Story #29: A Deadly Deal

A Deadly Deal

Everyone dreams of living the popular life. Being the “big deal” of high school. This

is what Brian thought, but little did he know that beauty, is pain.

Brian was a typical sixteen year old boy: acne, uncomfortable with his body, and

weird. He didn’t have many friends besides the other guys known as the “creeps” of

Crenshaw Heights. Brian always dreamed of having a girlfriend, someone like Cassie,

a beautiful brunette, who was perfect, looks and all. He always tried to talk to her, but

like usual girls, they look at him disgusted and walk away laughing with their friends.

Rejection was getting ridiculous, Brian thought. All he wanted was to be attractive,

popular... Soon enough his dreams were to come true.

There was a strange woman was in the elevator, with Brian one day. She had

spirally curled, grey hair with bright pink lipstick. Her makeup wasn’t really that bad,

other than those annoyingly pink lips. She had a soft, calm, loving voice like one off

those science videos, that make you just want to curl up and sleep. She looked at

Brian like she knew his whole life story. It seemed as though she knew exactly what he

was thinking and feeling. Brian just wanted to get out of the elevator, the lady totally

creeped him out.

Finally, the silence broke and she softly spoke, “Brian, don’t be scared. I’m here to

help you out, make you popular.”

Brian, alarmed, went into a corner of the elevator and asked, “How do you know my

name?”

“Brian, darling, I’m your guardian. I’ve noticed you’ve been struggling with looks and

fame, but sweetie, that’s all about to change. If you want it to.”

Brian couldn’t believe it. She did know exactly what he was feeling and thinking. He

wanted to say, “yes! of course”, but just couldn’t. How could a guy who never talked to

anyone, make a deal like that? Well wait, exactly. What did he have to lose? He had

hardly any friends, his family ignored him, and lets face it he was boring. So biting his

tongue, he nodded his head.

“Great. Now, just promise me this: you’ll complain of nothing. You won’t beg or cry

for anything else. Promise this and I’ll make you beautiful.”

“....I promise.” assured Brian.

A week later, no changes happened. Brian never saw the strange woman again,

and life went on.

At first he thought it was fake, some kid from his school playing a prank. But when

he looked in the mirror, there were no pimples, scars, or double chin. His body was

slim, he had muscles and an attractive face. He couldn’t believe it. The strange lady

was right! He couldn’t wait to go to school and talk to Cassie. He got to school and

there were a lot of stares, especially from girls. He enjoyed the attention he received

but was on one mission. One mission only: talk to Cassie. He was walking toward her

when she started to walk toward him.

She smiled and questioned, “How could someone like you, look like this? In one

week? I don’t buy it for a second.”

The smile on Brian’s face quickly faded. “I swear to you Cassie, it’s me, Brian. I

changed my whole life for a girl like you to notice me” he begged.

She giggled, “Oh, people notice alright.” Then she and her friends walked away

laughing. Brian wondered why people were laughing. He couldn’t figure it out. He

wanted to see the strange lady again to figure out why people laughed. Then he saw..

Everything he touched turned to ash, but himself. He touched books, poof! Ash.

Then by mistake, he accidentally bumped into a girl, he put his hand on her to

apologize and whoosh! Ash. Now he realized that everything wasn’t as great as it

seemed. He wanted to look good, he was selfish. Now he couldn’t fit the pieces

together. His old personality and new looks were enemies. It’s too late though he

realized, he started to get teary eyed. He remembered what she said to him, “...You’ll

complain of nothing, you won’t beg or cry for anything else...”

Finally the dots connected. He made a deal with the devil. Irreversible. His life was

gone, no going back. He realized beauty wasn’t everything. He realized he actually

had things to lose to lose, his family, his friends, himself. He couldn’t touch anything.

When you’re life turns to ash, the only thing you can do, is follow the path you started.

That’s exactly what he did. He joined the wood he threw into the fire.. he blended with

the ones he touched. No more would he hurt, no more would he complain, and no

more, would beauty be worth anything in the world.