none of the security guards asked him about Domo or made him register Domo as a visitor. Michael thought the reason for that was because Domo was a kid and gave it no more thought. On the way to his office, his colleagues greeted him, but none of them mentioned Domo. That was weird because his colleagues were usually nosey people. Michael didn't have the time or the energy to deal with them, so he and Domo headed straight for Michael's office.

"I have a lot of work to do, so Domo please just sit there on the couch and play with your phone." Michael said.

"Yeah, no problem." Domo said.

'Something's wrong with this kid. Kids his age aren't usually that cooperative. What have I gotten myself into now?' Michael thought, sat at his desk, turned on his computer and started to work. Michael had to finish his yearly report to the management, it wasn't an easy task, he was only halfway done and the report was due tomorrow. He hoped that Domo wouldn't be a big distraction.

As Michael was writing his report, he noticed Domo standing beside him. "I'm hungry." Domo said.

Michael looked at his watch and said. "Lunch will be here in an hour. Can't you wait until then?"

"I'm hungry now." Domo said.

"Ok." Michael said, took out his wallet and twenty bucks. "Here's some money. Go to the store down the road and buy something to eat. Deal?"

"What weird money?" Domo said and left.

Michael saw Domo leave and got back to writing the report. Something didn't add up with the numbers so he called the head of human resources to his office.

"Did I just see a kid come out of your office?" Gabriel the head of the human resources asked.

"Yeah, it's a long story. It was a last-minute thing so I'm just watching him." Michael said. "I'm having a problem with the numbers from the human resources department for my report. Look, this doesn't' add up Gabriel."

Gabriel looked at the report and they worked out the numbers.

"Thanks for the help, Gabriel." Michael said.

"No problem. Call me if you need help with the kid." Gabriel said and left.

A few moments later Domo returned pissed as hell. Michael noticed that Domo was angry and asked. "What happened?"

"I did as you told me. I went down to the place with the food. I picked up things that looked nice and something to drink. I started eating and the owner started yelling at me. I told him that I have money and showed him the money you gave me, but he still yelled at me. I gave him the money and he threw me out on the streets like a common beggar." Domo said angrily.

"What kind of behavior towards guests is that? Your culture is too weird. And that drink I took was sweet. How can you drink sweet water with your meals?" Domo asked bewildered.

"Wait... Wait... Wait. You at the food in the store?" Michael asked.

"Yes, I'm not some kind of lunatic to eat my food on the streets." Domo said and Michael started rubbing his face with his palms. "You're all barbarians." Domo said pissed.

"Let me finish my work and I'll explain later." Michael said.

Michael finally finished the report, sent it to the management and they went home. The bus home was packed with people, Michael and Domo barely managed to find a seat. Domo sat next to the window and Michael next to the aisle. People on the bus looked at Michael with disapproving looks, but he didn't know why. They finally arrived home and Domo immediately asked Michael where the food was.

"Just let me change my clothes and I'll make us something to eat. I don't have a change of clothes for you so I'll give you one of my T-shirts. OK?" Michael said.

"Ok." Domo said and sat on the couch in the living room.

Michael came out of his room, threw a T-shirt towards a Domo and asked. "Why didn't you turn on the TV?"
"Did what to what?" Domo asked.

Michael grabbed the TV remote and turned on the TV. On the big screen in front of Domo people and objects appeared. Domo looked wide-eyed at the screen in front of him and said. "What in the hell?"

"What you didn't see this movie? It's an old one. You had to see it." Michael said and went to the kitchen to make some food. Domo changed his clothes but he didn't take off his hat. When Michael was done in the kitchen, he returned to the living room, found Domo in the same pose as he left him staring wide-eyed at the TV. He put food on the coffee table, a beer for himself and a glass of water for Domo, but Domo was just staring at the TV.

"Aren't you hungry?" Michael asked.

Domo looked at him and then at the food and said. "Oh yeah, food." He grabbed a portion and started to eat. Michael opened his beer and took a large sip.

"What are you drinking? It smells better than my water." Domo said.

"Beer." Michael said.

"Can I have one?" Domo asked.

"No, you can't. You're not old enough." Michael said.

"Pffff... Not old enough. You got to be kidding me." Domo said.

"You're like ten years old. You can't have one, end of discussion." Michael said.

While they were eating Michael thought more and more about all the bizarre things that happened today and that Domo did. He decided to ask Domo some questions to get to the bottom of this and to find out more about him so he can find his parents.

"Domo, why weren't you in school in the morning?" Michael asked.

"I have no use for school." Domo said.

"But you're a kid, you have to go to school. Where are your parents?" Michael asked.

"Don't have them. Never met them." Domo said.

'He's probably an orphan, but doesn't explain the other things.' Michael thought and said. "How come you didn't know about crossing the road when the light was red?"

"I never saw that before. That's a new thing." Domo said.

"You see, you say stuff like that and that just confuses me. You are ten, or around ten years old, and don't know what a red light is and that you don't eat food in the store. I just don't get it." Michael said upset.

"Wait for a sec." Domo said, all the lights started flickering in the room and the whole house suddenly went completely dark. When the lights came back on, there was a figure standing in front of Domo. The figure had a goat skull over his face with goat horn sticking out from it, black cloak, human skulls around his neck and a human skull with a spine in his right hand.

"How did you escape?" The figure asked Domo.

"I didn't escape. I just left. You know that Abaddon is slow and old. Why are you here Rimmon?" Domo asked, removing his hat and showing his own horns.

