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The Blackening (76 hits)

Category: UberMadness! Entry

Rating: 2 on 1 review (Rate this item) (V)

Submitted by Magicaddict (View user info) at 2006-09-25 07:02:11 EDT

This post was an official UberMadness! entry. Click here to view the original matchup.

They met in a bar one evening.
"You looked pleased with yourself," said the stranger.
Paul admitted to himself that he probably did. "You could say that." He nodded to the bartender for a refill.
"Care to explain? Always nice to hear happy stories. I'm Luke." The stranger was tall, even on his bar stool. His immaculately kept hair and clothes made him an unusual addition to the patrons, but right now, Paul didn't mind. He was feeling great.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Paul, and I just successfully escaped the rat race."
"Ah - early retirement?" asked Luke. Paul shook his head.
"More drastic. I just got my own business up and running, and I have customers waiting with open pocket books. Life is good."
Luke looked genuinely pleased. "That's fantastic! What business are you in? Let me buy you another one." He got the barman's attention. "His next one's on me."
Paul was slightly surprised at the enthusiasm, considering he'd never met this guy before, but a little ego massage never did anyone any harm.
"I'm building computer systems for small businesses. The place I worked for before sent me a little business by way of a golden handshake - they needed to offload some smaller clients because they were going up in the world and need the operation space for bigger fish. They might have been doing themselves a small favour, but it's nothing compared to what they did me." Paul raised his eyes to the heavens in a toast. "All hail knowing the right people in your industry."
It had come as a major surprise to find this shiniest of silver linings waiting in the redundancy package they offered him. His company's upsizing had been on the cards for quite some time, going multiregional and picking up bigger clients and higher throughput, but it wasn't the company he'd started any more. Not that he grudged their success, he just didn't want to be travelling all over the country when he could be making people happy at home, and had said he'd start again here while they went onwards and upwards. The rare, and welcome, decision made with the customer in mind led them to offer him a retirement package beyond the dreams of any entrepreneur - a ready-made client base that knew him, and liked him, and were ready to do business from the off.
Luke looked terribly pleased with Paul's good fortune. "Nice. You were lucky - they just transferred the business away?"
"They filled the space with a bigger client straight away. Made them money to lose the smaller ones. Means I can stay in this area, work from home, and build up some loyal local customers. Stuff that dreams are made of." Paul finished his drink and got immediately refilled. Luke looked enraptured.
"You've got to be very good at what you do. They must have been sorry to see you go."
Ego massage indeed, thought Paul. "Well, what can I say? Not my fault if...no, I can't be that arrogant."
Luke grinned conspiratorially. "No-one going to stop you here. You were saying?"
Paul thought he could get to like this guy, and nodded to himself contentedly, "If I could sell computers to Bill Gates."
Luke laughed. "Yeah, arrogant as fuck. Who cares - nothing wrong with a little pride in yourself once in a while. I bet your wife's pleased."
Now it was Paul who wore the grin. "I closed the deals today. She doesn't know yet. I was going to surprise her."
"Then what are you doing here?" Luke asked incredulously. "Get out of here, home! Impress her!"
"Okay, okay," Paul said, draining his drink. "I'm going. Good talking with you, friend."
"Pleasure was all mine," Luke replied, looking pensive. "You should be celebrating something like this. Taking her out anywhere?"
Suddenly, Paul felt very hungry - he hasn't eaten lunch, and Luke was right...maybe he should. "Good idea. Don't get to break away very often."
"Somewhere big. All you can eat," Luke said, almost shepherding him towards the door. "Go large...and go now."
He went.

They met on a street corner, one evening two days later.
"Luke?"
"Paul! How'd the meal go?"
Paul smiled, remembering a good time with his wife. "Pan Asian buffet we'd been wanting to try for a while. Never eaten so much in my life. Sandy couldn't keep up."
Luke laughed. "Nothing wrong with a little crass gluttony in moderation. Listen, you busy?"
"Pretty much," Paul replied. "Lots of stuff to sort out with the business. Insurance and tax forms to fill out."
"What, tonight? But it's almost ten o'clock - you work all night?"
"It's just for the setting up period, but it's got to be done."
"Right now?" Luke looked conspiratorial again. Paul was slightly confused.
"What's up with you?"
"I've just got something I'd like you to see. Kind of thing you can only see at night." Okay, now he was really confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I was on my way out. I can tell from the way you act that you aren't one for the clubs, but this isn't exactly a club. It's more of a...well, you'll see."
Paul looked rueful. "I've got work to do. Thanks for the offer, but I really should be on my..."
"Don't worry about it." There was something almost hypnotic about Luke's voice. "It can wait until tomorrow, can't it? They'll still be there in the morning. I won't keep you long. You can get home to your wife, have a good night's sleep, wake up refreshed and be through them in half the time."
Suddenly, thinking about tax at ten in the evening didn't seem as important as it had a few minutes ago.
"But...the forms..."
"Will be seen to in good time when you're feeling better. You don't want to do them when your mind's tired and you just want to relax, do you?"
Indeed, it would almost be doing them a disservice, he thought, and some relaxation did sound very inviting.
"Where is it?"
"Not far. You won't be going too far out of the way." Luke put his arm round Paul's shoulder. "Nothing wrong with a little laziness when you're busy."
Paul found himself nodding. He needed a break. This guy seemed to have just the thing.
"What the hell. Lead on."

