Memories of a Deal

Memories of a Deal

The loud banging on the front door woke me from my slumber. I got out of bed shakily, my heart pumping faster and faster as the insistent banging on the door continued mixing with the thunder and lightning outside and the pattering of rain.

I walked out of my bedroom and slowly made my way across the darkened living room and into the kitchen. The banging was even louder as I got closer.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!", and then an unearthly shrieking.

I shivered as tried to get close to the door itself but, I was frozen in the spot. It was as if an invisible chain was holding me in place, tightening it's massive grip upon me, crushing the air out of my lungs.

"Boom, Boom, Boom! "Shreeeeekk!!"

"No! No! No!", I tried to whisper watching the door buckle under the pressure of the persistent knocking. I knew what was behind that door, yet I didn't.

Then suddenly, it stopped. The thunder died down to a small whimper as the door finally gave way and collapsed onto the floor of the kitchen, the figure silhouetted in the doorway. With one hand, it pointed at me and started shrieking so loudly that the windows shattered.

"Nooooo!!!!!!!...", I yelled out as I sat up in the bed. 

"Honey, are you okay?", a female voice intoned.

I put my right hand on my forehead and wiped the sweat away from my brow, and shivered some more.

"It's okay, honey, it was just a bad dream, that's all. I'll be okay. It's almost time to get up anyway. Sorry , sweetie."

"Okay," she yawned as she swallowed herself in the comforter. I looked back and smiled at her slumbering form for a moment, then went to get coffee.  

I sighed as I entered the familiar kitchen and made the coffee.

“Just a bad dream”, I said to myself shaking my head and smiling as I continued my normal routine.

The leaves littered the darkened streets and driveways of our neighborhood and I heard every crunch as I stepped towards my car.

Just as I was about to enter my vehicle, I saw a shadowy figure on the hillside above our subdivision. It stood there, unmoving like a statue in graveyard. I stared at it, feeling the sudden chill in the air.

"BEEP! "BEEP!" BEEP!"

I cursed as I fished for my phone to turn off the alarm. I didn't want to alarm the whole neighborhood. When I finally turned off the alarm with a small sigh, I took one last look up the hill and the figure had disappeared.

I shivered again as I started the vehicle and headed to the office per usual.  The trip was uneventful, thank God until I got to the office itself and I saw my boss standing in the entrance way, glaring at me.  "What the hell?"

I got out of my car, slowly and walked towards him, feeling that unmistakable lump in my throat. As a got closer to him, the air got colder and colder and the sunlight faded as if a curtain has been drawn. I watched as much boss’s figure faded into the darkness, and was replaced by the shadow figure. It pointed to me and let out a long inhuman shriek.

I felt the earth beneath me drop suddenly like an elevator heading to the bottom floor. I looked up and the figure grew smaller and smaller, until the world I knew seemed to retreat from me as I sank deeper and deeper.

As I hit the bottom, I woke up in bed again, cold sweat dripping down my back, my breath ragged. I staggered out of bed, being careful not to wake my wife and went to the kitchen to make coffee and try to shake the dream.

I stared blankly at the coffee pot and set about the brewing process. As I did, I glanced at the counter and noticed an unusual looking letter sitting on the bar.

I remembered my wife telling me that some mail had come for me the other day, but I didn't pay much attention at the time.

I picked up the parchment style envelope in my hand and felt the sting of cold, run through me,yet I was only holding the envelope. 

I checked the addressing and it was for me. The Gothic style script was a bit gaudy and for me, it only intensified the sinking feeling my soul.  

Part of me knew what this was and yet, it only pricked the back of my mind slightly. It was like having the answer yet not being able speak it.

I opened the envelope and pulled out the paper contents. Inside was a lengthy contract that appeared to have been written by a quill fountain pen and in the same Gothic script.

I tried to make sense of the legal language that was displayed but my mind kept screaming at me to run away as fast as I could and as far away as well.

“It's a trap! Run!”, it howled.  

I looked again at the contract trying to clean as much detail as I could. I got to a part in the middle that told me what was happening although I could scarcely accept it 

It read

“In lieu of your own soul, our firm reserves the Right to take the soul of your progeny in exchange for the good fortune we bring. “

I remembered a bit more now.

The heavy knocking on the door at night, the sudden smell of sulphur and brimstone, and a shrieking voice that spoke with my father so many years ago. I had seen him sign something with this dark apparition.

I looked up with my eyes wide with the realization and I looked to my left towards the bedroom, where my wife’s silhouette stood in the doorway, her eyes glowing red. Her arm lifted up and pointed directly at me and I felt the floor start to descend amidst black flames that licked at my flesh without mercy.

I looked upwards for something to cling to but my wife, my house and indeed my entire life was fading into a distant memory leaving nothing but the torment to come.