"You have still not paid off your punishment. I came to take you back." Rimmon said.

"I'll come back when I get bored." Domo said.

"That will not do. Even your presence here is disrupting the world of mortals. You must come back." Rimmon said and pointed the skull towards Domo. The skull's eyes started to shine and a very bright light hit Domo, but Domo just sat on the couch as if nothing happened.

"I told you, I'll come back when I get bored. Besides, I'm somebody else's problem right now. " Domo said.

"But who will deal with disasters when you are gone?" Rimmon asked.

"Tell one of my generals to coordinate that. I know, let Asmodeus do it, he has the most experience." Domo said.

"As you wish my lord." Rimmon said, the room went dark again and when the lights came on the figure was gone.

"Sorry about that. They are so incompetent down there." Domo said.

Michael was just sitting, frozen, looking at the horns on Domo's head. Domo looked at him, saw that Michael was looking at his horns and said. "Yeah... I should probably explain." Michael just slowly nodded.

"Now that you know that I'm not a kid. Can I have a beer?" Domo asked and Michael went to the kitchen and brought him a beer.

"This tastes good. So, I should probably start at the beginning." Domo said, opened the beer and took a large sip.

"Most of your old religions are true in a way, but not in a literal way. The religions, as you see them now, actually started a long time ago. The new religions are complete bullshit, but the old ones are a mix of rewritten stories from the events that happened long ago in the past and stories that were happening right before humans were created. The rest is on you. The world wasn't created in a few thousand years, the world is so much older. It went to a lot of periods of change where different beings were created until you, humans, were put here on Earth." Domo scratched his head and took another sip of beer.

"I know I can tell you this because no one is going to believe you. My real name is not Domo, it's Demogorgon and I'm essentially the exact opposite of what you call your god. You know that everything in nature has a balance. So do the things you call gods. Your god is god, he is a creator of things, but there has to be a balance and that's where I come in. I'm an evil god, I'm in charge of the destruction of things. You following me?" Domo asked.

"Yeah... But you don't look like a god of destruction. And why wouldn't others believe me?" Michael said.

"Others wouldn't believe you, because they couldn't see me, only the people with the names of angels and demons can see me, the same as only angels and demons can see other angels and demons god and me. When you are named after an angel or demon you are protected by that angel or demon and have a droplet of their sight." Domo explained and continued. "And don't let the looks fool you. You remember when Rimmon said that my punishment wasn't over. Well, I tend to overreact sometimes. The first time I overreacted was when I was with Cleopatra and I found out that she was cheating on me with that big-nosed Mark Antony. I was so pissed at humans that I whipped out more than half of the people in Egypt." Domo said.

"You almost destroyed a whole civilization because she was cheating on you?" Michael asked.

"It was all her fault. If she hadn't cheated on me I wouldn't overreact." Domo said angrily. "But that wasn't the reason they punished me. I stayed on Earth after that and moved to Italy. Their civilization was the most advanced at the time. There is no civilization in the Underworld, so I was curious and went to see what all the fuss was about. I heard that there was a beautiful place near the sea and a trading capital where you could buy everything your heart desires." Domo said.

"When was that? After the thing with Cleopatra or later?" Michael asked.

"It was after Cleopatra. I had to get away from Egypt and all the drama about all the dead people. I liked Italy, the food, the wine, the women just everything was great. I headed towards the town the locals spoke so highly of and I can tell you it really was a beautiful city. The city was a wealthy, had many villas, luxurious private houses with lavish decorations and public baths. Even their money was beautiful. I found a place to stay and stayed there for a couple of years." Domo said remembering all the beautiful things.

Michael looked at him suspiciously.

"One day I was at the market looking for black cloth, I needed for a ritual. I went from vendor to vendor looking for the cloth but couldn't find any. Black cloth at that time was rare. I lost a whole week looking for black cloth and I got pissed. At first, I just caused an earthquake and not a lot of people died. I realized that I overreacted again and tried to calm down. The next day I went to the market again and searched for the black cloth again. I had to perform the ritual or else I would have to go back to the Underworld. I was already two thousand years on Earth, but with the ritual, I could stay another thousand years. So you see why I needed it?"

"Yeah, but why do you like Earth so much?" Michael asked.

"Because I can do what I want here, not what the old farts in Underworld want me to do. Besides, I think you humans are hilarious. Think of it like being on vacation." Domo said with a smug smile. "God really did a number on you."

"Hey! We are not as bad as you think!" Michael said.

"I didn't say that. Let's get back to why I'm punished. Back at the market, there was no black cloth and the woman who was talking to me tried to sell me a dark blue one saying that the shade is nearly the same as the black cloth. That's when I lost it and you probably know what happened. I thought that it was just going to be another earthquake but the volcano erupted with such a mighty force that the lava killed all the people in the city of Pompeii in minutes." Domo said laughing nervously. "With my vacation time up and two massacres in a hundred years, the Underworld decided to ban me from coming to earth for at least four thousand years. Abaddon locked me in his bottomless pit and they left me there." Domo said, sitting with his hands crossed, sulking.

"So how and why did you get out?" Michael asked.

"Well, I am a god. I just walked out. The last time I was on Earth there was around two hundred million people on Earth and now there's seven billion of you. I was curious about how you managed that in two thousand years. But all I see on Earth now is chaos, like in the Underworld."

It can't be that bad." Michael said.

"No, it's not. You humans still have a sense of humor." Domo said and drank the rest of his beer.