The Eclipse Deadline (Ethereal Valentine Contest Entry)

*Part 1*

    Kameron was strolling along in dark near an alleyway on his phone. The cold breeze wrapped around him as if it were a blanket, but he simply ignored it.

Suddenly a large force pressed him onto the ground in the alleyway.

     "Oh no." He groaned.

      "Give me your money, kid!" The man yelled. His breath smelled of alcohol and dirt as he spat in Kameron's face.

        "I can't." Kameron blankly said.

        "Why not, kid?!" The man yelled, his dark, messy beard moving with his chin.

       "Because I spent it on the vending machine in school." 

The man's mouth went into a thin line as Kameron shrugged.

          "Barbecue chips." He said.

The man stood up, threw his hands in the air, and walked off. 

Kameron chuckled as he stood up and pulled out the bag of barbecue chips.

He opened it to take out a wad of cash and laughed before putting it back in.

              ************************************************************

          "This is insane!" Hades exclaimed, slamming the door opened as he walked up the large staircase of Aphrodite's home.

          "Oh, here we go.." She sighed in her light, song-like voice. She put down the rose she was admiring gently on the table near her.

          "I'm telling you, this boy will not get off of my back!" He roared.

          "Or..you will not be off of his, Hades." She reasoned. "You keep insisting death towards the boy. How come you are so..obsessed with him?"

          "I am nothing of the sort! If I cannot kill him with vehicles, robbers, earthquakes, and so on, I shall just kill off his soul!"

Aphrodite glared at him.

          "You shall do nothing of the sort. You are a God. Not some man with power who wants to take the life of a child."

Hades raised an eyebrow.

          "His soul is twenty-two years old. I doubt that is what they consider a child down there."

          "You understand what I mean." She huffed, folding her arms. Her eyebrows rose as an idea popped up into her head.

          "What is it?" He asked.

          "I'll make a deal with you. We'll have him fall in love before a certain point. And if he does not, you shall take his life." She smiled, being proud of her own idea.

Hades ran a hand through his black beard, thinking before nodding.

          "Very well. But I make the deadline." He snickered. "Get it? Dead-line. Dead? Because he is going to die."

          "I won't be so confident, my friend."

          "When the next eclipse occurs. No objections."

She bit her tongue as she restrained from just pushing him off of the large staircase. The next eclipse?! That's by the end of the month!

          "Very well. But I am going to have to visit the Underworld."

          "Why so?" He asked.

          "I would like to send down a soul to help him. I know just the one." She smiled.

          "Then like the humans say, 'it's on'."