Don't make deals with the devil

Three boys are down on their luck and out of money. Then a mysterious man approaches them with an offer.

‘Ughh this is the worst, honestly what is wrong with you Ace?’, I sigh as the I-don’t-even-know-how-manieth person today bumps me out of their way. 

‘What is wrong with me? Don’t even begin with that crap!’, Ace grumbles back. ‘No,no, Bishop has a point. It was your stupid idea that we sell newspapers, only ask slightly more than we should and take the difference for ourselves. It was your brilliant get rich quick scheme that makes that we are broke and stuck with so many f*****g newspapers!’, Evren counters. 

‘ As I recall neither of you had any kind of input on how to get us off the streets! So if there were no other options maybe say thank you Ace,  for being the only one in this group that is actually trying!’ 

We are about to get into another classic fight where we all declare we hate each other and announce we’re going our separate ways, then re-unite a day later and pretend nothing happened. Toxic cycle? Maybe. But it works for us. Then some man, dressed to the tees and looking far too fancy to be talking to homeless teenagers, interrupts: ‘Boys, apologies for my intrusion but perhaps I have a mutually beneficial offer for you,’ he says. His voice is very clear even though he is speaking softly, like whatever he is about to propose is a secret. ‘I’ll buy all these newspapers, provided you take all of mine and sell them. I promise, they will sell.’ 

‘Yeah, no thanks sir. We’re not interested in getting from one mess straight into another,’ Evren shoos him away. ‘I won’t beg, but I’ll come back tomorrow and see if you’ve changed your minds by then,’ and with that, the tall businessman disappears into the crowd. 

‘What did you say no for? We could have been rid of all these papers!’ Ace attacks Evren, restarting the fight. ‘Did you not hear the guy? We have to take his papers is he’s gonna take ours! It’s the same exact mess, just different newspapers! And what difference does it make if we sell different newspapers? Nobody wants any of them anyways…’ Evren trails of as we see one of the sellers across the road start to walk off. ‘Where’s he going? It’s only noon there’s no way he is sold out, right?’ I wonder out loud. ‘I’ll ask,’ Ace offers. Before I can even agree to it, he’s ran off.

Evren and I watch as Ace catches up to the seller across the road. They have a quick interaction, maybe 5 minutes, when Ace storms back to us. ‘ He says he’s taken the deal and somehow now people are interested in the papers. The tall guy’s offer is legit guys! I knew we should have taken it, Evren you are so lucky he’s coming back or I would have murdered you!’

-

The very next day we are waiting in our usual spot. There’s not much usual about the day though. We’re nervous, I cannot stop fidgeting with the newspapers in my hands, I’ve already ruined multiple when the tall businessman emerges from the crowd. ‘I don’t care what you guys say, I’m not on board with this and I think there’s something seriously wrong here,’ Evren whispers just loud enough for me to hear. I have to admit, there is something eerie about the man, I just can’t quite put my finger on it. I mean, he does have a nearly floor-length black coat on, hiding most of him. His eyes are barely visible because of the way his top hat leans forward over his head, and he wears black leather gloves. If there was something off about him, it would probably be the degree of anonymity he lurks in. It is still very easy to tell just from the quality of his clothes and shoes that this a wealthy man, and the rich and powerful of Talisin City usually are about as expressive as they come, fashion wise. It’s not wrong per se, it’s just odd.

‘You’ve changed your minds I assume?’ The tall businessman’s voice drags me out of my mind. I nod, my friends don’t dare break the silence either. ‘Follow me then, I’ll show you where to pick up the papers.’ He doesn’t wait for us to agree to anything, he just turns around and leaves, expecting us to follow him. Another odd thing, maybe? Just how he is so confident that we automatically follow his lead. 

The man leads us to an abandoned looking warehouse in the industry park of Talisin City. Not a place you’re really quick to stumble across unless you have business there, and we don’t have business there. I mean, it’s such an isolated area. There’s nothing but warehouses there. He opens the door to the abandoned warehouse. Inside it is gloomy and dark. There’s no light, only the few rays of sunlight making their way through the tiny dirty window. In the middle of the warehouse are stacks of newspapers, bundled up in groups of probably a logical number, like ten or twenty. 

‘Take as many as you can carry,’ the tall man instructs, ‘they’re a guaranteed sell.’ We do as told, and each of us grabs about five or six bundles. ‘There’s a few rules,’ he follows. Oh lord, here we go. It did all seem too good to be true. I do a quick scan, but there seems to be no other exit than the door we just came in through, and he’s blocking our path. Should we need to make a quick escape, there’s no way to do so.

