The Red Devil

• Fiction
• Fantasy

								
				"The Red Devil"
			       By: Christopher DeMauro


	Reggie "Red Devil" Gardener sat on the edge of the hotel bedroom bed with his head in his hands. He had acquired his unique moniker for his fiery temper as much for his association with a well known street gang. He was a nervous wreck and stressed out on this particular evening because he knew that tonight was the night. He had a strange, creeping feeling that tonight was going to be the night that old debts needed to be called in. His feeling told him that tonight he was going to have to pay the piper. Long forgotten parties needed to be paid, and they would take what was theirs come hell or high water. He knew this to be the truth, he could feel it in his bones. Why else would he have been called back to this hotel on this exact date, where ten years before to the day he had made that fateful deal on that eerie night, too similar to this evening to be a coincidence.
	Ten years prior to this night Reggie had sat in this same exact room. He had used the last of his dead mother's measly insurance money to pay for the room. He was dead broke, down to his last fifty bucks and shopping around his first demo tapes to the local radio stations here in the greater Atlanta area and had ended up in this seedy hotel with a 'Vacancy' sign out front in neon light, in the very room that he sat in now. He was down on his luck all those years ago, crest fallen and completely hopeless. He had been close to tears, the only time that had happened since he was a child. He had no family left, no money in the bank and nowhere left to go. He had been desperate and disheartened. There wasn't even a pot to piss in after that last fifty dollars; he had no friends left and no idea where he would get his next meal ticket. 
	Back in those days Red was an underground mix tape rapper that barely anyone had ever heard of. He made a pact in his mind at that moment, the very second that that sole tear had fallen from his cheek and hit the carpeted floor. He had decided that he would do anything to be the next big thing. He would trade anything, give anything up he could at that moment. And it was in that very moment that he heard the voice. 
	"Hey," It whispered to him, barely audible. He lifted his head and turned in the direction the voice had come from, but of course, there was no one there. He didn't believe his own ears because he was, as far as he knew, alone in this hotel room. 
	"Red, I'm talking to you." There it was again, a little louder this time. "Over here, in the bathroom."
	What the hell? He thought to himself. Had someone snuck into his room, somehow? He raised his tired body up from the bed and made his way to the bathroom. The image that appeared before him then sent a shock through his entire body, from head to toe. Inside the rather large bathroom the whole wall above the sink was lined with a full size mirror. The voice that had spoken to him was coming from his own reflection in that very same mirror. Only, it wasn't exactly his own image that looked back at in from within the mirror. The man that was looking back at him had eyes that were a stark red against the backdrop of the whites, almost like an albino. The dopplegangers' mouth was spread open in a wicked grin. 
	"Come here, a little closer. It's okay, I ain't gonna bite ya, I just wanna talk..." Reggie's mirror image beckoned for him to come closer. Were his teeth sharp and pointed at the ends? Like fangs? Yes, he thought  that they were. Red inched cautiously closer into the bathroom, yet still maintaining a safe distance. "What's with thr long face?" The mirror image asked, "A little down on your luck there, buddy? It's alright, you can tell me..."
	"Uh, yeah..." Red answered nervously, "I guess you could say that." He was still unable to believe that he was talking to his own reflection in the hotel bathroom mirror. 
	"You look  like you could use some help." The mirror Reggie said, and then, cocking his head to one side, "Do you want me to help you? I'm a very helpful friend, Red. Believe me, I can make all of your wildest fantasies come true. Just tell me what you desire and boom!" He snapped his fingers for effect. "I can make it happen." His blood red eyes were piercing through to the core of Reggie's being, he felt them staring through him, straight into his soul. 
	"H - how can you...do that?" Reggie stammered. 
	"That's just what I do, Reggie old boy. Just tell me what you need and I'll make it yours. Money? Cars? Fame? Power? Women? How about all of them at the same time?" He flashed that devilish grin once more. "I can make it all come true. I can give you everything you ever desired. All you have to do is just sign this and its yours..." The mirror image Red pulled a parchment contract seemingly out of thin air with a stark black line and a large 'X' at the bottom. He handed it over to the real Red, and somehow it passed through the mirror. 
	At this point he was beyond trying to make sense of all of this in his mind, he was seeing it with his own eyes and that was enough to convince him of its' reality. He looked at the long parchment paper as he held it in his shaking hand. He looked at his other hand in the mirror and his doppleganger was suddenly holding a long quill pen with a large feather on the end. When he held out his palm up and open to take the quill his mirror image suddenly struck his index finger with the sharp pointed end of the it. The motion was as fast as lightning, unable to be captured by the naked eye and Reggie recoiled, pulling back his hand as the pain flashed through his body. He groaned and looked down at his newly wounded hand. He saw now that the mirror image of himself, smiling back at him, had merely made a small prick on the very top of his right index finger. A small droplet of red blood oozed from the small open cut.  
	"Go ahead," The Reggie in the mirror said, motioning with his head toward the parchment contract. Reggie now realized that his friend in the mirror meant for him to sign the contract in his own blood. "Sign right there on the 'X' and all of your dreams come true in an instant..."
	Red did as he was instructed and signed the contract in his own blood. He then proceeded to hand it back through the mirror. 
	"Good," The doppleganger hissed. "Now, when you wake up tomorrow morning your life will be completely different. You will have a new life. The life you always dreamed of. The only one who will remeber this relaity will be you. But make no mistake, you are now indebted to me, and there will soon be a day I will call upon you to come home to me - you soul now belongs to me. He was backing away as he spoke, slowly disappearing into the mirror and eventually faded out of sight. The last thing Reggie saw of his mirror image were those pearly white fangs. 
	Those were the events that had transpired on that night ten years go and yes, Red had woken up the next morning to a whole new world. It was an entirely new existence. His demo tape had some how miraculously made its way into the hands of a prominent music producer, and it just so happened that this music producer had been on the look out for new talent and had as of yet failed to find anyone worth his while. He heard something he liked in Red's tape, something promising. Maybe it was the hidden whispers in the back of his mind, his subconcious telling him that this kid was the one, the next big thing. 

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