"Huh?" Was all I could say at first. I stared at his callous, unfriendly eyes and tried to discern if they were currently being truthful, staring at those things just gave me cold chills instead.
"You heard me, kid." He ran a hand through the tangled dreadlocks and sighed, almost wearily, like he was tired and exasperated all at the same time. With the cigarette stick still dangling between his black lips, he spoke. "Do me this favor and I'll free you, terminate our contract and give you your soul back."
He blew out the cigarette smoke right at my face and I coughed, inhaling the choking smell. I surveyed him through narrowed eyes, not trusting him one bit. After all, they always said, once bitten, twice shy and I didn't want to get my hopes up for nothing.
"Release my feet first," I told him, pointing down at my black boots which he had enchanted to the pavement, causing my inability to move. He rolled his eyes, like he was shocked about the fact that I wasn't excited at the prospect of getting my soul back. With a snap of his long, bony fingers, my feet became lighter and I could move once again.
I sighed heavily, releasing my short hair from it's tight ponytail and sunk to the floor to take a seat. I felt more than heard him sit next to me and involuntarily moved to create some space between us. Being with him gave me the chills, the sudden and urgent urge to retch out my tuna sandwich lunch.
"So, what do you say, kid? Deal or no deal?" He asked, staring off into the dark street and bringing out clouds of smoke through his nostrils.
I needed more time to think this through, knowing this evil man, this was probably a trick and I didn't want to be made a fool of twice.
"Where's everyone?" I wondered aloud, wanting to buy some time to think this through. "My cousin, Frankie, what did you do to him, you didn't hurt him, did you?" Not that I would mind much but explaining to my aunt, Jackie later that the devil hurt her son wasn't something I wanted to end the night with.
"They're fine, just in limbo," he replied, dryly, like that explained the whole situation and I was expected to understand him.
"So, what'd you say about the deal?" He reminded me agitatedly, and I got the feeling he needed me, like really bad for whatever dirty work he wanted to carry out. I was suddenly curious as to what he wanted and why I was so useful to him.
"What do you want me to do for you?" I voiced out my curiosity as I wrapped my arms around my legs to keep warm. He sighed, leaning down his head to face the ground and shading my view of his face with the dreadlocks.
"Let me put this as easy for you as possible, kid." He spoke softly, the smoke drifting out steadily and diffusing in a Brownian motion into the dark night's atmosphere. "To release your soul, I need another one in place. Kinda like the a life for another life principle. There has to be a replacement."
"I don't understand." I was honestly puzzled by his words and the fact that I was currently sitting with this evil man here, discussing principles was suddenly funny. I even gave a tiny snort.
"I want you to get me a soul," he deadpanned and all traces of my initial mirth disappeared faster than it came.
"Me?" Wait, what?! "You're honestly insane, are you even really here or this a dream?"
"Does this look like a dream?" He whispered and his head snapped up to glare at me, I froze and stared into his black eyes and saw fire, the kind Christians claimed burned in hell and I cowered in fear of that powerful flame. I could hear voices of numerous people wailing about the suffering, they screamed and howled about how excruciating the pains were and I felt as though I had joined the multitude of voices perishing in there. Hell was real, everlasting suffering existed and he had just shown me a glimpse at it.
And that was where I was going as long as he had my soul. I was suddenly more interested in his deal now.
The formerly chilly night had turned blazing hot and I felt warm liquid drop onto the back of my palm and realized with a jolt that I was crying, the visual he gave me was that powerful and scary. I reached up to wipe my tears, ignoring the fact that I just ruined my make-up.
"I get it, it's not a dream," I said through gritted teeth, my voice croaky. "Just stop it, please." I could still hear wails of suffering and saw fire, endless fire blazing through his eyes.
The eternal fire and wails of torment ceased at once and the night's temperature became normal. Not chilly or blazing hot, just normal breeze blowing and I felt the beads to sweat that had pooled around my body start to dry up.
"You want a soul, why come meet me? You could probably trick someone else into giving up theirs," I said, spitefully and cautioned myself to avoid being rude so as not to anger him.
"I did you a favor that night, thanks to me your beloved mother is still running around happily, try to express some gratitude sometimes," he snapped, harshly and I cowered again before shifting further away from him. "Besides, I don't need just any soul, I need a particular one."
