I'm a demon, and my job is to help people

 I am a demon. And a very unusual one at that. You see, I was once a human being. But not a very good one. I lived a life of selfishness and malice. I scammed people, I cheated on my girlfriends after gaslighting them and preying on their insecurities, I shamed victims of abuse and assault. And on the whole took great pride in being an asshole of the highest order.

So the powers that be decided to punish me by not letting me move on. I must exist as a demon, condemned to wander the Earth. The only way my condemnation will end is if I help people. I'm not entirely sure how many I'm supposed to help, but I've been told that I'll know when I've achieved my target.

You may think that being able to live forever as a free spirit, travelling the world may be a blast, especially for a guy like me. But you’re wrong. I can go wherever I want, but I can hardly experience any worldly pleasures. I can’t taste food, I can’t feel the touch of a warm body or a cool breeze on a hot summer day, I can hear music but the sound is distorted and painful to listen to. Even the colors I see are dull and muted. It’s a pretty torturous existence. I can experience taste, touch etc only when I take the form of other beings – humans or animals. But I can only do so in order to help someone.

So, I must now go around looking for troubled individuals. That’s not very hard to do. Pain and sadness are readily available in this world.

The first person I helped was Amar. I first saw him when I was just hanging out on a tree outside a house. The house that he lived in. He was a good guy. Polite, hard working, honest, kind and compassionate. If I had been half the man he is, I would have never ended up in this mess. But that is beside the point. I came into Amar’s life because of his dog. He had adopted a mongrel from a local shelter and named him Hector. The dog was well behaved, housebroken etc, but got really nervous and antsy when he heard loud noises, especially that of a fire truck or an ambulance. He would try to hide under the bed, or behind the couch. On more than one occasion, I saw Hector seek refuge by cowering behind Amar when an ambulance passed by during his walk. Amar would pet him and whisper kind words to him and he would calm down. Slowly, with his human's love and care Hector was getting over his fears.

Then one day, Amar had to go out of town to tend to a family emergency. Normally he would leave the dog with a sitter, but he just couldn’t get one on such short notice. So he asked his friend, Rohit to watch Hector. Amar left in the early afternoon and told Rohit he would be back the next evening. After giving Rohit some instructions regarding the dog's care and giving Hector a loving head pat and telling him to be a good boy, he was on his way.

Rohit fed Hector in accordance with Amar’s instructions, but was very careless when walking him. Amar had told him all about Hector’s fear of sirens and had asked him to be vigilant. But this idiot would have his face buried in his phone. I was flew overhead and saw him browse Tinder and swiping on any photo that wasn’t completely flat chested. That evening while walking the dog, he was still hunting for a potential booty call when I heard an ambulance in the distance. Hector began to whimper. He began to pull on the leash but Rohit just told him to calm down.

Then it happened. The ambulance got closer and as Amar wasn’t there to comfort him, Hector panicked and with a tug, he released the leash from Rohit’s careless grip and ran off. Rohit, being the moron that he was, instead of getting in his car and going after him, just stood there and called out to the dog. I tried to fly after him as quickly as I could but Hector was too fast. He had disappeared into the woods. I looked for him for what seemed like an hour, but couldn’t find him anywhere. I returned to the tree outside the house and had a serious urge to give Rohit a beating he’d never forget. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to hurt anyone.

I heard him talk to Amar on the phone. He had the gall to defend himself and blamed Amar for not training his dog properly. The thing is that in my other life, I would have been exactly like Rohit. I would have hurt those around me with my callousness and would have blamed them for their own pain. I decided to keep looking for Hector until Amar returned. I flew over the woods and the city that lay beyond but there was no sign of the dog.

Amar began his search for Hector as soon as he returned. His friends, the trustworthy ones, joined in. They put up missing dog posters, used social media, asked around, but even three days later, Hector could not be found. Amar told Rohit he never wanted to see him again. I admired his restrain when he managed not to punch the guy’s face in.

Amar was heartbroken. He loved that dog and now blamed himself for leaving him with a selfish idiot. That’s when I decided to take matters into my own hands. I took the form of Hector the dog.

The next morning, when Amar came out to get the newspaper, he saw his dog walking down the street towards the house. To say that the guy was elated would be an understatement. He ran to his buddy and put his arms around him. And I felt a warm embrace for the first time in years. I was overwhelmed with emotion. I never realized just how much I had missed being held. Then I remembered that I was a dog and needed to act like one. So I did what dogs reunited with their humans do and licked Amar's face. He took me indoors and I got to taste bacon and eggs after such a long time. I gobbled it all up.

Amar worked mostly from home. And as he sat on the couch with his laptop (after calling all his friends and telling them that his dog was back), I sat right beside him. The big, comfy couch felt so good. I was so comfortable I fell asleep, with Amar occasionally caressing my head. I woke up in the late afternoon and it was time to go to the dog park.

I had a blast at the park. “Doging” was so much fun! I ran around like a loon, fetched a ball for Amar until his arm got tired, rolled around on the soft grass. Sniffing that other dog’s butt wasn’t as much fun, but I had to keep up appearances. We came back home an hour later and I was treated to more delicious food. And the icing on the cake was Amar scratching my ears and telling me I was a good boy. I wagged my tail as hard as I could. I couldn’t remember the last time I had experienced such affection, and had felt so cared for.

The days went by happily and Amar continued to be a great dog parent. We’d play at the park, I’d sit next to him as he worked and would paw at his arm when I wanted pets. At night when he was asleep, I would take my original form and would fly around looking for Hector. A part of me wished he wouldn’t be found, but I could not be selfish. I couldn’t be Amar's dog forever. I had to help him and move on.

Then one day, I as I flew over the city, I saw Hector’s face on a poster. A “found dog” poster. It was Hector without a doubt. I memorized the contact information and flew home. As I waited for the morning, I was torn between joy and grief. Joy over having helped the first of many people who would free me from my condemnation. And grief over the impending loss of my friend.

The next day, when Amar went out to run some errands, I flew out the window. I took Amar’s form as I approached the home of the family that had found Hector. After giving them a detailed description of the dog, and producing his adoption and veterinary records, they let me take him. Hector seemed to recognize his human, but he also sensed that something was amiss. He did not jump all over me and lick me the way one would expect. I quickly took him home and disappeared minutes before Amar walked in.

That night as I looked in through the window, I saw Amar playing with his dog. It was a pure, unadulterated display of love that made my heart ache. A feeling I had never experienced as a human being, on account of never letting another heart touch mine. But this guy and his dog made me more human than I had ever been in the flesh. I looked at Amar for the last time as I silently thanked him for those few wonderful days of companionship. It was time for me to go.