The Other

The wind howled and slammed against the cabin as if trying to transport it to a new mysterious land. That might have been preferable for its occupant Simon Forrester. He had come to his secluded cabin to blow away the cobwebs after a stressful work week. He had spent the day hiking, finding a peacefulness in nature that continued to surprise him, and had returned intending to reward himself with a few beers. Instead, he was confronted with a situation he could not process.

They say when faced with a terrifying situation you will respond with fight or flight, but Simon seemed to have just shut down entirely. He had sunk like a stone onto the sofa and now the only part of his body that was moving were his eyelids as he blinked furiously in disbelief.

He sat opposite a carbon copy of himself.

They had been locked in a staring match for almost fifteen minutes when the other Simon broke the silence.

“I expected screaming by now, there’s usually screaming.” Its voice was a little deeper than Simon’s and tinged with a malevolent mirth. Simon still did not move or speak but his Adam’s apple bobbed as he gulped at the mention of screams; it confirmed to him this other was not here for anything positive.

“You must know why I’ve come.” The real Simon finally broke his paralysis at this with a slight shake of his head.

“Really? Lying won’t get you anywhere with me.” It raised its voice a little in anger. The fear of upsetting it finally made Simon speak but his voice was small and shaky.

“I’m not lying, I swear! Y-You can take anything, I h-have a little money.” This made the other laugh heartily.

“You think you can bribe your way out of this?” It spat out once it had stopped laughing.

“O-out of what? Why are you here?”

“Do you really not know? This is a first for me!” It stood up abruptly which made Simon cower in his seat.

“No need to jump… yet.” It cackled; a noise that made the hairs on Simon’s neck stand on end. It positioned itself in front of the crackling fire to the right of Simon and did an awkward bow; it did not seem to know the length of its limbs or quite how to bend.

“I am Theo.” It declared somewhat proudly.

Simon let out an involuntary laugh. He had been expecting it to breathe fire or have a long, convoluted name; such an ordinary statement took him completely by surprise. It was furious at Simon’s laughter and crossed the space between them in two long strides. It grabbed Simon by his collar, lifting him out of his seat with ease.

“That’s obviously not my real name but your tiny, insignificant, human brain would not comprehend the real one.” It poked at Simon’s forehead for emphasis. “You think you can laugh at me? I don’t think you understand the situation you currently find yourself in!”

At this point Simon gave in to his panic and began to cry, fat tears rolling from his eyes as his cheeks began to turn red. The other looked disgusted and dropped him back in his seat. It took its place back by the fire, straightening its clothes and cracking its neck. Simon frantically wiped his cheeks and tried to calm himself, but his breath still came in shuddering uneven gasps.

“Get yourself together!” It bellowed and the shock brought Simon back round.

“As I said, there’s usually screaming, I hate this reaction.” It coughed and shook its head as if to reset itself and then began to speak once more.

“I’m Theo and, may as well just get this part out there straight away, I’m here to collect your soul.” Naturally, this started fresh, desperate sobs from Simon, but Theo just carried on with a curl of disgust on its lips.

“Normally the person I’m collecting is expecting me, so I just put on an image they identify with,” it waved its arm up and down its body in a strangely proud motion to demonstrate, “usually it’s themselves which I think is a reflected sins thing, remind them of the terms of the deal, and off we go. I assumed this was a normal case but for you Simon, I’m going to have to be a tad unprofessional and check my notes.”

It giggled, an unnatural sound with no joy in it whatsoever, and pulled out an aged, scorched piece of paper from its inside pocket. Its eyes scanned across the page quickly before it spoke again.

“You’re incredibly unlucky Simon Forrester! We haven’t made these deals for thirty-odd years.”

“What deals? I still don’t really understand what you’re doing here, I mean I’m not certain I even believe in a soul!” Simon’s voice was gaining some confidence again, but he still did not dare move from his seat.

“At this point it no longer matters what you believe in to be frank. There is a place you go after your flesh is dead, and I know that for a fact because I come from the one people don’t want to go to. Now can I continue without the stupid questions?”

Simon meekly nodded.

“OK good. Well, what I mean by an unlucky deal is your soul was offered as a bargaining chip before you were even born. In fact, the deals were taken off the table because people never even had the firstborn children they had promised, so collecting payment become too much hassle. I guess really that means you were unlucky to be born! The deal was made by your father, William Forrester.” Theo paused here to relish Simon’s shock but rolled its eyes when it saw that it had translated into tears again. It continued, speaking at an increased volume to drown out Simon’s sobs.

“It’s the usual story really, he had a small taste of success and made a hurried deal to get more. I assume he left a decent inheritance and that’s why you could offer me money earlier. If it makes you feel any better, not that that’s my job, he probably didn’t truly grasp the reality of the payment he made, you humans are all so obsessed with improving your fleeting existences you never really comprehend the concept of eternity. Of course, it is also easier to give the soul of a hypothetical person, he was young and maybe he didn’t even think he’d have children. Anyway, I digress. The terms of the deal stated that in exchange for the guaranteed success of your father’s business, there’s some specifics on what success means, the soul of his firstborn child would be collected after exactly 70 years had passed. Now I have explained the deal, I think it’s time to go.”

“Y-you can’t be serious? You’ve j-just said I didn’t even make the deal! Dad’s not ev-.”

Theo threw up its hand to stop Simon mid-sentence.

“I’ve made it perfectly clear, I remind people of the deal then off we go, it’s not my fault you were blind-sided. All that’s left is to tag you.”

Theo flicked its wrist and Simon began to scream. Theo let out its joyless laugh again as Simon ripped open his shirt to reveal the words ‘sins of the father’ burnt into his chest. Theo grabbed him from the sofa roughly, clicked its fingers and they both vanished in a cloud of thick black smoke.

The wind continued to slam against the now empty cabin.