I told my wife I was going for a short walk and promised I wouldn’t venture far. She wasn’t a big fan of this hobby but waved me on as she got into bed. I threw on a pair of sweats, a long-sleeved shirt, and some worn tennis shoes then headed out the door. I saw that the night sky had a good number of stars as I took a left down toward the cul-de-sac at the end of our street. It ended at a hiking trail between two houses. The common path loops back around but one of the break-off paths leads deeper into the park; a chain link fence and a wooden park sign marked the entrance.
The trees grew tall and thick, but moonlight still shone brightly through the foliage onto the trail and peeked ever so often through the woods. I had a lot on my mind, and it was going to take a while to clear. We’d already used all our savings and every credit card to our name was maxed out or a few dollars from the finish line. Our kid still needed school supplies, and medication, on top of car repairs, mortgage, and a layoff I just didn’t know how we were going to make it. We’d fallen behind and our income just wouldn’t allow us to catch up. The realization of yet more bills came crashing down and brought me to a state of mind that I welcomed misfortune just so I wouldn’t have to deal with all this anymore. At least my family could use the money to set themselves up and be ok.
I looked up at my surroundings. I was so deep in my head that I hadn’t noticed I was walking through a haze of dust but figured it must be from a small dirt devil or strong wind. However, the air had a magical brisk feeling to it despite it. I gazed upward and squinted at the trees which had transitioned from green to dark turquoise leaves, obviously a trick of the haze and limited light. I chuckled at myself and appreciated the brief distraction. I paused a moment when fireflies emerged to dance in spiral patterns, their coordination alluring and off-putting. I tracked one a few moments before I shot out and cupped it in my hands. But when I opened them, nothing was there.
I smiled to myself as my mind re-focused on my current situation. I felt so overwhelmed and wished I never had to worry about money again.
“Now there’s a wish as old as time” a gravelly voice echoed from the side of the trail. On my side where there hadn’t been anything, but forest was a natural path of rock, tree roots, and earth that led to a small clearing.
In the back upon an ivory stump sat a rather dapper middle-aged man, bronze skin with jaw-length silken black hair, eyes that I swear shifted between brown and green, and a short, trimmed beard. He wore a suit that shimmered in the moonlight in a cacophony of colors. That same haze of dust and light hung around him like a curtain as it continually drifted outward.
What I previously thought were fireflies danced around him. He collected a few in his palm nonchalantly until they were a single ball of light and tossed it back and forth before he clapped his hands together and it was gone. He stood up, took a perfect bow, and began to pace around the stump. “My name is Mr. Afritz Jinn, and I deal in wishes. I couldn’t help but hear your rather, loud, thinking. Sufficient currency has been and always will be a problem for you lot it seems.”
His smile faded into an exaggerated frown then he tilted his head upward and rubbed his chin contemplatively. “Though I do have just the solution to this problem, just the solution indeed. I have more than enough and not enough to spend it on. What is it you all say? Can’t take it with you!”
His lips curled “So how about a bargain? A wish from me and I borrow something from you?”
Mr. Jinn sat back down on his stump with one leg crossed over the other and bobbed his foot to an internal rhythm. He rested his head in his hand already bored and awaited my answer.
“Uh, well, I need to think about this maybe. Do you have a way to contact-” I turned to walk away but found myself facing Mr. Jinn again, everything was as if I hadn’t moved at all. He stood on the ivory stump and sailed through the ground like a boat on placid water. He settled behind me gracefully and set his hands on my shoulders.
“I’d sing you a song with animals and fireworks but I have a terrible singing voice and would rather not waste my magic on vanity.” He chuckled. “Your life hasn’t exactly worked out, has it? And all that hard work just can’t keep up with the chaos. I have been here a long, long, time and I can confirm that this earth cares not for you. It cares for nothing other than that it continues to turn and what stands on it while it does so matters little.”
I clenched my fists in expectant self-defense and pain at how his words echoed much of my own self-disparagement.
“The forces that make up the universe care even less. Aloof as they are.” He brushed the shimmering dust that had settled off my shoulders.
“Yes, I have seen it, it takes the best of you to thrive, and you just missed the mark, but worry not failure can be corrected. I’ll borrow your soul for a brief time. I fuel the wish and keep some for myself, I think that’s fair”
The world spun briefly then I found Mr. Jinn in front of me, his hands clasping my arms. My visceral reaction was to tell him to fuck off and return home. Chalk this whole thing up to some anxiety-induced breakdown, but vivid images of my wife rushed to mind. The look of relief on her face, a restful night’s sleep, her smile when she finally got to travel and see the world like we’d dreamed. I contemplated the loss of my soul.
“And that sweet little girl you have. What could you do for her?” The words rolled from his tongue like a stone down a mountain.
My mental images shifted to her and my heart grew heavy. I don’t know how valuable a soul is but it sounded like enough. I still had my doubts and my pride wanted to challenge the man to see if he could do what he promised.
A thought probed my mind “Is there anywhere for me after I die anyway? Was I ready to face the void? More time in existence could be nice.”
