24 HOURS

A Short Flash Fiction, where a man sold his soul to the devil in return for his mother's life. ENJOY!

*

*

*

I could barely breathe with the dirty horse sack over my head.

I was panting as I tried figuring out where they were taking me.

I wasn't wearing any shoes, so I felt every sharp pinch of the rocks against my feet.

"Where are you taking me?" I managed to grit out but my words came out incoherent against the dirty rag rubbing me in the face.

Finally, we stopped and I was brought to my knees by a rough kick to my legs.

"Welcome, Bill." A voice said to my left.

The sack was taken off me and I saw my fellow co-worker at the local Wall-mart.

"Mike?" I looked around me and saw the two men that had led me here. They weren't any people I knew.

I looked around; it seemed like a basement of some kind. They kept some wine bottles in cribs on the wall.

We were in a wine cellar.

"What was so special about this place that you had to gag me and cover my face?" I asked him.

Mike smirked and nodded at the ground I was kneeling on.

I looked down beneath me and my eyes widened.

"It's what the doctor ordered Bill," Mike said with a crooked grin.

I was standing in a ring that had the devil's symbol on it and around the ring were six candles.

"How does this work? You save my mother and I give you my soul?" I deadpanned.

I wasn't afraid to die. All I cared about was my mother.

"If she lived, then it would be worth it," I said abrasively.

Mike had introduced me to the cult a week ago. I'd been struggling with a lot of debt from my mum's hospital bills.

She had stage four cancer. There was a tumor growing on her brain stem. It had been deemed inoperable. She was all I had left. I couldn't lose her.

"So give me the terms and conditions, I literally haven't got all day."

"The master's pretty generous. You get to live a full day before he comes for you and, "

"Your mother gets to live a very long life." It was a life for a life.

"And how do I know you're not just going to screw me over?" 

Mike smiled.

"You don't."

His face contorted to a snakelike smile and for the first time since I was here, I felt fear.

Suddenly, the symbol beneath me began to glow as all the men around me began chanting.

"Do you have anything that belongs to your mother?" I nodded bringing out one of her old photos.

They placed it at the center of the circle with me and then asked for my blood.

They made a rough cut on my palm making me bleed on the photo.

Soon the chanting intensified and a haze came over me. I blacked out.

The next thing I knew I was home, in my bed.

"Bill, breakfast's ready." My eyes widened.

"Mum?" I got off my bed so fast you'd think it was because my bladder had to explode.

I came to the kitchen door and the most heavenly smell wafted through the air.

Egg and bacon, my favourite.

My mother was standing on her own two feet, no oxygen mask, no thinning hair.

She was here, alive and well with me.

I walked towards her and gave her a big hug.

"Mum." I breathed.

"Darling, what's wrong?" She held my cheek, surprised at my display of emotion.

"Nothing mum, everything is perfect."

I didn't go to work that day, I didn't care about it, my whole world was smiling and laughing and having the time of her life, something I'd barely seen in months.

If I died, I would have no regrets.

I took her to the lake she and Dad had met. 

I took her to all the places she'd wanted to go but couldn't because of the cancer.

We both watched Ghostbusters and Into The Woods—don't ask.

Soon it was time to go home.

My heart was full. If I died now, I would die a happy man.

The deal had been made roughly 11:00 pm last night, it was 10:00 pm already. 

I had only an hour left.

"Good night mum. I love you. I know I don't say it as much as I should, but I do, more than anything."

"I know baby and I love you too." I kissed her good night and got into bed.

I got comfortable and waited.

I wondered what my cause of death would be, would I simply just stop breathing or would it be more dramatic than that?

Five minutes to 11:00 and I was nervous.

No one ever said dying was easy.

The clock struck eleven and a cold wind blew into my room.

'It is time.'

The words weren't spoken, more like they were projected into my mind as thoughts.

I shivered.

"Come get me then." I urged, closing my eyes and clenching my jaw.

I was ready.

And like a sickle harvesting an apple, my soul was reaped.

It was more painful than anything I'd ever felt.

A part of me got ripped away from my body, I realized it was my soul.

I screamed but no voice came out of my mouth.

Suddenly, overwhelming heat engulfed me and I opened my eyes in alarm.

What?

What was this place?

"Welcome to Hades." It was Mike but he looked nothing like the one I'd seen in the cellar. He looked like a monster.

"Bill!" A voice called out to me.

My eyes widened, my blood running cold.

"Mum!" Then I saw my mother.

"No, no! No!" I tried to reach for her but she disappeared right in my arms into thin air.

What was happening?

If my mother was here, then that means— 

"Your mum is already dead."

 Mike said giving me a crooked smile.

"Don't you know Bill, never make a deal with the devil, you might get more than you bargained for." He disappeared as well.

As I'm thrown into oblivion, my mind wandered:

So who had I spent the entire day with?

°

°

°

°

°

°

°

Hey guys, it's Taiwolilly again! I hope you enjoyed this flash fiction. It was written in response to a prompt I received a while back.

The devil takes and gives only in disguise. He has nothing good to offer.

Soon I'll be dropping excerpts from both my books, stay tuned!🤗❤

Oh and don't forget to subscribe!

Feel free to comment your thoughts below! Cheers!🥂