Dining with the Devil

Omar Justor was a household name in the city of Meriba and ran several fancy restaurants in town; he lived like a king and married well. However, his marriage didn’t produce as much joy as he envisaged when he first began the journey. His wife Alna was a troublemaker, creating trouble everywhere she went. Always on the call to mediate between his wife and her opponents. For a person like Omar whose business relied heavily on people’s goodwill, he knew without a doubt he had to do something. Desperate moments required desperate measures. He went to his wife’s family’s side to seek their intervention. What he never anticipated was that such a step would become his downfall.

Abdul, Alna’s father felt insulted that Omar would come home to report his daughter’s deed, he interpreted as if Omar was insulting his daughter’s upbringing. As if Abdul was a failure. The man roared like an angry lion and ordered his two sons to throw Omar out of his house.

“Is it because you have a little in the bank? Is that why you come to my house to warn me to tame my daughter? I think you are courting death. If you are looking for a reason to leave my daughter you needn’t worry anymore, I will take her back.” With that Adbul shut the door to his house while fuming with anger.

He called his two sons to bring his daughter home and just like that, Alna was brought home and within a fortnight, she sued for divorce and got half of Omar’s property. Two weeks after the divorce, she became someone else's wife.  Whether the man genuinely married Alna or did out of spite for Omar, remained unclear. The only known truth was that his wife left him for another man. Shortly after the event, Omar lost half of his remaining business to his business rival, he was no other person than the man who married his wife.

Barely three months after the incident, he lost the rest of his business to lawsuits. His enemies in the business world would not desist until they brought him to complete ruin. Soon, the bank demanded his personal assets to augment his bills, Omar lost his house, and his savings, and became homeless. He was left with nothing to live for. He wandered the streets like a vagrant for more than three years without direction or sense of purpose. Every attempt or means to get out of the rabbit hole and  find a way out of his misery was like being blocked. He could no longer see his old self in his present form. One night, he found himself in front of an old church. He decided to go in and pray for a miracle.

He knelt down in front of the altar and whispered, “God, please help me. I have nothing left. I don’t know what to do. Please, give me a sign.”

He waited for a few minutes, but nothing happened. He felt a surge of anger and frustration. He shouted, “God, are you there? Do you even care about me? Why have you forsaken me?”

He heard a voice behind him say, “God is not here. But I am.”

He turned around and saw a man dressed in a black suit and a red tie. He had a handsome face and a charming smile. He looked like a successful businessman or a politician.

“Who are you?” Omar asked.

“I am the one who can help you,” the man said. “I am the one who can give you everything you ever wanted.”

Omar felt a chill run down his spine. He sensed something sinister about the man.

“What do you want from me?” Omar asked.

“Nothing much,” the man said. “Just your soul.”

Omar gasped. He realized who the man was.

“You are the devil,” Omar said.

“Very good,” the devil said. “You are smarter than you look.”

The devil walked towards Omar and extended his hand.

“Come with me,” he said. “I have a proposition for you.”

Omar hesitated. He knew he should run away, but he was curious.

“What kind of proposition?” Omar asked.

“A simple one,” the devil said. “I will give you anything you desire, for three years. Money, power, fame, love, anything. You name it, I will make it happen. After one year, I will come back and take your soul to hell.”

Omar was shocked by the offer.

“That’s insane,” Omar said. “Why would I agree to that?”

“Because you have nothing to lose,” the devil said. “You are already living in hell on earth. You have no hope, no future, no purpose. You might as well enjoy yourself for three years, before you die.”

Omar thought about it. The devil was right. He had nothing to lose. Maybe he could make the best of his last year on earth.

“What if I change my mind?” Omar asked.

“Too bad,” the devil said. “Once you shake my hand, the deal is sealed. There is no going back.”

Omar looked at the devil’s hand. He felt tempted by the offer.

“What do I have to do?” Omar asked.

“Nothing,” the devil said. “Just shake my hand and tell me what you want.”

Omar took a deep breath and reached out his hand.

He shook the devil’s hand and said, “I want to be rich.”

As soon as the two shook hands, Omar turned around but didn’t see the man again. He left the church premise, walked aimlessly as usual into the night. However, he had not taken more than twelve steps away from his meeting place with the devil when a car stopped by and called out his name.

“Omar, I was just coming back from your old house to see you only to be told that you have quit the place. What is going on? I just returned from a business trip three days ago, I had been gone for more than eighteen months. Why are you like this? If I didn’t ask my driver to slow down while receiving a call, I might have passed you by without recognizing you…”

Omar was just staring at Afaz, his one-time business associate who was now a big household name not only in Meriba town but beyond. He shook his head and went silent without uttering a word.”

“This place isn’t safe; I have a meeting to catch up with tonight. Let’s meet somewhere safe tomorrow at noon.” Afaz drew out a thousand from his wallet and gave it to Omar to find a place to sleep that night.

Omar thanked the man, went to a nearby restaurant to, for the first time since his ordeal, he walked into a small motel to pass the night, and met with Afaz the following afternoon.

Soon, his second journey to fame grew geometrically; he was a man with a golden hand, anything he touched became gold. Those who had mocked him in the past, and took over his business, Omar worked tirelessly to bankrupt them. He was a man on a mission, Omar lived for nothing but revenge. He got to know during his downfall that the whole problem which started with his wife was nothing but an orchestrated plan by his opponent who gave Abdul a tempting offer and promised to marry Alna once they were able to succeed in bringing him down. Therefore, Omar worked to bring them down, he had no sympathy and no regret because he too was aware of the pact he made with the devil. He was a man on a mission, with little or no time to fulfill.

None among the people who orchestrated his downfall was spared in the game he played. He became an extremely selfish man who lived solely for himself. He never remarried and a month to the agreed time with the devil, Omar became restless. When he looked back to account for how much wealth he had gained in the space of three years, and would soon leave behind, he couldn’t reconcile with it. So he went back to the old church where he first encountered the devil.

“We need to talk; I want a fair deal.” Omar spoke

This time around, the devil did not appear to him like before, instead he spoke out, “It is a deal with a shake of hand, and you have what you long for, do not deprive me of my own gain. I gave you your heartfelt desire. So, you can no longer renegade.”

“I am not deserting. I am asking for an extension, sure, that can be arranged. I want to put my house in order.”

“You have a whole month to do so. It is not my business if you can’t accomplish it within a month. What have you been doing since the past three years?”

Omar left there dejected. The whole month he was searching for a means to remove himself from the abyss he had knowingly pushed himself to no avail. He was on his way to a spiritual site where they promised heaven on earth when his car ran into an upcoming trailer, Omar ended his life on the way to hospital. He knew when his soul was leaving its body, for he came face to face with the devil just like the first time when they first met, only in the last moment, the devil's eyes were blazing with fire! The devil held on to Omar's soul while lying there soulless watching his soul being taken away. Omar was shedding sorrowful tears for his wasted years, which the paramedics mistook for suffering, they thought he was in extreme pain. Before he died, he was mumbling but none understood Omar's last words.