"Whose soul do you want?" I didn't like where this was going and I had a bad feeling about it.
He dangled the cigarette by his lips and cracked his knuckles loudly to give sickening crunches. "You know him, that new kid at your school. Blake Johnson, that's what he's called, isn't it?"
My jaw fell on the ground and I gave a quick glance, hoping to see if he was joking and was disappointed. Blake Johnson, Molly's crush aka Edgewood High's newest addition since about a month ago. The guy and I barely even talked, not that I cared but I was surprised that the devil was interested in him.
"Can I ask why you suddenly want Blake's soul?"
"No," he snapped at me. "Just know that you don't make deals with me and go back on them, I'm about to make him realize that."
"Why can't you just, I dunno...go over to his place and steal his soul, isn't that what you do? Why involve me?"
"Silly child," he chided and for the first time tonight, he gave a bark of laughter that seemed to echo down the street. "I can't just take souls, people have to consent to it. Agreement by both parties is key."
"Like the way you tricked me into consenting."
"Exactly." He suddenly got to his feet and pulled back on the hoodie of his black sweatshirt and I found myself wondering if he ever wore anything other than black clothing. "Now I want you to listen very carefully to me, kid." His voice was low, urgent and fast now like he was fast running out of time.
I nodded, scared of making him angry.
"I'm sending you back in time, to exactly a month ago-" he had jammed his hands deep into his pockets now as he whispered furiously.
"What?! Back in time-"
"Don't interrupt me. Please." He held up a hand, then reached to remove his cigarette stick from his lips. "I'm sending you back in time, a month ago to be precise and you have exactly till Halloween night which is today to get that boy to consent to giving up his soul."
I opened my mouth to speak but was silenced by the look he gave me, the look clearly said he didn't appreciate whatever I was going to say and I shut my mouth immediately.
"I need that soul by Halloween, I don't know how you'll do it but it's important that I must have it." His eyes were trained on mine, like he was trying to get me to understand the urgency of the situation. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal," I replied. "But what happens if I fail?" I voiced out my fears and got to my feet to stare up at him. He was just a few inches taller than me.
"Trust me, you don't want to hear the answer to that question." With that, he threw the cigarette on the floor and stomped on it with his worn out black Nike.
The devil wears Nike.
"I'll do it, you'll return my soul, right?" I tore my eyes off the Nike and focused on his gaunt face currently wearing a crooked grin. "Deal?"
"Deal, Ruby Davies. Deal." He extended his bony hand out for a handshake which I chose to ignore. No way on earth was I touching that man.
"How can I even trust you?" The stars were returning now and the night's noises seemed to be coming back gradually and most importantly, the devil seemed to be fading bit by bit.
Like he was disappearing.
"You can't," was his only reply and then like the first time I met him, eight years ago, everything went all black.
If you've ever had a terrible first day of school, you know by now that it always starts with you minding your own business, probably trying to navigate the large hallways until that one person destined to ruin your existence bumps into you and makes a complete fool out of you.Only I was the one sent to ruin someone's existence.I raced through the multitude of straggling students either trying to get to class or loitering in the hallways and bumped into some of them resulting to loud insults being thrown at me. I didn't care though, I was on a mission.When I woke up this morning, I felt like I had dreamed up the whole events that occurred last night until I saw the date which clearly read, October 1st and then there was the fact that things seemed to be repeating themselves. I had really gone back in time.I glanced at the clock above at the main hall as I halted to a full stop and breathed a sigh
At the end of the school day, I had finally come to one conclusion; if I thought Blake Johnson hated me in the morning, I was wrong. So very wrong.Blake didn't hate me, he despised me and it all started with a few splits by the bleachers after school. Here in this little town in the heart of Texas, football was everything, if you didn't like or appreciate the sport, you had just dug yourself a literal shallow grave with your own hands.And that's why if you were a student here that didn't like football, you were instantly unpopular. Girls, namely like me joined the cheerleaders to support the boys because if we didn't, a drastic ostracization would take place. If being yelled at by Amanda every day after school during practice was the price for popularity, we all gladly took it."Look sharp, girls," Amanda snapped, placing her right hand on her hip and stretching the left arm towards her right foot in a fl
