Thirteen Days

“Thirteen days?”

I was unsure I had heard him correctly.

“Yes.”

The man before me spoke in an authoritative tone, but not entirely unkind. Well, perhaps “man” was too broad of a term. Although he wore his dark features well, there was something off about the way they were composed that made me believe him when he told me he was from down there. Dark, raven hair slicked back from his finely chiseled face fell just below the chin. His amber eyes glinted almost yellow in the dimly lit room, and I couldn’t quite be sure of the shape of his pupils. And, though his teeth were beautiful and shone a pearly white, there seemed to be a few too many. 

His clothes weren’t all that odd either. In fact, they complimented his figure rather well. The expensive cuts of charcoal gray linen were sewn expertly into a well-made suit, and the dark silken shirt underneath was free of any impurities. As the man paced the room, the suit seemed to move as if it was part of him, as if it had been made for the express reason of being worn on this day, in this room, and by only him. Under different circumstances, I’m sure I would have found myself attracted to his effortless beauty. 

“Thirteen days, all twenty-four hours of each, and then you and I shall leave this place together.” As he spoke, he picked through my collection of liquors, sniffing each one with refinement. When he found one that he deemed acceptable, he brought two crystal glasses down from the cabinet and began to pour.

“In that time, you must conclude with all Earthly affairs, and create a plausible reason for your departure.”

“And you swear you will save him? He will certainly live out the rest of his life in peace?”

“I will do exactly as I promised. Yuka Shimada will be absolved of all debt and therefore freed from the wrath of those he owed. What he does afterwards is not in my control.”

I almost protested, but I swallowed my words. This deal was more than I could have ever hoped for yesterday, and here I was about to complain. I also must remember exactly to whom I am speaking, and the weight my words will have. If it’s to save Yuka, surely I would do anything.

That had been our promise to each other, even if we had never verbally spoken it. Yuka and I would always have each other’s back, no matter what. Turns out, that includes selling my soul to give him one more chance at a normal life. 

I don’t blame Yuka for getting us into this situation. In a sense, it was his way of keeping our promise. He had full-heartedly believed that things would work out if he did just one more job. We would be free to leave this city and all of its problems behind. I wouldn’t owe my father anything more than a cold glance as the door closed between us, and he could finally get out of the mess he had entered to save me. 

I sighed a shaky breath, raising my eyes to meet the golden ones piercing through me from above. 

“But I cannot tell anyone? Not even my mother?”

“Correct.”

After a moment of uninterrupted eye contact, I break away. The glass of whiskey he had set on the table for me developed a magnetic pull, and my hand became pure metal. The molasses liquid melted over the dryness of my throat, and seemed to stop my hands from shaking just a bit. 

“So?” He said, looming behind me. His cold breath tickled the back of my neck, but it felt more like the legs of a thousand bugs than the winter chill most people imagine. “Do we have a deal?”

Do it, I tell myself. Say yes and be done with it. No need to drag things on, or make him impatient. Why hesitate? Yuka would do it for you. Still, I could not bring myself to finalize my death.

“Will he know?”

“Know what?”

“That I died for him. Will he know that it was my choice, and that I want him to be happy without me?”

The man’s breathing filled with the weight of a thousand dying stars, and I almost felt the essence of sympathy from the way he spoke. “No. That will be entirely up to him. Does this change your mind?”

“No, it’s just… never mind. I accept.”

With that, my mind filled with what I can only describe as TV static, and all thoughts became lost and broken. 

I awoke in my bed to the sun’s first light with the weight of a hangover pressing me down into the mattress. Something else was also hanging over me, but I couldn’t quite recall exactly what it was. 

Yuka.

I drew in a sharp, quick breath, and sat up faster than my sluggish mind could handle. After the initial stab of pain was over, I grabbed for my phone on the side table. Today’s the day. We didn’t make it, we don’t have the money. I didn’t bother to search for his contact, instead dialing the number etched into my heart. Please pick up, please don’t be dead. 

The ringing of the tone dial merged with the soft ringing in my ears, creating a dreadful siren that signified my own personal end of days. Then, with a soft click, my heart rose to the heavens.

“Kuina?”

His voice brought instant relief to my ailments, and at once put my mind at peace.

“I was just about to call, but I didn’t want to wake you. You’ll never guess what happened last night?”

“What?”

“They found an error in the systems, caused a whole bunch of mis inputs… we made it.”

“Made what?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot. All the money, we have all of it. You and I can finally leave this place behind. I just have to…”

Yuka’s words trailed off into the back of my mind, becoming lost in the thick cloud blocking out most of my rational thoughts. All the money? Mis inputs? On the day of the deadline? It’s all so… I, I…

The watch on my wrist gave a small beep as the time hit 7:00am. Huh, I didn’t know I had a watch. Upon further examination, it was a slim, expensive-looking golden band clasped with a thin button of the same color. The watch-face itself appeared to be very intricately carved, but the time itself was displayed clearly right in the center. Above it, another number moved, but backwards. Counting down? To what? 

Twelve days, twenty-three hours, and forty-five minutes. For some reason it seemed familiar, but I don’t remember that day being anything important. A birthday? An anniversary? Certainly not the deadline, which was today.

“See you soon.”

The voice crept up from a place deep inside of me, one which could certainly not have been my own. At that moment, the events of the previous night returned to my mind, and the cloud cleared away. Yuka was still talking about something or other on the phone, but I could no longer listen without being brought to tears. I hung up without a goodbye, and sank to the floor next to my bed. 

Oh.