The Devil's Unexpected Visit
Chapter One: The Prologue
x r . i . p x
Some people believe in the devil, others believe it's just evil people that cause all the pain and suffering in the world. Some pray to God when they think the devil is after them, while others don't believe the devil exists and go on living their lives. Some cower at his name, others just laugh. Human behavior shows us that we believe in many different things: that Santa is real until we find our parents putting the presents under the tree, that by breaking a mirror will cause you seven years of bad luck, that a single strand of hair connected to a voodoo doll can actually do harm to the hair's owner, that putting a good luck charm in your restaurant is supposed to bring you luck in fortune or love, or that fortune cookies can actually tell your future and that you should be looking on the ground for the next week in hopes of finding a hundred dollar bill on the ground.
Some go as far as believing that the shadows they see in the corner of their sights are just in their heads and that they're not really there in hopes of keeping the thoughts of ghosts and demons away. Yes, the human mind is quite complex, especially depending on the mind's owner: if they're religious, superstitious, or completely rational. But one thing is for sure, once you see it, you believe it. And maybe that's why not everyone believes in the devil. For one to see the devil and live is unheard-of, and that only religious folk believe in the devil. But that's not true. Almost 40% of the people who believe in the devil are not religious, but still, none of them have ever seen the devil before. Some claim they have, but they're lying. The devil never leaves a witness alive, that's why there's so many forms of him; the human mind, when in fear, can create the most bizarre images of the unknown, such as a man that's half goat with horns, sharp teeth and black eyes that sucks the life out of his victims.
But even if you don't believe in him, he's there; watching, waiting, in the deep shadows of the night to steal some lives and souls of the creatures belonging to humanity. He can take on many shapes and sizes, to blend in with the rest of us to take the lives of both the innocent and sinful that unintentionally cross his path and walk into his world he calls hell.
Like in that old ballad about how a woman has a conversation with death in the late 1600's: When death comes, poor and the rich, men and women, are exactly alike. And to the devil, everyone is the same in his eyes. He comes to earth every few years, taking as many as 4-15 people back to hell with him. And it is said that the suicide of a person is always his welcoming gift to world.
And, today, at 9:15:43, there was a suicide at the Grand Line Corp. Building, just off Redline Street