The memory of possibly being left alone in a foster home ever since I was a 4 week old baby crossed my mind once or twice but just thinking of everything that might have happened took hold of my nightmares every night. Now just imagine living in a world where everything you loved was lost before the very path that you walked on. That day my adopted parents brought my home was the day everything went entirely wrong. I knew that being brought into this world was the worst idea my biological mother and father allowed. As soon as my mother put me into my crib and turned on the little night light beside my bed, I saw a dark figure looming over my crib, his eyes glowed bright gold and something awful fell into my mouth. I was too little to understand what exactly fear was, but I knew in the back of my newly functioning mind that this thing wasn't good. I wanted to cry to get the attention of my parents down the hall but something, something deeply rooted spark of self-preservation against this "threat", kept me silent and safe.
That night haunted my thoughts and every damn year I'd push away more and more people from my existence. People wouldn't hear me out, push me around and call me names. But I knew in the back of my mind they would remember whom I really am deep down inside of me. Each year if I concentrated hard enough, I could've thought I saw something fall to the ground off of my dresser in my room or even be able to close the door, making my mom to come check on me to see if I was alright and even during school I was able to know where to toss the basketball to someone who wasn't even at the corner of my vision yet. I remember having to go to the principal's office multiple times for headaches. I'm so surprised I was able to graduate school with good grades even for not being in class a lot.
Being in school was hard for me throughout my entire life. The older I got, the worse everything seemed to get until it reached a breaking point the year I turned 15. The headaches at that point had reached an all time high right after my beloved German shepherd dog died unexpectedly, the pain in my head amplified with each tear shed to the cusp of screaming in agony.
My dog's unexpected death was tough as it caused me to shut everything out around me more then what no one called normal. Everyone and I mean everyone sounded muffled and distant when they tried talked to me and if I responded, it was far and in between what really had on my mind. As soon my parents and I got back from the vet office, my adopted mother's constant reassurance that everything happens for a reason and that he had a long life full of love and affection from myself but I didn't care, I just wanted him back so I just walked past her and into my bedroom, slamming the door a little harder then I wanted. My dog, he was always something to come home to; seeing him standing at the front window of the house with his wagging tail and him running to the top of the stairs to greet us with his happy adorable black face and just his unrequited love.
I leaned against the door and looked over my simple room; the blacked out curtain raised halfway up my window, my double bed plied high with clothes to the textbooks placed on my desk. My eyes lingered on the books until I stood above my desk and saw the top book; it was my mythology textbook. A small headache started at my left temple and my left hand instinctively went up to touch it as if the coldness of my hands could calm the pain as I stared down at the book in front of me.
There was a flash in front of my eyes and noticed that I was sitting back in my mythology class. I looked up from my desk and saw that I sat in the back as far from everyone as I could. I couldn't stand any of my classmates as I grew up with them, only knowing them as basically enemies against my way of life but I felt that this class was my getaway from their bullcrap that I don't condone or even think about. Other then that I actually enjoyed this class for the most part, when I was picking out my timetable at the beginning of the year, this class caught my attention in a millisecond in just one look of the list. It felt like it was drawing me in more and more each day of school.
Mr. Alfaro had just walked in holding a small wooden box, "Alright class. Today we are going to talk about something that is in just about every single one of the ancient religions we have talked about." Mr. Alfaro said and placed the box down on his desk and leaned next to it, "Any idea what I'm taking about?" I sat there pondering his words and frowned when I didn't know the answer so no one else spoke up, "What a surprise!" Mr. Alfaro scoffed, "We are going to talk about crossroads." He turned around and grabbed a small stack of papers and passed them out. He came by my desk and sat the paper in front of me, I looked up at him with a small smile as he returned mine with his, when he left to walk back up to the front of the class, I looked down and my eyes were brought down to the large word "Summoning" in big bold letters. After scanning it over it explained how some people think you can summon a demon to make a deal and seal it with a kiss.
