of chest compressions, my precious daughter took a deep breath and began crying. My wife and I wept with joy and thankfulness that she had returned to us and we held her tight until the paramedics arrived and took her to the hospital. After examining her, the doctor told us she seemed to have no ill effects from what he call “a near case of SIDS”, but she did have a slight fever which he wanted to watch for a few more hours.
Over the next three hours, my daughter’s fever became worse as her body temperature began to slowly rise. She was periodically placed in ice baths and wrapped in cool towels but the fever continued to climb until my daughter slipped into a coma. The doctor ran several tests on her but could not determine what was causing the fever. But I knew. Somehow, my curse was back to claim the lives of my loved ones once again.
So, I am here in this church begging for your help, Father Mathis. Tell me what to do. How do I fight the devil? How do I save my daughter?”
“Surrender your soul to me!”
That voice, I knew that voice! It was the voice of the very one whom I had sold my soul to… the voice of the devil himself. My whole being was filled with a horrific confusion and unbridled fear, but also with a strong determination to end this. I rushed out of the booth and swung the door open to Father Mathis’s booth. He was not inside. Had he ever been there? When I had first entered the confessional, the person, or thing, which I assumed was Father Mathis, was already inside the priest’s booth. I realized that it had never been my priest. The booth was absent of Father Mathis. Instead, it was filled with the dark shadow…two glowing eyes glaring back at me…the manifestation of the devil.
I held tight to the pouch around my neck… my security against such evil as that which was staring back at me. Why had it failed me now? Why after all these years? Then, a voice laughed loud enough to resonate throughout the church.
“You think that stupid locket was keeping me away? I assure you, it was not. I was merely waiting for the right moment to return… for the time when you cared about someone again…for the time when you had someone to lose again. Once more, I will take what you care about the most unless you give me what is mine.”
I realized how foolish I had been to think that I could run from the devil. He had never left…just waiting in the shadows until I was stupid enough to love again thus giving my curse more victims. I could not allow him to take my little girl, no matter what the cost. It would end now.I took a deep breath, ripped open my shirt, and stretched my arms out.
“I…surrender…my…soul!” I shouted.
I watched as the glowing eyes become brighter and suddenly the shadowy figure pounced on me. Everything instantly went dark and I began falling… falling in pitch blackness…tumbling into nothingness, expecting at any moment to feel the impact of the ground, but, instead, I just fell.
Eventually, I could make out a faint glow beneath me getting brighter as I fell. Then, I began feeling heat… intense heat and then I heard the cries. I could hear what sounded like millions of voices screaming and moaning in agony and pain. The further I fell, the more intense the heat grew and the louder the cries of suffering became and I knew that I was about to be joining the cries of woe… just another one among the millions.
But, unexpectedly, I felt a force tugging at me, pulling me back up. My descent into the abyss stopped and, as I rose, the darkness turned into brightness, causing me to have to close my eyes. When I opened my eyes, I found myself lying flat on my back on the cool church floor staring at a half-transparent being floating just a few feet above me. The being looked like a young female with long, white hair flowing as if it were under water… her face flawless. She smiled at me, instantly filling my soul with warmth and a feeling of security like I had never known. Then, I noticed her wings and realized what I was looking at…an angel!
She spoke with a voice that sounded like the sweetest music I’ve every heard, riding upon a breeze blown in from the wings of a hundred spiritual beings.
“You have been granted your soul back.”
Half shocked and speechless, I could only give the angel a puzzled look.
“You gave the ultimate sacrifice… your life, your very soul, for the life of another. For that, your soul has been returned to you. Cherish this gift.”
Then she vanished. I sat up and smiled. Hell found me…and lost!
THE END
Hell Found Me (Short Story) Page 3