I remember it rather well; it was on one of those evenings when the moon was out early, and the sun was just going to bed on the horizon. The people were buzzing to their homes like worker bees returning to the hive. They nestled down and locked their doors, allowing themselves to believe that they were safe to fall asleep. It was quite the opposite for me, I was out and about as I always was. The position of the sun does not concern me, I am always awake.

I find that at nighttime people are more honest with themselves. Under the moonlight, people reveal their deepest desires and darkest fantasies, the things that they would shudder to say in the illuminating light of day. Maybe it’s because the darkness around them feels like a blanket, a thin shroud of security that assures them that it’s safe to come out. Or maybe it’s the opposite? Maybe the light of day is too revealing for them, and they skitter away from it like bugs under a branch. Whatever the case may be, this was my time to play.

I pride myself on my keen eye, I can see things that you wouldn’t believe. I can see the thoughts inside your head bubbling to the surface, I can see the desire rising in your heart, but the thing that I see the most is your sin. What an interesting thing sin is, what a nasty, repugnant little thing. It’s something that you all do, so much so that some of you often fit it into your daily routine. But none of you want to admit it, you prefer to hide behind the mirage of perfection that you project into the world. How funny, the one thing that universally unites humanity without question is the one thing that you will never acknowledge.

On this day I saw a woman, or perhaps she saw me first. She very much reminded me of you. She was young but her eyes told me that she had seen enough for a lifetime. She stood tall and proud, her posture rivaling some of the sternest soldiers I know. Unlike you, however, I could smell her faith on her. The devote have a presence, a scent that lingers around them like a shield. This intrigued me, she seemed like the sort of person that should be in a pew- not in the presence of someone like me. We sat across from each other, and I knew immediately what she wanted. But of course, I let her tell me, I am nothing if not polite.

She was hesitant, they always are. Her thoughts were flushed with doubt and worry, two things that go together better than wick and fire. But while her mind was swirling with inaction, her desire burned hotter than the sun. Outwardly I appeared calm, I always do, but on the inside, I waited readily.

“I need a child.” She said to me.

“Then have one.” I toyed with her. “People are doing it all the time; believe me I know.”

She broke my gaze for a moment, if I wasn’t as observant as I was, I would have mistaken her ashamedness for embarrassment. “I… I can’t.”

“Oh, I see. That is a real shame now, isn’t it? God rolled your genetic dice and you struck out in that department, what a pity.” I would have offered a hand of support, but I reasoned that she would run away if I made any sudden moves. “Now, what do you want me to do about that?”

“I want you to give me a child.”

“But Maria, we’ve barely met.”

This time her look away was most certainly of embarrassment. “You know my name?” She replied slowly- I like it when they’re observant.

“You think I didn’t? Come now, you’ve read the good book hundreds of times, you should know that I am great when it comes to names.”

“I know the word of God.” She replied immediately, almost like it had been rehearsed. “I know about you and what you do, and I am not a fool enough to know that speaking to you right now is a sin in and of itself.”

“So why are you gracing me with your company then?”

“Because…” Her words moved slowly from her mouth, she regretted having to say them. “I must fulfill my duty.”

Now that wasn’t something that I was expecting. “Your duty?”

“It is my duty to bear a child, it is my duty to bring life into this world and if I can’t do that… I will surely be punished.”

This thing that I wear as a head tilted to the side and looked at her for a good long while. That scent she wore was strong on this one. So young and yet so many ideals crammed into her brain already- thoughts that had been drilled into her so much that she forgot that they were just ideas, now they were her beliefs.

“So, you’ve come to me because you believe that you’re doomed otherwise?” I held back a laugh. “How intriguing.”

She shifted in her seat. “I have come to you because you are the only option left. I have spoken with many priests, doctors, and specialists, non have been able to help me. If there was any other way I would be as far from your presence as I could make myself.”

“But here you are, making deals with the devil.” I couldn’t help but smile. “How… Ironic.”

“Can you or can you not help me?”

“Yes, I can most certainly help you.” Here I leaned in, making sure that I could look into her eyes. “But it will cost you your soul.”