They walked for a while. Paul had no idea how far. They reached a nondescript door with a huge man in a greatcoat outside it. Luke nodded once for himself and once at Paul, and the doorman opened up without a word. They walked down a long passageway, the sound of bass slowly growing louder as they approached the only door, at the end. Luke looked Paul up and down, and smiled.
"I think you're going to like this."
He pushed open the door, and Paul entered another world.
The music room wasn't large, but seemed to have enough space for everyone there. It was poorly lit, but he could see everyone's face. The music was loud, but he could hear Luke's voice.
"Let's get a drink. This way."
It occurred to Paul that he still owed Luke one from their first meeting, but the thought was soon carried away as he took in the atmosphere. The bass seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat, and the air tasted smoky, like incense. This was a good place to be, if only he could remember where he was.
They reached the bar, and though he didn't notice Luke ordering, a beer and chaser appeared in front of him, and Luke put the shot glass in his hand, toasting it with his own.
"To laziness."
"To laziness," he agreed, knocking it back, and turning round to survey the scene. He watched the dance floor, and realised for the first time how many truly beautiful women there were present, and how few men. There were at least twice as many women, and they all seemed dressed to impress. As his surroundings became more comfortable, he allowed his eye to pass over them, and took a certain guilty pleasure in enjoying the show.
Luke leaned over to him and whispered in his ear, "I think that one likes you."
Paul turned to look just a little too late to notice the most stunningly attractive woman he had seen in his life looking away. She was slightly shorter than him, and dressed in a stylised school uniform, complete with her long russet hair in pigtails, the briefest of tartan skirts, a revealing yet perfectly fitting tight white blouse and high heels accentuating her long, athletic looking legs. In twenty years of being aware of girls, it was the sexiest thing he had ever seen. Somewhere his mind screamed at him that he was married, but he quickly found himself stamping on it.
"She couldn't. None of them would take a second look at me."
"Look again."
He did, and couldn't believe it.
Not only was she looking at him, but they all were. Every woman in the room, each of these flawlessly attractive dream girls he had been quietly admiring had turned her attention to him while they danced, and they all looked very, very interested. Over thirty pairs of sultry eyes, thirty nubile, graceful bodies vied for his attention, each of them suggesting everything and promising more.

So was the girl in the school uniform.

She must have been in her early twenties, and was inviting him hither with what must have been the hottest look he'd ever seen. The rational part of his mind screaming WIFE at him was finally silenced entirely as Luke's voice invaded his thoughts.
"Told you. Isn't she perfect?" He found himself nodding. Luke continued. "No-one will know. I won't tell if you won't. Nothing wrong with indulging in a little lust now and then."
Paul had been happily married for fifteen years. Right now, in this place, with haze filling his mind, music flowing through his veins and the most deeply arousing female he had ever seen directly across the floor wearing a look that told him to take it like he owned it, it didn't matter a jot. He drifted towards her as if in a dream, receiving another ego boost as he noticed other girls visibly seethe at their failure. She looked as happy as he did as she led him away.

