“We didn’t have a lot of photographs in our house while growing up, no sweat family portraits on the wall. My parents didn’t care much for them. However, there were three little polaroids on a side table in the corner of our living room, polaroids of children, none of which represented me or any of my siblings. They were pictures of children of family friends which my parents really liked (more than their own children). So yeah, that says a lot about the kind of family we were.”
…
“Are you there? Yeah you, I’m talking to you. You can come out of the shadow; I know you’re there. No need to hide.”
“How did you know I was there?”
“I can feel you, you and all that dark energy that surrounds you.”
“Interesting… Aren’t you afraid?”
“Nah, I consider you more like an old friend. I’ve been dying to meet you… literally and figuratively.”
“Lovely, this one has a sense of humor. You should not talk about such a thing as death so lightly.”
“I can’t see why not. I’m going to die, am I not? For that is why you are here, right? Might as well enjoy it.”
“You are correct, you are going to die.”
“I do wonder, though, why you are here instead of your good old buddy Death.”
“Your soul was worth a visit from the great Mephistopheles Himself. So much darkness… I wouldn’t trust anyone but myself to come and retrieve it.”
“Such an honor…”
“You are going to be a great addition to my collection of souls in hell.”
“Always glad to be of service even after death.”
“I have great plans for you.”
“I’m sure you do. You are after all the great Satan, the devil himself, the grand Mephisto… Is it okay if I call you Mephisto? The whole thing is quite a mouthful!”
“Are you not afraid?”
“How I am going to get this across to you? I wish I wasn’t… I don’t want to be…”
“Be what?”
“Just be… in general.”
“I see… Life hasn’t been easy on you, has it?”
“I’m sur you already know the answer to that or else why would you be here?”
“Indeed.”
“So… are we going or…”
“You’re not going to tell me you’re in a hurry?
“You know, I did a lot of activism during my short life. One of the causes I defended was the right for woman to abort. Didn’t make me very popular with a lot of people. And I assume it mustn’t have been very pleasing to the Big Man up there either.”
“That is exactly right. But what is the point of your story?”
“Well, some of the people who didn’t agree with my point of view always used to ask me: what if your mom had decided to get an abortion? You wouldn’t be here now, would you? And I mean, except for the fact that these kinds of speculations don’t make any sense, because my mom didn’t get an abortion and I am, in fact, here, so it’s quite irrelevant to say such a thing at all…”
“You’re dragging…”
“Sorry… What I wanted to say is that… Well… I wouldn’t have minded, to be honest, if my mom had decided to get an abortion. I often wished I was an aborted child. Wouldn’t that have made everything so much easier?”
“And what was the point of this fine story?”
“Oh… right… Just wanted to show that I was indeed in a hurry.”
“I see.”
“These are mad time mad times, Mephisto. Surely you can understand where I’m coming from?”.
“I understand. But then why did you not kill yourself, if you are so eager to go?”
“It takes courage…”
“Courage?”
“Yes courage, to finally admit that the absurdity of life is just not worth your time, energy and suffering anymore. There is nothing weak in that, on the contrary, it is the ultimate act of courage against the arbitrariness of society.”
“Then you are a weak and a coward, for you are still here.”
“I won’t deny it. But I am young, therefore, I still would have had plenty of time for a suicide later on in my life. But since you are here, that won’t be necessary anymore.”
“I can now understand why the Big Man, like you call Him, doesn’t want you in his kingdom.”
“What about you?”
“Well, I am here, am I not? In fact, like I said before, I think, no I’m certain your soul would make a great addition to my already very wicked collection.”
“Then, what are we waiting for?”
“So eager.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Maybe I should leave you here to suffer a little bit longer, for another 10 years perhaps… or 30… But no… You are already ripe for picking, leaving you here any longer would only serve to corrupt your soul. You are right, we should leave now. Your time has come.”
“At long last.”
And her last breath left her body for an eternity of damnation.
Comments