I could see her very soul shake within her like it knew what was being discussed. “I cannot agree to that.”

“I’m terribly sorry about that, I suppose there will be no little feet scurrying around your house then.”

“If I were to give you my soul it would defeat my purpose of being here,” Maria argued. “I am here to save my soul, not damn it.”

“And you are in no position to bargain. By your logic, your soul is doomed anyway. All I need to do is wait and it will be mine regardless, so really there would be no point in helping you. I hate to be blunt, my dear, but you have nothing I want.”

“What about something more than a soul?” Her voice was desperate, like a gambler on their final bet. “What if I were to give you something that you have never had before.”

“What is that?” I asked, quizzically.

“A body and a soul, all at once.”

It is not often when a person can surprise me, but for the first time in a very long time, I was caught off guard. “I’m listening.”

“If you give me what I have asked for, then I will give you a soul and a body that you may take with you to hell.”

“That is… an intriguing thought, I do admit. But I’m afraid it wouldn’t work. I can’t just drag a body down into the depths when I want to, I don’t have that power.”

“But what if they were pledged to you? What if you were allowed to do it?”

“Then… I suppose I could.” I replied. “Though it is very unorthodox. But what body and soul would I be taking? Oh, don’t tell me you’re one of those graverobbing types! I do hope you don’t have some corpse lying about, I can’t take a soul from one of those anyway- the dead no longer have a place for a soul to be taken or given. Surely it isn’t yours, that much is obvious. Perhaps that husband of yours, he seems like the sort of man that one would want to drag to hell.”

“My child’s.”

I am hesitant to admit this, but I was stunned. The only thing that I could do was laugh and laugh I did. After I had stopped, I saw that she had turned a deathly pale, people tend to go white when they hear me laugh. “Now that is absolutely diabolical, which is a lot coming from me! You want me to give you a child so that your soul can be saved, and then you turn around immediately after and offer me that child in return?”

“Not immediately.” She corrected, color slowly returning to her face. “I… I wish for them to grow older before you take them.”

“But why? Why not spare yourself the hassle and just get rid of it the moment you have it?”

Maria went quiet for a moment; I could see her thoughts so she couldn’t hide her twisted plan from me. “I have my reasons.”

“Now you truly are something, Maria. Normally it’s me who makes the twisted deals, but you’ve done so quite nicely by yourself.”

“Do we have a deal?”

“Wait just a moment,” I said with a deep grin. “There’s just one more thing I need.”

Maria tilted her head, hoping that I had not seen through her ruse. “What is that?”

“I need a collateral, something to keep me satiated while I wait for our deal to come through. I believe that your soul should do nicely.”

“But…”

“Of course, when I get what you’ve offered me, it will be returned to you.” I continued. “It won’t be damaged, I promise. I’m a Devil of my word.”

Maria thought for a moment, but she already knew that she would have to agree. “I agree.”

“Wonderful! But know if the terms of this agreement are broken the deal is off. If you do not uphold your end of the bargain, then I won’t be bothered to uphold mine.” I spoke. “Do you understand what I mean?”

I watched Maria’s face go grave, she understood what I meant. “I do.”

“Excellent.” I replied. “Now how long will you wish for this poor, damned child of yours to walk about?”

“I think… I think that twenty years will do.”

Slowly my arm reached across the table. “Do we have a deal, Maria?”

Her hand, raising slowly as she finalized her decision, grabbed mine and shook. “We have a deal.”

...

Chris had listened intently; her life did actually depend on it. She hung to every word searching it for some hidden meaning that may lurk beneath the surface. But instead of getting answers all she seemed to get were more questions. “So, all of this, everything that is happening to me is because of my mother?”

“Yes, as is the case for everyone else who ever lived.” The Devil replied smoothly.

“I…” Chris didn’t know how to respond, what was the correct way to act after learning your mom made a deal with the Devil? “You made me?”

“Oh, no.” The Devil’s hand raised dismissively and waved the notion away. “I’m afraid I cannot take the credit for your creation; your mom and dad are the culprits of that. The only thing that I did was make some adjustments, I simply rerolled your mother’s genetic dice so that she was able to have a child again.”