I met the Devil on the school bus.Okay, so it would be pretty fair to admit that after smashing Blake's windscreen, I had pretty much given up on stalking him. I tried getting to him a few more times but the look he always gave me told me to maintain my lane or else.The other day in the cafeteria when he was sitting alone, quietly chewing his spaghetti and looking like a fallen god while at it, I had walked up to him with my lunch tray which consisted of only an apple and yoghurt, and sat down right in front of him. He glared at me with those stunning blue eyes, hissed and picked up his textbooks before abandoning both me and his lunch.Talk about awkward. I had kept my distance after that. And there was also the fact that Molly was super into him and had spent the past few days going on and on about how his curly hair made her stomach go all wonky. Then there was also schoolwork, it was just a repeat of everything I h
I met the devil way sooner than I had expected.When he had told me he would intervene and help me out, I didn't think it would be so soon or that he would suddenly walk in as the substitute Calculus teacher.Yes, you heard me right. There I was, biting at the tip of my Bic and wondering if by any chance, Blake was staring over at my side. This was the only class I had with him and when he came in earlier and spotted my seating position in the middle of the class, he intentionally decided to go pick the seat far end of the class, at the corner.God, that boy hated me so much and it was all my fault.Our regular Calculus teacher, Miss Simeon was running late which was very unusual and most of us were already getting all rowdy in the class. For final year seniors, they all acted pretty dumb for my liking and I dully watched, Asher Hu, one of the blonde, football jocks lob paper balls at his teammates w
The hospital stench was getting to me.After school today, my mom had called from work to ask if I could kindly swing by the hospital to drop off some files she had forgotten in the process of her rush this morning. Molly and I were about to have some sandwiches at my place for lunch when she called, I agreed and we packed up some tomato sandwiches and pink lemonade to go for all three of us.After taking the bus heading out of town and a very long hour or so, we got to the psychiatric hospital where my mom has worked as a nurse since before I was born. She appreciated the lunch we brought her and after a few minutes of sitting around and eating, I was already impatient and ready to leave. Molly, on the other hand had made herself completely comfortable on the office couch and was ranting to my mom about how she had been saving for some new designer boots that had gotten even more expensive over the weekend.Sometimes, I
The Devil was driving the cab.At this point, I wasn't even surprised to see him anymore and I felt the first signs of a splitting migraine as he continued to weave the car at insane speed not the least disturbed by the heavy rain.Molly's eyes were still closed, with her plump, pink lips slightly parted and wet hair matting to her soft face. I wondered if she had fallen asleep by her own will or that of our infamous driver. It was probably the latter."Are you following me now?" I asked."Yes." He replied without an ounce of hesitation and I didn't know whether I was supposed to be creeped out or reassured by the thought. "And I helped you out of this rain, didn't I?""Thanks," I murmured sourly. "Also, could you maybe slow down, I wouldn't want to die before my twenty-two days are up." The dark, casual tone that I used to refer to my death scared me. Had I accepted my fat
I couldn't breathe.The large hand was firmly clamped on my throat, restricting any such luxury such as breathing. I fought the hand, desperately clawing at it when she spoke. I was startled to look at the face of my strangler and discover that it was in fact a giant woman.There were no other words to describe her safe from giant. The clear hairnet she had on did nothing to cover her short, mousy brown hair framing her square jawed face which held the first bearings of a sprouting moustache. A mole stood out on her cheek and her huge blossom rose up and down rapidly as her large, frying pan sized hands continued gripping my neck."Johnson!" She yelled, and my ears temporarily went out of commission then I heard static. "This chica is what's chasing you?"I could understand why she called me chica, most people tended to do that because of my exotic looks. My dad was part Latin and part Mexican and I had his
Friday, Day 11.Things were finally looking up.Our school was no different from those typical ones we read in books; we had the jocks, the cheerleaders, the nerds, the computer geeks and the whole lot. However, the only difference was that we barely related with those that weren't in our cliques, meaning your only friends were those on the same social status as you.Our seating arrangements during lunch even showed the segregation clearly, the popular kids sat separate from the ones with no social status, it was the rule of the jungle called high school. I usually sat with Molly and the other cheerleaders at our special table outside. It was more of a school patio converted hangout for us. Yeah, the school didn't complain about it, why? Because the boys liked it, the jocks were everything.This town loved football more than anything, so these boys were hero worshipped.