Since I was a kid, I was very close to my cousin Steve. One thing we loved to do was place bets. We placed bets on everything. From sports, to silly games or asking out girls. But after high school, we drifted apart. I’m now in my early 40’s. Anyway, Steve supposedly obtained a considerable amount of wealth as he got older. For me, I was working a typical 9 to 5. I had a wife and a son at one point. My wife gained custody of our son when we divorced. Basically, the last few years I was just living through the motions
One day, I got a surprising call from Steve. We talked about what we did the years we drifted apart. Steve started his own company, traveled the world, got divorced 5 times. He was now living in Seattle with his two daughters.
“It was great catching up with you Steve.” I said, “We should hang out whenever you’re in town”.
“Why don’t we meet up in Seattle next week?” He replied, “Remember how we used to do bets? I have another bet for you.”
“A bet?”, I chuckled, “I don’t have time for childish things like that anymore. I have to go to work next week.”
There was 30 seconds of silence. I started to feel unsettled. Why did he want this bet so bad?
“I will give you $10 million if you win the bet.” Steve eventually replied, “You don’t even need to accept the bet now. All I’m asking is you to fly out to Seattle next week.”
$10 millions? I learned to not trust anyone who would offer that amount of money. Everything about this situation seemed bizarre. But then again, Steve was my childhood friend. I trusted him. Besides, what’s the harm meeting him in Seattle anyway?
“Alright,” I nervously chuckled, “But you’re paying for everything. Plane tickets, hotel room, food. Everything.”
And so I flew out to Seattle and met Steve at the airport. He looked bad for someone in his early 40’s. His balding head made him look much older. He wore casual clothes. The car he was driving me in was just a typical pickup truck. I didn’t see any signs of his considerable amount of wealth. But Steve was the kind of person who would live relatively modestly.
“So, where are you taking me?”, I asked when I noticed he started driving out of the city.
“You will see”, he snappily responded.
I asked him a few more questions during the drive. But every time Steve would give me short answers. The rest of the drive was awkward silence.
After a few hours we reached our destination. It was in the middle of nowhere. A barren, desolate field covered with dried yellow grass. And in the middle of this field was a big, luxurious looking house. Steve opened the door to the house and beckoned me to enter.
Steve then gave me a tour of the whole house. It was about 5000 sq ft. Had a living room, dining room, pantry. It even had a 4k TV with surround sound and a gaming room. It was a beautiful house. Only issue was it was literally in the middle of nowhere.
“This is the bet. You will have to live in this house for a year.”, Steve explained, “The house has all the resources you need. 1 years worth of food, beverages, internet, electricity, laundry machine. You can’t have any physical contact with any human. Meaning no one can visit. Only human contact you can have is talking to people on the phone or online.”
I gave him a puzzled look which I think he noticed. That’s the bet? Yeah, 1 year without human contact will be hard. And it might be a bit creepy at night. But it’s a nice house, has everything I need to live here for year. And after that I get $10 million. Of course I will take the bet.
“What’s the catch?”, I asked.
Steve looked at me with a stern look.
“You won’t believe me at first. But a demon randomly comes. It comes without notice. It could come multiple times in one day. Or it could go months without visiting you. Just know, that when it’s approaching your house, turn off the lights, close the blinds and hide. The demon will peak inside your house through the window. If it sees the lights are on and/or finds you inside the house, it will barge in and kidnap you and bring it back to its dimension where it will do unspeakably horrible things to you. Again, there is no scheduled time when the demon will visit. It just visits randomly (day, night, several times in one day or maybe months without visiting). It’s all random.”
I burst out laughing but I stopped when I saw Steve’s face was still stern. He’s actually serious? I thought. He believes this nonsense. Whatever. He can believe whatever he wants. I just want the $10 million.
“Alright, I accept the bet”, I said
Steve smiled and handed me a stack of papers.
“What’s this for?”, I asked.
“It’s just a contract to make the bet and sum of money official. You just have to sign the last page”.
Not wanting to read a packet of papers. I just signed the last page. And so everything was in place. Steve gave me the keys to the house. And a few hours later he left and said he would come back exactly one year from now.
The first month went completely smoothly. The majority of the time I was in the gaming room playing with people online. I also sometimes browsed the internet. But video games were my preferred form of human contact. Admittedly, the nights were kinda creepy. But I got used to it.
It was after that first month that I finally saw it. One evening I was walking outside the house, stretching. The sky had a pretty orange hue that evening. I was looking at the sky until I saw right across the field a shadow. The shadow had a humanoid shape. It looked like a tall, skinny human. But something about its proportions was off which it made me know it wasn’t human. It creeped me out and it was without a doubt walking towards my house. It eventually dawned on me that this was the demon that Steve was talking about.
I quickly ran into the house. Turned off all the lights. Closed the blinds. And I hid underneath my blanket in the master bedroom. A few minutes later I could sense the demon was right in front of the house. I could hear heavy breathing and its footsteps surveying the house. Then I heard the heavy breathing right outside the master bedroom window. I remained completely still and silent. Yes, the blinds were closed. But the demon would know I was there if I made any noise. After about an hour, the demon seemed to have left but I waited another hour just in case before coming out of hiding.
The demon then came back the next day and the next day and the next. It was a traumatizing experience. As Steve said, the demon was going to do unspeakably horrible things to me if it knew I was living here. I was too scared to do anything those past few days. When I was playing video games I was peaking out the window every second to make sure the demon wasn’t coming. I finally decided that I was just going to live the rest of the year in complete darkness. It’s not worth the risk getting kidnapped by the demon. So I closed the blinds, turned off the lights and walked around very quietly throughout the house. Never playing video games or watching movies. Just lived in complete darkness and doing things as quietly as possible.
But as soon as I initialized this new strategy, the demon didn’t come. 2 months passed, then 3. No signs of the demon. I then decided that what I was doing was silly. I turned on the lights and opened the blinds. It made me happy. I then played video games all day and night. I passed out with exhaustion at around 8 AM. I woke up at 2 pm and to my horror I saw, while half-awake, the humanoid figure looking right at me through the window with the blinds open.
The demon started banging on the door. I think trying to break it down. I sighed. I decided to accept my fate. Or maybe I could convince the demon not to kidnap me. I opened the door to the house and in front of me was a tall, skinny old man.
“Good afternoon. I am the owner of this house”, the old man explained. “You must be the guy Steve sublet the house to. Why haven’t you paid your monthly expenses? Time to pay up”.
Turns out the contract I signed wasn’t for the bet. It was to terminate the contract with the original tenant (Steve) and makes the new tenant (me) now responsible for paying the monthly rent. It’s a 30 years lease. I can’t get in contact with Steve. What should I do?