I ran as far away as I possibly could before running out of breath. I took out my phone to check the time.23:59. “In less than a minute she’ll be hunting me down” I thought. I kept watching the time. It was the longest minute ever. Then 12:00. Once I caught my breath I ran again. “The further I get the better” Again, I ran out of breath. “Where to hide now”. I didn’t want to hide somewhere where she’d know I’d be. “Wait a second, I’m 18 now”. I ran to the local pub where the barkeeper greeted me. The barkeeper is an elderly man who was a “friend” of mom’s.
“Happy Birthday” he said
“Thanks, Dec”
“So what can I get you?”
“Umm, I’ll just have a Coke, thanks”
“Very responsible”
I gave him €2 and he placed a glass Coke bottle in front of me and a glass of ice. I was too nervous to actually drink it. I sat at the bar and took out my phone.
12:02 Missed call - Mom
12:05 Missed call - Mom
12:08 Missed Call - Mom
12:11 Missed Call - Mom
The time read 12:14 and the phone rang again. I didn’t answer it. Every 3 minutes until 12:29 the phone rang. Then at 12:41…
“There you are, I was worried about you. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“Because she was too busy getting pissed” said Dec. “Only messin. How are you, Aishling?” he asked her
“I’m good Declan, yourself”
“I’m grand”
She sat beside me at the bar
“Usual?” Declan asked
“I’m quite alright” she replied
“No bother at all”
He went to serve another customer
“How did you find me?” I asked
“I rang Claire to see if you were there. She said you weren’t but told me you were here because she saw your location on Snapchat”
“Fuck” I thought “so are you going to kill me then?”
“So you know?”
“I knew since yesterday”
“I got it wrong again”
“Yes, you did. You’re getting sloppy”
She laughed
“When you’ve been doing what I’ve been doing for over 200 years, you’re going to get sloppy eventually”
“So, how are you planning on doing it? Eating me? Stabbing me with those huge claws”
“Neither. But I’m going to have to get you out of here”
I stood up. “DO IT HERE YOU COWARD”
Everyone looked in our direction and she pulled me onto the seat again
“Stop making a fucking show of yourself and listen. The stories are wrong”
“Bullshit”
“I never killed those children. They died naturally, well, unnaturally to be more accurate”
“What do you mean?”
“The Devil is a trickster you see. The deal was I’d be allowed to raise one motherless child every 18 years but only until they’re 18 and on their 18th birthday, they’d see my demonic form. He never told me that on their 18th birthday they die. I’ve spend many years trying to find loopholes””
“If that’s true, then why am I still alive?”
“Because you’re technically not 18 yet. It goes not just by your date of birth but your time of birth. Your time of birth is unknown so it could be anytime now”
“So why don’t we just stay here then? If I’m going to die, why not go out having fun”
“As you wish. DECLAN” she called
“Yes Mrs” he replied
“Two pints of Guinness”
He poured us two pints and placed them on the bar. I took a sip.
“Yuck”
“I’ve raised many children in my life, well, afterlife. I know that isn’t your first drink”
We both laughed and we drank up. She was on her 10th, I was on my 3rd.
“How do you drink so much?” I asked
“I’m incapable of getting drunk”
“Really?”
“Yes. You know, you’re the first child I raised who I could actually talk to after my demon form has been revealed”
“I read somewhere you admitted to a kid that if you didn’t kill him before the day was iut, you’d be sent to Hell for an eternity”
“I thought I told you never believe everything you read online”
“Oh, you said you had a surprise for me”
“You are correct”
“What is it?”
I started to feel lightheaded. She tapped my phone.
“Time of birth, 2:04am”
This is my surprise.
She stabbed me in the chest with her huge claws then vanished. I passed out due to blood loss. I woke up and checked my phone which read “3: 07am” but the date was the day after my birthday. I was still alive.
“Oh, You’re awake” said a nurse entering my room
“What happened”” I asked
“You were attacked. You’re lucky to be here now”
“Why?”
“Because you died for a moment due to severe blood loss, but the stab wound you received missed all your vital organs”
She found a loophole
I never heard from her again after that. Maybe there was some truth to what that anonymous person on the internet said, who knows
After the events of that night, I lived a pretty normal life. I attended college, met a man, we got married only about a year ago and I’m expecting a child anyday now. I intend to raise her the sme as my “mon” did, apologies for ghe thpos, I think my water jist brome, is ghe baby shpposted to come out ghis gast? Spologids, I ghink i need to go go to the hospi