Short Stories

"I need a favor"

Prompt: You sold your soul to the devil a couple years ago. Today he has come to you to give it back saying "I need a favor"

8 Years ago

Today was the day. I'm selling my soul to the devil. Not metaphorically either. The literal devil. My brother has been sick for two years now, with cancer. The doctor said he doesn't have very much longer. They told us that we should take him home so that his last few days are spent loved and safe at the place he grew up at instead of a dreary hospital. But how is this fair for a seven year old boy? That's the thing, it isn't. That's why I'm selling my soul. I'm selling my soul so my brother can live the life he deserves. As I walk down the dreary streets under the lamp posts I finally see what I've been looking for. A crossroads.

I began speed walking to it until I'm exactly in the middle. The gravel making crunching noises as I step. I get down on one knee and begin to shovel the ground with my hands until I have a deep enough hole for a small chest. Inside this chest was a picture of me, a baby bone, a vile of my blood, and a feather. Weird items but if it got what I wanted than I won't judge. Once I have the chest buried in the gravel, I stand up and take a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

"Spirit of the underworld I conjure you here today to offer my soul for exchange of one wish. Please show yourself." My voice is carried throughout the area by the cool wind. Nothing moves, not even a bird. I look around myself to see if anything has changed but nothing. "Show yourself demon. I'm offering my soul to you." Still nothing. I began to tear up as I realize nothing happened. My brother is going to die and there is nothing I can do about it. "Please, I'm begging you. My brother needs help. I have to help him. He's dying. Please! I'm offering the one thing that makes me human and you can't even show yourself to save a poor boy!" my voice started as a whisper that ended with a scream. That's it than. My brother is going to die.

"I'm here, Darling. Now what is it that you want in exchange of your soul?" A soft but hard voice speaks behind me. I spin around to see the most handsome man I've ever seen. He has soft blonde hair that flowed in the cool breeze. Pale skin that was littered with freckles here and there. He was tall and very broad. His jawline could cut someone from how defined it was. His eyes were what I was focused on though. His eyes were like the ocean. They were blue but instead of hints of green, there were hints of grey. But there was something different about his eyes. They didn't hold the warmth you were used to seeing. They were cold like a winters night.

I was in a deep state of shock. How could this man even exist with those looks? Definitely not in this small town. Everyone here looked the same. Dull brown hair with dull brown eyes, but this Greek god had the opposite. I stared at him as he gazed at me with his head tilted. He looked at me intrigued and confused. Confused as to why I called him here. "Aren't you a little young to be calling the devil to sell your soul?"

"My brother needs help. He has cancer and only has a couple more days to live. I want to sell my soul to you in exchange for you to cure him. Plus, I'm fourteen, I'm not that young." I beg the tall man in front of me. As I say this he circles me to study me and the way I move. He looked like a predator looking at his prey and by technicality I am his prey. "I need your help. He's only seven and he has more to see in his life, more to live through. So please cure him of this hateful disease." I began to tear up again.

He stops circling me when he sees the tears. It seems his cold eyes unthaw. A little. He looks away as he thinks on what to do. I mean I knew that it was a long stretch. Since there wasn't a cure for cancer in the real world, I highly doubt there is in the underworld. But there's still some hope though. I have to have hope. For him. He looks at me with this look that I couldn't understand. "I will help but I can't promise it won't come back."