Chapter 11
1181 Words
THE DEVIL'S POV
Night had a way of making despair louder.
The university campus had finally fallen quiet.
Most dorm windows glowed with the warm comfort of ordinary lives.
Laughter drifted from somewhere in the distance and music leaked through half-open windows.
None of it interested me.
I wasn't drawn to joy.
It never changed the course of a soul.
Desperation did.
It stripped people bare.
It peeled away pride...
Morality...
Until all that remained was one simple question.
How far are you willing to go?
That was the moment I lived for.
And tonight someone had reached it.
I climbed the stairs of Daniel Parker's dormitory at an unhurried pace.
Behind almost every door, I could hear life unfolding.
I passed them all without slowing down.
Room 314.
Light spilled from beneath the door.
Even before I knocked, I could feel it.
The crushing weight of injustice.
The helpless anger.
The desperation of someone whose future had just been ripped away...
...for something they hadn't done.
A small smile touched my lips as I knocked once.
And a strained voice answered.
"...Come in."
Daniel sat on the edge of his bed.
His backpack had been tossed carelessly onto the floor.
Several crumpled sheets of paper surrounded him.
A letter lay open beside his knee.
University Disciplinary Committee.
He wasn't reading it anymore.
He was simply staring through it.
His eyes were red.
He'd been crying long before I arrived.
"Tyler..." he muttered hoarsely without looking up, "I'm really not in the mood."
"I'm not Tyler."
That made him look up.
"Who are you?" His brows furrowed.
I closed the door behind me.
"Someone who knows you didn't steal Professor Bennett's folder."
Every trace of color drained from his face.
"No one believes me."
"No." I met his eyes. "They don't."
"They searched my locker." His jaw tightened. "It was there... I didn't put it there."
I could hear his voice breaking.
"I know." I said almost in a whisper.
His breathing became uneven.
For several long seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he laughed.
A bitter, broken sound.
"Great." He rubbed both hands over his face. "So now complete strangers know I'm a thief."
"You're not upset because they think you stole a folder."
His hands slowly fell away from his face.
"You're upset because they think you were going to cheat."
His expression changed.
"You've spent years trying to prove you deserved your scholarship."
His breathing hitched.
"And now..." I continued quietly. "One accusation has erased all of it."
"My mother called." His voice was barely audible. "She asked me if it was true."
He swallowed hard.
"She actually asked." He looked away.
The words broke somewhere in the middle.
"As if..." He laughed again, though this time there was nothing humorous about it. "As if she wasn't sure."
He covered his eyes with one hand.
"I've never cheated." Tears were forming in his eyes. "Why is this happening to me?"
"Because life has never been particularly concerned with fairness." I said plainly.
Silence.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do now."
The desperation in his voice was satisfying.
"There is something."
He looked up.
Hope flickered in his eyes.
Fragile.
Exactly how I wanted him.
"What?"
"I can give you your future back." I took another slow step forward.
"How?" His brows knitted together.
"I can reopen every door that's just been closed." I held his gaze.
Daniel stared at me.
"...Who are you?"
"Someone offering you a choice." I smiled faintly.
"What choice?" His brows knitted together.
"The same one every desperate person is eventually forced to make."
My eyes stayed fixed on his.
"You can spend the next several months begging people to believe you." I tilted my head ever so slightly. "But they won't."
His jaw tightened.
"Or..."
I let the word linger.
"...you can let me fix it."
He searched my face.
"I don't understand."
"You don't have to."
I closed the remaining distance between us.
"You only have to answer one question."
His breathing had become noticeably shallower.
"What is your future worth?"
His eyes dropped to the disciplinary letter beside him.
"I'd do anything."
There it was.
The words humans always believed were only an expression.
I knew better.
"Be careful." I smiled. "That sentence has a habit of becoming literal."
"...What would you want in return?" He looked back at me.
A faint laugh escaped me.
It always amused me how long humans spent asking the wrong questions before finally arriving at the only one that mattered.
"Now," I said softly. "We're finally having the right conversation."
I looked at the disciplinary letter resting beside him.
“Nothing in this world is free, Daniel. Why should a second chance be?”
"I don't have money."
"I don't want your money."
"You want..."
His voice faded.
He already knew there was only one thing I could possibly want.
I waited.
"...My soul."
A faint smile tugged at my lips.
"You catch on quickly." I paused. "I was beginning to worry."
Daniel looked down at his hands.
"They'll really clear my name?"
"Yes."
"My scholarship?"
"You'll keep it."
"My future?"
"It will be exactly as it should have been."
He looked back at me.
"You swear?"
"I don't."
His brows furrowed.
"I make promises." My voice was serious. "And unlike humans... I keep mine."
His breathing slowed.
I could almost hear the battle unfolding inside him.
"...Will anyone get hurt?"
It was almost endearing.
Even now...
He was thinking about someone other than himself.
"No."
I answered truthfully.
"The choice is yours alone."
He closed his eyes.
For several long seconds, he didn't move.
When he opened them again the hesitation was gone.
"...Okay." The word was barely audible. "I accept."
I extended my hand.
"Then we have an agreement."
He stared at it for a moment.
"I never thought my life would come down to this."
"Neither does anyone else."
He looked at my hand for a long moment before finally taking it.
The contract took hold the instant our hands touched.
I released his hand.
"...That's it?" Daniel frowned.
"Not quite."
His brows knitted together.
"There is one final formality."
"What formality?"
"To seal the deal."
Before he had time to ask another question...
I stepped closer.
One hand came up to cup the side of his face.
His eyes widened.
"What are—"
I leaned in.
My lips brushed his.
The kiss lasted only a heartbeat.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
The room fell silent.
Daniel stumbled back a step, staring at me in complete disbelief.
"...What the hell was that?"
I smiled.
"A signature."
He instinctively touched his lips.
"What..."
His voice failed him.
"The contract has been sealed."
I turned toward the door.
"When will it happen?" he asked, still too stunned to move.
I rested one hand on the doorknob.
"By tomorrow morning..." I glanced back over my shoulder. "...your future will belong to you again."
"And your soul..." A faint smile returned to my lips. "...will belong to me."
The door clicked shut behind me.
- Writer
