Super Shorts

The Magician and the Devil

It was a warm Sunday morning in Michigan as people of all shapes and sizes, and clothed in a myriad of colors, flowed toward a rather squat small church that didn't seem to be able to fit more than fifty to a hundred people. Today, however, was different. Today was a day of celebration.

It was the fiftieth anniversary of the church's current pastor, and what seemed like the whole  town had come to celebrate. The interior was packed from wall to wall with people in suits and dresses, their Sunday best. The pastor himself lounged on a slightly raised platform that faced the crowd. His soft cushioned chair kept him comfortable as he quietly flipped through the pages of a worn, yet well kept, bible. A choir sang on a dais behind him as the auditorium filled completely. A hand hewn podium sat center stage, patiently waiting for the service to start. After a few more minutes of choral hymns, the short, plump, white man in his late sixties stood, his piercing green eyes barely clearing the podium, and began the service.

"Thank you all for coming this joyous day!" The crowd murmured in agreement as he continued.  "God has certainly blessed this congregation. This Town, and this country! Can I get an amen!" The crowd erupted with a chorus of joyful 'amens'. "He certainly has blessed every one of us. Not only has he gifted people with extraordinary powers, but he's blessed one of our own." He gestured to a beaming woman standing behind a young boy of about twelve in a white robe. "He has gifted our beloved young man here, Jacob, with the gift of healing! Isn't that amazing?" He paused as the congregation shouted various forms of agreement and praise. Jacob looked on with sorrowful blue eyes but a wide smile on his face.

"He has certainly blessed us yes. Not only that some people have been using this blessing to bring harm to others, and as there are Goliath's there will be Davids being raised up to meet them." He motioned for the young boy to join him on stage. "This young man right here has helped so many people in just the few months." When Jacob made it to the podium the preacher  rested his hand on his shoulder, Jacob almost twitched out of his grasp, making the pastors grip harden. "There is another lost soul seeking healing and redemption here, from far away. These good people travelled all the way here from Europe, looking for God to heal their ailments."

A man in a blue three piece suit wheeled a woman in a blue shimmering dress out of a small room next to the stage in which people can wait until called. They stopped next the pastor and Jacob. 

The woman in the wheelchair was clearly not well. Her skin was so pale and thin her veins could be seen struggling to carry the blood through her body and a loose bandana with a blue floral pattern clung to her skull as though a single breath would blow it away. She took a labored breath every few seconds, and the wheezing made Jacob's face fall. He approached her cautiously, and she met his eyes tiredly. Yet when Jacob looked into her overlarge brown eyes they looked bright and full of life. She just looked like she was getting tired of something. He took her hands, as she offered them anyway. When they grasped each other he could feel a cold sensation creep from her hands into his. 'This didn't feel like the others, who were actually sick', Jacob thought. The woman's appearance, however, did change. Just like the others. Her skin regained color and her labored breathing ceased almost instantly. Jacob took a step back, confused. The woman jumped up out of her wheelchair and hugged her male partner, before they both vanished.

"What in God's name.." The pastor trailed off when he looked out at the crowd, and a man in a suit so black it appeared to consume the light around him. The man was just as pale as the woman had been but this wasn't a mere sickly paleness. His skin was the color of porcelain and his hair was closely cropped and slicked back with so much product reflected more light than the suit. His cold black eyes met the Pastor's. The lack of white in his eyes combined with a wicked smile on his face made the Pastor yelp. The congregation fell silent at this outburst, but when they tried to see what startled their fearless leader; the man in black was nowhere to be seen.

The pastor took a step back as if making to run off stage when the man stepped out of the side room. Only his eyes were a normal brown, and the suit didn't seem nearly as black. He was still quite pale and had identical features. "Ah." The Pastor, who had clearly been shaken by something welcomed the man on stage with a nervous laugh. "Welcome brother. Might you require some healing?" The pastor reached for Jacob, who had seen an opportunity to escape and taken it.

"Not at all Father. I've actually come to this blessed house of God to collect on a debt, that in my opinion, is long overdue." He finished that sentence in a tone so hushed only the Pastor heard it. All of a sudden, the man in black grew wings. They were large, black, and leathery; not unlike a bat. The pastor looked at the crowd with a look of, 'are you guys seeing this too?'. Which they clearly didn't seem to be.

"Now hold on just one moment." The pastor sputtered as the winged man advanced on him. "What is this debt, I made no deal or bargain with anyone." The pastor kept retreating until he hit the other wall, only the man kept advancing.

"You don't, don't you." He leaped the rest of the distance and grappled the pastor's face like a vice. "Let me remind you!" He seethed. Images of a young boy with jet black hair and warm brown eyes standing before a much younger version of the pastor. "You made me do things no boy should eve know! You raped me! You destroyed my life before I even had one!" He bellowed into the now sobbing man's face. The wings were gone but the man's eyes had returned to full black. "Now is the time for you to repay what you could never afford." The pastor went to turn to the now silent congregation, only to find the church empty save for a young girl of about fifteen.

"When I was younger I had always wanted to be a magician." The man spoke to no-one in particular. "But the funniest things about a dream is they can come true in so many ways. While you did fuck me up like that, if you hadn't I probably wouldn't have gotten the power or the will to make sure people like you never hurt anyone again." The man proceeded to check his nails in such a way that made him seem like he wasn't about to murder someone and just walk away.

"You. You. You don't understand!" The reverend blurted out, ignoring the only audience member left. "I couldn't help myself, it was just too much of a need."

"And you didn't think GOD could help you with it?" The man spat the word god like it was a week old loogie that got stuck until now.

"Of course I tried to get help from God. But every time I asked I got no answer, as if in affirmation of my actions."

"That's because God doesn't exist. At least not your god. As if he would want to talk to you if he even were real." The man hoisted up the reverend by his pudgy waist and set him on the podium. "Now beg me for forgiveness and confess your sins to the Devil. Maybe I'll spare your sorry excuse for an existence."

"You are not the devil! You shouldn't joke about that. You're just a disturbed young man that can't get over the fact that you were used by a holy man for his own pleasure. And you know what, Of course you aren't the only one. This town is so gullible and trusting, I had my pick.

Just then the missing congregation returned with a gasp, having heard everything clearly. The young girl joined the Devil on the stage. "Carlyle saved me when I was being abused by a catholic priest for being too cute, and I of course have the ability to create illusions. Which the church also considered an abomination. So just how long were you planning on abusing Jacob, Reverend Heft."

The man fell to the floor with a thud. He seemed to be physically stunned. At this Carlyle leaned down and whispered in the pastor's ear, "I think you've just repaid your un-payable debt. Thank you for your candor." And with that The Magician and the Devil Vanished to the angry shouts of an entire town.