Purple Finch Press

Spencer Reardon

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,”at least that’s what Ethan said, he knew exactly what she was talking about. He just didn’t want to admit it because that would make him look stupid, and if there was one thing Ethan didn’t want to do, it was look stupid in front of Olivia Blackwood. 

“Two weeks ago, I lent you $30, where is it?” Olivia glared down at Ethan with the rage of a thousand bulls. He had taken the money as an IOU to buy a new video game, never really expecting the O part to come around, and of course due to classic Ethan Donovan luck, she had come for her due right as his bank total was 0.

“OH! That 30 dollars!” Great job Ethan, she definitely doesn’t suspect anything now. “Yeah I left the money back at my house, I’ll just have to grab it and bring it tomorrow.”. This was a lie of course, he couldn’t afford a gumball for a quarter let alone $30. He’d lost all his money in a bet with Kyle Linkley on Monday, how was he supposed to know that freak show was actually going to EAT the urinal cake? It’d cost him his remaining $25 but was totally worth it.

Olivia stared at Ethan sternly “My money. Tomorrow don’t forget.”. With that she stomped off, not before giving Ethan another stern look over the shoulder, before disappearing into the hall. Ethan had bought himself some time, but if he didn’t have that $30 by tomorrow, Olivia Blackwood was going to kick his teeth in harder than she ever had before. She had already embarrassed him pretty badly back in the 7th grade, during the Halloween Dance Ethan managed to spill an entire glass of juice onto Olivia’s new dress, and he woke up later lodged inside of the basketball hoop. He needed to get that money, or he was toast. The only question was, how the hell was he going to get it?

Later in the day Ethan and his friend Matt were playing games in Matt’s garage, although Ethan was completely in his head, how do you take your mind off of impending doom? 

“You’re absolutely toast Ethan!”. Screamed Matt

Ethan watched as his character was launched off-screen, he completely zoned out. 

“Damn it!” screamed Ethan. 

“I will win again!”. rejoiced Matt, hobbling up and down on the couch like a toddler.

 Matt Corby has been Ethan’s friend for years, they usually play Bash Bros in Matt’s garage, on any other day Ethan would be wiping the floor with him, but today he was completely off his game. 

“What’s the matter with you dude?” Matt could tell something was wrong, he was completely aware of how awful at this game he usually was. 

“Any chance you have $30 I could have?” Ethan sheepishly asked. 

Matt immediately turned away 

“Nope. I ain’t lending you a penny more, it’s time you get a job like most people our age.”. 

Ethan stood up, 

“Dude you don’t understand, I owe money to Blackwood!” 

Ethan dropped to his knees, 

“$30 last time, I swear!”. 

Matt shook his head, 

“Not gonna happen, bro, I’ll be there for the funeral though.”. 

Ethan stood up and flopped back onto the couch. 

“Where the hell am I going to get this money?”. 

“Beats me, dude, maybe your laziness has finally caught up to you,” Matt smirked, he’d been waiting for a moment like this, and everyone had. Ethan Donovan was finally going to get what he deserved… and then they heard a knock on the garage door.

Ethan answered the door, The man behind the knocking stood at 6’ 7”, his looming presence making Ethan feel small and powerless. His face was covered with large black sunglasses, his long red hair slicked back with some sort of gel. He wore a sleek black suit and held a briefcase in his hands. 

The man towered over Ethan, staring down at him with a toothy grin. 

“Hello…” the man said with a thick, raspy voice. “I am looking for one Ethan Donovan.”. 

That would be me…” answered Ethan hesitantly, not knowing why the man was looking for him. 

“I am here to approach you about an opportunity…”, the man leaned in closer and his grin widened. “I am willing to offer you anything your heart desires…”. The warm breath of the man caressed Ethan’s face, reeking of smoke and ashes. 

“Anything? For what?” asked Ethan. 

As the man reached down and opened his briefcase his smile widened to impossible proportions. The man presented Ethan with a piece of paper and a pen.

“This here is a contract, sign it… and all will be yours-.” 

Before the man could finish his sentence, Ethan had already snatched the contract from his hands. He had never signed something so quick in his entire life, 

“Done!”, he remarked as he handed the signed piece of paper back to the man. 