As I finished the small paragraph the vision faded and I found myself sitting in my chair, my head against the back of the chair. I brought my hands up to my now throbbing head and as I did felt something wet running down my upper lip. I reached the tip of my tongue up to my upper lip, bringing my tongue back into my mouth, tasting copper. I wiped the back of my hand under my nose and I pulled it back to see a small smear of blood along the back of it. I sat there staring at it confused, my head has felt like it was splitting, my eyes blurred with the really bad headaches but I had never had a true vision or a nosebleed from my almost daily headaches. I shook my head I didn't have time to deal with any of this right now, I wanted no I needed to find that paper. I reached over to the textbook, cracking it open to go through all the pages but I couldn't find it. I reached over to grab my backpack from the floor by the desk, sifting through all the pockets, my hand scraping against a piece of paper.
I pulled it out and scanned it over again, "Make a deal... Sell my soul..." I whispered to myself and instantly my dog came to mind and I couldn't think of a better use for my soul then to bring something so loving back into the world, something I gave more of my love to then anything else.
"I'll need a box, graveyard dirt, a picture of the person making the deal and a bone of a black cat... oh great where am I going to get that?" I grumbled to myself as my shoulders sank at the thought of killing a black cat when I loved all animals. I thought it over for a moment, it would be easy to get everything else; I lived next to a cemetery so it wouldn't take me very long to get the dirt, I also had an old broken jewellery box I could use, even a small picture I hated to use but the bone of a black cat was going to be much harder.
It took a couple of days as well as a few nosebleeds before I found a shelter that had an excess of cats. I hated that it had come to this but I just had to get those bones. So I played 'the grieving kid who's cat disappeared' to every shelter I could get to by foot until I struck pay dirt. A shelter had just euthanized 6 cats and half of them were black. I begged, pleaded and even forced a few tears to see if my lost little Mittens was in there among the others. I found the first black cat and cooed over the lump of black fur. It didn't take but a few more tears and some heavy sobs before I had convinced them to let me take him home to bury.
When they finally relented, they gave me a garbage bag to put him into and all I thought that's just mean, treating their bodies like that but as soon as I left the shelter I took a few extra turns and ended up at an old abandoned home on my way home. I hid behind the building away from any prying eyes of anyone that would walk by and retrieved a handful of bones from the tail of the cat. It took all of my willpower not to throw up as I did but it had to be done, I kept thinking over and over again, "For Buddy."
I put the bones in a plastic bag I had brought with me to put into the box when I get home. Once I was done crying over the poor thing as well as apologizing to it, I placed the cat into a small hole that I had dug days before and covered it in dirt swiftly without looking down at its limp body. As soon as I was done, I placed a large rock over it marking it just in case I needed any more, hoping inside my head that I wouldn't. The information on this ritual didn't specify what bones so I hoped the easiest would work.
I headed back home but by the time I got there it was starting to get dark so I figured tonight would be as good as any other night. But first things first, I didn't want to deal with all the mess in the bag so I snuck behind the house into the backyard and made my way straight to the green garden hose that hung on the side of the house. I glanced around the corner hoping either of my parents were busy doing something like watching TV or working before pulling the bag from my pocket. I spent the next 25 minutes cleaning the bones as well as I could then hiding them back in my pocket, tucking in the corners so my mom wouldn't see it so easily. As soon as I walked through the front door and up the stairs and past her office door to my room I got a stern lecture from my mother who had no idea where I was.
I rolled my eyes at her ever since I got quieter and she seemed to take that as if I was rebelling. I actually found it a little entertaining because I full knew I wasn't rebelling, I was attempting to sell my soul, was that worse? I made the excuse to go do some homework to escape and headed straight to my room, I locked my door as soon as I got in there. I went to my closet door, I slowly opened it to try and not make any noise, bending down to find the hidden old jewellery box in the back of my closet where no one ever looked. I pulled it out and opened the split lid, making sure that the dirt and picture were already in it. I reached for the plastic bag out of my pocket, opening it and pulled a single bone out of the bag, dropping it in the box with a shiver at what I had done to get that. I put the bag in the closet in the same spot the box once sat and slid the jewellery box under my bed knowing fully well that it was easier to grab after I was sure my parents were asleep.
