Deal with the Devil

The Devil's Greeting

I felt several hands on me as my vision blurred. The pain in my chest ceased as I finally lost consciousness. I saw my life flash in front of my eyes, my parents, my friends and all my loved ones. Finally I opened my eyes, expecting to see maybe a hospital cubicle, but all I saw was a candle on a table in front of me. I tried to gather my thoughts.

My name is Oliver Cardozo. I am twenty five years of age, and I'm also too young to be getting a heart attack. What happened? As I tried to get familiar with my surroundings, something before me became clearer. I tried to make some sound to make my consciousness known, but the figure simply raised a hand to indicate silence. I waited with patience as it slowly and dramatically turned around and approached me.

As the figure stepped into the light of the candle, I saw that it was a lean man in a formal pitch black suit with a blood red tie. His jaw line was sharp, his lips cherry red and tightly pressed together and his eyes a cold grey. The only thing that didn't match the whole outfit was his hair, which looked windswept to one side.

He noticed me looking at his hair and smiled. "Ah, I hope you forgive me for my hair. I'm having what one might call a bad hair day", he said. His voice was sweet, as though he was a well-mannered boy from a library club in college.

"Where am I? I mean, am I dead? This can't be happening", I said, unable to believe all this. Was this how my afterlife would be spent? In a room with a candle and a man whose stare sent shivers down my spine?

"Well I'm glad you are taking this calmly. Yes, you are dead. Welcome to hell! I'll be showing you around for a while, till you get a hang of the place" he said as though he were a tour guide. I stared at him.

"Are you... Are you the Devil?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"Well, yes. But, I like to be called Lucifer. See, it has more of a pop to it and so, I like it. It's quite classy", Lucifer said with an air of charisma. Well, whenever someone mentioned devil, I would always think of this red demon with goat-like black horns on his head and bat-like wings on his back. Not this surfer-kind-of classy Lucifer whose hair indicated that he just got back from the shower.

He saw me looking at his hair again and did a smooth brush over it. "I told you to excuse my hair! That means that you stop staring at it", he said in a self-conscious manner. "I wasn't expecting you. It was quite a surprise, actually. I don't mean to be rude but, why are you in hell? What did you do that landed you here?" he continued with a curious look.

"That, I'm not sure of, but there's nothing I can do now. Unless there is a way out of hell, I'm stuck here with the guilt and questions", I said with despair. Lucifer looked at me with a slight smirk.

"What if I told you that there was a way out?" he began to say in a teasing tone.

I looked at him with pleading eyes, unable to differentiate the truth from his lies.

"Well, are you willing to do it?" he asked. I didn't know what 'it' included but I nodded.

He raised his eyebrows in a manner of surprise and said, "Well all you have to do is walk through fire on some burning coals, promise me one of your family members' souls, perform satanic rituals every day and your first born is mine."

I had no choice.