‘The rules are simple. Every morning at 8, the newspapers are here for you to pick up. Pick them up at 8, and no earlier. This is not a one time thing, I expect you to do your bid every day untill we mutually agree to end the arrangement. Don’t try to weasel your way out, there is no running away. Don’t be earlier than 8. You don’t need to be in any other part of the warehouse than just this one room, so don’t try to explore. This is not a playground. Sell the newspapers for whatever price you deem fair, I demand just demand 50% of it. This is very generous of me, so do not try to lie about your profits, I’ll know. Leave the money here when you pick up newspapers the following day. Do not break the rules, I’ll know.’ Then he walks off into the darkness of the warehouse. He does not ask us to agree or even if we’ve understood.

The man was not lying when he said the newspapers would be a guaranteed sell, within hours we’re sold out. Like, fully sold out. That’s never happened to us once in the time we’ve been selling newspapers. People really just don’t care about newspapers like that. We counted, I took five bundles and Evren and Ace both had six. Each bundle had thirteen newspapers (which we considered a bit odd of a number), so two hundred and twenty-one newspapers. That is unheard of. 

Ace and I are counting the money we’ve made, to set aside half of it for the tall man. Evren ran off somewhere, he’ll come back soon. ‘There he is!’ Ace tells me when he sees Evren. I had been a little worried because Evren was acting all fidgety and I feared he would do something stupid.  Evren came running with a newspaper in his hand. ‘Guys, you need to see this. Our newspapers are telling different stories from the normal ones, that’s why we’re selling weirdly much. See?’ Evren holds two front pages next to each other. The left one is reporting on the continued economic downfall of Talisin City, teasing an exclusive interview with a Supreme Counselor. Pretty standard stuff. The right one on the other hand has something printed about a huge embezzlement scandal in which several Supreme Counselors are involved, advertising to know about some sex scandal from within the elite circles and to accurately be able to predict what news will break tomorrow. None of this is stuff we should be knowing.

‘It’s magic, it has to be!’ Evren claims. ‘Have you never heard of false advertisement and gossip?’ Ace barely gives Evren’s evidence a second glance. ‘Are you kidding me? I’ve been saying this is fishy since the very beginning and now we’re dealing in magical artifact. Highly illegally so, might I add.’ ‘I mean, come one Evren. Ace has a point here. Magic barely exists anymore and it’s so heavily regulated there is no way we’d accidentally stumble into an illegal selling ring,’ I try to reason with him. ‘Just look at how much we’ve made! If you’re really that uncomfortable with it, we can stop after a couple of weeks, alright? But for now let’s just enjoy it while it lasts.’

-

The second day of ‘enjoying it while it lasts’, and so far so good. We went to the warehouse this morning at exactly 8. The tall man was nowhere to be seen, so we just took the same amount of papers and left his share of the profits next to the remaining pile. In the moment, I kind of wondered how many others there were. Just like us, who are taking bundles from the pile too. I didn’t really give it another thought though, because why would it matter? 

It’s the end of the day again. Not because of the darkness making it impossible to effectively sell, but because we’re sold out again. We have some three or four hours of daylight left, and I am very much so enjoying being done with work before dark. Ace decided we should celebrate our newfound success on the second day, when it’s proven to be just one lucky day. Evren wanted ice cream and Ace insisted on ‘something fancy, like lobster’, so now we’re at a diner. Across from me Evren is enjoying a massive milkshake and to the left of me Ace is working on a steak. I went with waffles, because it really doesn't get better than waffles. 

‘Did you guys notice,’ Evren says between slurps, ‘that the kid across the street wasn’t there today? I wonder what’s up with that.’ ‘What are you talking about?’ Ace doesn’t look up from his steak. ‘You know, the kid that told us the tall man was legit. He wasn’t there today.’ The two aren’t making eyecontact, that’s how focussed on their food they are. ‘Probably moved to a better spot, who cares. More important topic: how good is this food, am I right?’ Ace tries to change the topic. ‘I wonder if something happened, I don’t have a great feeling about it,’ Evren continues. Ace promptly stops eating and drops his cutlery. ‘Guys, can we please not? Let’s just enjoy the meal?’ My attempt at keeping the peace is in vain as Ace starts: ‘What is your problem? Do you want us to be starving and homeless? Was that a better reality for you? You’ve done nothing but b***h and whine about every insignificant little detail. How about be grateful for once that I save our asses again, huh?’

‘Wow, you saved our asses? As I remember the tall man came up to us with an offer, you had no hand in that.’ Ace can be such a credit hog. And yes, maybe I shouldn’t be getting involved. ‘Who cares who got us into this mess? Actually, no, I care. I’ve been saying for days we need to get out! AND NOW PEOPLE ARE DISSAPEARING! Our lives are literally in danger, what is up with all the denying? Are you really that greedy you’ happily give not only your life but mine as well?’

‘You know what? I’m so sick of the both of you always being so ungrateful, I’m done. You can either meet me tomorrow at the warehouse or not, see if I care,’ and with that Ace storms off. He didn’t even bother taking the rest of his steak.

