This is the full version of the story. If you would like to read the shorter version that won 1st place in a local writing competition, click here and scroll to the bottom of the post.
Despite what you’ve heard, I don’t enjoy preying on the young and hopeful. But you have to admit, they make easy targets.
Take the couple sitting in my living room. His suspenders cut into his broad chest—clearly, a farmhand. She has the curves most women envy, though she’s hiding them under a tacky plaid apron. If they were fictional characters, they’d be Romeo and Juliet. Young, in love, and willing to take risks to escape those wanting to separate them.
The question is, how big a risk?
Their glances share an attachment stronger than those who believe in love at first sight. Honestly, I find those superficial lovers most dull. Threaten them with only a week to live, and they will happily break up rather than face death.
Not this couple. Death is too easy. It has to be something interesting. Something completely cruel. A wicked idea prickles my brain, and I smile at my visitors.
“Are you sure you want to pay the price?” I ask in a voice as smooth as the girl’s buttery hair.
She shifts on the couch, but the boy places a hand on her thigh. Their eyes meet, and her face glows. She nods at him.
“Yes,” the boy says. It’s a physical effort for him to tear his eyes from his love and look at me. “We’ll pay anything to guarantee our love will last.”
I grunt at the cheesy line that I’ve heard a thousand times. Couples come from across the lands to seek out my magic—the kind that assures love never fades. For a price, naturally.
“You’ll live the remainder of your days in old age, and you’ll have to give up connections with anyone you know. It’s the best way to hide you from your folks.”
“You mean we’ll die soon?” The girl’s wide eyes meet mine.
Maybe death would have worked for this couple. How disappointing.
“No, you’ll live the same number of decades you would have lived if I didn’t intervene. You’ll just be elderly.”
Both young faces light up. The ignorance of youth telling them the price isn’t so bad.
They don’t realize the effects of such a change. They’ll start life with no home or friends. Getting work at that age without job experience will be next to impossible. They will never have kids. Daily pains, and other inadequacies people never talk about, will plague them.
Oh well. Eighty-four percent of couples take my deals. It’s when the reality of the price sets in that the majority back out. And by majority, I actually mean all.
Magic comes with a cost. I asked for the power to curse anyone, and now I’m cursed to dwell in this house forever. Never feeling the grass beneath my feet or the rain against my face again. Of course, there’s always a loophole.
“We’ll do it,” the boy says.
“Then have a blessed life.” I walk to the front door and wave them out. They don’t budge.
“Don’t we need to sign or give blood?” The girl asks.
I cackle. Not because it’s funny, but because it adds to the theatrics. You’d be surprised how I entertain myself now that I’m homebound.
“Your word is all I need. Once you walk out my door, the deal’s final—unless you recant before you leave.” I eye them and smirk.
There’s another shared glance between the couple, and then they walk to the door. The boy takes his love’s hand, and they step over the threshold.
They look at each other and then down at their own bodies. I give them a minute of confusion. Again, I got to have something to amuse myself.
“The deal is set,” I say in a foreboding voice. “The change happens as you walk down my path. But, as with all things, there’s a loophole. If you start to feel the effects and want to change your minds, simply glance at me. I’ll take away your burdens.”
They’ll die. But no need to tell them that. They just need to know the suffering will end.
“The offer expires once you’re off my property,” I say.
They clasp hands and walk away. Just a few steps, and their appearance decays. Taut skin relaxes into folds, and their posture begins to stoop. Color bleeds from their hair.
But my curse isn’t only skin deep.
Cataracts blur their vision, and there’s a moment of hesitation as they adjust. Next, I put the equivalent of cotton balls in their ears, with a touch of incessant ringing. Arthritis sets in, and they shift from stepping to shuffling.
None of it does the trick yet. So, I add more. She develops a bad hip that has her listing to the right. Gout flares in the boy’s right foot and gives him an exaggerated limp. Their movements grow slower than the soft breeze, and, finally, they halt.
The boy turns and stares down at his lover. I flare up the arthritis in her joints, thinking he’d glance at me if he thought it would save her from pain.
She winces.
His head begins to swivel.
I smile.
But then the girl presses her free hand to his stomach, unable to lift her arm higher. She says something I can’t hear. Apparently, neither could he because he leans closer. Her mouth moves again, and this time he’s the one to nod.
The boy removes her hand, and I prepare to smite them into pillars of salt the moment his eyes find me. But he tucks her hand over his arm, and they amble forward. Leaning into one another, neither even looks sideways until they cross my property line.
The crushing weight of my power lessens as some of my magic drains. My eyes water until they leak. The rain starts as it always does after visitors, only this time there’s no statues to disintegrate.
Finally.
The couple stand a little straighter, and I hope it means some of their curse was lifted too. Afterall, they did help me with my own loophole. You see, every couple whose love outlasts my curses drains some of my power. Until one day, I’ll be just me again. Free to roam. Free to forgive. Free to love.
My secret is that I can’t give anyone a lifetime of love. I simply test if there’s enough dedication to make love last through the worst trials. And if so, the power heals me of my curse a sliver at a time.
But no one would visit if they knew. So, I spread my lies.
Hear me, all you who desire love. What price would you pay for a love guaranteed to last a lifetime? If your answer is everything, I look forward to your visit.