“And if there is somewhere for you.” Mr. Jinn spoke low. “They would have more ownership than I. I have no choice but to abide and give you back. Win-win.” He let me go and an incredulous smirk drew across his face.
I felt the need to decide. Our financial situation rushed through my mind with visions of broken hearts and faces filled with tears on a repeat reel of suffering. “Fine.” I said “ Live up to your end and you can have my so-”
“Tut tut tut” Mr. Jinn put up a finger “I believe you mean to start with I bargain”
“Ahem, I bargain my soul for a wish. That my family never have to worry about money.”
“Until the deal is done then.” With a blink, Mr. Jinn was at the very back of the clearing and snapped his fingers. I felt a violent pull and before me stood a perfect reflection, transparent and sickly green. Mr. Jinn smiled then his jaw went slack and his body limp. He was lifted into the air by a now visible white appendage and swung back and forth like a rag doll. The ground rumbled and shifted like sea waves before it broke apart; the ivory stump rose from the ground atop what came to be a large craggily oblong body. Patchworked across was clay-like skin.
This monster that I assumed to be the real Mr. Jinn had no features but a mouth so wide it could swallow a small car. Inside were teeth that spiraled toward an abyss from which numerous wriggling appendages that shimmered in fantastical colors probed in and around his cracked lips.
Mr. Jinn propped himself up on fat child-like arms of rock and stone that left him toad like then let out a mountainous sigh. That’s when I heard screams. At the tail end of the sigh were innumerable asynchronous screams. When I paid attention, they could be heard every time he breathed.
My doppelganger looked at Mr. Jinn and then back to me in confusion when in an instant Mr. Jinn leapt forward and gripped my soul tightly. My specter struggled and kicked with all his might, panicked and terrified. I tried to look away, but the former body of Mr. Jinn came back to life, his eyes glowed an angry green.
“You will witness, or the deal is void! What do you think you deserve when you dare not see!?” Mr. Jinn cackled gruffly. My body felt heavy and held in place.
Tears flowed mutely from my soul’s eyes, and I couldn’t help but match his expression. He gave me one last look of sorrow and mouthed ‘why’ before Mr. Jinn turned him over and bit the lower half from my soul. My specter’s face contorted into an excruciating pain I hope never to experience. Its silent scream deafened the forest as fluid and viscera fell into the ground. Mr. Jinn chewed loudly and sloppily then twisted off one arm and then the other and slurped them into his mouth.
My soul lay nothing but a torso with a blank but living expression on his face. A single tear fell because there was no more to give. I felt it. His grim resignation fighting against the hope that someone would save him. Mr. Jinn opened his circular maw once again and the tendrils from inside gingerly wrapped and lifted my spirit back toward that screaming black pit. I watched the darkness slowly wash over him before Mr. Jinn snapped his mouth shut.
“What. the hell.” I stammered. “I had a psychotic break, right? This isn’t real? I feel so empty, this can’t be real.”
The body swinging above Mr. Jinn lowered itself back onto his ivory stump and once again rested his head in his hand. “Mad dreams? No, no, no. All real as the deal we sealed. Remember I’m only borrowing it. A century or four at most.”
“What. What were those screams?” I stuttered
“You’ll be finding out soon enough. You lot are like flies I swear. Not to worry though there’ll be enough left of you for whatever afterlife wants you. That’s a fair price to flourish I think.” He adjusted his jacket.
Mr. Jinn flexed and wriggled his fingers which caused motes of light to gather and dance before a plastic card appeared in his hand.
“That card is bound to you, taking up the empty space where your soul used to be. It will always return and never be lost. Should work everywhere currency is accepted. As long as you’re around.”
He flung it and it spun right in front of my face until I grabbed it.
“Wish granted,” he said coldly. His monstrous body dug back beneath the earth and his dapper self stood with a Cheshire smile before he disbursed like sand. The area was left undisturbed as if nothing had occurred and when I made it back to the trail, it disappeared altogether. I walked back home in silence.
I was able to pay off all our debts and build up significant savings. Strangely, no one ever questioned where the money came from. I tried once to get ahead of my wife asking questions and came up with a convincing excuse. But when she heard me her eyes turned green and her smile grew wide. She grit her teeth so hard her gums began to bleed as she brought a single finger up to her mouth for a strained “Shhhh”. She snapped back with no memory of what just happened or our discussion. That was the last time I spoke about it.
Though my family is more than content I can’t say the same for myself. I still feel just enough emotion to exaggerate and act out the rest but even that is slipping away. I’m afraid of what that would do to my relationship with my family. I could lose the very thing I sold my soul to protect.
There’s another fear that occupies my thoughts. Every night I’ve had nightmares. Nightmares of people buried alive; others impaled by roots; faces screamed through quicksand; cries for reprieve from the claustrophobia and suffocating darkness as their very selves were drained away.
Every time I sit down with my family and watch their smiling faces I hear a gravelly echo “You’ll be finding out soon enough” and I can’t help but wonder. Was it worth it?