Deal with the Devil [Flash Fiction]

                Daniela and I were perfectly happy. We met almost two years ago at college orientation. She was taken at the time and I was trying to escape my past, but I found comfort in her and so we became friends, but later developed into something else. I loved everything about her and we were perfect.

                Things changed, though. It was a warm March day and her head was resting in my lap while I had been looking up at the clouds when I realized something wasn’t right. Daniela was too quiet. “What is it?” I asked her, taking my eyes away from the clouds as they focused on her features.

Daniela’s intense green eyes peered up at me. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Dani,” I raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what could be on my mind.

She suddenly sat up, her back to me. “You’ll think I’m making it up,” she muttered almost inaudibly.

Playing with the strands of her hair, I challenged, “Try me.”

“I don’t have much time left here,” Daniela started, turning to face me. Her eyes remained concentrated on the pattern of her jeans and her voice was fragile. “I have to trade my soul…” I was about to ask her what on earth she was talking about when she looked up at me. “to the devil.” I stayed silent for a moment.  “I knew you wouldn’t believe me, Nicholas,” she rolled her eyes as she stood.

                “Wait,” I called, also standing. She was starting to walk away when I grabbed her wrist. “I believe you.” I lied, but what else was I supposed to do when my girlfriend was telling me some crazy nonsense?

                “You do?” Daniela raised an eyebrow.

                “How long to do you have?” I asked, seeing how far this could go. If it was all a prank, I at least wanted to see how long she would keep it up for.

                “Tomorrow night,” she whimpered. Looking down at her, I realized she looked so fragile and scared that it seemed almost too real to be a prank. I wasn’t a believer, but I pulled her tight to me anyway, comforting her.

                That night I got a taste of hell. After holding Daniela and telling her it was going to be okay, I went to my dorm, changing into my pajamas and soon fell asleep. Instead of a dream, I got a type of nightmare. I was in a type of cave and I couldn’t see a thing until a spark of fire shot up out of nowhere. Quickly after, I was surrounded by flames.

                “Nicholas,” a voice greeted, sounding evil, conniving and mischievous.

                I turned to see a man of about six and a half feet and red skin. “Devil,” I whispered as I figured it out.

                “The one and only,” he winked, taking a smooth step towards me. “Daniela is due to me in twenty-four hours.”

                “Why?” I asked curiously, my muscles tensed up.

                “See, her great ancestor was in a bit of a rut,” the devil explained, glancing around at his flames in pleasure. “He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and died. He traded his death for a future ancestor’s life. It’s time for me to collect.”

                “She’s innocent,” I spat.

                “It doesn’t matter,” he looked bored. “A life for a life – someone needs to pay the price.”

                I stood without saying a word for a few moments, thinking things through. I couldn’t let her die for someone else’s mistake. She had so much ahead of her. All I had was a father who left as soon as I was born, a mother who died three years ago and no other family. I looked up at the devil, my skin heating up from the flames while I made my decision. “Take me instead.”

                A smirk fell onto his lips as if he knew something I didn’t. “Ah, are you sure?”

                “Positive,” I nodded. “I love her way too much. She deserve to have a shot at living her life.”

                The devil walked up to me and I flinched. He pressed his nail into my skin and I screamed in pain. He continued to move his fingers around and pulled away when he was done. I glanced at my arm to see a countdown. “Twenty-four hours, that’s all you have left.”

                I nodded and before I could even take another breath, a blaring alarm woke me up. I sat up feeling pain on my arm and rubbed my eyes to find that my skin had a countdown burned onto it. Now I believed her.

                I knew better than to tell Daniela what I was up to. There was no way she’d let me go through with it. For the whole day, I pulled on a hoodie to hide the countdown and treated Daniela the best I ever could. I carried all her books to her classes, I took her out to lunch, I helped her with anything she needed and did everything she asked. Every chance I could, I’d kiss and hug her.

                Night came and I wrote her a letter, explaining the deal and how much I loved her. Placing it on her drawer, I waited until the devil took me in my dorm. I glanced at myself one more time in the mirror. Goodbye, jet black hair that I was styled with a quiff. Goodbye, gray eyes that reminded me of a storm. Would I even be able to see myself in hell? One second, I was awake and waiting, the next it was all pitch black until I saw the devil.

                “Welcome,” he greeted with the same grin he had just the other night.

                The next morning, Daniela was devastated. She cried every day and stopped going to class. I watched her from below and it killed me. In attempt to help, I tried sending her messages, but they came off as demon whispers and ended up scaring her so much. The devil tortured me every day, playing with me and the flames like a child’s game. Soon, I just stopped watching her because it hurt too much to see her hurt.

                One day or night – I couldn’t tell – when the devil was bored of torture for the moment, I turned to leave his throne when I saw a girl with chestnut-colored, wavy hair, a heart shaped face and intense green eyes.

                “I came to be with you,” she said as I noticed pills in her hand.

I could feel the devil’s smirk behind my back. He knew she’d come anyway.