-

After a night’s worth time to calm down, tension is still high. Ace didn’t come home last night. Probably just to make a point. Honestly so childish. So now I’m worried about the only family I’ve ever had falling apart, Ace is pissed at me and Evren for being ‘ungrateful’ and Evren is pissed at me and Ace for ignoring his warnings. In still coming with us to the warehouse he is really showing how much he loves us, though Ace is too blinded by rage to see it. 

We’re grabbing our bundles in an awkward silence, when all of a sudden a familiar voice says, ‘Good morning boys. Today I will need one of you to come assist me on an errand, and I’ll return him to you later. Which one of you will it be?’ The tall man scared my half to death in just emerging from the darkness. We exchange glances for a moment, then Ace shoves Evren in the direction of the tall man. ‘He’ll do it,’ he says. Before Evren can protest, the tall says ‘wonderful. Now come along.’ He smiles with all his teeth, making it seem more like a threat than a reassuring gesture, then disappears back into the darkness. If looks could kill, the glance Evren gave us before trailing after the tall man would’ve left us dead. 

We’re sold out earlier today because we weren’t able to get as many bundles: we managed seven each. We first decided to wait for Evren in our usual spot in case he’d come to find us there. After two hours it started raining, so we continued the waiting at home. Now it’s fully dark and Evren is still not home. I’m a little worried, but Ace is certain Evren is just being petty. He says, ‘he’s just being an a*****e. He wants you to be worried so when he shows up again tomorrow you’ll be all like: we are so sorry Evren, we will stop with the newspapers immediately, whatever you want, please forgive us. He is fine.’ I tried to reason with Ace on many occasions today, trying to make him see that perhaps he did go too far this time. However, Ace is really not getting it, saying it was harmless and I should stop exaggerating. Eventually I just give up and try to get some sleep before another day of newspapers.

I didn’t sleep much that night. I tossed and turned for hours and eventually did pass out, but only a couple of hours before we needed to get up again. Ace dragged me back to the warehouse and we fully expected Evren to be there, still sulking. He wasn’t. ‘We need to look for him,’ I say, ‘what if something happened?’ ‘Nothing could have happened, he’s definitely just still angry,’ Ace counters. I persist: ‘He might need us. I know we’re all fighting, but you know he would hesitate to come looking if one of us went missing. You owe him this much.’

‘Fine,’ he gives in, ‘but let’s be really quick we were very explicitly told not to mess around there.’ We wander into the darkness, and as it turns out it was really only a short hallway of darkness before we turn a corner to a much longer hallway. It’s much better lit, which means there’s an occasional very dim lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. The hallway has many doors, most of them closed and others leading to completely dark and seemingly empty rooms. We find another open door, expecting the room to be empty or dark or both. Instead we see a pair of legs. 

Evren’s boots, I’d recognize them everywhere. I freeze in my shock, but Ace rushes to Evren’s body, sobbing and shaking it, asking for Evren to stop joking around. I walk in after me, the wind shuts the door behind us. Finally, I can look around the room. Evren’s not the only body in there. There are whole bodies and separate bodyparts slumped against each other and the wall. I recognize one of them to belong to the boy across the road. The one that disappeared a couple of days ago. 

‘It’s really not that difficult, boys,’ a voice says from behind. ‘The rules are so simple, and so fair. Why’d you have to break them?’ You’ve really messed up my plans here.’ I don't have to turn around to recognize the voice. ‘Would you like to join your little friend then?’

Author's Note

I'm not too sure about the ending, I might change it later. And as always please ignore spelling or gammar mistakes.

Reviews

[G Wade]

I'm not a reviewer so please forgive my clumsy approach, but the stories set up for me has an intriguing and tense narrative, blending elements of drama and mystery with a hint of supernatural. Ace, Evren, and the narrator create a vivid picture of their relationships and personalities. Their arguments and shifting alliances feel authentic and add depth to the story. I liked the gradual build-up of tension, especially regarding the mysterious businessman and the eerie warehouse, keeps the reader engaged, and the contrast between the seemingly mundane task of selling newspapers and the dark undercurrents adds a compelling layer of suspense. Introducing magical elements in the newspapers adds a nice twist. The contrast between the ordinary and the extraordinary is well-handled, making the reader curious about the nature of these newspapers and their true purpose.
The descriptions of the warehouse, the businessman’s odd behavior, and the unsettling discoveries create a strong sense of atmosphere and the abandoned warehouse and the dark hallway are particularly effective.

The dialogue effectively conveys tension and character dynamics, but at times it feels a bit expositional. Balancing this with more natural conversation could make the interactions feel more organic. It has an intense climax but the transition from the suspenseful buildup to the discovery of the bodies felt abrupt. Maybe more context or foreshadowing would make the final reveal feel more integrated. But overall, it does a great job of weaving together drama, suspense, and supernatural elements.

[Davidgeo]

This would make a great gay porn script!! I don't mean that in a bad way.