“Oh, how very kind of you.” Chris’s words were tempered with spite and sarcasm.

“There was nothing kind about it.” The Devil took another sip of their drink. “In fact, it was rather cruel.”

“Did you bring me here just to gloat?” Chris attempted to calm herself, but right now she couldn’t care less about being polite. “Are you mocking me? You were never going to tell me how to stop this from happening, were you? You brought me here just to tell me it’s my mother’s fault?”

“My dear, if I wanted to torment you, I would never have said a word to you. I would have watched you suffer and burn without ever knowing why, and I would have reveled in your agony.” The Devil had lost all luster in their voice, they were no longer playing- now they were being absolutely serious. “But most importantly, I have already told you how you could stop it- which is more than I ever needed to do.”

“What?” Chris’s mind raced for the answer and came up short. “When? Wait… You said that my mom was trying to trick you, trying to keep something hidden from you? What was that about?”

There was silence, Chris could’ve heard a pin drop if her focus had not been entirely on the Devil's dark, searching eyes. Suddenly she heard an eruption of sound, a deep and rattling laugh as the Devil’s body confused and twisted with laughter. It wasn’t natural, it was as if their body simply wasn’t made to laugh. For the briefest of moments, as the sound surely permeated throughout the bar, Chris saw deep beyond what the Devil had set up to be their eyes. She went pale and slid to the back of her seat and waited for the noise to end.

“You’re mom…” The Devil began, luster fully returned. “…Believed that if she fulfilled her ‘duty’ her soul would be saved. She also happened to believe that the same applied to you.”

“But… She was wrong, wasn’t she.” Chris lowered her head, defeated.

“Of course she was wrong, I have no idea how she got that silly notion in her head in the first place- it was never right!” They let out another chuckle, though this time it seemed painful. “Isn’t it just ironic? All this mess, all this pain, just because of a silly idea? Maria thought she could trick me, break the deal with a loophole and set you free and live happily ever after together, but that never was going to happen!”

“But you said there was a way to stop it! A way to break the deal?”

“There is,” The Devil said slowly. “But it’s certainly not marriage, or whatever your mother wanted you to do.”

“Why don’t you just tell me, damn it? Why don’t you stop with the vagueness and the mystery and just tell me how to stop it!”

“When I made that deal with your mother, it was a deal I intended to keep.” The Devil pulled the sides of their mouth into a knowing grin. “In some ways, I still do intend to keep that deal. But I’m not cruel, you see. I can see that from your perspective you never even had a chance, certainly not with your mother’s failed plan. Right now, by telling you anything at all, I am being kind to you, Chris. You can’t expect me to spell it all out for you.”

“Spelling it all out for me would be very helpful…Would you tell me if I bought you another drink?” She asked jokingly as she slumped into the back of her chair.

“If only knowledge came so cheap.” The Devil turned their head knowingly to the bar. “Besides, I already drink here for free.”

“So… That’s it then? You’ve given me a riddle and now it’s up to me to solve it, huh?” Chris instinctually reached into her pocket and produced her almost empty packet of cigarettes. They were still a bit damp from the rain, and it took a minute for Chris to realize she still didn’t have a lighter.

Feeling stupid, Chris began to put the cigarettes back into her pocket but stopped when she noticed the Devil with their hand extended presenting an ornate lighter. At first, she wanted to turn the offer down, but her smoker’s instinct told her now wasn’t the time to decline politeness. She hesitantly accepted the gift as the Devil’s hand pulled back to their side.

“Thanks.” She said softly, lighting up.

“It’s the least I can do.”

Is this my final cigarette? Chris thought, smoke filling the air. I feel like I’m about to be shot.

Chris wanted to run away and find some way out of her predicament. She wanted to have an epiphany and solve the stupid puzzle, but no lightbulbs lit inside her head. With assistance from the cloud of smoke surrounding her she held back tears, it was hopeless, wasn’t it? She felt the phone inside of her pocket and desperately wanted to call Jess. She wanted to tell her about all the crap that she was going through, she wanted to hear her voice again. But she couldn’t, the world wouldn’t allow her to. Deep from someplace tucked away she felt an old familiar feeling, that sting of guilt that had followed her into this very moment. Is this my punishment?