I spent the next half an hour saying the Latin ritual over and over again making sure I was able to say it correctly. As soon as my mother called my father and I for supper, I sat through it as quiet as I do every night as my parents tried to gouge me into talking but my mind was far from going to some neighbour kids party they heard about at the store. I left the table after finishing less then half my food I was in no mood to eat. I went straight back into my room saying goodnight to my parents, I laid in bed on my side like I normally did and pretended to be asleep as I knew it wasn't going to be long before both of my parents were in bed. My mom had to get up at the crack of dawn for work and my dad had to be at a get together with a bunch of his friends that morning, so I waited and stared at the ceiling until I heard my mother's loud snoring.
The ticking of a clock was the only noise in the house but I waited a little while longer before I sat up. I quietly glided off my bed trying to make sure my neither feet nor bed make a sound. I grabbed my jacket and the box, slowly making my way to my bedroom door. I cracked it open as slowly and quietly as I could, listening for any noise to signify that my parents had heard me. I was greeted with silence so I slipped out of my room closing the door behind me and I made my way away from my room, out of the house. It was almost pitch black outside, the sky clouded covering the moon and stars but I knew where to go so even in the dark it was simple.
There was a small dirt crossroad I knew about a few blocks away on the edge of town, I went around to the house and grabbed the shovel from the small shed making my way there to the crossroad. When I got closer, I noticed a single streetlight on the corner causing an eerie glow to fall onto the intersection. My skin crawled the closer and closer I got, the thought of bringing back my baby boy kept coming to mind forcing my feet to move. I stood in the middle of the intersection trying to steel myself for what I was really going to do; half of me hoped this would work and the other half prayed it wouldn't.
I set the box on the ground and started to dig a little hole right in the center of the road just big enough for the box once I dug the hole I set the shovel on the ground to bend down and grab the box. I took a deep breath and said, "Here goes nothing." placing the box in the hole and used my shot to throw the dirt on top of it. The Latin words came out in such a rush that I wasn't even sure I said them. I opened my lips to start again but I heard a male voice coming from my right.
"Can I help you?" the voice said and I jumped, barely able to catch myself from falling to the ground.
I turned to see a tall brown haired man standing not more then 6ft from me, he had a black suit on with his arms crossed on his chest his skin lightly tanned. It was hard for me to see any real distinguishing features in the low lighting.
"Well hurry up I haven't got all day." His deep voice sent chills up my spine.
"It worked?!" My voice was barely above a whisper but the smirk on the man's face let me know he heard me just fine.
"Of course it worked, now I'm assuming you want to make a deal with me..." He said to me but I froze. I wanted to make a deal yes but I also didn't think this would really work. "You know little girl playing with demons isn't very smart!" He growled at me.
I swallowed and took a deep breath, "My dog, I want my dog back. Healthy, happy and able to live a long life."
The man took a couple of steps towards me and every muscle in my body told me to run, "A dog, now that's a first. Alright then I want your soul, you will have a year to enjoy this dog of yours. Does that seem fair?" A large smirk crosses his lips that caused me to bite my lip, did I really have the courage to sell my soul?
But then a thought came to me, "A year what do you mean?" I asked him.
He took a few more steps towards me, looking down at me, "In a years time you die."
I was beyond shocked I thought that if I made a deal when I died my soul went to hell not that I would die early.
"Don't let that stop you, I mean you had so much conviction. You must love this dog very much." He chuckled at the end and I wanted nothing more then to smack the smirk off his face, "Well tick-tock I haven't got all night so make up your mind!" I couldn't speak so I nodded my head, "Good then-" He stopped mid sentence, his eyes wide as he seemed to stare behind me.
"I'm sorry her soul is already spoken for." A commanding male voice echoed behind me, my body shivered as I felt whoever was behind me walk up to stand behind me, a hand covering my shoulder.