Devil's Soul

Chapter 32 (a remedy for all those nights without nightmares)

Just to be clear, I'm not dead. This is something you probably should have realized, considering that being dead would have put a bit of a damper on my ability to narrate how I got that way. But I guess, in today's world, anything goes when it comes to narration, so I can't expect you to have made any logical assumptions. To be fair, I wasn't exactly clear about my fate at the end of that last chapter. I mean, I did think I was dying, at the time. So that's why I'm clarifying for you now that I'm still alive and well (depending on your definition).

I'd like to tell this next part a little differently from how it happened. Would that bother you? It's not that I want to hide anything from you. I just prefer to remember my past as a slightly more pleasant experience than what it actually was. Maybe if I recount the pleasant version to you, I will eventually begin to confuse it with the truth, and I will be able to reflect on my past with only fond memories. Shall I try?

Let's say that when I woke up, I was doped up on morphine, surrounded by friends, and resting in one of those nifty hospital beds that can be operated with a remote control. I had a private room with a window, with the sun shining in as indication that I had slept peacefully through the night. I didn't have a midterm to worry about that morning because, in this world, midterms don't exist.

I was disgruntled to see the Devil standing among my friends, but they assured me that he was actually a standup guy. He'd swooped in and saved my life. The hero of the night.

Okay, clearly I've made a huge mistake. This all sounds ridiculous. I'm just going to give it to you straight. I woke up only moments after passing out, sprawled in a pool of blood and milk, covered in some guy's brains. I was in more agony than I had been prior to passing out because now my body was no longer in giving-up mode, and the ecstasy that came from receiving an entire soul had worn off.

The delusion from the blood loss had me momentarily convinced that the Devil had come to help me. I even thought he had been the one to resuscitate me. Ha. He'd come to watch me die. He told me as much, later. He liked to be around for demon deaths, so he could collect the soul fragments they'd been holding. I happened to be clinging to a pretty hefty load, but he let me be when he saw I was still fighting to live.

And I was certainly fighting. My vision was splotchy from the loss of blood, and the pain had me gritting my teeth with the little strength I had left, but for some reason I was refusing to black out again. While the fight to stay conscious wasn't getting any easier, it also wasn't getting any harder, which became more evident the longer I remained awake. Then, at some point, I realized what was happening. I wasn't losing any more blood. Slowly, the pain in my abdomen began to subside. I still felt like someone had sifted through my organs like my body was some sort of toy box, but the pain wasn't so incapacitating anymore.

"I have to say, I didn't expect you to borrow one of my abilities at the last second," the Devil spoke up, "But then, I didn't expect you to go and get shot, either. I anticipated you spending a little more time debating between whole milk and skim milk. Things would have played out differently if you had. It's amazing how much such a tiny thing can make a difference." He laughed, looking at me like we were sharing a joke over sodas and slices of pizza.

"The ability," I sputtered and paused to catch my breath. I was feeling woozy from the blood loss. "Is it to heal?"

The Devil pursed his lips and tilted his head side-to-side. "In a way," he said thoughtfully. "It's the ability to manipulate flesh. Flesh and bone and all those funny components that make up that shell you walk around in." Then his eyes glinted with mischief. "Would you like to see a neat trick?"

"Most definitely," I said because there was never a bad time for tricks, especially neat ones. I meant to sound sarcastic, but I mostly just sounded like I was in pain.