Chris was surprised to see a look of gloom fall across the Devil’s face. It didn’t seem fitting for them, it was like seeing a statue cry. “Oh,” they said solemnly. “Your time is almost up.”

Chris looked at the clock; it was already nighttime. No, no, no, no… Not yet.

The Devil stood from where they sat and brushed off their suit. “Well, I suppose it’s time for me to go.”

“Wait!” Cried, Chris. “Please, tell me what to do! I can’t talk to anyone else; no one even knows I’m here!”

The devil thought long and hard before returning with a crass smile. “Well, that’s not entirely true. I’m not certain, but I believe that your dear old mother may still recognize you.”

Chris laughed. “A lot of good that would do me, she’s the reason why all this is happening.”

“Well, that is all that I can offer you, I hope you make the best of it.” The Devil turned to leave and made towards the exit, but then stopped and spun around again. Chris watched as the thing the Devil called its body contorted itself into a knowing look. “Before I go, I would like to say that despite your mother being a less than desirable parental figure, there is still one positive about her.”

Chris took in a deep breath of nicotine, “What’s that?”

“Despite everything, your mother always wanted to keep you safe.”

The words hung in the air like electricity in the sky. Suddenly, without any warning or any flare, the Devil disappeared. Chris blinked, it was as if they were something caught in her eye and now, she had gotten it out. The room around her suddenly felt a lot bigger than it was before, the Devil’s presence was so large that the world around them seem to shrink when they were about.

Chris looked around her, there were very few people left now and she knew that those who stuck around wouldn’t be able to help her anyway. Especially not the man slumped against the bar, clearly asleep and way too drunk to function. Chris couldn’t help but look up at the clock again, she only had hours left.

Think… Think…Damnit, I don’t know. But maybe… she does?

Chris leapt up from the table, her mind was racing but her body was going faster. Without a second thought, she approached the man slumped against the bar and reached deeply into each of his pockets. He didn’t seem to notice as she found a pair of keys in her hand.

Dashing to the street corner she tried the first car she saw and to her luck, the lock popped open. Getting in she started the ignition and zoomed away.

Chris wasn’t familiar with driving, most of her life she had spent on busses and other public transport. The car she was in now was a shoddy, run-down thing that barely seemed to move and clearly had not been taken care of. Chris couldn’t care less about that now, right now she needed to talk to the only person that could possibly help her. I’m coming home, mom.

She drove as fast as she could, but reality slowly started dawning on her as time went by. Chris was quite aware that her mother lived far away, she had made sure of that. But now, with the time dwindling down, that distance seemed impossible to reach.

Chris felt tired, her eyes began to shake as she struggled to stay awake. But as the night went on something else began to happen to her. It started as a sweat, then it turned into a heat. Chris could feel her temperature rising, not from the heat of the car but from something else. She tried to stay focused on the road, but she couldn’t help but acknowledge that her skin was starting to boil. Chris looked at the car’s dim and flickering clock.

11:55. Chris swallowed as she realized that she was nowhere close to reaching her mother’s house yet. Her burning hands shook on the steering wheel. No, I just need more time!

11:56. Chris hadn’t prayed in a very long time, but if there was ever a time to begin again, she reasoned it was now. God, if you’re listening, please help me. Don’t let this happen, I don’t want to go back there!

11:57. The pain was almost too much. Chris found herself swerving in and out of the lines, her vision being blurred with her tears. I never asked for any of this, I never would have been born if that were my choice now…

11:58. Chris put her foot on the gas as if she were trying to escape something that was chasing her. As I kid, I prayed to you every day, and every day I asked you to save me from sin. All that time… I guess you never heard me.

11:59. As her final minutes ticked by, Chris couldn’t help but see her life slip away- like sand through her fingers. Her eyes were glued to the clock, she could only think about one thing as her fate arrived. Jess… I’ll miss you… I’ll miss you so much…