They met a week later, outside the bar where Luke had first introduced himself.
"You!"
"Me, Paul?" Luke seemed to know what was going to be said. "I don't think so."
Paul, dishevelled and smelling of drink, grabbed Luke and shoved him up against the wall. Luke looked unconcerned.
"Yes you, you fucker. You led me to that club, you knew I was married; you led me on to that girl. I never even found out her name!"
"Aww," Luke mocked concern, "did Sandy find out?" He used the couple of inches he had on Paul to look down his nose at him. "You think that's my fault?"
"Well who else told her? She's left me, after fifteen years, you bastard, and you know what? It IS your fault!"
Luke moved like lightning, delivering a kick to Paul's groin and slamming his head into the wall, before dropping on top of him and speaking very quietly in his ear.
"Let's get one thing perfectly clear, Paul, right now. If you couldn't keep you prick in your pants, it's no-one's fault but your own. If your wife found out, it's nothing more than you deserve, but I promise you it wasn't me who told her. I don't even know where you live. I've never lied to you, Paul, and I never will, and the next time you accuse me of something like that, I'll kill you. Do you understand?"
Paul was crying.
"Do you understand, Paul? Don't you see the power I have?"
"Who are you?" Paul sobbed, "What are you?"
"If I had a penny for every time I'd heard that."
"What have you done to me?"
"Nothing. I stood by and watched you do it to yourself. I'm someone who thinks you should do what you want."
"You've destroyed everything!"
"Wrong again, Paul. Your wife leaving you, your business lying fallow while you climbed inside a bottle, you let these happen. It was your mistake...but it can be solved."
It was such a strange thing to say, that it snapped Paul slightly out of his hysteria.
"What...what do you mean?"
"I can make it go away."
"How?"
"Never you mind. You can go back to how it was - your business on the up, your wife loving and loyal. You'd be surprised what the right words in the right ears can do."
"What? How can you just change it all? You some kind of...angel or something?"
"Angel. Well, close," Luke grinned darkly. "Now, do you want all the pain to go away?"
"I...I don't understand."
"You don't have to," Luke replied, picking Paul up and dusting him off, "You just have to say yes."
"And you'll make it all better?"
"Try me, so long as you're willing to pay the price."
Paul hesitated. "The price? What do you mean, the price?"
"This one's going to cost you, Paul," explained Luke. "The others I gave you for free. It's only fitting that greed is expensive."
"Greed is...what?"
"The pride, gluttony, sloth and lust you got at no extra cost, Paul. You're half mine already. Time to start paying the bill."
It hit him. Everything that Luke had done. He went weak at the knees. Luke continued mercilessly.
"You can't back out now, you're too far along. There's only one way forward, and it's for me to decide whether I help you or not. Your agreeing to pay is pretty much integral to the decision."
Paul sat down on the sidewalk, his legs no longer able to support him, in shock at precisely what he had done in the previous week.
"What do you want?" He asked, dazed.
"Oh no," replied Luke, "You don't get to ask that. You've got to want it so much that you don't care what the price is. Do you want your wife and your life back that much, Paul?"
"You'll make it like it was before?"
"I'll make it all better. Take the equivocal promise or walk away and fail at life - your call."
Paul closed his eyes and cried, mouthing, "what have I done" to himself. Luke sat down beside him.
"You've sold more than half your soul to me, and don't have much left. You might as well continue. Nothing wrong with a little greed in the right circumstances."
Paul nodded, continuing to quietly weep.
"Wait for an hour and go home. Any earlier, and it won't work."
Luke was gone.

They met just outside town the following evening. Paul looked awful.
"You said I'd have my old life back!"
"I said nothing of the sort," replied Luke, looking nonchalant as he leant against a lamppost, "I said I'd make it all better."
"By having my wife forgive me every five minutes?" Paul screamed. "By having a new customer ring up every hour? It all reminds me of you! I wanted it the way it was!"
Luke fixed him with a piercing stare. "You agreed, Paul, not me. Don't cry about it now, and besides," he walked over until he was right in Paul's face, "This isn't about what I've done. It's about you."
"What?"
"About how you've changed. Gone from being all sweetness and light to being an adulterous, alcohol-fuelled lech, while your wife did nothing to stop it. Do you hate what you've become, or those round you for not stopping you from becoming it?"
Paul had to take a moment to think about what was being said. Luke went on.
"Look at Sandy, still perfect while you've fallen this far. You wish you were still like her, don't you? You wish you were still the ideal little couple, you every bit as good to the core as her. Doesn't it hurt you to see her like this?"
"Of course it does!" Paul shouted. "What do you think?"
"Don't you hate her for being so perfect? Wouldn't you like to see her brought down to your level for once?"
Thoughts and images whirled in Paul's mind. He thought of his wife, his perfect little wife, always forgiving and forgetting and letting him do whatever he wanted, while he was off having sex with women dressed as schoolgirls, ignoring his business and not caring two hoots about her. He'd never thought of her in this way before, the rational part of his mind screaming at him once again silenced in the same way it was in the club. "Yes," he sounded churlish; words came out of his mouth without thinking. "She'd deserve it."
Luke nodded, smiling. "But of course...a little envy and all that." Somehow, a gun appeared in his hands. "Take it. Do it."
"What?" Paul couldn't believe what was happening. Luke was telling him to go and kill his wife. Worse, in his heart, he wanted to.
"Do it. She deserves it, the too-perfect little bitch. I can find you far more interesting company. You know I can. Do it. Do it now."
No one would know. He hated her perfection. No one deserved to be that perfect. How dare she. She deserved cutting down. She should be punished.

They met in Paul's living room, ten seconds after he pulled the trigger. Blood was spattered over him, and rage boiled in his veins. How dare she be so perfect.
"Good," said Luke. "Nothing wrong with some honest to goodness wrath in the right situations."
"I hate everything." Paul sounded emotionless.
"Don't worry. We're out of here." Luke smiled. "I hope you're ready for where we're going."
Paul turned and fixed him with a dark and wry smile, and when he spoke, Lucifer knew he was his entirely.
"I'm ready for you. I just hope you're ready for me."

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