The man carefully took the paper and neatly put it back in his briefcase, which Ethan had just noticed was full of copies of the same contract. 

“Now then…”, the man grinned as he put his hands together. “What does your soul desire-”. 

“THIRTY DOLLARS!” screamed Ethan. 

The man’s demeanor quickly changed, 

“what.”. 

Ethan extended his hand, “Thirty Dollars, I need thirty dollars.”. 

The man looked stunned, as though he was unable to process the absurdity of the request, eventually, he shrugged and placed a crisp 20 and 10-dollar bill in Ethan’s hand. 

“Pleasure… doing business with you…” the man said with a smile. The mysterious man then turned around and walked away, before a car passed him by and he disappeared out of sight.

The next day at school Ethan finally paid his debt for once. 

“Wow, I can’t believe you actually did it.” 

Ethan handed Olivia the $30, pride beaming on his face. 

“Hey I promised I’d pay you back didn’t I?”. 

“Yeah but I didn’t actually expect you to do it.” remarked Olivia, “Where’d you manage to get the money anyways, because there’s no way you actually had the money saved…”. 

“Don’t worry about it,” said Ethan. 

“Whatever man, thanks.” 

Ethan watched as Olivia walked off, he had done it, he had survived the wrath of Blackwood. As Ethan began to walk away he swore for a second he could see the man form the other day watching him from the corner of the room.

Ethan walked home alone that afternoon, Matt was busy with some project so they had to delay their evening Bash game. As Ethan walked he couldn’t help but think about the man, and for the first time the contract he had signed. What had he signed up for? Whatever, there was no use in worrying about it now. 

Suddenly Ethan felt a tap on his shoulder. 

“Donovan…”. 

Ethan didn’t need to turn around to know who was there. He could already smell the smoke.

The man stood behind Ethan, just as intimidating as ever. 

“I’ve come to collect…”. 

“Collect?” said Ethan. “Do I owe you $30 now? Because if so I’m gonna need more time man.” 

The man let out a harrowing laugh, his smile stretching to proportions that no human could make. 

“Foolish Donovan, didn’t you read the contract? I held up my end of the deal, you got your $30, and now I’ve come for what’s mine.”. 

Ethan backed away from the man, but as he got further away the man only appeared to get larger, all-encompassing, inescapable. 

“Who are you! What do you want?!” screamed Ethan. 

“My name is unimportant,” the man said with a smile, “as for what I want… I’m here for your soul.”

His soul… Ethan had sold his soul for $30, every lie, sham, and scheme he had ever done had finally caught up to him. He was going to die. The Man’s proportions squashed and stretched, his body losing the few human features that he had, no shape could accurately describe his form, as any physical properties the man had washed away, all that was left was an abstract blob of terror which had engulfed Ethan entirely inside of it. Ethan tried to shake himself loose but he couldn’t move. He had to do something, anything to get out of this. He thought of his friends, the few he had, he thought of Matt, he thought about how right Matt was… and that was when it hit him. 

“I’d like a job!”.

The terror ends, and the man quickly shifts back into his more humanoid appearance., he stared at Ethan before slowly lowering the boy to his eye level. 

“A Job?”, asked the man. 

“Yes, a job! Any job!, I work for you to earn back my soul!”. The devil looked perplexed by this offer, he turned his head away as if considering the offer. Suddenly he dropped Ethan, who landed on his head with a solid “THUD”. 

“You’d like a job?” asked the man, or creature, Ethan wasn’t sure what it was anymore. 

“Yes, anything!” begged Ethan. 

The man sneered, 

“I’ve got a lot of debtors Mr. Donovan, people like you, bad people who sell their soul to me for humanistic desires.”. 

The man squatted down to the boy, pulling out a sheet of paper from thin air and placing it on the boy’s head. 

“This is a list of debtors, you find them, you get their souls, you bring them to me, and I let you live. Deal?” the man stretched out his hand, to which Ethan quickly shook. The man let out one last laugh before disappearing into thin air once more. 

Ethan quickly stood up, wiping himself off frantically. Was that real? Did that really happen? Suddenly Ethan notices the paper on the ground, bending down to pick it up as he reads a list of names titled “Debtors”. So it was all real, everything, the deal, the shadow, and now this list. Ethan Donovan had sold his soul and survived, but now for the first time in his life he had a job.